I've met a grand total of one Jeff student I like, and I've ran into quite a few over the years. They really think highly of themselves, and refuse to admit that they're not the best med school in Philly.
That's interesting to hear, because that's the total opposite of what my classmates and I say. I honestly don't really give Temple, Drexel, or Penn, a 2nd thought most of the time - not because I think that Jeff is "better" than those schools, but because I just don't have the mental energy.
We definitely don't think that highly of ourselves - it would be impossible to.
1) A lot of us have friends and neighbors who attend Drexel, Temple, Penn, or PCOM. I've run into a few students from Temple and Penn while studying in Center City, and my main feeling is that of empathy - I definitely can relate to how tired they must be.
2) It's hard to have an exalted opinion of yourself as a med student, in general, when you're constantly being reminded of how dumb you really are. "I studied for 8 days straight...and I STILL didn't get above a 75%?!?!" Positive, encouraging thoughts like that.)
Yup, I love Jeff, but not for the students. I'm not much of a people person, so this doesn't really affect my opinion of the med school.
Ok, why I called the MSs pompous? Because they openly belittled other med schools I asked their opinion on (for comparison). Perhaps it was not intentional, and that instead of looking down on other schools, the students were just really proud to be in an excellent med school, but it was a turn off nonetheless.
I'm sorry to hear this. I think, if you ask students (especially 1st and 2nd years) to comment directly on other schools, you're basically asking for very biased, and not very tactful answers. It's practically a guarantee that you will not get a fair and balanced answer. This is particularly true if you ask it on an admissions day-type event. Because they're trying to persuade you come to their school, offering an objective answer is hard, and rarely happens. If you've read a lot of the similar threads on SDN (School A vs School B), this phenomenon happens all the time: Someone who goes to school A makes sweeping (and somewhat inaccurate) generalizations about why his school is so much better than School B, and why he'd rather die than attend that school. In real life, the student at School A probably doesn't actively look down upon School B, but, in the context of the situation, that's how it comes across as. (I've probably been guilty of this myself to be honest.) Like I said, though, it's such a waste of energy for Jefferson students to look down on others, and that's definitely not what the students here really think. I mean - we have guest professors from Penn and Drexel come to lecture us in the first 2 years! Our SNMA and PSR (Physicians for Social Responsibility) chapters also team up with Penn and Drexel to host a lot of events and seminars. I think if you actually attend med school in Philadelphia, you'll find a collegial atmosphere, rather than an actively competitive one.
Actually, that was a mistake on my part. I have no problem with the students. The students that I met have all been absolutely great. I wasn't paying attention to what was said. My problem has all been with Jeff administration. I'd rather not go to into it on a public forum but I've had nothing but negative interactions with every faculty member I've met from that school. And when I say everyone, I'm including people who aren't even involoved in the admissions process.
I'm also sorry to hear this. The teaching faculty at Jefferson is usually really helpful, and tries to help students out. Our path professor bends over backwards to help the students do well on the exams. The JMC administration (Student Deans, Dr. Rattner, Dr. Callahan) and the Minority Affairs office are very helpful and supportive as well. I can't speak for the Jefferson University Administration and staff, but the JMC teaching faculty here is so helpful and supportive, I really can't tell you how much I appreciate them.
