Best medical schools for nature lovers?

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Loveless

Loveless

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What are the best colleges with medical schools for people who love nature? For example, having extensive hiking trails literally next to the campus (like UCSC), or within 5 minutes driving distance.
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Loveless said:
What are the best colleges with medical schools for people who love nature? For example, having extensive hiking trails literally next to the campus (like UCSC), or within 5 minutes driving distance.
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Dartmouth comes to mind.
 
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University of Vermont and Albany Medical College
 
Albany comes to mind for me. When I was there everyone seemed to emphasize how they have tons of outdoor activities rather than the bustle of city life.
 
The Burke-Gilman trail at UW is pretty awesome if you're into biking.
 
This thread is highly relevant to my interests. I'm lucky enough to live five minutes' drive away from a national monument, and I'm getting pretty spoiled!
 
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elevenses said:
The Burke-Gilman trail at UW is pretty awesome if you're into biking.
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Second University of Washington. Clinical rotations in 3rd/4th year bounce you all over Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana, & Wyoming.

But it's hard (not impossible though) to get in if you do not live in one of those states.
 
Nymphicus said:
Without counting the beach, southern California is not really a natural hotspot.
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That's a matter of perspective. If by "nature" you mean "pine trees", then yes, SoCal is not that great (although we do have forests at higher elevation). A lot of people appreciate hills and sage scrub though, and the weather is mild and sunny, so you can go hiking just about any day of the year.
 
ComradeDoktor said:
That's a matter of perspective. If by "nature" you mean "pine trees", then yes, SoCal is not that great (although we do have forests at higher elevation). A lot of people appreciate hills and sage scrub though, and the weather is mild and sunny, so you can go hiking just about any day of the year.
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To get to any real wilderness from Irvine or Orange (where the medical center is), you have to drive for quite a while.

If you're looking for a 2 mile loop or whatever, any medical school in the country can offer that.
 
rachelkj said:
Second University of Washington. Clinical rotations in 3rd/4th year bounce you all over Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana, & Wyoming.

But it's hard (not impossible though) to get in if you do not live in one of those states.
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That sounds pretty awesome to me 🙂

Too bad they don't let many in that aren't from the northwest :laugh:
 
How has Colorado not been mentioned?! You have a 45 min drive to the mountains from the main campus. You also have 1/4 of the class heading down to the Springs for their clinical years, which means they are 20 min from the site of the 2nd toughest marathon in the world (an 8,000 foot ascent beginning at 6,000 feet followed by an equal descent), not to mention thousands of miles of biking/hiking paths, mountain climbing, skiing/snowboarding, rafting/kayaking, etc. Colorado isn't hard to get into because it's a great medical school....
 
music2doc said:
How has Colorado not been mentioned?! You have a 45 min drive to the mountains from the main campus. You also have 1/4 of the class heading down to the Springs for their clinical years, which means they are 20 min from the site of the 2nd toughest marathon in the world (an 8,000 foot ascent beginning at 6,000 feet followed by an equal descent), not to mention thousands of miles of biking/hiking paths, mountain climbing, skiing/snowboarding, rafting/kayaking, etc. Colorado isn't hard to get into because it's a great medical school....
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I've heard those good things about Colorado as well. How OOS friendly is Colorado?
 
UVA is right next to the Appalachian trail and Shenandoah National Park plus the ugrad campus is really scenic as well.

WashU and Sinai are more urban but both are literally across the street from forest park/central park.

Utah has got my vote for the best location tho...

Some of the best mountain biking, hiking, and skiing in the world all within a 30min drive.

Oh and I guess Colorado too.
 
alpinism said:
UVA is right next to the Appalachian trail and Shenandoah National Park plus the ugrad campus is really scenic as well.

WashU and Sinai are more urban but both are literally across the street from forest park/central park.

Utah has got my vote for the best location tho...

Some of the best mountain biking, hiking, and skiing in the world all within a 30min drive.

Oh and I guess Colorado too.
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Haha. "Hey, look we have trees. That's... like....naturey stuff, right?"
 
Josh7 said:
I've heard those good things about Colorado as well. How OOS friendly is Colorado?
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CU SOM class of 2016 is 42% OOS. 300 days of sunshine, 4 beautiful seasons, and the mountains... What's not to love?!
 
alpinism said:
UVA is right next to the Appalachian trail and Shenandoah National Park plus the ugrad campus is really scenic as well.

WashU and Sinai are more urban but both are literally across the street from forest park/central park.

