How would you rank Pennsylvania schools?

[dizzyorange]

How would you guys rank the Pennsylvania schools? I don't mean by prestige or anything, but just what order you would prefer them if you were accepted by all the schools.

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[MrWizard]

I interviewed at both Jefferson and Drexel this year. I would put Jefferson above Drexel and from what I have heard Temple bellow both of those. Penn obviously has the best academic reputation but I have no personal experience with the school. I here a lot of the Penn State students like it there.

I think with the PA schools like most med schools it just depends on what you individually are looking for.

 

[dizzyorange]

I interviewed at both Jefferson and Drexel this year. I would put Jefferson above Drexel and from what I have heard Temple bellow both of those. Penn obviously has the best academic reputation but I have no personal experience with the school. I here a lot of the Penn State students like it there.

I think with the PA schools like most med schools it just depends on what you individually are looking for.

I interviewed at Drexel and thought it was a pretty neat place with some nice people and good surgery rotations in Philly. Still waiting to hear from Jefferson and Penn (expecting rejection), was rejected by Pitt.

I'm asking because I'm having trouble deciding whether to go to my Penn State interview or not. It would be quite a road trip for me, and I'm fairly happy going to NJMS. I've scoured the website, written emails, but mostly haven't been able to get anything except the standard advertising copy.

What do you people who have interviewed at Penn State, or live in PA, think? Do you think it's a significantly better school than the UMDNJ schools, or a place like Rochester or Einstein? I know it's dependent on what each person wants, I'm looking for a friendly atmosphere, a publishing-oriented research environment, and as much observational surgery experience as possible.

 

[87138]

PENN
JEFF/PSU (BASED ON WHETHER YOU PREFER RURAL/URBAN)
DREXEL
TEMPLE
PCOM
LECOM


Sorry, that doesn't help much. A lot are tough calls.

 

[dizzyorange]

PENN
JEFF/PSU (BASED ON WHETHER YOU PREFER RURAL/URBAN)
DREXEL
TEMPLE
PCOM
LECOM


Sorry, that doesn't help much. A lot are tough calls.

That is kind of helpful actually.

 

[DrBowtie]

PENN
JEFF/PSU (BASED ON WHETHER YOU PREFER RURAL/URBAN)
DREXEL
TEMPLE
PCOM
LECOM


Sorry, that doesn't help much. A lot are tough calls.

I'd agree, adding Pitt after Penn

 

[Jolie South]

I personally prefer Temple to Jeff.

 

[TrojanMatt]

PENN
JEFF/PSU (BASED ON WHETHER YOU PREFER RURAL/URBAN)
DREXEL
TEMPLE
PCOM
LECOM


Sorry, that doesn't help much. A lot are tough calls.

What about Pitt?

 

[annndyr]

Pitt
UPenn
Penn State
Temple
Jefferson


Penn State is a nice school, although it sits out in the middle of nowhere. Consider the type of academic and clinical environment you'd appreciate more during your clinical years.

Also, I'm scared of UMDNJ (Newark... )

 

[Bacchus]

Penn
Pitt
Jeff
Drexel/PCOM (just slightly above)
Temple
PSU
LECOM

 

[Lshapley]

Penn
Pitt
Penn State
Drexel=Temple=Jefferson=PCOM
LECOM

That is how I see it. I feel that you could make an argument for any of the Philly schools, besides Penn, being better than the others. Actually, people at the other philly schools often claim they have better clinical skills than Penn grads because of the heavy research focus there!

Anyways, Penn State is a great school if you are into rural medicine. It also has superior research facilities/funding to any of the Philly schools, as far as I know (except Penn, feel free to argue here though).

Drexel has perhaps the best pre-clinical years with a great location in a peaceful area (relative to the other schools). Temple has great clinical exposure at their hospital, equal to what is seen at Penn. Jefferson is known for their orthopedics program, they also have an integrative medicine department if you are into that. PCOM is the best osteopathic school (arguably) in the country and I could certainly see someone choosing it over Temple, Drexel, or Jefferson.

