MSU CHM vs. Wayne State

[drspartanwolverine]

Hey Everyone!

I am choosing between Wayne State and MSU CHM! I am interested in matching into a competitive specialty (Dermatology) and wasn't sure which school would be better for me. Both are around the same in terms of tuition (IS) and are MD programs.

I am leaning towards MSU CHM because of their new partnership with Henry Ford. Wayne State seems to have trouble with their partnerships so seeing MSU have a new partner seems promising. I've also heard how CHM is more low stress with less exams etc. Wayne seems to match more people (4-6) into Derm a year but I also feel this could be due to a larger class size and more interest in Derm from students. In terms of ranking, Wayne is ranked slightly higher but I've heard ranking is negligible beyond the top 10. MSU CHM has 1-2 people matching into Derm a year and is a lower ranked school.

Which school would be better for someone who wants to match into Derm? I feel in the past the clear choice would be Wayne (having a home program and more people matching) but now MSU CHM has a home Derm program (Henry Ford) which is a higher ranked residency than Wayne.

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[deleted1108356]

I'm not too familiar with MSU CHM, but I have heard some iffy things about Wayne State. For example, they do not have a true P/F for preclinical years and many students echo the feelings of a high stress environment. I have also heard from current students that Wayne's administration is extremely apathetic to their concerns and requests for change. I'm assuming the reason MSU CHM matches less people into derm is because they have a class size of 150 vs Wayne's class size of 300 so the difference in derm matches is negligible when you consider the difference in class size.

 

[i-doctor]

Choose MSU. Henry Ford is a gem, better than Wayne’s hospitals. Chances for Derm are equal, need to excel..and as you said now you have a home Derm program and residency at HFH (important for research and LOR’s etc). Derm is a small field. LOR’s from the better-ranked Derm program might make all the difference.
(An example of this is in my field, ophtho… The Univ of Miami is an average Med School but has one of the top Ophthalmology hospitals in the country, the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. Its medical students consistently match into top Ophtho residencies due to research with and LOR’s from among the top docs in field even though it’s an “average+” med school.
The moral of the story is go to the med school with the better Derm Dept if everything else is about equal.)

 

[Shunsui]

Choose MSU. Henry Ford is a gem, better than Wayne’s hospitals. Chances for Derm are equal, need to excel..and as you said now you have a home Derm program and residency at HFH (important for research and LOR’s etc). Derm is a small field. LOR’s from the better-ranked Derm program might make all the difference.
(An example of this is in my field, ophtho… The Univ of Miami is an average Med School but has one of the top Ophthalmology hospitals in the country, the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. Its medical students consistently match into top Ophtho residencies due to research with and LOR’s from among the top docs in field even though it’s an “average+” med school.
The moral of the story is go to the med school with the better Derm Dept if everything else is about equal.)

Will having Henry Ford hospital 2+ hours away from MSU CHM's campus have any effect on OP getting research/connections in the early years?

 

[hypocheezit]

A close friend of mine just matched into Neurosurgery from MSU CHM. He highly recommends the program and accredits a lot of his success to his mentors and the curriculum flexibility offered at MSU. I would go there.