Does your School Matter for residency

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
MD/DO controversy aside, I'd like to add a comment about the original question. I think generally, no it doesn't matter where you go to medical school. One possible exception, however may be if you are applying to programs at a place where they tend to give preference to their own students.

I learned this from having faculty review my first list of programs that I may apply to. For a couple of them, I'm told that it will probably be difficult to get into because they tend to take their own students (one school is a big MD/PhD place, and they tend to take their own MD/PhD folks). I've heard this about 2-3 programs on my list (out of 40+ total I'm considering).

This aspect would only play into a very small proportion of programs on an applicant's intital list.

Members don't see this ad.
 
I think there are 2 separate issues going on here, it boils basically down to causation vs correlation.

I think its pretty much undeniable that there is at least a slight correlation between the rank of the med school you attend and the competitiveness/desirability of the residency you match into. We can debate all day long about how strong the correlation is. The correlation coefficient is certainly not 1, but its certainly not 0 either (as Kleb implies)

If there was really no correlation at all, then there would be no distinct difference between match lists of the top schools and all other med schools. Do you REALLY think there is no difference (on average) between the match lists of low and high tier programs? Whatever it is you're smoking, I want some.

Why is it that the so called "lower ranked" schools are much less likely to publish their match lists and give out statistics for their match rate? If there was no difference between these schools and the top programs (which do generally publish their match lists and match stats) then they would have a lot to gain by making the data public showing that there was no real difference between their school and the top schools. But yet most programs dont do this. Why?

As kimberli pointed out, its near impossible to show that med school rank is related to residency placement in a causal way (i.e. the reason you did so well in the match is because of the med school you went to)

I believe there is clear evidence of correlation, but no evidence for causation. I wish the NRMP would publish more detailed statistics on this, but they dont currently.
 
My anecdotal evidence from residency directors mostly agrees with Diogenes, but you can take it or leave it. Just be a good doctor, please!

Though The RDs for competitive residencies are concerned with school (they?re not unaware of it, and there's a home school bias, especially if they know you personally from a rotation), most really look more for excellence.

They don?t care so much what the med school adcoms thought about you and your college record. They want to know how you?re going to be as a doctor in their program and beyond. If you kicked serious A? on the boards and got good clinical evals/recs, they know you?ve got the stuff, whether you went to Ivy League, State U, Podunk U, or Grenada. After that basic cut, they look for good personalities, or people who will mesh well with their program.

Something to keep in mind is that not all the smart geniuses go for the competitive residencies. Quite a few just do plain vanilla IM, or peds, or whatever makes them happy, not rich and famous. Which I guess is the smart thing to do, after all ?.
 
Originally posted by treefrog
My anecdotal evidence from residency directors mostly agrees with Diogenes, but you can take it or leave it. Just be a good doctor, please!

Though The RDs for competitive residencies are concerned with school (they?re not unaware of it, and there's a home school bias, especially if they know you personally from a rotation), most really look more for excellence.

They don?t care so much what the med school adcoms thought about you and your college record. They want to know how you?re going to be as a doctor in their program and beyond. If you kicked serious A? on the boards and got good clinical evals/recs, they know you?ve got the stuff, whether you went to Ivy League, State U, Podunk U, or Grenada. After that basic cut, they look for good personalities, or people who will mesh well with their program.

Something to keep in mind is that not all the smart geniuses go for the competitive residencies. Quite a few just do plain vanilla IM, or peds, or whatever makes them happy, not rich and famous. Which I guess is the smart thing to do, after all ?.

If your theory that all schools are perfectly equal and that residency directors place zero weight on med school is true, then I would expect that (on average) the match lists for Grenada would be just as good as Harvard, once you take away the home residency slots (i.e. dont consider the Harvard grads who stay at a harvard hospital)
 
On the contrary. They do place some weight on school. Most place a little; a few place a lot. Again, this is anecdotal evidence, take it or leave it. :) [Here's the trash bin O ]

Also, from a sociological perspective, I'd imagine there's some self-selection going on. All them Harvard types may go for more the competitive spots in disporportionate numbers, out of sheer habit :) , and I don't think people who go abroad expect to come back as neurosurgeons, so they don't exactly aim for it.
 
Originally posted by treefrog
On the contrary. They do place some weight on school. Most place a little; a few place a lot. Again, this is anecdotal evidence, take it or leave it. :) [Here's the trash bin O ]

Also, from a sociological perspective, I'd imagine there's some self-selection going on. All them Harvard types may go for more the competitive spots in disporportionate numbers, out of sheer habit :) , and I don't think people who go abroad expect to come back as neurosurgeons, so they don't exactly aim for it.

I agree with you, I think that med school does matter some, but its not an overarching or dominant factor in the residency match.

My main argument is with those who insist that medical school reputation has absolutely ZERO to do with residency placement. People who make statements like that are just fooling themselves
 
Why does it say "Warning: Hostile member!" just beneath Hatcher's login name?

:confused:
 
I am not a program director, but I would venture a guess that many programs are regionally biased. Ivy leage schools are up each other's butts and that is just the way it is.

Keep in mind that many students are in public medical schools because they did not want to drop 200 grand on a med educationi when they could get one for half of that or less even though they got into "top" medical schools.

All that being said, I go to public school in south and fully expect to be have bias against me outside of the southeast when I apply for residency.

At least for the first 2 years I just don't see how different things can be. I can read Robbins just as well as anyone else can. It is up to the individual.

I may not get into Harvard or Mayo Clinic, but at least I will be debt free, and it is worth it for that.
 
Top