I don't know much about LECOM, just following other poster's leads...and the fact that it is in Erie

 

[Law2Doc]

How would you guys rank the Pennsylvania schools? I don't mean by prestige or anything, but just what order you would prefer them if you were accepted by all the schools.

I would list

Penn
Pitt
Jeff
Penn State
Drexel
Temple

If you are pre-allo that is the whole list of PA schools. Bear in mind that NJ and Baltimore are not that far from Philly, and Cleveland is fairly close to Pittsburgh so that is where I would expand to next, if I had that geographical focus.

 

[majik1213]

uPenn
uPitt
Jefferson
Temple
PSU
Drexel

I just think PSU has got it going on.
Following PleaseBelieveit's suggestion, I would say s/he made a fairly valid point on equating much of these schools, especially concerning Temple .. I hear Temple is a great school (even though it was the only US mainland school ever to receive probation), but it's location is such that it's attractiveness suffers. For instance, my father told me of a medical student who went across the street last May to get ice cream. Someone pistol-whipped this student in broad daylight.

 

[PleaseBelieveit]

uPenn
uPitt
Jefferson
Temple
PSU
Drexel

I did my undergrad in Philly and I think that most people would agree with that list....Although I think you could easily say:

Upenn
Jefferson=UPitt (not from around Pitt, but Jeff gets A LOT of respect in philly)
Drexel=PSU=Temple

 

[Law2Doc]

I did my undergrad in Philly and I think that most people would agree with that list....Although I think you could easily say:

Upenn
Jefferson=UPitt (not from around Pitt, but Jeff gets A LOT of respect in philly)
Drexel=PSU=Temple

Outside of Philly, Pitt is regarded as fairly top notch, but Jefferson is a relatively unknown commodity (particularly to folks outside of the profession), so unless you were absolutely sure you wanted to stay in Philly forever you might get more mileage out of the Pitt name. Plus it looks better on sweatshirts.

 

[Textuality]

I don't know. I would definitely put UPitt above Jefferson. I actually canceled both my Drexel and Jeff interviews after my UPitt acceptance.

But I suppose I'm biased because I have a weird affinity for the city of Pittsburgh, and the UPMC umbrella is ridiculous. I also just get a "we care" vibe from UPitt.

My personal rankings would be :

Penn
UPitt
Jefferson
Drexel
PSU

and I know nothing really about Temple so I can't really rank it well.

 

[87138]

I'd agree, adding Pitt after Penn

Whoops. I'm high on pain meds, I'm lucky I remembered those other ones.

I'd actually put Pitt above Penn, but that's just for personal reasons.

 

[smq123]

I interviewed at Drexel and thought it was a pretty neat place with some nice people and good surgery rotations in Philly. Still waiting to hear from Jefferson and Penn (expecting rejection), was rejected by Pitt.

I'm asking because I'm having trouble deciding whether to go to my Penn State interview or not. It would be quite a road trip for me, and I'm fairly happy going to NJMS. I've scoured the website, written emails, but mostly haven't been able to get anything except the standard advertising copy.

What do you people who have interviewed at Penn State, or live in PA, think? Do you think it's a significantly better school than the UMDNJ schools, or a place like Rochester or Einstein? I know it's dependent on what each person wants, I'm looking for a friendly atmosphere, a publishing-oriented research environment, and as much observational surgery experience as possible.

Oh. You're specifically asking about PSU?

PSU is a good school, although I'm (personally) not crazy about its rural/suburban location.

Your best bet is looking through the old "PSU class of 2010/2011" threads in the allopathic forum. They will talk more about the school and what it has to offer. I don't think that it's necessarily any better than UMDNJ-NJMS, and probably will not open any more doors for you. I've heard that they're very friendly there, but I wasn't impressed by what resources were available to students (at the time that I was applying, they didn't offer recordings of the lectures or pre-printed lecture notes. That was kind of a for me, although it might have changed since then.) You can do research anywhere, but out of all the PA schools, PSU isn't among those known for its highly academic research atmosphere.

Hope this helps somewhat.

 

[87138]

You can do research anywhere, but out of all the PA schools, PSU isn't among those known for its highly academic research atmosphere.

