Intense vs. Less intense med schools?

[user123456]

Hey everyone,
I am thinking about which schools to apply to and was wondering which are viewed as more rigorous or less rigorous than others. Of course, all med schools are intense and it's hard to categorize so many schools in just two categories, but I guess I am wondering more about the relative reputations of schools in that regard. I went to a really intense high school and undergrad, so I'd love to attend a med school that is still a good school but not cut-throat intense. (I've used the search function but seems to be from a while back and not that detailed.)

Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks!
So far...
More intense: Johns Hopkins, UCSD
Less intense: Yale, Stanford

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[crazycooljoel]

Hey everyone,
I am thinking about which schools to apply to and was wondering which are viewed as more rigorous or less rigorous than others. Of course, all med schools are intense and it's hard to categorize so many schools in just two categories, but I guess I am wondering more about the relative reputations of schools in that regard. I went to a really intense high school and undergrad, so I'd love to attend a med school that is still a good school but not cut-throat intense. (I've used the search function but seems to be from a while back and not that detailed.)

Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks!
So far...
More intense: Johns Hopkins, UCSD
Less intense: Yale, Stanford

Well to start they all have to teach enough for you to pass the board exams to be board certified to practice medicine. So they are all relatively similar. I wouldn't classify as one being more or less rigorous, some of it depends on whether it is a research school or not, where the 3rd and 4th year do their clinical rotations, etcetera. In general it is the first and second year of medical school that is mostly study, which is where you learn the base of your medical knowledge. Also, where you apply for residency depends as well. If you do your residency at a major trauma center, that will be more rigorous than a residency in a rural area hospital.

 

[texahn]

i think intensity might be up to the individual

 

[petyr_baelish]

^^Yep, and if it's up to the individual, what individual has been to two medical schools and can compare them?

 

[nabeel76]

How did you determine that Johns Hopkins and UCSD is more intense than Yale and Stanford?

Coincidentally, I think Yale and Stanford happen to be the only two schools that I know of that require a thesis based on original research to be conducted during your 4 years (or a optional tuition free 5th year) on top of the traditional med school curriculum, which would make it seem to be more intense if anything.

 

[bonsaipalmtree]

You can use certain factors to judge the intensity of a school; a few that come to mind: grading system, block vs concurrent schedule, tuition and cost of living (I know I stress over my high tuition occasionally), administration and its receptivity to student input, what students say at the interview, etc.

Really though, experience tells me that it's the student's personality and approach to the workload that determines how intense his or her experience will be. Every school has gunners, people who are cruising, and people who are having a really hard time with the workload.

 

[donttazemebro]

easiest way to see how intense a school is, check the msar data to see what kinda students go there.

Wash U with its entering class average of 3.8 gpa, 38 mcat will be intense. Just getting a class ranking at 50th percentile will be dead hard compared to getting a 50th percentile class rank at wayne state.

 

[cowme]

From what I've seen from friends at other schools, the less prestigious schools tend to be far more intense than the highly ranked ones. Take Drexel vs Penn as an example. At penn, in almost every class/rotation, every student can get honors if they pass a cut-off (say, 90% overall). At Drexel, many classes are bell curves, with the top 10 or so percent getting honors. This leads to a very gunnerish atmosphere, staying in to study many weekends, working longer hours and more stress.

At places like Harvard, Penn, UCLA, yale, Stanford, it is a "compete with yourself" atmosphere while bell curve schools are "compete with your classmates". Hopkins may be an exception. That place seems mad intense

 

[cowme]

easiest way to see how intense a school is, check the msar data to see what kinda students go there.

Wash U with its entering class average of 3.8 gpa, 38 mcat will be intense. Just getting a class ranking at 50th percentile will be dead hard compared to getting a 50th percentile class rank at wayne state.

While the ranking thing may be true, it doesn't matter at all. Residency directors obviously know medical school reputations. For instance, while a top residency program may only interview a top 5%lie kid from Wayne, they are willing to look at a top 50th percentile kid from washU.

