How Important Are Second Look Days?

[Mooseforkicks]

I would like to go to 2 second look days, especially since I interviewed at both schools several months ago. However, for one school in particular, travel is very expensive.

After application season I’m struggling to finance additional travel costs. I realize choosing a school is an important decision, and spending extra money now to make a better decision could be a good investment. But before spending money I don’t really have, I wondered how important these days were to past applicants in making a decision?

Do you feel you get information you couldn’t have gotten otherwise (online, through communication with current students, etc.)? Does it truly make a difference/change people’s minds about where to attend?

TLDR: I’m struggling to come up with money for second look day. Are they worth the investment?

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[DokterMom]

They can be -- At interview day, you met a small group of prospective students who had not been accepted. At second look weekend, you will be meeting your future classmates (if you choose to attend) and can get a good start building friendships, potentially find a roommate, check out the local area for housing and entertainment options, and really, just get a much better 'feel' for the school and program. Having been accepted, you will also be able to have much more candid discussions with current students.

If going prevents a bad decision, then yes, it's absolutely worth it.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

I felt I learned a lot at my 2 second looks. One was a super rural program and it really opened our eyes to how little there was to do there compared to the urban program I ended up attending

 

[Tenk]

You should be basing your decision based on economics (tuition and cost of living), location, family and social situations, specialty availability, “prestige”, and maybe on curriculum but far less important. Basing such an important decision based on your feelings from one or two days on campus is both ridiculous and foolish. It’s the equivalent of investing $300,000 in a stock you have a “good feeling” about.

 

[SouthernGent]

You will no longer be in the survival mode of interview day and able to take in things more accurately. Also, the students will probably be more a little more honest about somethings. Go, and go with a critical mind. You are about to dump an amount of money that is three times the GDP/PC of Luxembourg. Make it count.

 

[965978]

You should be basing your decision based on economics (tuition and cost of living), location, family and social situations, specialty availability, “prestige”, and maybe on curriculum but far less important. Basing such an important decision based on your feelings from one or two days on campus is both ridiculous and foolish. It’s the equivalent of investing $300,000 in a stock you have a “good feeling” about.

I would say that tuition is the most important factor.

Location is important to some, but not all. Most med students are single and in their early to mid 20’s and don’t necessarily have a problem moving away from home. In fact, some find it exciting.

Prestige is also relatively important but depends on the extent. The difference in prestige between Emory and Rochester, for example, isn’t really significant enough to warrant not considering Rochester just because it’s 9 spots lower on US news.

So if all else is considered equal, I don’t think it’s necessarily wrong for someone to choose a school based on how they feel around campus, even if it means a few ranks down the US News ladder and a bit more tuition dollars.

 

[DrFortiusNatando]

I am not a big fan of second looks, because the whole point of them is to put on a show that will make the students want to go to said school. I do think that if you do not know the area of the country well, and did not get a chance to see it on your interview days, then it might make sense to get an idea of what there is to do there, etc. But you will meet too few faculty and too few current students to really get a sense of the school. And yes, there will be other potential classmates, but, depending on the school, many may actually end up somewhere else. It does help in terms of selecting who you might want to live with - if you get lucky enough to meet some chill people who actually end up choosing the same school. But I just do not think you will get a realistic sense of "feel" when you go to a second look - at least nothing I would trust as genuine. You will probably like MOST of the people at most medical schools to which you are accepted, and not like some others...

But the really important things, you can find out without going to the school. Money - what is your COA? What is the curriculum really like? Graded or pass/fail? How are the basic sciences taught? Prestige? Match lists for past few years? Step 1 scores? Research requirements? Simulation availability? These are all things you can find out without traveling across the country.

 

[DokterMom]

You should be basing your decision based on economics (tuition and cost of living), location, family and social situations, specialty availability, “prestige”, and maybe on curriculum but far less important. Basing such an important decision based on your feelings from one or two days on campus is both ridiculous and foolish. It’s the equivalent of investing $300,000 in a stock you have a “good feeling” about.

If there's a clear advantage to one school over the other based on these important objective factors, then I'd agree that a second look weekend is not needed. Then again, I'm assuming OP only asked because there isn't such a clear-cut choice.

Given that mental health issues are the leading cause of med student failure, I'd argue that a marginally better 'fit' would be worth a few thousand dollars a year and/or a few ranking slots.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

It’s the equivalent of investing $300,000 in a stock you have a “good feeling” about.

I agree with your post, but this actually isn't a great example since studies have shown that even the “best” traders perform little to no better than chance in predicting stock performance (at least long term).

 

[Lawpy]

I agree with your post, but this actually isn't a great example since studies have shown that even the “best” traders perform little to no better than chance in predicting stock performance (at least long term).

Seems pretty evident. Curious to know of short-term differences though.

You should be basing your decision based on economics (tuition and cost of living), location, family and social situations, specialty availability, “prestige”, and maybe on curriculum but far less important. Basing such an important decision based on your feelings from one or two days on campus is both ridiculous and foolish. It’s the equivalent of investing $300,000 in a stock you have a “good feeling” about.

This advice is key.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Seems pretty evident. Curious to know of short-term differences though.

Seems evident to everyone except most of the traders. They generally think they have some special skills that allow them to perform better than the average person despite all evidence that actually an average person who picks a stock and just lets it ride does better lol.

In the very short term, iirc they do better than average, but it rapidly returns to no better than chance.

 

[Tenk]

I agree with your post, but this actually isn't a great example since studies have shown that even the “best” traders perform little to no better than chance in predicting stock performance (at least long term).

That is 100% not true. The best traders are the ones who diversify or invest in an index fund and hold and never lose long term instead of investing in one single stock (as in my example) but that is completely off topic and I’m not going to argue stocks on this thread.

 

[Pharaoh95]

Well, this all makes me feel a lot better about skipping second look days to go to Ultra Music Festival

 

[MCATISEZ]

You should be basing your decision based on economics (tuition and cost of living), location, family and social situations, specialty availability, “prestige”, and maybe on curriculum but far less important. Basing such an important decision based on your feelings from one or two days on campus is both ridiculous and foolish. It’s the equivalent of investing $300,000 in a stock you have a “good feeling” about.

I feel like $300,000 is a bit an exaggeration. $75k a year would be the most expensive programs. That being said I agree with you and that is how I made my decision.

Factors such as economics, location, family/social situations etc. you will know without going to Second Look events. I went to my second looks but pretty much had my mind made up because of the aforementioned factors - so it didn't make a huge difference and I did not change my mind. I found many on my second view trail that had their mind made up and felt the same way.

If you have your mind made up (using rationally sound decisions like Tenk mentioned) to go to School A, I wouldn't cause financial distress going to School B's second look in hopes you may find something that will make you change your mind. It likely won't happen.

On the contrary, I would recommend you go to School A's second look if you can. You never know what you may learn and visiting the school you are planning on spending hundreds of thousands on and four formative years of the start of your career should not be a big deal. Plus it may behoove you to start looking at living arrangements etc. when you are in the city.

Good luck and congratz on getting into medical school!

 

[sophop]

Yes! Congratulations on having a choice! For me, going to second looks was worth another couple of hundred dollars on top on whatever this whole thing is going to cost me. I did basically narrow my choices to 2 "analytically" (cost, prestige, curriculum, etc.), and used second look to see if my better-than-expected interview experience at one and worse-than-expected experience at another were just flukes. They weren't, and QOL/mental health being a real thing, I went with the school where I felt a better fit and the second looks were essential in helping me figure that out.