Difference between 'top' medical schools and 'lower' tiered schools

[nimbus]

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Med schools don't "train" students for anything. The rotations are a bare bones superficial introduction. You learn your craft during and after residency. It takes years.

So... medical school graduates are no more qualified to start residency than rando off the street who also graduated college but never went to med school?

Two different things. I never said a med school grad and a college grad are equal.

But I am saying where you did your peds sub-internship will have ZERO impact on how good a pediatrician you ultimately become. I'd say a med student could learn as much if not more at podunk rural low-income clinic as they could at CHOP or Boston Children's. Honestly I can barely remember medical school. It was a long time ago and most of it was irrelevant. For what I'm doing now, a lot of it was a waste of time.

 

[aldol16]

Two different things

As long as you agree that med school trains students to become competent enough to enter residency.

 

[nimbus]

As long as you agree that med school trains students to become competent enough to enter residency.

I agree. And every medical school prepares you for this.

 

[FlowRate]

Having gone to a "top 3" med school, I didn't realize what the differences were until I had the opportunity to see what students from other institutions were like and what their training was like. I'm sure there are plenty of med schools across the spectrum that have solid affiliate hospitals and teaching faculty, but I can say for certain that the training at my institution was legitimately better in most ways than at other nearby institutions.

On the other hand, competing in such a high functioning pool of people can be depressing, if you're not the best of the best.

That's aside from all the other obvious name/research/alternative career implications.

Agree with @JeffWasHere then going to a top medical school is pretty pointless and a waste of money

Only insofar as said school doesn't have a gigantic endowment and generous financial aid department.

 

[theNDhopeful44]

Quality of instruction depends on the strength of the department. Chemistry instruction at MIT is much better than chemistry instruction at another school, correlating with the strength of the department.

I go to school in Boston, but not at MIT (or Harvard). When I took gen chem, our professors assigned us old MIT gen chem tests as our practice exams, since they were all pretty easy and our real exams were astronomically more difficult. I'd argue that my ACS certified chem education was pretty darn good.

 

[aldol16]

I go to school in Boston, but not at MIT (or Harvard). When I took gen chem, our professors assigned us old MIT gen chem tests as our practice exams, since they were all pretty easy and our real exams were astronomically more difficult. I'd argue that my ACS certified chem education was pretty darn good.

Boston College? Amir Hoveyda is pretty much top of his field. ACS certification doesn't mean much in education - it only certifies that you took the requisite courses to prepare you for grad school.

 

[theNDhopeful44]

Boston College? Amir Hoveyda is pretty much top of his field. ACS certification doesn't mean much in education - it only certifies that you took the requisite courses to prepare you for grad school.

Nah, the one with the elephant