Dartmouth med

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Hey SDN

I recently received an interview at Dartmouth as an international applicant, and I'm wondernig if Dartmouth is considered a top tier med school in the US?

I'm debating whether it would be worth going there since the cost is almost triple the amount as in Canada (considering living expenses as well).

Also, I noticed that this school is ranked in 30-50's in the US. Does this mean that not all IVY schools are top schools in the US?

Thank you everyone!
 
basketball said:
Hey SDN

I recently received an interview at Dartmouth as an international applicant, and I'm wondernig if Dartmouth is considered a top tier med school in the US?

I'm debating whether it would be worth going there since the cost is almost triple the amount as in Canada (considering living expenses as well).

Also, I noticed that this school is ranked in 30-50's in the US. Does this mean that not all IVY schools are top schools in the US?

Thank you everyone!
Click to expand...

Dartmouth's undergrad campus is known to be very prestigious, and because of the name, the med school is definitely well known, but as you saw it was ranked 34 for research in 2010. This 'ranking' means next to nothing.

As the dean at Dartmouth explained to me, they intentionally keep their medical school classes and faculty size very small to facilitate giving each student as much individual attention as possible. Because there are much fewer researchers, they simply cannot generate the gross amount of funding that larger schools can. He told me, however, that if rankings were based on a ratio (# of researchers/amount of funding) they would be in the top 10. I think they included that in the interview day presentations because the vast majority of interviewees went to Harvard/Yale/Columbia etc. and a large proportion of them really care about ranking, despite the fact that it's really not important and not indicative of the clinical education you will receive at the school.

If you were already accepted to a Canadian school and would rather go there for cost/fit, then by all means you should do that. Just don't count your eggs before they hatch, and don't pick and choose interviews based on 'rank' when the rankings don't mean anything.
 
LRAccord624 said:
Dartmouth's undergrad campus is known to be very prestigious, and because of the name, the med school is definitely well known, but as you saw it was ranked 34 for research in 2010. This 'ranking' means next to nothing.

As the dean at Dartmouth explained to me, they intentionally keep their medical school classes and faculty size very small to facilitate giving each student as much individual attention as possible. Because there are much fewer researchers, they simply cannot generate the gross amount of funding that larger schools can. He told me, however, that if rankings were based on a ratio (# of researchers/amount of funding) they would be in the top 10. I think they included that in the interview day presentations because the vast majority of interviewees went to Harvard/Yale/Columbia etc. and a large proportion of them really care about ranking, despite the fact that it's really not important and not indicative of the clinical education you will receive at the school.

If you were already accepted to a Canadian school and would rather go there for cost/fit, then by all means you should do that. Just don't count your eggs before they hatch, and don't pick and choose interviews based on 'rank' when the rankings don't mean anything.
Click to expand...

This seems to make sense. Also, if you really do care about rank, then consider Dartmouth's match list. A big chunk of the graduates match at very prestigious hospitals. I think that's probably more important than the rank or prestige of the med school itself, though they tend to go hand in hand.
 
basketball said:
Hey SDN

I recently received an interview at Dartmouth as an international applicant, and I'm wondernig if Dartmouth is considered a top tier med school in the US?

I'm debating whether it would be worth going there since the cost is almost triple the amount as in Canada (considering living expenses as well).

Also, I noticed that this school is ranked in 30-50's in the US. Does this mean that not all IVY schools are top schools in the US?

Thank you everyone!
Click to expand...

I'm kinda confused as to why you applied to it.
 
Dartmouth is a very good medical school with a great match list, though it (and some other ivy leagues) are not considered truly "top tier." The fact is that doing well at dartmouth will set you up well for any residency you could want.

That being said, I would save the money and go to the Canadian medical school UNLESS your aspiration is to go to a US residency. If you need to be in the US for residency, the money is probably worth it as being a canadian medical grad will makes things significantly tougher in obtaining a US residency, especially if you have your eyes set on Derm/Ortho/Plastics/neurosurg/ENT/other competetive fields.
 
LRAccord624 said:
As the dean at Dartmouth explained to me, they intentionally keep their medical school classes and faculty size very small to facilitate giving each student as much individual attention as possible.
Click to expand...
This is like someone saying that they're working at McDonalds to keep their income tax expense low. It's a rationalization.

I suspect it has more to do with the location. It's a pretty isolated setting, away from urban population centers that most schools rely upon for patients. The small population base of the area they serve limits the size of the hospitals and clinics, which limits the size of the education programs they can have.
 
Musclemass said:
This is like someone saying that they're working at McDonalds to keep their income tax expense low. It's a rationalization.

I suspect it has more to do with the location. It's a pretty isolated setting, away from urban population centers that most schools rely upon for patients. The small population base of the area they serve limits the size of the hospitals and clinics, which limits the size of the education programs they can have.
Click to expand...

you and he are both saying the same thing. the program can only be so big without compromising the quality of the education they are providing. all medical schools have to make this trade-off.

you have an attitude problem. why so snarky all the time?
 
gravitywave said:
you have an attitude problem. why so snarky all the time?
Click to expand...
I like to bring what I think is light to dark places, perhaps impatiently sometimes. Thanks for the call out, I'll try to use a more neutral tone.
 
Musclemass said:
This is like someone saying that they're working at McDonalds to keep their income tax expense low. It's a rationalization.

I suspect it has more to do with the location. It's a pretty isolated setting, away from urban population centers that most schools rely upon for patients. The small population base of the area they serve limits the size of the hospitals and clinics, which limits the size of the education programs they can have.
Click to expand...

So the school chose to address potential drawbacks to their program by showing that they could also be considered strengths for certain people. Doesn't every school do this?

I just hadn't thought about it in the way that they presented it, and figured others might not have done so either. They really did seem to embrace and take advantage of having a small class size and high faculty/student ratio. I.e. Individual call rooms for residents (including desk with computer and a bed) with private bathrooms. I know that applies to residents, not med students (except sometimes 3rd/4th years). I remember there being several other things of this nature, but I was there almost a year ago now so I don't remember much more.
 
Hello Basketball,

If you like near instantaneous access to outdoor recreation, close relationships with your classmates and instructors, and desire a high likelihood of nicking your first choice residency, I would say Dartmouth is a good choice. The aforementioned reasons for its "low" rank seem rational. However, keep this in mind. There are 133 accredited allopathic (MD) programs in the United States. Dartmouth's current research ranking is 32nd according to USNWR (up two slots from last year). This means that Dartmouth is in the top 25% of all accredited allopathic programs. I'd love to know exactly why USNWR dumps on Dartmouth and Brown regarding their medical programs, but their ranking algorithms seem very mysterious and elusive. Conversely, Darthmouth's business school, the Tuck School of Business, is ranked 7th in the nation by the same publication. Good luck with your decision!

Respectfully,
Brian
 
not sure if the op is still making this decision, thread's kinda old.

OP, if you're still around, where do you want to end up practicing medicine? Do you plan on settling in Canada?
 
Dartmouth is without question a top-tier medical school. Meredith Grey went there.

/end thread


(/end sarcasm)
 
Dammit. Lame in real life because I spend too much time on SDN, lame on SDN because I spend too much time in real life...🙄
 
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