Medical School Research

[bonoz]

I live in the state of Virginia. Some in-state schools I know of are UVA and VCU. I live near DC where schools such as GW, Georgetown, and Howard exist.

I was wondering how should one go about researching for med schools? what do students usually look for? of course looking at their acceptance requirements is important, but if I'm in my junior year deciding med schools if I have not decided already then how do I go about doing it?

Would DC schools be considered out-of-state schools for me? what's the disadvantage of out-of-state schools?

Thanks

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[Mei]

Get yourself a copy of the MSAR. It will list all the medical schools including a profile of each school describing the curriculum, admissions statistics, financial aid, etc..

http://www.aamc.org/students/applying/msar.htm

 

[ChairmanMao]

DC schools are considered out of state schools for Virginia residents. Come to think of it, I don't know of any schools in DC that have in-state preference - they're all private schools as far as I can tell.

You live in DC, that isn't far from the NIH and research schools like the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins. Can't you go on their site and look at the careers page or contact their human resources department? Research jobs are a dime a dozen in your neck of the woods.

 

[chad5871]

Another option to consider is Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk. If you're not too interested in an "academic" setting, they really focus on the clinical aspect of medicine and might be a good fit for you. Plus their in-state tuition than either VCU or UVA. You will be considered out-of-state at the DC schools.

To research schools, as others have suggested, you can purchase the MSAR (Medical School Admissions Requirements). I think it's about $20-$25 or you can probably borrow one from your pre-med advisor. You can also get a subscription or print edition to the US News & World Reports Graduate school rankings. I think the online version is $14.95 per year.

When researching schools I started with the MSAR & USNews website, found schools I thought I'd be interested in, and then did deeper research into each school by browsing their website and seeing others' opinions here at SDN.

 

[beachblonde]

The medical schools in Virginia are: UVA, VCU, EVMS, and VCOM. Tuition for those schools (in-state) ranges from $23,000 to $33,000.

The disadvantage of being OOS is that generally is it harder to get into a state school when you aren't a resident of that state. State schools are typically interested in serving their own, so being OOS means not only a smaller number of you will get accepted, your tuition could be up to twice of what the IS students are paying.

And like others said, the DC schools are private, and GW and Georgetown are very difficult to get into (I don't know anything about Howard, sorry). People generally apply to more than just their state schools, so get a copy of the MSAR and start flagging schools that look like they're a good fit for you.

 

[DrYoda]

I was wondering how should one go about researching for med schools? what do students usually look for? of course looking at their acceptance requirements is important, but if I'm in my junior year deciding med schools if I have not decided already then how do I go about doing it?

This probaly varies since different people have different priorities. I think most people apply to all their state schools, as they are usually your best bet for an acceptance.

For me, I applied to all state schools and then narrowed everything else down to states I would be willing to live in. I then looked at the schools found one's I liked (based on location, fin-aid, curriculum ect) and applied. If you're looking at an OS public school I would recommend checking the number of OS students accepted, for some schools it is quite low.