need some advice from people who know what they are talking about...

[worker_bee]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Basically, I'm looking for anyone who's been through the match process and can shed some light on this for me. I'm a senior in college and have a couple days left to choose a med school, and I'm currently debating between a top 20 school (Pitt), a school where I have a full scholarship offer (UMDNJ-NJMS), and the school I liked best (NYU).

There's a lot of pressure on me to take the full scholarship offer, because my family is in that middle class in between where we can't qualify for financial aid but my parents can't foot the bill for me either. My only concern is that, since I'm interested in a career in academics (or at least don't want to rule it out), I might be shooting myself in the foot going to an unranked school. I'm confident in my abilities as a student, but I just want to make sure they won't go unrecognized.

I've read a lot of threads in the pre-allo forum saying that prestige doesn't matter and its how well you do that counts. But then I've seen posts in the IM forum and from random 4th years saying that school name plays a huge role in the process. Plus the match lists at Pitt and NYU seem to have a lot of stellar matches every year (especially NYU, whose list seems disproportionately good for a school ranked 32)... the school name must be helping at least a little bit.

I figure posting here will give me a good shot at catching people who've been through the process and know what they are talking about, and bypass some of the speculation from the pre-allo board. If anyone has any insight it would help immensely.....

 

[needinformation]

If going to a well ranked school is important to you, you can take out loans to pay for your own education if your parents can't pay for it. My opinion is that you don't want to live with regrets, and loans can always be paid off, but wondering what-might-have-been can't be fixed.
Having said that, I honestly can't say what advantage NYU may be able to offer that the others school can't. I went to a not so well ranked school, and am doing residency with people from Stanford and UCSF, I can't say that I don't know as much as they do...etc. Then again, I have absolutely no interest in academic medicine... Good luck.

 

[ultm8frisbee]

Basically, I'm looking for anyone who's been through the match process and can shed some light on this for me. I'm a senior in college and have a couple days left to choose a med school, and I'm currently debating between a top 20 school (Pitt), a school where I have a full scholarship offer (UMDNJ-NJMS), and the school I liked best (NYU).

There's a lot of pressure on me to take the full scholarship offer, because my family is in that middle class in between where we can't qualify for financial aid but my parents can't foot the bill for me either. My only concern is that, since I'm interested in a career in academics (or at least don't want to rule it out), I might be shooting myself in the foot going to an unranked school. I'm confident in my abilities as a student, but I just want to make sure they won't go unrecognized.

I've read a lot of threads in the pre-allo forum saying that prestige doesn't matter and its how well you do that counts. But then I've seen posts in the IM forum and from random 4th years saying that school name plays a huge role in the process. Plus the match lists at Pitt and NYU seem to have a lot of stellar matches every year (especially NYU, whose list seems disproportionately good for a school ranked 32)... the school name must be helping at least a little bit.

I figure posting here will give me a good shot at catching people who've been through the process and know what they are talking about, and bypass some of the speculation from the pre-allo board. If anyone has any insight it would help immensely.....

My opinion is that the top students at any medical school have little trouble in getting into the residencies of their choice. Where going to a top schoool may help you is when you are someone who doesn't do well in school (low USMLE scores). I think that the the USMLE's are a great equalizer in comparing medical schools. You are obviously a bright individual if you have been accepted to three medical schools. Save yourself a lot of debt and go where you have the scholly.
Frisbee

 

[Debridement]

It is easy for college students and M1s and M2s to perseverate on rankings, USMLE scores, etc. Residency directors and the Dean/Chair who is going to hire you (if you go into academics) won't care about college rank, med school rank, USMLE score, etc. They will care about your residency, your fellowship and your publications.

Remember, the types of people who decide to go to places like Pitt and NYU are the types of people that are more likely to go into competitive programs--that's because theyare the types of people who are competive and always have to have what they percieve is 'the best'. They would not be happy at the U of Michigans, U of Illinois, U of Florida, etc.

If that is you--the spend the money because you'll never be happy.

If you just want to be a good doc and publish, get a good residency, fellowhip, and faculty position, then Jersey is great.

 

[wook]

It is easy for college students and M1s and M2s to perseverate on rankings, USMLE scores, etc. Residency directors and the Dean/Chair who is going to hire you (if you go into academics) won't care about college rank, med school rank, USMLE score, etc. They will care about your residency, your fellowship and your publications.

Remember, the types of people who decide to go to places like Pitt and NYU are the types of people that are more likely to go into competitive programs--that's because theyare the types of people who are competive and always have to have what they percieve is 'the best'. They would not be happy at the U of Michigans, U of Illinois, U of Florida, etc.