Utah has got my vote for the best location tho...

Some of the best mountain biking, hiking, and skiing in the world all within a 30min drive.

Oh and I guess Colorado too.
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Colorado is very good but not as accessible as Utah. Bonniville Shoreline Trail, a popular hiking and mountain biking trail, is literally 100 meters behind the Utah SOM and university hospital. Some of the best skiing in the US is just a quick 30-45 minute drive away.
 
If Cornell's medical school was on its Ithaca campus it would be the perfect outdoorsy environment!
 
Nymphicus said:
To get to any real wilderness from Irvine or Orange (where the medical center is), you have to drive for quite a while.

If you're looking for a 2 mile loop or whatever, any medical school in the country can offer that.
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That may be a problem with UCI, but I definitely wouldn't say that's the rule for all SoCal. UCSD has great hiking right by campus!
 
University of Minnesota - Duluth campus. I don't know much about the school except it's rural focused, but I know that Duluth is a super outdoorsy town and it's a jumping off point to a lot of really cool northern wilderness. The boundary waters are a bit of a drive (a few hours i think?), but an absolutely incredible experience.
 
There are some decent nature-y areas within a 30 minute radius.
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1) Mill Mountain trails for mountain biking, running, hiking literally right behind the hospital (maybe 0.5 mi from the door of school)
2) Carvin's Cove 15-20 minute drive mountain biking, hiking galore
3) Appalachian trail is 15-20 mins from downtown
4) Blue Ridge Parkway
5) Tons of paddling, roanoke river for mellow surf waves, James River, tons of creeks when it rains, New/Gauley a couple hours away...
6) Snowshoe is 3 hours (not even close to skiing out west, but if it comes down to it and you want to ski it's there)

There's way more, I'll stop there....but VTC is amazing if you love the outdoors
 
No love for West Virginia? Good luck getting away from the nature... wild and wonderful.
 
I'm throwing in another vote for OHSU... wow that place is beautiful.
 
Brownshorts said:
No love for West Virginia? Good luck getting away from the nature... wild and wonderful.
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I love West Virginia, but I do not love Morgantown. Not to mention, that med school admits less than 5% of its class out of state.
 
I'm going to throw UC San Diego into the mix as well 🙂

I think that it being a 10 minute walk to the Pacific Ocean merits it as a nature-friendly med school. Torrey Pines State Reserve is pretty close too!
 
I'd also like to mention that UC Irvine is really close to crystal cove state park, so don't just dismiss it because it's in Orange county. There a lot of protected parks in south OC, just look at all the green in google maps! Maybe I'm biased because I live in OC, but I go backpacking and hiking pretty regularly. I did all of my marathon training on extensive trails only a mile from my front door.
 
Dartmouth by far. City dwellers could survive at OHSU, UW, U Colorado, U Utah, U Nevada Reno, or UC Irvine, but they could not make it at Dartmouth. You have to love nature to be happy there. It defines the culture outside of the school.

I am biased because I grew up in CO, but I think the front range mountains have been ruined by Denver crowds. You have to wait hours in traffic to go skiing on weekends, and even then the slopes are crowded. The best part of CO is the western slope or the four corners areas, which are too far from the medical school to be of use. Colorado, however, has the best rock climbing of any medical school. El Dorado canyon, boulder canyon, are an hour from the school.

U Utah has the best skiing of any medical school. No contest, not even Colorado. The snow is dry, the storms are frequent, and the resorts are closer than in Colorado.
 
Goobs said:
Albany comes to mind for me. When I was there everyone seemed to emphasize how they have tons of outdoor activities rather than the bustle of city life.
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Having lived in Albany I would not personally rank it at the top of the list. I personally have Vermont and Utah come to mind.
 
This is counterintuitive given that it's in a major city, but I'm going to put in a plug for UCSF. You've got easy access to Ocean Beach for surfing and Golden Gate Park for strolling in the trees. The Marin Headlands -- which have incredible trails with views of the ocean, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the city -- are a 15 minute drive or 45 minute bike ride away. Consistent summer whitewater within 2.5 hours. The mountains are 3-4 hours away, which is suboptimal, but once you're there you are in places like Tahoe or Yosemite -- absolutely world-class destinations.

Not in the same outdoors category as Utah or Dartmouth, but among the top 10 med schools I'd say it's got the best outdoor access by far. Of course, I'm biased because it's May 15 which means today is the day I'm making it official that I'm heading to UCSF. 🙂
 
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