Considering specialties when choosing a school...

[jmugele]

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If I'm interested in a particular type of medicine, does it matter significantly which school I go to (besides having an increased chance of getting into a residency at that school)?

I'm interested in infectious diseases, are there any schools I should look at particularly? Or if I just get a good medical education, can I worry about ID at residency time?

 

[Surgeonizer]

I wouldn't use the strength of the ID section as a criterion for selecting a med school. ID fellowships are relatively easy to secure out of any academic medicine residency program. Just make sure that you don't choose a med school that will leave you with an enormous debtload, because ID specialists don't make as much money as other specialists.

Good luck in the admissions process.

 

[Law2Doc]

If I'm interested in a particular type of medicine, does it matter significantly which school I go to (besides having an increased chance of getting into a residency at that school)?

I'm interested in infectious diseases, are there any schools I should look at particularly? Or if I just get a good medical education, can I worry about ID at residency time?

I'm sure all med schools have their fortes, and you can probably find out quickly on the allo board which ones have the best rep for ID. That being said, I suspect that as a med student, the curriculum and clinical experience is largely going to be more or less the same whereever you go. And I've been told by every physician, med student and interviewer, that almost everyone changes their mind AT LEAST once as to what kind of specialty they want to go into. So I'd say go someplace where you can get a good education, and do well there.

 

[Phil Anthropist]

Well infectious diseases is a fellowship of internal medicine. I would think to get that fellowship, it would be more important to get a good medical education and do well in your IM residency (doing the IM residency at the same hospital as the ID fellowship you want would obviously have its advantages). So I'd worry about this later. But I'm just a lowly premed, so that's just a guess. 😀

Law2Doc makes a good point on changing minds during medical education, so look for a good general medical education

And like surgeonizer mentioned, ID is not exactly the most lucrative specialty out there. It's also not terribly competitive. So I think you should focus more on a good medical education and a good IM residency than the medical school itself. IM residency > med school.