Name & Fame | Name & Shame | Reviews of Schools 2019-2020

[TheDataKing]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Ohio State:
Location: Columbus which is sort of like a large suburb/college town. Quintessentially midwestern culture if that’s your vibe. It is supposedly an 'up and coming city' within the midwest, although I would definitely call it more of a suburb as it fell way below my expectations as far as urban character/diversity is concerned. You would need a car.

Cost of living: Low. Nice that OOS students can establish residency after a year.

Positive Impressions: Thoughtful curriculum with probably the best presentation I saw (1.5 year curriculum++). Definitely a school on the rise in the rankings. The hospitals are nice and seemingly concentrated near the med school. Faculty seemed invested in students on interview day. In-state tuition after one year is a huge perk. OSU football is a big part of the culture if that's important to you.

Negative Impressions: Fundamentally the culture that I would expect OSU undergrad which is not my cup of tea.
Very ‘fratty’ (current M1s made a healthy dose of borderline offensive/sexist comments which - in my opinion - is indefensible but the students seemed okay with it). The student body is relatively homogenous in terms of interests, backgrounds (almost all from the midwest, despite 50% being from OOS) and seemed cliquey (e.g. mostly people who were friends with their college buddies, people tend to come to OSU Med in packs and more than a third of the class is from OSU undergrad).

Also the school stopped connecting with me (or responding to my questions) after I was admitted. It gives me the impression that the emphasis on individual students drops off dramatically after interview day.

tl;dr This is a good place for people who already have connections to OSU and want to remain anonymous in medical school (and attend football tailgates).

 

[TheDataKing]

NYU:
Location: NYC. You love it or you hate it. Definitely in the best location of the NYC schools if you are looking for a more ‘young urban professional’ vibe. Bellevue is nice to have, however, so that you are not fully disconnected with underserved populations.

Cost of living: high but free tuition kind of nullifies the point in my opinion

Positive Impressions: free tuition, robust hospital system (with all different kinds of patients), NYC (for me personally). Appreciated what I would consider an intentional approach to diversity with representation from many groups that are underrepresented (albeit still benefitting from systems of privilege, such as higher SES or attending an elite undergrad). Also, the administration had its stuff together which is very nice for an admissions process.

Negative Impressions: Kind of ‘gunnery’ as a whole. NYU places a lot of emphasis on its rankings and constantly compared itself to schools that are more established at the ‘upper echelon’ of med school rankings.
Students did not seem overwhelmingly close-knit. The MMI makes me feel like they do not necessarily place as much emphasis on who they will admit so much as if they have high stats and will ultimately match well. If money were not a factor, I think I would have actually liked NYU a lot more before it reached its current status as THE med school to gun for as NYC would be great. I also think the fact that they interview 1000 people to only accept 100 is ridiculous.

tl;dr High-octane and high-intensity culture. Free tuition and NYC are the main differentiating factors.

 

[TheDataKing]

Drexel:
Location: close to Philly but not in Philly (6/10)

Cost of Living: can get pricey if you live in center city. You can live in Manayunk/East Falls and it's cheaper but it's close to Philly so it's not cheap cheap.

Transportation: You need a car to get around for clinical stuff

Clinical Rotations: They lost Hahnemann. You can apply for a location to spend all of MS3 at but you might not get it, and in that case, you're turfed around the state which is ehhhh

Positive Impressions: Honestly, the faculty I interviewed with was great and that's pretty much where it ends. P/F preclinical 18 months.

Negative Impression: The students I know that go there told me that is where they attend because it's the only school they got into. I hear a lot of complaints from them as well. Going into this interview, I was told by someone on faculty, my PI (MD/PhD), alumni, and even graduating students not to attend there. The building is old and the cadaver lab seems packed in the basement. They lack many home residency programs after suffering the loss of Hahnemann (where will students get letters from the chair of their department?) which puts student at a disadvantage. I really wanted to like Drexel due to its proximity to Philly but it's too dicey for me right now.

 

[rafacena]

Loma Linda University
Location: Loma Linda, CA - Down the street from San Bernardino. Extremely hot and dry during the summer. Again, the area isn't the nicest but it's not too far of a drive to LA/OC.

Cost of Living: Reasonable because of IE location.

Transportation: You might be able to get away with not having a car. The school has shuttles that take you all around campus and many students live within walking distance.

Clinical Rotations: Loma Linda University Medical Center, VA, and LLU Children's Hospital. LLU MC Emergency Department is the only Level 1
trauma center in the region. A brand new hospital is going to open up in a year or two and it looks amazing. Excellent rotation sites overall.

Positive Impressions: The school's faculty seemed very approachable. Students seemed like a tight-knit group. Good opportunities for clinical/translational research since their hospital system is pretty sizable.

Negative Impressions: Lifestyle agreement is pretty strict, though anyone that applies here knows what they're getting themselves into. No meat/coffee is sold by the medical center/school cafeterias View attachment 302192 No early clinical experiences (standard 2 + 2 curriculum).

Hi, I have read somewhere else that the lifestyle at Loma Linda is strict but don't know the details of it. Can you explain what you mean by strict?

 

[Arthur Morgan]

Hi, I have read somewhere else that the lifestyle at Loma Linda is strict but don't know the details of it. Can you explain what you mean by strict?

The university and community of Loma Linda are (for the most part) practicing Seventh Day Adventists. This means no meat, no “sinful” activity, and a host of other restrictions. If this is something you’re comfortable with or are already accustomed to, then it’s not a dealbreaker. But if your blood is even five percent caffeine or if you’re having, ahem, “relations” with people who aren’t in a legally binding partnership, then it’s a pass.

If you’re still interested, hit up their website and you’ll get the full details.

 

[rafacena]

The university and community of Loma Linda are (for the most part) practicing Seventh Day Adventists. This means no meat, no “sinful” activity, and a host of other restrictions. If this is something you’re comfortable with or are already accustomed to, then it’s not a dealbreaker. But if your blood is even five percent caffeine or if you’re having, ahem, “relations” with people who aren’t in a legally binding partnership, then it’s a pass.

If you’re still interested, hit up their website and you’ll get the full details.

Gotcha, I appreciate it and I did research them more and I don't have a problem with anything except a mandatory weekly praying service or something like that? I am not a Christian so I will have to see if there is a workaround for that.

 

[efle]

Gotcha, I appreciate it and I did research them more and I don't have a problem with anything except a mandatory weekly praying service or something like that? I am not a Christian so I will have to see if there is a workaround for that.

You are ok with no meat, booze, sex or even being able to bring a coffee to class...but weekly praying is a dealbreaker?

 

[Arthur Morgan]

You are ok with no meat, booze, sex or even being able to bring a coffee to class...but weekly praying is a dealbreaker?

Hey man, some people are straight edge vegan/vegetarian straight edge with a vow of chastity, but the only thing more important is their belief that a higher power doesn’t definitely exist. More power to them.

 

[rafacena]

You are ok with no meat, booze, sex or even being able to bring a coffee to class...but weekly praying is a dealbreaker?

I practice another religion, so I can't pretend like I believe in their weekly praying in the Christian faith.

 

[efle]

I practice another religion, so I can't pretend like I believe in their weekly praying in the Christian faith.

This has only made me more confused why you want to apply to the Seventh Adventist School of Medicine