Dartmouth

[Hohenheim]

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Why is Dartmouth Medical School ranked so low? It sounds like a great place - I am aware of the whole "It is, Sir, as I have said, a small college. And yet there are those who love it" stuff, and I understand that there is an emphasis on undergrad teaching - however, Tuck is a grad program and it does fine in rankings as I assume Thayer does also - so how come DMS fares so terribly in the rankings? (#32 for Research, probably even lower for Primary Care) - are DMS researchers that unproductive? Can any Hanoverians in the house help me out here?

 

[physicsnerd42]

Why is Dartmouth Medical School ranked so low? It sounds like a great place - I am aware of the whole "It is, Sir, as I have said, a small college. And yet there are those who love it" stuff, and I understand that there is an emphasis on undergrad teaching - however, Tuck is a grad program and it does fine in rankings as I assume Thayer does also - so how come DMS fares so terribly in the rankings? (#32 for Research, probably even lower for Primary Care) - are DMS researchers that unproductive? Can any Hanoverians in the house help me out here?

I think we have very good researchers here, just not that many of them. We're a tiny medical school (<300 students) and while our funding per researcher is very good (many departments would be in the top 10 if you looked at funding per researcher) the departments here just aren't as big as at other schools. The 1500 grad students at Dartmouth don't justify the same number of labs (or funding) as 10,000 grad students at other schools. I would also say, however, that this is a great environment to do research (if there are some people here doing what you're interested in). Because Dartmouth attracts phenomenal researchers who are also interested in teaching, that means that the PIs are very receptive to grad students and are extremely interested in mentoring them. I'm going to be doing my PhD in Thayer after next year and I have yet to come across a PI who wasn't willing to take a couple of hours out of their busy schedule to meet with me and show off their lab space and offer me a spot in their lab. The same goes for the PIs I've met in Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB) and the Program in Experimental and Molecular Medicine (PEMM). It's also great that there's minimal TA/RA work to be done so you can focus on your PhD (No TAing without special permission in Engineering, <= 1 year in everything else). I love it here, as do my MD/PhD classmates who turned down spots at top MSTPs to come here. If you have any more questions, please let me know.

 

[mtlove]

Why is Dartmouth Medical School ranked so low? It sounds like a great place - I am aware of the whole "It is, Sir, as I have said, a small college. And yet there are those who love it" stuff, and I understand that there is an emphasis on undergrad teaching - however, Tuck is a grad program and it does fine in rankings as I assume Thayer does also - so how come DMS fares so terribly in the rankings? (#32 for Research, probably even lower for Primary Care) - are DMS researchers that unproductive? Can any Hanoverians in the house help me out here?

I worked in a lab in the MCB department at DMS for a few months awhile back (I have never been a student there). I would agree with the previous post that the problem lies with the size of the school and not the research itself. There are relatively few researchers at DMS compared to other med schools. It would be difficult for me to find enough with similiar research interests to even apply to the program.

If you have interests in one of their big areas of interest it would be a great place to go (microbiology for example). Their researchers are of high quality and are consistently being recruited by other top-tier schoools. My PI at that time was being heavily recruited by Harvard for example (he really is not a big name researcher either). In the few months I was there, two different students made the cover of science. If you are looking for excellent opportunities in science, you would not be hurt attending Dartmouth. From my experience you would also not need to worry about money, as the PIs are well-funded and the school has tons of money if PI funding issues arise.

In regards to student life, I do not think I will ever meet a happier bunch of students. Many of the grad students dreaded leaving the college, which was very strange in my experience. They would probably stay another 10years if they had the chance. The biggest problem in my opinion is that the school is in Hanover. There is nothing to do in that town and the nearest big city is two hours away. Living costs are also ridiculous (most students do not live in Hanover because of this).