How do you know if a school is well known for a specific specialty?

[wiki23]

So I've been reading that X school has an awesome reputation in Emergency Medicine and Y school is awesome in Derm. How do I find out what schools are awesome in?

Specifically, Pitt, UCSF, Vanderbilt, Madison and MCW.

Thanks!

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[Ashers]

I've heard MCW's good for peds and anesthesia.

I've heard we have a really good children's hospital. When my dad told people at home I was going to MCW, an anesthesiologist said they had amazing research coming out of here. The anesthesia research dept is good and big. I haven't don't any rotations yet, and I'm not interested in either peds or anes, so I can't comment more.

Personally, I'm fond of the orthopaedic department.

In the first two years, the curriculum emphasizes psych and primary care. That sucks because I don't like psych. BUT it's not like the school has a goal to produce doctors to go into primary care, like my home state school does.

 

[Law2Doc]

So I've been reading that X school has an awesome reputation in Emergency Medicine and Y school is awesome in Derm. How do I find out what schools are awesome in?

Specifically, Pitt, UCSF, Vanderbilt, Madison and MCW.

Thanks!

It's pretty difficult, for the same reason that reading match lists is difficult. Which programs are good versus malignant in various specialties tend to be very much word of mouth, so unless you have a mentor in the specialty you are interested in, you aren't going to get the inside scoop. You can probably track down where certain big name players are, if you know them, or see which places are doing newsworthy procedures, or the most transplants, or publishing in the big journals. But I probably wouldn't waste the time to do this as a premed.

 

[JackofAllTrades]

So I've been reading that X school has an awesome reputation in Emergency Medicine and Y school is awesome in Derm. How do I find out what schools are awesome in?

Specifically, Pitt, UCSF, Vanderbilt, Madison and MCW.

Thanks!

Pitt/Vandy big in ortho. Pitt also big in all things surgery, n.surgery, ob/gyn and peds.
UCSF big in A LOT of things. most notable internal medicine and neurosurgery.
Sorry don't know much about Madison or MCW.
*I should say that I'm pre-med and I only have this info from talking to people in med school and perusing these forums (residency forums). Also, my excluding departments at these schools is done out of not knowing more.

 

[Law2Doc]

Pitt/Vandy big in ortho. Pitt also big in all things surgery, n.surgery, ob/gyn and peds.
UCSF big in A LOT of things. most notable internal medicine and neurosurgery.
Sorry don't know much about Madison or MCW.
*I should say that I'm pre-med and I only have this info from talking to people in med school and perusing these forums (residency forums). Also, my excluding departments at these schools is done out of not knowing more.

Also bear in mind that these things don't stay stagnant. Some of the schools mentioned have had very prominent folks poached away from them by other schools in recent years.

Additionally, you won't know what specialty you actually want until later in the game if you are like most people. The typical med student will change their mind about specialty AT LEAST once. So why worry what school is good at eg ophtho if you ultimately are going to want rads.

 

[AnEyeLikeMars]

Pitt/Vandy big in ortho. Pitt also big in all things surgery, n.surgery, ob/gyn and peds.
UCSF big in A LOT of things. most notable internal medicine and neurosurgery.
Sorry don't know much about Madison or MCW.
*I should say that I'm pre-med and I only have this info from talking to people in med school and perusing these forums (residency forums). Also, my excluding departments at these schools is done out of not knowing more.

Pitt is also huge in psychiatry

 

[pagemmapants]

Best way to find out: ask the residents in the department you're interested in. Say you like Ortho; go get yourself an unhappy triad, then ask whomever comes in to poke at you what schools are best for ortho.

 

[Meeher]

I agree that you have to ask around. I've heard from Second Look that Vandy is well-known in transplant surgery (as is Pitt), radiation oncology, and pediatrics and that Pitt/Vandy are pretty good in internal medicine in general.

 

[Beckie1022]

Keep in mind that the place that is best going to prepare you for a residency (be somewhere you're happy, prepare you for USMLE, etc.) is not necessarily going to be a place where you want to do your residency (regardless of the specialty you are interested in, which will probably change during school). Also, you can do off-site electives during your fourth year. I would say don't let a place's residency reputation factor too much into your decision to go there for medical school. Look at board scores, clinical versus research preparation, and maybe the match list (as well as cost and location, if those are major factors for you).

Good luck!