List of Schools that Match Well But Are Not Ranked Highly

[277768]

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Which schools traditionally match students very well into competitive residencies but are not highly ranked according to USNews, etc.

I hear Wayne State has great matching and is often ignored. Any other schools?

 

[royalewthcheese]

Which schools traditionally match students very well into competitive residencies but are not highly ranked according to USNews, etc.

I hear Wayne State has great matching and is often ignored. Any other schools?

Jefferson, definitely

 

[Depakote]

define: "great matching"

 

[Longshanks]

Its all subjective and what you want to do with your career - and the region the school is in. Ex- SUNY Downstate has "great matching" if you wish to practice in/around NYC, but lacks many people "great" midwestern or western locations. I imagine it is like this for most schools. Its a very subjective question.

 

[TexasPhysician]

Any US MD school can get you where you want to go......

You are trying to decide between needles in a haystack. They are all equal needles.

Pick the cheapest school in a city where you will be happiest. You will thank me later.

 

[ChiDO]

define: "great matching"

Exactly. If you define it as "competitive specialties" what happens if the class of 2009 from school X had no one interested in ROAD speciailtes..does that make it bad that none matched?

Match lists are completely useless in determining what school to go to.

 

[scotsdoc54]

What schools that don't have home departments in competitive specialties like NS, ENT, RadOnc, etc? Might it be harder to match in those specialties without a home dept.?

 

[ChiDO]

Might it be harder to match in those specialties without a home dept.?

No. It all depends on you no matter where you go.

 

[TexasPhysician]

What schools that don't have home departments in competitive specialties like NS, ENT, RadOnc, etc? Might it be harder to match in those specialties without a home dept.?

If you are one of the lucky few to ALREADY know what you want to do 100%, sure it may help.

On the other hand, my school doesn't have a neurosurgery program, but our 1 applicant to that specialty matched at Mayo.....

It'll obviously help a little to have a home program, but it won't stop you....

 

[schrizto]

It's true that looking at match lists isn't the best way to pick your schools but going by the OP's question, I've heard Rosalind Franklin matches well despite not being on top of the rankings.

 

[womp]

Top of my head:
RFU, Downstate

There's a lot of regional bias in match lists though, so generally East Coast schools will look like they have stronger match lists while Midwest would look weaker.

 

[scotsdoc54]

If you are one of the lucky few to ALREADY know what you want to do 100%, sure it may help.

On the other hand, my school doesn't have a neurosurgery program, but our 1 applicant to that specialty matched at Mayo.....

It'll obviously help a little to have a home program, but it won't stop you....

Thanks for the comments guys. Yeah, I've heard mixed things. I've also heard that it hurts to not have a home program in such specialties because there's not a big name program director for LORs, less research in those areas, etc. And I certainly don't have a specialty picked out ( I lean towards FM and IM anyway) but it would stink to be limited by the lack of a home department in a competitive specialty.

 

[TexasPhysician]

Thanks for the comments guys. Yeah, I've heard mixed things. I've also heard that it hurts to not have a home program in such specialties because there's not a big name program director for LORs, less research in those areas, etc. And I certainly don't have a specialty picked out ( I lean towards FM and IM anyway) but it would stink to be limited by the lack of a home department in a competitive specialty.

Here is the catch. All med schools allow "away" rotations in your 4th year. Before I send out my application, I could spend 1 month at Harvard, 1 month at Stanford, and 1 month at Yale doing different types of radiology (if I want to go into radiology) even though I attend local state school. It isn't even that hard to set up as long as you are a little flexible and apply to a few top programs. If I plan well and meet the program directors, I could theoretically have LOR's from program directors at Stanford, Yale, and Harvard despite going to a state school without said program. That is theoretical but it would be EASY to get at least 1 LOR from each place I do an away rotation at. This more than makes up for the fact that I don't have a home program. A home program would just make things a little easier, and I could do 1 less away rotation or marry the PD's daughter and get a guaranteed spot. See what I'm saying?

Also, most people don't know what they want to do early on. I'd recommend to publish some sort of research in something. Even if you do dermatology research and apply psychiatry residency, it will look good that you are academic oriented and know the process of publishing a paper.

So home programs will make things a little easier, but with effort, I could easily trump your home program LOR's by looking good at away rotations at top programs. You can even do research electives or summer research at top programs that have said program.......wouldn't hurt no matter where you go to med school.