does school matter for uro match?

[DevinBookerMD]

Hi everyone. I know this is way too premature but I am holding a few acceptances to medical schools and I am trying to determine whether school choice would have any effect on uro match chances. From everything I've researched uro sounds really interesting and while I am not locking into it, i would like to leave that door open if that is truly what I want to pursue. I am holding acceptances at UC Irvine (15 min away from home), BU, and Stony Brook. Mainly considering UCI vs BU at the moment. The cost difference I calculated after interest when I graduate will be about 115k if I commute from home for the first two years at UCI. The only reasons why I am considering BU is the higher rank, better clinical exposure, cool city (I want to explore something else bc I stayed at home for undergrad), and better match list. I have seen two match lists from UCI (2017 and 2019) and there was 1 uro match in 2017 and 0 in 2019 vs 6-7 for BU. I know that this may just be self selection based off interest but I was wondering if there is a reason for this discrepancy. At the moment leaning towards UCI bc of cost but will see if I get any aid from BU to swing it. Any thoughts?

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[cpants]

No, you can match from all of those places. Important for matching (in order) are: board scores, performance on urology audition rotations, research, recommendations, clinical grades, preclinical grades. School rank is not a factor in any way. There is a certain wow-factor coming from Harvard or a handful of other places, but no one is going to care if you go to any of your three choices.

I suggest trying to minimize your debt and busting your ass to get good board scores, grades, and research. Also, keep an open mind because most people don't end up going into the field they think they will.

 

[DevinBookerMD]

No, you can match from all of those places. Important for matching (in order) are: board scores, performance on urology audition rotations, research, recommendations, clinical grades, preclinical grades. School rank is not a factor in any way. There is a certain wow-factor coming from Harvard or a handful of other places, but no one is going to care if you go to any of your three choices.

I suggest trying to minimize your debt and busting your ass to get good board scores, grades, and research. Also, keep an open mind because most people don't end up going into the field they think they will.

this is what I was suspecting and needed to hear, thanks!

 

[DevinBookerMD]

UCI has multiple big name faculty in urology and they pump out a lot of research. UCI's urology program is definitely academically stronger than BU's (Doximity, a bad ranking system that is all we have for residency ranking, has UCI uro as 33rd and BU as 58th). Name doesn't matter unless they are big names and UCI has more than enough resources to make you a good applicant if it's what you choose. Save the money

wow thanks for that bit of info. I did not know that before. I was just worried that UCI is barely sending out any urology matched while BU has consistently. but barring any scholarships/aid offers I think i'll be going to UCI.

 

[cpants]

UCI has multiple big name faculty in urology and they pump out a lot of research. UCI's urology program is definitely academically stronger than BU's (Doximity, a bad ranking system that is all we have for residency ranking, has UCI uro as 33rd and BU as 58th). Name doesn't matter unless they are big names and UCI has more than enough resources to make you a good applicant if it's what you choose. Save the money

Agree with this. And often the big names in terms of medical school are not even the top tier in urology or any given field. Indiana University for example is a historical powerhouse program while some of the Ivy programs, for example, are not that great. This is something you will not be able to figure out as a premed and you should not even worry about. Just work hard and get the best board scores you can so that you have options with regard to field. Your medical school truly does not matter.

 

[DevinBookerMD]

Agree with this. And often the big names in terms of medical school are not even the top tier in urology or any given field. Indiana University for example is a historical powerhouse program while some of the Ivy programs, for example, are not that great. This is something you will not be able to figure out as a premed and you should not even worry about. Just work hard and get the best board scores you can so that you have options with regard to field. Your medical school truly does not matter.

what if the rumors are true that they change step 1 to pass/fail? would school matter more then?