If that is you--the spend the money because you'll never be happy.

If you just want to be a good doc and publish, get a good residency, fellowhip, and faculty position, then Jersey is great.

Agreed. Many of the med schools match lists have "big name" programs on them; this includes many "small name" programs, so where you go to school appears not to be as important as LOR, grades, USMLE/COMLEX, clinical grades, and research.

Maybe BKN will pipe in and share his thoughts since he is a PD (Program Director).

Wook

 

[ekydrd]

My opinion is... Save yourself a lot of debt and go where you have the scholly.
Frisbee

I have to agree wholly with Frisbee. The average med school debt is somewhere around $200,000 so having a full scholarship is huge (I wish I had one). And having been through the match I can say going to a big name school is not that much of an advantage.

I went to med school in Missouri (MU - Columbia), and am in Kentucky (UofL) doing residency. There are people here from all levels of schools including FMGs. We are all pretty much on a level playing field here as there is not much made about where you went to school... i.e. the attendings here don't much care if you went to St. George or to Duke, as long as you take good care of the patients - and they don't say things like "You graduated from Harvard and don't know how to calculate free water deficit? What's wrong with you?"

Don't stress over the school ranking. Go where you will be happiest as that's where you will do your best and could graduate at the top of the class, which will go much farther in getting you into a competitive residency than graduating at the bottom of the class in a big name school, where you might be miserable.

 

[drPLUM]

If you want to do academics go where you have the scholarship because you will be pulling in less $$$ in academics and thus make those $200K loans harder to pay off.

 

[Pir8DeacDoc]

Take my advice for what it is...Will apologize for the long rant 🙂


I attended (man that feels nice to say now a few days post graduation) a public medical school that is only known amongst the primary care crowd. This year we made a significant move into the top 10 US news primary care schools but overall we aren't very well known. So where does that leave us on match day?

Of our class of 68 we had all four of our interested classmates match into Urology (tough match).. Two match into ENT (Wake Forest and Vandy).. Peds match at Cincy Childrens (probably second best program for peds in the country behind CHoP in Philly). Two match into radiology (wake Forest and MUSC). Anyway I have to say I've been very happy to attend my medical school. Least expensive school in the country. It's nice to know I'll only owe a bit over 100k when all is said and done. I didn't/don't feel at a disadvantage at all. I think my school is very laid back and not cut throat at all. We all want each other to do well. For me, it's tough to overstate how important that has been over the four years.

PD's see you for what you are. They want a good person with solid numbers that they can tolerate for 3+ years.

If you work hard and do well in medical school you will make your own may. Don't get too caught up with numbers. Good luck to you.

 

[ultm8frisbee]

Another thing I wanted to mention. Out of three medical schools you mentioned, I don't see that big of a difference in percieved prestigue. I think there are a few Big Name schools that can help mediocre students match above their level. I don't think NYU or Pitt are two of those. If we were talking Harvard, Yale, or Stanford then maybe that would be something to consider. Even then I'd rather go to Jersey with zero/minimal debt. Oh yeah, getting into an academic faculty position is not too terribly competitive. In my future field, the difference in salary can be upwards of $150,000 per year when comparing Private Practive and Academics. Not that this should matter to you, but it makes it less competitve to land these positions.
Frisbee

 

[Tappat]

If you want to do academics go where you have the scholarship because you will be pulling in less $$$ in academics and thus make those $200K loans harder to pay off.

This is an excellent point. Academic salaries do NOT match private practice salaries -- you will have ever so much more career mobility later on if you don't have the school debt dogging you. You may calculate now that you could live on what you'd have left over after paying your loans, but trust me, when you get the family, the house, start thinking about the college funds and retirement funds, that student loan that you didn't need to have will be a big liability and will increase the stress of your academic career. If you were able to win a merit-scholarship to medical school, just keep on doing at the full-ride place what you've been doing previously, and you'll be just fine.

 

[8744]

Basically, I'm looking for anyone who's been through the match process and can shed some light on this for me. I'm a senior in college and have a couple days left to choose a med school, and I'm currently debating between a top 20 school (Pitt), a school where I have a full scholarship offer (UMDNJ-NJMS), and the school I liked best (NYU).

There's a lot of pressure on me to take the full scholarship offer, because my family is in that middle class in between where we can't qualify for financial aid but my parents can't foot the bill for me either. My only concern is that, since I'm interested in a career in academics (or at least don't want to rule it out), I might be shooting myself in the foot going to an unranked school. I'm confident in my abilities as a student, but I just want to make sure they won't go unrecognized.

