Is going to a medical school that hasn't produced a graduating class yet viable?

[Psyched*Out]

I'm far from applying to medical school, but there is a medical school opening in 2025 called the Alice Walton School of Medicine and it happens to be within an hour radius of me and offers free tuition for its first 4 classes. My question is, if you are given the chance of another MD school or AWSOM, is the lack of match data, ranking, and reputation a large issue that would make it a last resort type of school?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[GoSpursGo]

It's a deeply personal decision and depends on your values and career goals. Obviously, free tuition is awesome. There is probably a good chance that there will be growing pains as they figure out their curriculum, but they may also give closer mentorship to students due to how importantly their success will reflect on the school. It also depends on what the "other MD school" is, as whether the difference is worth it depends on if it's HMS vs another low tier school.

As with many hypothetical scenarios, even if we could answer your question it would not be actionable. Focus on doing as well as you can in undergrad, apply to a list of schools that makes sense, and then if you are fortunate enough to be accepted to this school and other schools, make the decision based on complete information.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Oh dear... I just saw the acronym... (*)

Obviously, as many of us are doing, keep an eye out on the leadership of the school and the university. I'm guessing they'll get faculty from the area (including the other medical school) who are excited about building a new school and a curriculum. The challenge will be going through initial accreditation. It helps that they are offering free tuition since financial aid may not be easily feasible during their pre-accreditation, and if this is an incentive for you to apply, attend, and likely serve communities in the immediate radius, I'd keep my eye on it.

(*) Compare to the Antonin S. Scalia School of Law...

 

[Goro]

I have more faith in a new MD school than a new DO school. While AWSOM may have some trouble attracting faculty, because it's out in the middle of Nowhere, AR, it's still an MD school.

Free tuition is likely to attract a lot of stellar students from the region.

 

[Psyched*Out]

I have more faith in a new MD school than a new DO school. While AWSOM may have some trouble attracting faculty, because it's out in the middle of Nowhere, AR, it's still an MD school.

Free tuition is likely to attract a lot of stellar students from the region.

Attracting faculty doesn’t seem to be an issue given that for instance, the board chair came from Stanford med as their dean and was at JHU as an academic dean. The founding Dean was faculty at Emory and Pitt med as well, and that general trend of people coming from reputable schools continues through the remaining faculty.

Also just have to add the area the school is in is by no means in the middle of no where. Obviously it is AR but it’s in the fastest growing part of AR and the place has nearly 100k people (personal experience seeing NWA grow over nearly 2 decades)

 

[wysdoc]

Attracting faculty doesn’t seem to be an issue given that for instance, the board chair came from Stanford med as their dean and was at JHU as an academic dean. The founding Dean was faculty at Emory and Pitt med as well, and that general trend of people coming from reputable schools continues through the remaining faculty.

Also just have to add the area the school is in is by no means in the middle of no where. Obviously it is AR but it’s in the fastest growing part of AR and the place has nearly 100k people (personal experience seeing NWA grow over nearly 2 decades)

By the time you apply it may be in its first or second year of operation so you can decide then. It is still in "Applicant status" and when it is advanced to "Preliminary Accreditation" status it will be able to start taking applications. I don't know how close they are to that right now.
Funding for the school will be no problem. Success will also depend on the faculty they can recruit who will hopefully be not just big names but good at teaching.

 

[LloydChristmasMD]

When I applied, I had the opportunity to be a member of a school’s first class. For me, I took the sure bet, and went to a school that had graduated 50+ classes. However, I’ve kept in touch with a few people who did go to that school. Are our careers in fundamentally different places right now? Absolutely not, we are all capable young physicians. My advice would be to go with your gut, if you are so fortunate as I was. MD schools are held to pretty high standards, so if they meet the threshold for preliminary accreditation, it’s the real deal (with several glaring exceptions, due to reasons I do not see AWSOM experiencing).

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

My n=1 chose a new school (inaugural class ) due to free tuition and matched well last year.