Hope this helps somewhat.

Weird, I was under the impression that it kinda was. Maybe that's just because research is required during your 4 years there in order to graduate.

 

[UVABranch]

I think it depends on the type of clinical exposure (yrs 3-4) you're looking to have. PSU is in hershey and as I understand has more genetic diseases, rural-esque trauma. But Temple (and I presume Jeff and Drexel) have more of the urban trauma, and problems affecting a wider varitey of patients (because the area is more diverse). I don't know anything about Pitt, but I'm from Philly, so that's that. But I also think NJMS is a really good school, for the same reasons as Temple (but that's because of my personal interest in urban areas). NJMS is close to NY, so that's good if you're interested in that, but more costly than Philly. If your support system is in Philly that's another consideration...and speaking of that cost might be a factor. Jeff is tres expensive, as is temple. PSU is better cost wise, but it's pretty easy to get in state tuition in NJ if you're not from there by the time you matric. Really I would create a few core things your looking for and rank those things, see where each school falls in terrms of rankings within each category, and whichever has the most closest to the top is the one to go with! G'luck

 

[werd]

interviewed at all but psu....

pitt
jefferson
u. penn
psu
drexel
temple

that's how i would rank them. almost went to pitt.

 

[majik1213]

I did my undergrad in Philly and I think that most people would agree with that list....Although I think you could easily say:

Upenn
Jefferson=UPitt (not from around Pitt, but Jeff gets A LOT of respect in philly)
Drexel=PSU=Temple

agreed

 

[thebeatblitz]

Penn
Pitt
Jeff = Drexel = Temple = PSU = NJMS

My experiences/observations from last year:

Penn: You don't really need much here.

Pitt: The city of Pittsburgh is actually really nice, which surprised me. Nice hospital, great staff vibe, I just didn't like the campus.

Jeff/Drexel/Temple: Jeff is center city, Drexel is suburbia, Temple is North Philly. Of these 3, Drexel was least impressive to me. Staff was nonchalant, Director of Admissions seemed bored and hurried, and I didn't like the idea of being so separated from everything. My student interviewer said nobody in the class really hangs out together at all since you find a roommate for off-campus housing early on and just go with it, which is the exact opposite of what I wanted (and got). I also don't like Tenet management. I got the feeling that the ILM (or whatever their block courses are called) kids had some kind of feud going with the PBL kids since they kept ragging on each other in a non-happy/sarcastic manner.

I actually liked Temple alot and housing isn't really an issue since no one actually lives in N. Philly, but I liked the idea of spending most of my time in CC rather than commuting in and out of N. Philly.

PSU: PSU is out in the boonies. If you prefer a subdued, rural atmosphere, then this is definitely the school for you. You will probably wither away if you're a city slicker. Facilities are great, nice people too.

NJMS: Honestly, NJMS's facilities are kind of dumpy. They did just get new student housing recently, but Newark isn't so hot. You are relatively close to NYC though. Teachers are nice; my most fun interview was here.

I don't know much about PCOM, other than it's a top-notch osteopathic school.

 

[pedro4199]

1. Penn
2. Pitt
3. All others

 

[Lshapley]

1. Penn
2. Pitt
3. All others

Yep. After Penn and Pitt, you can make all sorts of arguments why one school should be ranked higher than another. It is a matter of personal preference and what is a good fit at that point.

 

[mmmcat]

1. University of Pennsylvania
2. University of Pittsburgh
3. Jefferson Medical College
4. Pennsylvania State University
5. Drexel
6. Temple

 

[1956Goldtop]

Penn
Pitt
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
PSU

 

[SoxPatriots]

interviewed at all but psu....

pitt
jefferson
u. penn
psu
drexel
temple

that's how i would rank them. almost went to pitt.

Jefferson above Penn is absurd . . .

 

[87138]

Jefferson above Penn is absurd . . .

Each person has their own preferences. That's what this thread is about, not how they rank in regards to perceived prestige. Maybe that person has a particular reason for really liking Jeff, or disliking Penn.

