MD Feeling Inferior Because of my School

[Chelsea FC]

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Personally, I didn't even know anything about MD's or DO's before becoming premed. Now that I do though, I have a couple of rules for selecting my physician:

1. Must be an MD from any American medical school that is not an HBCU
2. Must be an ORM, preferably Asian (higher admission standards)

You forgot no physicians who had family with connections or attractive physicians because that might have given them a unfair legup. Only busted docs for u.
Ur comment made me crack up

 

[emergentmd]

No One is arguing that a top med school will get you a leg up on a avg tier med school, to do so would just be ignorant.

I am just saying that for the great majority of people, the extra 250K debt is not worth it. For the vast majority, they will get into the field they want. For the small slither, Going to harvard does allow them to go into plastics easier than an avg school.

But for the 95+% that goes into Non Hyper competitive fields, it won't matter and just pocket the 250K.

For every 100 people who went to harvard, I would bet 98 of those would still be as successful and in the same speciality if the went to an avg state school. They would have the same Step Scores.

So if you are willing to take on another 250K debt to possibly be that 1 or 2 person who got into Plastics, then go ahead. I am pocketing that 250K today, tomorrow.

Also, unless you are in academics and your name is plastered on the school's website, it really doesn't matter.

I know hundreds of docs and have no clue where any of them went to school nor do I care. I know who are the good docs and the bad docs. Knowing a good doc went to a carribean school or a bad doc went to Harvard would not change my mind one bit. And for the layperson who would just go to a doc b/c they went to Harvard is a vast mistake. Its much better to ask around and find out who the best docs are.

 

[Big Time Hoosier]

No One is arguing that a top med school will get you a leg up on a avg tier med school, to do so would just be ignorant.

I am just saying that for the great majority of people, the extra 250K debt is not worth it. For the vast majority, they will get into the field they want. For the small slither, Going to harvard does allow them to go into plastics easier than an avg school.

But for the 95+% that goes into Non Hyper competitive fields, it won't matter and just pocket the 250K.

For every 100 people who went to harvard, I would bet 98 of those would still be as successful and in the same speciality if the went to an avg state school. They would have the same Step Scores.

So if you are willing to take on another 250K debt to possibly be that 1 or 2 person who got into Plastics, then go ahead. I am pocketing that 250K today, tomorrow.

Also, unless you are in academics and your name is plastered on the school's website, it really doesn't matter.

I know hundreds of docs and have no clue where any of them went to school nor do I care. I know who are the good docs and the bad docs. Knowing a good doc went to a carribean school or a bad doc went to Harvard would not change my mind one bit. And for the layperson who would just go to a doc b/c they went to Harvard is a vast mistake. Its much better to ask around and find out who the best docs are.

As a dentist, I'm not too sure how I really ended up on this thread. But over on our side of the house, I've argued to take that $250,000 you saved by not going to an Ivy League school and tell the residency program of your choice you'll donate that cool quarter of a million dollars to their department if you MATCH there. That will grease the wheels SO much more than any academic pedigree ever could.

Big Hoss

 

[libertyyne]

As a dentist, I'm not too sure how I really ended up on this thread. But over on our side of the house, I've argued to take that $250,000 you saved by not going to an Ivy League school and tell the residency program of your choice you'll donate that cool quarter of a million dollars to their department if you MATCH there. That will grease the wheels SO much more than any academic pedigree ever could.

Big Hoss

That's interesting , who is going to lend a resident a quarter million unsecured? Unlike dentists we get paid in residency ,not the other way around.

 

[Big Time Hoosier]

That's interesting , who is going to lend a resident a quarter million unsecured? Unlike dentists we get paid in residency ,not the other way around.

I say that jokingly. Some dental residency programs have an annual COA pushing $100,000. I've come across a handful of orthodontists with more than $750,000 in student loans. I have no idea what they were thinking.

Big Hoss

 

[libertyyne]

I say that jokingly. Some dental residency programs have an annual COA pushing $100,000. I've come across a handful of orthodontists with more than $750,000 in student loans. I have no idea what they were thinking.

Big Hoss

I bet that there are people who would pay to get a residency spot in Ortho,plastics, derm etc. The acgme cleaned up the pay to play residencies over the past two decades though.it is kind of appalling that dentists have to pay and take out loans for residency.

 

[kb1900]

I bet that there are people who would pay to get a residency spot in Ortho,plastics, derm etc. The acgme cleaned up the pay to play residencies over the past two decades though.it is kind of appalling that dentists have to pay and take out loans for residency.

Yeah I didn’t even know that was a thing. Sounds absolutely insane

 

[Stagg737]

uhh yeah they do - much of the population understands at this point that caribbean grad means I bought a degree or I couldn't get in the other way. My school is a pretty new allopathic school and I am constantly asked if it is a DO school - so yeah it matters.

The vast majority of gen pop doesn't even know if the person treating them is an actual physician or an NP. They don't know the difference between a physician, a PA, or an NP, let alone the difference between MD, DO, or Carib MD. The idea of average people going to a physician based on where they went to med school is a remnant of old world thinking when prestige mattered more than actual knowledge and schools nationally didn't adhere to a minimal standard of who they accepted/graduated. Patients as a whole are also complete idiots when it comes to healthcare, which is something you'll find out on clinical rotations if you haven't done them yet. So expecting them to know anything about med schools other than "dur hur, Harvard good" is expecting too much of them.

 

[mistafab]

I love this world where a bunch of monkeys used to worry about being eaten or not being able to find food. Now, OP is feeling insecure about their spot at a medical school because it is not prestigious.

Up next: is my belt too long for my pants, and did it ruin my only shot at impressing my boss? Stay tuned.

 

[IslandStyle808]

Yeah I didn’t even know that was a thing. Sounds absolutely insane

There were DO derm residencies that were doing this until more recently.

 

[PreMedMissteps]

Late to this...

doesn't getting into a good residency depend on where I went to med school?

Yes and no. Maybe going to an unranked med school might hurt a bit for matching into top 10 residencies if research opportunities are more limited, but I have a close relative who went to a mid tier public med and she recently matched into a #1 program at MGH -competitive residency. Interviewed at most of the top 10 programs (MGH, BWH, UCSF, JHU. WUSTL, etc). Step scores, performance, etc, really matters. She had classmates that matched into Yale, JHU, UCLA, UCSF, WUSTL, etc.

I noticed on an MGH program's webpage a mention that they don't care what med school an applicant attended (altho probably US MD is probably expected).

 

[waterbottle10]

I was debating whether to post this but I am an incoming M1 who is feeling very insecure about the school I am going to. I applied hastily this cycle and made some mistakes that I feel limited me from a lot of the higher tier schools that I believe I could have gotten into.

As a result, I am going to a mid-tier school that most people outside of medicine have never heard of. I don't think it's a bad school, but seeing my classmates go to all these great schools makes me feel like crap and inferior. I know I should be grateful that I got in at all (and I am), but part of me wishes I hadn't gotten in anywhere so I could reapply next cycle.

I was wondering if any of you guys felt this way before you started and if that feeling eventually goes away.

Hahahahha oh medical students hahahaha.

Your school doesn't matter. I dont even know where half of my co residents went for medical school. If you really care, work hard and get into a good residency program.

 

[PreMedMissteps]

This isn't true. Where you go to undergrad definitely matters for private MD school admissions. It's mentioned in one of the AAMC surveys.

But I got the point that other things matter.

You may be drawing the line too high. If you're drawing it at top 20, then that line is too high. The line would likely be drawn at unknown directionals. Med schools aren't going to pooh pooh applicants from, say, Purdue, SCU, UMinn, Creighton or LMU