How do you choose a med school?

[3toedsloth]

When I submitted my application, I expected it would be sort of like the Hogwarts Sorting Hat.... apply to many schools, maybe go to a few interviews, get accepted to one school, and end up going there.

But I've been pretty blessed to get multiple acceptances. How do you decide where to go? This opportunity (amazingly good problem) has come as a complete surprise, and I am very grateful to have to think about this topic.

After reading through some old threads, including some X vs. Y school threads, what seems important (more or less from most important to least.....) is:

- tuition/scholarships/cost of living
- location (weather, proximity to home, feelings about the location)
- USNWR ranking
- quality of affiliations for clinical years
- true P/F > ranked P/F >grades
- gut feeling
- class size. Not sure if smaller or bigger is better??
- curriculum. But it's hard to make a call here, as one may prefer group versus lecture but actually learn better in the other way.... very hard to really know my own learning style.
- impression of students from interview day
- school mission

Is there anything else I'm missing that should be considered?? Are there factors listed here that in your opinion are not important (id like to hear why, too, of course)? I'd appreciate your thoughts and feedback.

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[chaim123]

#humblebrag

 

[KdotLB]

.

 

[begoood95]

Put 'em all up on a dart board, train my dog to throw darts, and let Fido decide because Fido always has my best interest in mind

 

[Disciple of Sattar]

1. Decide what is most important to you in a school
2. Pick the school that best fits those criteria
3.????????
4. Profit

 

[texmex11]

I think an important step (that I am immensely struggling to do) is taking those factors and ranking them in order of importance. E.g., a school is in the ideal location and your gut feeling is to go there, but its USNWR ranking is low--what's more/least important? Location, gut feeling, ranking? I don't have the answer, but prioritization is the way I'm starting to try and think about it and then seeing which schools check more high priority boxes.

Best of luck and congrats!

 

[PreMedTexan]

I suggest you go where you will be the happiest. What environment did you like the most? What student body could you best see yourself being a part of? You are going to be learning the same curriculum wherever you go so it is important that you be happy for the next rough 4+ years of your life. Sometimes the intangibles are more important than the hard data. Go where it feels right.

 

[Freeinfinity]

I chose my med school based on cost first. Regretted that decision. If I had to do it again, I would rate the culture as highest priority. Ask yourself "Does this place feel like home?" If it's a place where you say to yourself "I may have to make some major adjustments," then you might want to reconsider unless the cost of attendance is super different.

 

[CloverBale]

Is the medical school near a Whole Foods?

 

[KdotLB]

Is the medical school near a Whole Foods?

That would increase cost of attendance


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[KdotLB]

.

 

[Goro]

Research opportunities?
Is lecture attendance required? If so, this should be a big turn off.
Do the Faculty actually teach useful stuff? Or about their research?
What do the current students say about the school?

When I submitted my application, I expected it would be sort of like the Hogwarts Sorting Hat.... apply to many schools, maybe go to a few interviews, get accepted to one school, and end up going there.

But I've been pretty blessed to get multiple acceptances. How do you decide where to go? This opportunity (amazingly good problem) has come as a complete surprise, and I am very grateful to have to think about this topic.

After reading through some old threads, including some X vs. Y school threads, what seems important (more or less from most important to least.....) is:

- tuition/scholarships/cost of living
- location (weather, proximity to home, feelings about the location)
- USNWR ranking
- quality of affiliations for clinical years
- true P/F > ranked P/F >grades
- gut feeling
- class size. Not sure if smaller or bigger is better??
- curriculum. But it's hard to make a call here, as one may prefer group versus lecture but actually learn better in the other way.... very hard to really know my own learning style.
- impression of students from interview day
- school mission

Is there anything else I'm missing that should be considered?? Are there factors listed here that in your opinion are not important (id like to hear why, too, of course)? I'd appreciate your thoughts and feedback.

 

[longhaul3]

The things that I realized were the most valuable about my school once I became a student there:

• Quality of the associated hospital—determines the variety and volume of cases you will see and, most importantly, the quality of the residents who will teach you. You will learn the same pre-clinical stuff everywhere, but pre-clinical students often don't understand how important residents are to your clinical education.
• Pass/fail—loved it, highly recommended.
• No required lecture and not many required sessions overall. To me it meant a lot that my school understood that my time is valuable.

Lastly, the mantra here is not to read into match lists, but if you have an idea of what you want to go into and one of the schools you're considering sends a lot of people into that field every year, don't discount that. This is most appropriately considered in a broad context, e.g. school X turns out a lot of surgeons and you're interested in surgery. (When this doesn't work is when you decide you're going to be a dermatologist so you'll just go to the school that sends the most grads into derm. For individual highly competitive specialties it's more about you than the school.)

 

[Freeinfinity]

Not to hijack a thread, but this is exactly what I’m going through contemplating! What debt differential is considered “super different?” I know this is subjective. I don’t want to necessarily start limiting my specialty options by going to the more expensive school but on the other hand that school is basically in my backyard AND is where I feel I fit better AND is slightly higher ranked


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For me, it was projected as a difference of 30 to 40k in total, but in the end the school I attended eventually had the cost of attendance turn out to be pretty similar to the other school I chose not to attend. So...even the estimates were unreliable.

 

[bananafish94]

Oh cool a question I have some experience with, maybe I can help.

I've been pretty blessed to get multiple acceptances.

Nevermind

 

[deleted804295]

1. Decide what is most important to you in a school
2. Pick the school that best fits those criteria
3.????????
4. Profit

I live for all your posts. My beautiful spirit animal.

 

[21Rush12]

If none of the above works, try holding a seance.

 

[calivianya]

Location is probably the biggest factor, IMO. There are some places I'd really like to live and some places you'd have to drag me kicking and screaming and I'd hate it all four years.

You have to live, not just go to school. You need to make sure you will be happy in that city. I would pick what I saw as the top most desirable locations to live in, and then pick from the schools in those locations, probably next by quality of the affiliated hospitals.

 

[LizzyM]

Figure that medical school lasts about 1450 days (yes, this includes vacations, etc -- use your own denominator if you don't like this one). Take the cost difference over four years, double it if you will be borrowing to cover that additional cost, and divide by 1450. Then ask yourself, is this school worth an extra $x per day? A 30K difference works out to $20/day.

 

[TeddyBears]

That would increase cost of attendance



Too funny.