 

[DevinBookerMD]

1) I don't think they will switch to P/F. Even if they do, administrative stuff takes forever and I doubt they would roll it out within two years

2) You are taking rankings too literally. Tiers matter, not specific number in the rankings. No one cares (or will even waste the time looking up) if you go to med school 30 vs 60. I had no idea that BU was ranked higher than UCI and Stony Brook. It doesn't matter. I don't think someone from BU would be viewed differently from someone from UCI/SBU/UMiami/Temple/Einstein/Minnesota/Tufts/so on. What matters is if you would be happy at the school and feel supported. Letters of rec are also very important in urology. Hofstra isn't a highly ranked med school, but their chair is very well known and a strong letter from him would be more beneficial than going to a slightly higher ranked place. Things aren't as simple as a ranking

Got it! I'm still waiting on Einstein but once I have all options on the table, would you just go to the cheapest school if you are fine with all choices? Stony Brook has a 3 year program with a guaranteed residency of your choice which is appealing but i'm not sure if I want to lock myself into urology before actually doing rotations. What would you recommend?

 

[DevinBookerMD]

I have a lot of debt. I would still not choose the 3 year program. You need to make sure you are choosing the right field, UCI will save you more money than the 3 year program anyways, and you don’t want to limit yourself to one institution’s residency program when you don’t even know what your life goals will end up being.

I turned down highly ranked programs to save money and I do not regret it. Besides, UCI is a well regarded school. Your cheapest option is a strong program

that was my thinking as well, thanks for all your help!

 

[cpants]

I would go as cheap as you can. There are basically no benefits to going to a more expensive school in terms of career options or compensation. Guaranteed residency of choice sounds good though. I say go to Stonybrook and go into plastics!

 

[DevinBookerMD]

I would go as cheap as you can. There are basically no benefits to going to a more expensive school in terms of career options or compensation. Guaranteed residency of choice sounds good though. I say go to Stonybrook and go into plastics!

it's not guaranteed acceptance. basically in feb i apply for it and interview with the PD to see if I can get in.

 

[akuko2]

Will echo what everyone else is saying. Choose the cheapest option. An additional factor which makes school selection even less important is that you are expected to do away rotations in uro during MSIV. This is a great opportunity to spend some time with strong departments, get your name out there, and get letters of recommendation from prominent urologists. Securing a letter of rec from well known staff at an away site will give you just as much 'name recognition' as school prestige if the letter is positive. Throughout my interviews there were people from all over the place, school prestige really didn't seem to matter much.

One caveat which probably won't affect you is picking a school with no home department, it may be tough to be able to do research which seemed invaluable in securing interviews, at least during this year's cycle.

 

[DevinBookerMD]

update: Add Albert Einstein to the list of acceptances and am on the waitlist at USC. choice is UCI at the moment but will update you guys when I get financial aid from everywhere to see what you guys think then. Thanks!

 

[DevinBookerMD]

hi guys. today it was announced that step 1 is going to be pass/fail. it caught everyone off guard and now everyone is saying pick the higher ranked school. i’m thinking BU is better but not good enough to justify cost but everyone is telling me to pick BU now. thoughts?

 

[cpants]

Again, those schools are not measurably different in terms of reputation or chances at matching to urology regardless of whether or not USMLE is P/F. You think urology residencies are going to start using a US News ranking cutoff for interviews now that Step 1 score is not available?? More likely, they will put more emphasis on step 2, grades, research, audition rotations. Would not choose BU over your other choices based on reputation. Its reputation is not better than the other two.

 

[DevinBookerMD]

Again, those schools are not measurably different in terms of reputation or chances at matching to urology regardless of whether or not USMLE is P/F. You think urology residencies are going to start using a US News ranking cutoff for interviews now that Step 1 score is not available?? More likely, they will put more emphasis on step 2, grades, research, audition rotations. Would not choose BU over your other choices based on reputation. Its reputation is not better than the other two.

this is my line of thinking as well. it's just there's mass hysteria online and many people were telling me to pivot and pick BU now. thanks for the insight, i'm going where it's cheapest.