Best way to talk to current students at medical schools

[akhart]

Hi - I'm trying to research schools I've applied to and want to speak with current students at those schools. What is the best way to fine people at the various schools willing to speak with me? Are there certain forums I can post in? Thanks!

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[Ismet]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forums/2014-2015-allopathic-school-specific-discussions.974/

Many schools have current students who visit the school-specific thread.

 

[deleted407021]

Look for the "school specific discussion" threads. There is one for each school and you may post your questions there. Also, when you go for interviews to those schools that offer you one, you will get the chance to interact with current students as much as you need. Best of luck this cycle!

 

[masaraksh]

Wait to get interviews. Before that do research online

 

[kyamh]

Hi - I'm trying to research schools I've applied to and want to speak with current students at those schools. What is the best way to fine people at the various schools willing to speak with me? Are there certain forums I can post in? Thanks!

My school's pre-health office was happy to give me contact info for current alumnae of my college who were medical students at school A/B/C and who previously indicated that they were happy to be contacted.

I also asked my PI if he was in contact with some of his old students who were currently in medical school or attendings/residents in the area. My school also has multiple alumnae facebook groups where I posted to ask if anyone was in medicine, currently in the area, and wanted to have lunch. If your college/university regularly sends students all over the country to medical schools, there is bound to be someone who knows someone you can contact - yay networking!

 

[NickNaylor]

Agree with the suggestions about getting a list of alumni as well as the school-specific threads. Typically schools will open up the floodgates of current students you can contact once you get to the interview, so that's really when you'll have an opportunity to speak with them.

What is it that you're trying to figure out from the students?


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[akhart]

Agree with the suggestions about getting a list of alumni as well as the school-specific threads. Typically schools will open up the floodgates of current students you can contact once you get to the interview, so that's really when you'll have an opportunity to speak with them.

What is it that you're trying to figure out from the students?


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Thanks. I'm trying to get a sense of culture / community / why they chose that school etc. I've applied to 30 schools and I am having trouble ranking them for myself just using websites. I thought I should try to come up with my "top choices." Also would help for secondaries about "why our school."

 

[lmn]

Thanks. I'm trying to get a sense of culture / community / why they chose that school etc. I've applied to 30 schools and I am having trouble ranking them for myself just using websites. I thought I should try to come up with my "top choices." Also would help for secondaries about "why our school."

Have you ever heard your the saying that goes along the lines of:
"Your top choice is the school that accepts you"
"Your lowest choice is the school that rejects you"

It may sound silly at this point in the application cycle you are at, but it is absolutely correct. In all likelihood you're going to end up being rejected from a bunch of schools, including ones you thought you had a strong chance at, and if you're lucky you'll get interviews and maybe an acceptance from some of the other schools. Your top choice is then whatever school you got accepted to, or if you are lucky enough to get multiple acceptances then'll you'll ranked based on everything you learned interviewing and visiting those schools, as well as everything you learned while applying/interviewing as to what things are important to you in schools, and what things you really don't like.

Point being, you're too early in the cycle to really be making these decisions in really any meaningful way.

 

[NickNaylor]

Thanks. I'm trying to get a sense of culture / community / why they chose that school etc. I've applied to 30 schools and I am having trouble ranking them for myself just using websites. I thought I should try to come up with my "top choices." Also would help for secondaries about "why our school."

Agree with Imn's point above. Plus, you'll get a sense for these things once you have a chance to visit the campus.

I wouldn't worry about these things at this point. It's a little early and, as I said, you'll definitely have opportunities to learn about the culture and the particulars of being a student at a particular school later on.

Be patient!


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[ovenmitts]

Agree with Imn's point above. Plus, you'll get a sense for these things once you have a chance to visit the campus.

I wouldn't worry about these things at this point. It's a little early and, as I said, you'll definitely have opportunities to learn about the culture and the particulars of being a student at a particular school later on.

Be patient!


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I understand your point - but how do you suggest handling "why this school?" questions so early on? To my knowledge, quite a few schools include this question in one form or another in their secondaries and I'm assuming this will be brought up in interviews. I guess I'm having a difficult time listing why I want to go to a certain school so early in the game when I haven't even seen/heard about a school in person.

 

[NickNaylor]

I understand your point - but how do you suggest handling "why this school?" questions so early on? To my knowledge, quite a few schools include this question in one form or another in their secondaries and I'm assuming this will be brought up in interviews. I guess I'm having a difficult time listing why I want to go to a certain school so early in the game when I haven't even seen/heard about a school in person.

In that case, obviously talking to current students would be ideal, but that often isn't feasible. I'd recommend spending lots of time perusing the school's website to see if you can find anything that sticks out to you as opportunities or experiences you think you can take advantage of. In other words, try and identify things at a school that you think will help you achieve whatever career goals you have at this point. Another good source to check out would be previous years' school-specific threads to see if you might be able to gleam any information from current students that may have posted in them.

It's definitely not easy, but at the same time an inability to answer the question should really make you wonder why you're applying to that school (and paying those application fees) in the first place.


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