Does It Really Matter What Med School You Go To?

[Curiousfuturedoc]

Like undergrad college doesn't really matter where you go, you can get a job/get into medical school.
Obviously, I know that people think of some schools are better than others - one's that offer more research, funding, better rotation sites etc.

However, does it really matter which school you go to, as long as you excel there and do well on the step exams? Like you will be a doctor regardless of where you go right?

Will I be at a disadvantage in getting a residency by where I go??

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[Goro]

1) To a degree, yes, in a positive way.
2) no, you're not going to be discriminated against by going to Drexel.or NYMC.
2') There are PDs that will not take DOs into their program

 

[Catalystik]

However, does it really matter which school you go to, as long as you excel there and do well on the step exams? Like you will be a doctor regardless of where you go right?

Correct, for US MD and DO programs.

 

[Fall_of_Dorian_Gray]

It's worth looking at which hospitals the school that you are particularly interested in has relationships with. It'll give you a hint as to the types of patients you'll probably get exposed to.

Usually, med schools also publish a match list for graduating M4s each year so you can get an idea of which residencies the school is historically known to place students in. If you aren't gunning for a highly competitive specialty, schools should be around the same. Even if you are~ it's honestly up to the student to excel and take advantage of opportunities that are there, like you said.

 

[puahate]

Only for DO vs MD.

 

[Curiousfuturedoc]

Thank you all! I am tempted to go to the cheaper/ closer to family option, but don't want to hurt myself later on by not going to the more "prestigious" offer

 

[Tenk]

Depends on the specialty and where you want to do residency. If you want to do family practice wherever, then it doesn’t matter at all. If you want to do neurosurgery in CA... good luck.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

My former school would trip over themselves if we got an applicant from one of the IVY's. Schools are pedigree oriented to a degree. Never hurts coming from an upper tier school.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

If you want to do neurosurgery in CA... good luck.

I will never understand the obsession with neurosurgery. Or California lol.

 

[mw18]

I will never understand the obsession with neurosurgery. Or California lol.

I'm not going into nsurg, but they make a lot of money (for a lot of hours, admittedly) and they perform surgery on the brain and spine. That's a pretty cool job.

California I get, but not to a crazy extent.

 

[WingedOx]

My former school would trip over themselves if we got an applicant from one of the IVY's. Schools are pedigree oriented to a degree. Never hurts coming from an upper tier school.

My view on it is that going to a high tier school helps more than going to a low tier school hurts.

The last time I was deeply involved in resident selection was my chief year. Our chair would have ranked a series of mannequins if it meant having a residency of Ivy/UCSFish grads to stroke his ego and that (besides the fact they were obviously impressive candidates) certainly played a part in why a lot of those people were ranked highly, but if I remember correctly our #1 non-internal candidate came out of Creighton.

Edit: or was it SLU? It was a catholic school with blue as their main color at least. I forget which.

 

[Govols22]

I like to think that if you are going to a low or mid tier MD it’s not as much as a disadvantage for you as much so as an advantage for top tier students. Going to Harvard comes with obvious perks. They’ll probably take the Harvard applicant despite you having a higher step 1 and so on. It’s just reality. But you aren’t competing with 20,000+ Harvard graduates. Anyone who applies themself can get into any specialty and residency they want for the most part. The only exception I can think of are students from less prestigious MDs who essentially have little to no chance at top programs at uber competitive specialties like Derm and Ortho.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

perform surgery on the brain and spine.

Ew, spine patients are simply the worst, and brain patients rarely get better. No thanks.

but they make a lot of money (for a lot of hours, admittedly)

Gotta be able to buy that tricked out trailer that they'll need in the hospital parking lot since they never leave

 

[RogueUnicorn]

Ew, spine patients are simply the worst, and brain patients rarely get better. No thanks.
Gotta be able to buy that tricked out trailer that they'll need in the hospital parking lot since they never leave

Lol plz as if they get let out as far as the parking lot

 

[PreMedMissteps]

Thank you all! I am tempted to go to the cheaper/ closer to family option, but don't want to hurt myself later on by not going to the more "prestigious" offer

Do you mean your instate public MD med school?

You don’t have to worry about any instate public MD school. Take advantage of the lower instate tuition.

Some may argue that some of the more competitive MD residency program directors are more familiar with the med schools with MSTP, but that doesn’t mean that if your MD med school doesn’t have MSTP, you won’t be considered.

And don’t worry if your instate public med school is attached to a university that isn’t well known/ranked. Many very good public meds are not part of their state’s flagship U.

Which med school are you wondering about? And, how are you “temped to go” to any particular med school at this point? There haven’t been any acceptances this cycle.

 

[OrthoTraumaMD]

The only exception I can think of are students from less prestigious MDs who essentially have little to no chance at top programs at uber competitive specialties like Derm and Ortho.

Not sure I agree with this “essentially little to no chance” statement, at least when it comes to ortho. I’m one of those people who came from a less prestigious MD school. And I know many others like me.
I think the key to the top residency programs for ortho is step 1, rotations, and the people you know who can vouch for you, and whose support can make a difference to PDs. Those people, with their inherent prestige, are more likely to exist in/be connected to top MD schools, true. But they don’t have to be. You could get to know them in other ways (research, away rotations etc). For ortho at least, med school reputation is only 9th on the list for program directors in their selection criteria (see attached table from Bernstein 2003, older study but hasn’t been a more recent version to date)

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[Tenk]

I will never understand the obsession with neurosurgery. Or California lol.

Neither do I and I was born and raised in CA.