 

[dizzyorange]

Your best bet is looking through the old "PSU class of 2010/2011" threads in the allopathic forum. They will talk more about the school and what it has to offer.

That's good advice. And thanks for all the replies. I've decided to go to the interview. A rural location is appealing to me, especially if it ends up being an Ithaca-"type" location.

 

[MDMAMA]

Penn
Pitt
Penn State
Jefferson
Temple
Drexel

 

[dth92]

Penn
Pitt
Jefferson
Penn State
Temple
Drexel

 

[Lshapley]

I am redoing my rankings...Temple is definitely the worst school in PA.














this has nothing to do with the rejection they just sent me, I swear.

 

[87138]

I am redoing my rankings...Temple is definitely the worst school in PA.












this has nothing to do with the rejection they just sent me, I sware.

Damn man, sorry to hear that. Hopefully Drexel pulls through for you (assuming you'd like to stay in Philly).

 

[Lshapley]

I also have an interview tomorrow at PCOM, which rotates at pretty much everywhere that Drexel does. But honestly, after going to high school a stone's throw from Temple, I don't mind not facing another four years of school in North Philly

 

[majik1213]

good luck at your interview!

 

[87138]

Good luck!

 

[Anka]

Penn
Pitt
Jeff or Penn State
Temple
Drexel/DO schools

 

[Lshapley]

Thx Majik and Rogerwilco!

 

[Cataract]

I interviewed at Jeff and PSU. I spent a summer research program at UPMC.
I know nothing about UPenn, but it can't beat the UPMC powerhouse. Here's my version.

And give PSU some credit: It's in the middle of nowhere, but the quality of life there is great, cheap housing (including on campus) and it is by far the friendliest campus I know of.

UPitt
UPenn
Jefferson
PSU
Temple
Drexel

 

[wutwinb]

i'll chime in i guess. i interviewed at 4/6 of the PA schools.

1.Pitt = UPenn. I didn't see anything during my Upenn interview that would make me think the school is significantly better than Pitt...both schools offer amazing opportunities to the students.
2. PSU, seemed to have a lot of great things going for it in terms of curriculum and overall happiness of students. i didn't like the location though.
3. Drexel = Jefferson (didn't interview at either of these place, but i think the schools are similar based on researching their websites/talking to students.
4. Temple- really wasn't feeling the school at all (curriculum, location, facilities), just my personal preference though.

 

[1956Goldtop]

I agree with you actually. I think Pitt gets downplayed because of the location, but after visiting Pittsburgh, I was pretty impressed. The cost of living is cheap, and it is a wonderful young-adult city.

 

[dr midnight]

I interviewed at Jeff and PSU. I spent a summer research program at UPMC.
I know nothing about UPenn, but it can't beat the UPMC powerhouse. Here's my version.

And give PSU some credit: It's in the middle of nowhere, but the quality of life there is great, cheap housing (including on campus) and it is by far the friendliest campus I know of.

UPitt
UPenn
Jefferson
PSU
Temple
Drexel

Each school has something to offer. they each a different style of teaching.. what are you looking for?
Drexel is the most expensive has 2 different programs Pil and?? .

Temple is in a bad part of town are high in Clinical and trauma. They have a new school to open 2009 3rd and 4 year at 1 of 15 hospitals state wide.

Jefferson has a great hospital and is city center large class 255 very well respected,

Psu Is nice more rural more research cost of living is cheap.

UPenn large school good rep.

UPitt highly respected friendly

you can't go wrong the are all good school. it just depends what your looking for and how you learn. good luck

 

[iluvpuppies]

I agree with you actually. I think Pitt gets downplayed because of the location, but after visiting Pittsburgh, I was pretty impressed. The cost of living is cheap, and it is a wonderful young-adult city.

i have to agree about pittsburgh. its a really fantastic city. there is a lot of arts and culture there and the ppl are genuinely kind and friendly

 

[GalaxySystem]

I consider Pittsburgh Med School the best of the med schools in PA. Yes, even over UPenn. Pitt's hands-on clinical training for 3rd and 4th yr students can't be beat. Pitt also offers Area of Concentrations... look into this. Simply amazing training.