Best way is to see how happy the med students are. If they are in an intense environment like Hopkins, it will show.
Not that this correlates with intensity, but if you are worried about "needing to be the best" at a place like washU, look at their match list then look at waynes

 

[MossPoh]

As stated above, intensity is determined by the individual. I consider my school "less intense" in that we are primary care oriented and spend lots of time on softer skills. Regardless of that, EVERYONE here was intense at first. We all cranked out crazy time. As stuff progressed and people started to define what was important to them, the intensity dropped as a whole. I consider myself one of the more "intense" people in my class. Most people are doing trips and what not for spring break and I'm doing board and class prep.

I invest lots of time into learning. Not just for class materials, but review and self-interest. I am often exhausted and sacrificing quite a bit of happiness now for my end goals. I also have friends that do well (but not great) and invest much less time than me. They go and do little trips, party, etc. It really is just up to the person....I'm too neurotic to let myself take it easy now.

 

[WingedOx]

From what I've seen from friends at other schools, the less prestigious schools tend to be far more intense than the highly ranked ones. Take Drexel vs Penn as an example. At penn, in almost every class/rotation, every student can get honors if they pass a cut-off (say, 90% overall). At Drexel, many classes are bell curves, with the top 10 or so percent getting honors. This leads to a very gunnerish atmosphere, staying in to study many weekends, working longer hours and more stress.

At places like Harvard, Penn, UCLA, yale, Stanford, it is a "compete with yourself" atmosphere while bell curve schools are "compete with your classmates". Hopkins may be an exception. That place seems mad intense

there's also the Wayne State system where everyone is ranked 1-300 after every test. When applying that system seemed unnecessarily brutal, but in hindsight the entire purpose of getting honors, etc, is to improve your rank, and at least that system ranks you based on your score and not some arbitrary cutoff. As someone who was nearly always above the class average but below the honors line, I'd have loved a z-score based system. People are going to be gunnerish dicks no matter what system is in place IMHO.

Also my dean once mentioned that UPenn's clinical years are Pass/Fail. Anyone on here know if that's actually true? THAT would have made a bigger difference than anything in the first two years. Not having to compete for who can be the most insufferable kissass would have caused a LOT less stress in the 3rd year (which I actually thought was the most stressful year of all 4 years of school.)

 

[bomgd3]

I interviewed at Wash U and thought the kids were all really relaxed and happy. I go to UConn, and I think state schools would probably be more relaxed too, since many have a focus on primary care.

 

[cowme]

there's also the Wayne State system where everyone is ranked 1-300 after every test. When applying that system seemed unnecessarily brutal, but in hindsight the entire purpose of getting honors, etc, is to improve your rank, and at least that system ranks you based on your score and not some arbitrary cutoff. As someone who was nearly always above the class average but below the honors line, I'd have loved a z-score based system. People are going to be gunnerish dicks no matter what system is in place IMHO.

Also my dean once mentioned that UPenn's clinical years are Pass/Fail. Anyone on here know if that's actually true? THAT would have made a bigger difference than anything in the first two years. Not having to compete for who can be the most insufferable kissass would have caused a LOT less stress in the 3rd year (which I actually thought was the most stressful year of all 4 years of school.)

Penn is P/F for 6 months, H/P/F for the next yea, then H/HP/P/LP/F for clinical year. But, for most rotations, everybody can theoretically honor if they do well enough on the shelf exam. In reality, about 40-50% honor most rotations (an absurdly high proportion).

 

[mvenus929]

Look for a school with a true P/F system for at least the pre-clerkship years. You won't get as much competition if you aren't competing with your classmates to get Honors or whatever.

Also, check out the social lives of the students. If they hardly get out in general, it's probably a pretty intense program.

 

[user123456]

Oh it was just what i read from past threads- i have no basis for it myself

 

[user123456]

How did you determine that Johns Hopkins and UCSD is more intense than Yale and Stanford?

Oh it was info from previous threads- i have no idea myself