Factors in choosing a medical school

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altruistic

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What factors should you consider when choosing the best medical school for you? And which ones should you weigh most heavily?

Some off the top of my head (in no particular order):
- school reputation (should this matter?)
- location
- overall student happiness
- best clinical exposure
- tuition/cost-of-living expenses
- residency match list
- best facilities
- time spent in class
- hospital reputation

How did you pick your medical school? :confused:

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altruistic said:
What factors should you consider when choosing the best medical school for you? And which ones should you weigh most heavily?

Some off the top of my head (in no particular order):
- school reputation (should this matter?)
- location
- overall student happiness
- best clinical exposure
- tuition/cost-of-living expenses
- residency match list
- best facilities
- time spent in class
- hospital reputation

How did you pick your medical school? :confused:
I basically based my decision on these three items:
1. clincial exposure
2. residency match list (gotta look at the big picture -- without your residency training, your MD is essentially worthless) --> generally reflects school reputation
3. overall student happiness (which I feel includes location)
 
I think it's also important to consider the curriculum - PBL vs. lecture, traditional vs. integrated, organ systems.
 
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location location location
 
1. Acceptance Rate
 
If I become a doctor which I might. I will look at schools where I have the best chance of getting into. Medschool is highly competitive and Im afraid I may not get into one. Its just like looking at college choose some safeties and then some schools you would love to go to.
 
PhillyMD2006 said:
I basically based my decision on these three items:
1. clincial exposure
This should be virtually identical among most medical schools. If the school lacks an entire clinical department that's another story but most of the time this is splitting hairs.
2. residency match list (gotta look at the big picture -- without your residency training, your MD is essentially worthless) --> generally reflects school reputation
The applicants affect their own competitiveness. People from NYMC and RFUMS matched in derm, ortho, etc. this year. People from Wash U were unmatched in these fields.
3. overall student happiness (which I feel includes location)
Couldn't agree with you more.
 
I don't know about all of the rest of you, but money is a big issue for me. I'm in at a private school right now that I really like, but if I get into my state school (which is fine, but I didn't like it as much), it's going to be a very hard decision.

Several physicians I know have told me it doesn't matter where you go to school...you'll learn medicine where ever and how well you do on USMLE's depends a lot more on you than on your school. So, I'd say there's a high likelihood that I'd choose my relatively cheaper state school just because I don't want to be $200K in debt when I graduate.
 
I think school reputation matters if there's a big difference, ie Harvard vs. University of Arizona... But I don't think the smaller differences are that big- for instance in this comparison- Vanderbilt vs. Pitt vs. Cleveland Clinic- you could argue in circles about the reputation of those schools and not come to a clear cut decision...
So then, you have to start looking at the other factors...
Location was a pretty big deal for me, and I applied to schools mainly in the Midwest and South... However, I think the people who don't want to leave NYC or California might be limiting themselves a bit too much...

I also considered hospital reputation, but that's mainly because Cleveland Clinic's program is so new that there isn't really a "school" reputation. But in general it goes hand in hand- Almost every top ten school is associated with a top ten hospital and vice versa....

I guess I felt like at both of the schools I was choosing between the students seemed happy. In general, I think that there are going to be happy and unhappy students at every school from Harvard on down, so I didn't look at that too much.

The main other things that I considered were:
1)curriculum- I wanted a program with an integrated research program
2)class size- If possible I wanted to be in a school with a small class size, and I definitely would prefer to be in a class size of less than a hundred
3)financial aid- I promised myself that I wouldn't make my decision based on this, but it helped confirm the choice I was already leaning towards.
 
The best match between myself (MCAT, GPA, ECs, etc) and the school (profile).
 
IHaveLab said:
I don't know about all of the rest of you, but money is a big issue for me. I'm in at a private school right now that I really like, but if I get into my state school (which is fine, but I didn't like it as much), it's going to be a very hard decision.

Looking at your MDApps profile, I totally encourage you in going to your state school. (I'm wl'd at Vandy :D )
 
altruistic said:
What factors should you consider when choosing the best medical school for you? And which ones should you weigh most heavily?

