Deciding where to go...

[doggydog1]

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When picking what medical school is the best fit for you...Some of the advice I most commonly hear is to look at their match list and see where thier students match. Do they match into a specialty you may want to go to? Do they match in a city you want to eventually end up in?

Well as I start to think about this stuff, it quickly becomes clear to me that I frankly dont know what field I may want to go into and what city I may want to be in the future. As I start to look into match lists further, every schools starts to seem good. While the school in florida tends to place most students in florida, there are also students that place in other places like new york.

So while this may be an obvious fact, it dosent really seem to matter where the school places its students because you have the option of going whereever your heart desires.

This in turn begins me back to the original problem of figuring out how to pick the best school. All the schools seems to look good and the same so you end up looking at the price and how well established the school is.

Then you start to really wonder how much the reputation really matters and if tuition should really be the based into your decision as most schools nearly cost the same...

And were back to the original problem. I could go further but I think my point has been made haha.

Is anyone feeling the same way as me or am I running in this endless circle alone haha.

 

[Bacchus]

A lot of people don't know which school to pick.

For osteopathic schools:

1) Rotations 3rd/4th year (can often be correlated with age)
2) Location
3) Cost
.
.
.
X)Match lists

Match lists show where people have gone, but self-performance is far more important than the school you attend. You decide where you go, not the school.

I would worry about the three things I mentioned, and just look at match lists as a gauge of places people have went. Its not a definitive and varies by class.

 

[illegallysmooth]

When picking what medical school is the best fit for you...Some of the advice I most commonly hear is to look at their match list and see where thier students match. Do they match into a specialty you may want to go to? Do they match in a city you want to eventually end up in?

Well as I start to think about this stuff, it quickly becomes clear to me that I frankly dont know what field I may want to go into and what city I may want to be in the future. As I start to look into match lists further, every schools starts to seem good. While the school in florida tends to place most students in florida, there are also students that place in other places like new york.

So while this may be an obvious fact, it dosent really seem to matter where the school places its students because you have the option of going whereever your heart desires.

This in turn begins me back to the original problem of figuring out how to pick the best school. All the schools seems to look good and the same so you end up looking at the price and how well established the school is.

Then you start to really wonder how much the reputation really matters and if tuition should really be the based into your decision as most schools nearly cost the same...

And were back to the original problem. I could go further but I think my point has been made haha.

Is anyone feeling the same way as me or am I running in this endless circle alone haha.

You know what, I don't want to sound obnoxious to those waiting for acceptances but this is starting to be the hardest part about the whole process. For me, it's being made a little easier because one school is roughly 20k cheaper per year than the others. But the reasons behind one school compared to the others just go around and around in my head. I'm interested in EM, and CCOM, being in Chicago, would probably be great for EM rotations (from what I've heard.) But it's so expensive. And Bradenton has awesome weather. But it's a newer school....and 'round and 'round I go...

 

[Cheshyre]

Many people on SDN will actually tell you the opposite, to ignore the match lists. I personally take them with a grain of salt. If a school is pumping out a huge number of graduates bound for Emergency Med, maybe you should take that into consideration. However, if a school that doesn't send anybody to (insert competitive specialty here) in a given year, that doesn't mean that you'll never be able to break into a competitive field if you go there. Many people will say that a residency match is dependent on the individual rather than the school. I'm sure that this thread, like all others, will devolve into MD/DO bickering, so you'll probably begin to form your own opinions soon.

In picking schools, everybody is looking for something different. Location? Rural? Urban? Tuition? Number of clinical sites? Age of the school? Existence of patient simulators? Technological resources? Characteristics of classmates? School mission? How strong the smell is in the anatomy lab? These are all things I've seen people take into account. If I were you, I'd write down your professional and personal objectives. Using that, I'd then think about factors that may influence your ability to reach those objectives. After that, rank those factors. Finally, don't get too attached to a school. Your top choice on paper may suddenly be overshadowed by a great campus tour/interview. Or, you might not get invited to even interview at your top choice.

 

[JaggerPlate]

Nah, don't use match lists to judge.

 

[cabinbuilder]

#1 Get accepted somewhere first

#2 Pick the school where you will be HAPPY

#3 Match Lists mean nothing - you choose your own destiny in looking at residency programs. It has no bearing on what school you go to. Residencies look at the individual - board scores and personality. If you are an ass and no one can stand to be around you, then that residency will not take you.

#4 Can you afford it? Tuition and housing

#5 Do you want to travel for rotations or do you care?

#6 All the curriculum should be the same - to pass the boards

 

[NSU14]

Number one should be "will you be happy?" If not, probably not going to do as well in med school. If yes, then you can devote all attention and energy to school without worrying about other distractions. Since it is pretty well know that med school is what you make of it, you need to be happy where you are.

 

[ChiDO]

I use match lists exclusively. If there are not at least 20 individuals in each of the ROADS specialties, then I consider that school a bust. Also, at least 10 of those 20 must be in "very prestigious" residencies, which I knew as a pre-med because name=prestige=quality=awesomeness (all just because the NAME!). 😀

On a more serious note, the 3 factors that you can only really base your decisions on are: Location, Cost, Curriculum (PBL vs. Lecture). Also maybe read some reviews from 3/4th years in regards to clinical rotations, but it's hard to judge rotations because each school has so many, they are obviously not uniform across the board.