How to differentiate mid vs. low tier programs

[echod]

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I am having a lot of troubling deciding whether a program is low or mid tier. This question is important for me because I want to apply to enough safety programs.

How do you know whether a program is mid tier or low tier? By the number of FMGs or DOs? Some programs with high DOs or FMGs are in desirable locals like New York or California or Chicago, does that make them mid tier just because of location?

 

[countingdays]

I am having a lot of troubling deciding whether a program is low or mid tier. This question is important for me because I want to apply to enough safety programs.

How do you know whether a program is mid tier or low tier? By the number of FMGs or DOs? Some programs with high DOs or FMGs are in desirable locals like New York or California or Chicago, does that make them mid tier just because of location?

No. Some of the weakest programs by reputation are in NY.

 

[foodle]

Look at the quality of the current residents. Lots of FMG or DO students typically indicates a lower tier program. No offense meant to those reading that are FMGs or DOs 😉

You can also look at the size of the residency program or the size of the department (number of fellows/attendings/etc.).

 

[chessknt]

It depends on how you define lower tier. There are essentially name brands, a handful of abusive/bad programs nobody is going to name for you but you should be able to discern while interviewing, then everything else. There really isnt clear tiers in this world, only national, regional, and local names.

 

[Gern Blansten]

Look at the quality of the current residents. Lots of FMG or DO students typically indicates a lower tier program. No offense meant to those reading that are FMGs or DOs 😉

You can also look at the size of the residency program or the size of the department (number of fellows/attendings/etc.).

Difficult to paint with that broad of a brush. There are excellent DO candidates out there that are better than most MD candidates. There are some really bad DO candidates out there as well (just like there are bad MD candidates). You really have to look closer and examine the quality of the residents and not necessarily just the initials behind their names. There are many DO candidates that many PD's are clamoring to recruit.
I would agree that if half of the residents are DO or IMG's, it may indicate a problem. If there are 10% or so, it may mean that they have skimmed the cream of the crop DO's and IMG's.
In addition, IMG's all get lumped into one bucket, but it is an eclectic mix of people that you see lumped in there. It might be a Caribbean student who couldn't get into a US med school. It might be a surgeon who has fled here from another country for asylum due to political unrest. It might be someone who is a fully trained anesthesiologist who had to start over because they wanted to move to the US. There are some definite diamonds in there, but the risks/unknowns are a bit higher, IMHO.

 

[foodle]

Difficult to paint with that broad of a brush. There are excellent DO candidates out there that are better than most MD candidates. There are some really bad DO candidates out there as well (just like there are bad MD candidates). You really have to look closer and examine the quality of the residents and not necessarily just the initials behind their names. There are many DO candidates that many PD's are clamoring to recruit.
I would agree that if half of the residents are DO or IMG's, it may indicate a problem. If there are 10% or so, it may mean that they have skimmed the cream of the crop DO's and IMG's.
In addition, IMG's all get lumped into one bucket, but it is an eclectic mix of people that you see lumped in there. It might be a Caribbean student who couldn't get into a US med school. It might be a surgeon who has fled here from another country for asylum due to political unrest. It might be someone who is a fully trained anesthesiologist who had to start over because they wanted to move to the US. There are some definite diamonds in there, but the risks/unknowns are a bit higher, IMHO.

I absolutely agree with what you wrote. I did not mean to say that all FMGs or DOs were universally bad. There are some very good DO students, and some FMGs that were previously attendings in their home countries who are just trying to get licensed in the US. So obviously they are very very strong. However, if a residency program has a vast majority of DOs/FMGs, this is usually and indication that they have trouble attracting USMG candidates, and hence is likely a lower tier program.