Some off the top of my head (in no particular order):
- school reputation (should this matter?)
- location
- overall student happiness
- best clinical exposure
- tuition/cost-of-living expenses
- residency match list
- best facilities
- time spent in class
- hospital reputation

How did you pick your medical school? :confused:

you pretty much hit my list in order:

reputation: important since I am considering going into radiation oncology, no matter what people say ("it doesn't matter where you go"), it will difficult to secure residency spot in a small, yet competitive specialty like rad onc when your med school doesn't have a department in that area. In short, reputation may matter, but it might not, it depends on your situation and goals

location: I'm a southern boy and I hate cold weather

happiness: this is super important, I don't want to be stuck with a bunch of gunners, I think a pass/fail environment promotes happiness, maybe?

clinical exposure: well its med school so...

tuition: somewhat important, but not a major factor for me

match list: this is important since it shows that the school has good/bad connections. I also want to be around other students who plan on specializing like me, so I think that will come to play in my decision

facilities: some are better than others from what I hear...

time in class: it'd be nice to have afternoons off for studying/research/etc.

hospital reputation: is this really significant?
 
Depends alot an what you want to do with your MD. It you're interested in academic medicine or a highly competitive residency, then repuation/research/match list matters more. If, on the other hand, you want IM/FP/etc, location and cost weight more heavily.

Things like curriculum/facilities/etc. always matter so some extent, but for few people are the most important thing (more likely to be tiebreakers, if anything).
 
1. reputation - quality of research, good match lists
1. location
2. curriculum
3. friendly environment

Cost isn't a factor.
 
This would make a great Poll...

I don't know how to make Polls, so can someone do it?
 
Being accepted by a particular school is just bound to give you a warm, fuzzy feeling about that school! :laugh:
 
Non-TradTulsa said:
Being accepted by a particular school is just bound to give you a warm, fuzzy feeling about that school! :laugh:

Yes, my questions were based on the schools I have been accepted to. The May 15th deadline is fast approaching, and I can't seem to decide!
 
altruistic said:
Yes, my questions were based on the schools I have been accepted to. The May 15th deadline is fast approaching, and I can't seem to decide!
Well, I admire you for having multiple choices and you did ask a serious question. I'm a non-trad who is about 20 years older than the typical traditional student - so my view of things like location probably won't mean much. I did seriously consider leaving my home state, but decided not to when I was accepted in-state.

The only advice I can give that might be useful is: think *carefully* about the cost of the school you're going to attend - both tuition and the cost of living of where the school is located. School reputation doesn't matter nearly as much as where you do your residency unless you plan to go into research. However, the money you will owe at the end of your education is real money (big sums of money just seemed like play money to me when I was in my '20's). So, if you have a choice of State University and Private University where Private University is going to cost you twenty grand more a year, think carefully about whether or not that's worth it. Eighty thousand dollars is real money, even to a physician - and those loan payments have to be made every month when you'd rather be buying new toys. I've worked in hospitals for many years and it never ceases to amaze me how many successful physicians in practice for many years I've met who still carry huge education debts. Note that I'm not saying don't do Private University - just make sure you have solid reasons that make the extra money truly worth it.

Lastly, trust your gut. I used to intellectualize every decision I had to make, so that I would be sure I had looked at all the angles. What I have learned from years of experience is that the best decision would have been to trust my gut instinct - it's always right. So... think about your reaction to each school at the interview - good or bad - and use that initial feeling to help pare-down your list. It works.

Best of luck with your decision.
 
The daughter of the Dean of Admissions for Duke Medical School is a student here (University of Georgia). He came by not too long ago and gave us these six criteria to go by when choosing a medical school:

1) Mission
2) Curriculum
3) Patients - Where do the patients come from?
4) Is there a university/university-type environment? Is that what you're looking for?
5) Location
6) Price

Peace, Love, and Recycle -
Alex
 
cubaville said:
The daughter of the Dean of Admissions for Duke Medical School is a student here (University of Georgia). He came by not too long ago and gave us these six criteria to go by when choosing a medical school:

1) Mission
2) Curriculum
3) Patients - Where do the patients come from?
4) Is there a university/university-type environment? Is that what you're looking for?
5) Location
6) Price

Peace, Love, and Recycle -
Alex

Ha! Almost the complete opposite for me.
 
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