I've read a lot of threads in the pre-allo forum saying that prestige doesn't matter and its how well you do that counts. But then I've seen posts in the IM forum and from random 4th years saying that school name plays a huge role in the process. Plus the match lists at Pitt and NYU seem to have a lot of stellar matches every year (especially NYU, whose list seems disproportionately good for a school ranked 32)... the school name must be helping at least a little bit.

I figure posting here will give me a good shot at catching people who've been through the process and know what they are talking about, and bypass some of the speculation from the pre-allo board. If anyone has any insight it would help immensely.....

Take the scholarship. That way if you decide that medicine isn't for you you will be able to walk away with no strings attached, debt free, and ready to start law school.

I'm only half joking here. If you think the prestigious name is worth 300K of debt then by all means go for it. Keep in mind that there is no such thing as an "unranked" school. Nobody who anybody cares about ranks 'em. Sure, Harvard looks better than LSU Shreveport (my Alma Mater) on your resume but I guarantee that if you do exceptionally well in medical school you will be competative for whatever residency wherever you want. In fact, since you might not be competing with so many type-A gunners your class rank and grades might be substantially higher at an "unranked" school making you look better as an applicant.

And Good Lord, you might...strike that...you will change your mind about what you want to do. You may find once you are exposed to it that academic medicine blows...hard. (or not) You may regret the debt when what you really want to do is be a Family Practice Physican.

 

[amojan99]

Basically, I'm looking for anyone who's been through the match process and can shed some light on this for me. I'm a senior in college and have a couple days left to choose a med school, and I'm currently debating between a top 20 school (Pitt), a school where I have a full scholarship offer (UMDNJ-NJMS), and the school I liked best (NYU).

There's a lot of pressure on me to take the full scholarship offer, because my family is in that middle class in between where we can't qualify for financial aid but my parents can't foot the bill for me either. My only concern is that, since I'm interested in a career in academics (or at least don't want to rule it out), I might be shooting myself in the foot going to an unranked school. I'm confident in my abilities as a student, but I just want to make sure they won't go unrecognized.

I've read a lot of threads in the pre-allo forum saying that prestige doesn't matter and its how well you do that counts. But then I've seen posts in the IM forum and from random 4th years saying that school name plays a huge role in the process. Plus the match lists at Pitt and NYU seem to have a lot of stellar matches every year (especially NYU, whose list seems disproportionately good for a school ranked 32)... the school name must be helping at least a little bit.

I figure posting here will give me a good shot at catching people who've been through the process and know what they are talking about, and bypass some of the speculation from the pre-allo board. If anyone has any insight it would help immensely.....

Normally, I'd claim that going to any med school is great as long as you do well. But when you're trying to decide between being in Newark and NYU, I'd say go with NYU. The opportunity to do research and get into a solid residency position (especially in NYC) is far greater coming from NYU. Add to the fact that they love to rank their own students, which is a plus if you want a fairly competitive residency. Now if it were NYU vs. SUNY Downstate, it'd be a different question, since the factor of being in NYC is negated.

 

[NinerNiner999]

Go where the money is. You are going to learn the same material wherever you choose and you will most likely learn it better without the added stress of knowing you are accumulating debt for every sleepless night you endure. As others mentioned before, you will owe a substantial amount of money if you don't take the scholarship and you could likely spend the rest of your life paying back debts in excess of 250k if you go to a prestigious school.

For one interested in academics such as yourself, where you go has little bearing on your success when compared to research experience, scholarly activities, and leadership. Further, you can list your full ride scholarship on your CV, which puts your academic competitiveness in eyesight.

If it were me, I would take the full scholarship, focus on my studies, start some research, and land a residency at the most prestigious academic center I would feel comfortable in. Residency, research, and leadership carry 90% of the weight when starting an academic career.

If your decision to enter academics changes along the way, you are in an even better position because you can pursue any field in any location you wish for residency, and never have to worry about loan deferments, accumulated interest, and paying through residency. This should be a no brainer.

 

[cchoukal]

To put the debt into focus, consider that if you borrow every cent it takes to pay for pitt and live there, you're looking at at least $200K. At today's interest rates, that's about $2200 per month, every month, for 10 years. Before taxes, that amounts to a gross income of about $40K. So I think you have to decide, among other things, whether going to the better school is worth shaving $40K off your gross earnings every year for 10 years. And this is after spending 4 years of poverty in medical school and as many as 8-10 years in residency/fellowship during which time all your friends are piling money into homes, cars, retirement, and college savings for the kids, while you are saving a big fat zero. We're all going to be VERY behind when we start saving. Add, too, that if you borrowed to go to college or choose NYU, this figure only goes higher. And finally, the US Gov't will lend you a lifetime maximum of 189,900, so anything you have to borrow beyond that will come from private/university sources which generally have higher interest rates and cannot be deferred or put in forebearance during residency.

Look at the match lists for these various schools. If the full ride school is sending people to the top places, you should really think about taking their offer.

 

[jennyboo]

I too would go where the money is, or at least go where you want to go. You will probably be thankful for the money more than anything else, especially as you look at other medical students, residents & new physicians who are loaded with six figures of debt. Many of us don't care when we enter med school at 21 or 22, but our lives often change greatly in four years time. By then, many people are thinking about buying homes, a significant other, and so on -- the debt will affect those things which will be a part of your life for many more years to come.

My med school is in the 40s in the USNews list, I was probably an average student, and I matched at a highly academic residency in my specialty. I look at the list of people in my residency and most of them also went to much lower-ranked medical schools. For me personally, the things that made the most difference in the match process were, in order of importance:

1) Meeting the right people at the right time, and getting along well with them, i.e. "networking." Away rotations during your M4 year make a big difference. Good letters of recommendation make a big difference.

2) Being good at marketing yourself during the application process.

3) Having above average to average USMLE Step 1 scores and above average to average grades. I found that if the people in that place like you (see above #1), your grades and scores are mainly an excuse for them to give you the job -- not the other way around.

4) Not flunking anything. (ehhhm, I passed a couple of classes "by special exam" during M1 and M2, which is not quite flunking, but that was overlooked for the most part)

Beyond that, given the variety of students I met on the residency interview trail, I don't think Pitt is going to confer real advantage over, say, NYU or UMDNJ in getting you interviews. All residencies interview students from all over the place based on USMLE Step 1 scores and LORS; I don't think you get the slightest advantage until you hit maybe the top 5 med schools.

The only things that I see people getting truly penalized for are 1) foreign or international medical graduate, 2) osteopathic, 3) flunked USMLE or 4) flunked classes or rotations.

Also realize that top residencies at top medical centers affiliated with top medical schools are not necessarily impressed with their own students as a whole. 😉 In fact, from personal experience I can say that their residents are often more impressed by the outside rotators (who are doing that rotation for the second or third time and already know the ropes) than by the home students (who are doing that rotation for the first time and usually bumbling around).

 

[Obedeli]

Basically, I'm looking for anyone who's been through the match process and can shed some light on this for me. I'm a senior in college and have a couple days left to choose a med school, and I'm currently debating between a top 20 school (Pitt), a school where I have a full scholarship offer (UMDNJ-NJMS), and the school I liked best (NYU).

There's a lot of pressure on me to take the full scholarship offer, because my family is in that middle class in between where we can't qualify for financial aid but my parents can't foot the bill for me either. My only concern is that, since I'm interested in a career in academics (or at least don't want to rule it out), I might be shooting myself in the foot going to an unranked school. I'm confident in my abilities as a student, but I just want to make sure they won't go unrecognized.

I've read a lot of threads in the pre-allo forum saying that prestige doesn't matter and its how well you do that counts. But then I've seen posts in the IM forum and from random 4th years saying that school name plays a huge role in the process. Plus the match lists at Pitt and NYU seem to have a lot of stellar matches every year (especially NYU, whose list seems disproportionately good for a school ranked 32)... the school name must be helping at least a little bit.

I figure posting here will give me a good shot at catching people who've been through the process and know what they are talking about, and bypass some of the speculation from the pre-allo board. If anyone has any insight it would help immensely.....

Dude go where it is free.

 

[BKN]

Maybe BKN will pipe in and share his thoughts since he is a PD (Program Director).

Wook

OK. I'll flip flop. I went the Tiffany route in training: Baylor MD, Wilford Hall (USAF) internship, Hopkins residency. I got great training, saw a lot of really weird stuff, and there is no question that Baylor made getting into Hopkins easier. At the same time I earned it.

As a PD, I look at the individual. I'm not that interested in where they went to school. Rather I want to see good mles, good recommendations and very good interpersonal doctoring skills. In point of fact, the gunners at the Ivys are often not very good at the latter. I certainly include the young BKN in that.

So, OP, a good performance at Pitt will open doors that a similar performance at UMDNJ might not. But unless you're sure that you want a top 10 residency with a chance at an NIH fellowship followed by a classic academic career afterwards, I'd take the scholarship.

I think all of you young bucks and buckettes should realize that compensation is going down for MDs over the next 10 years. Less debt is good.

(young bucks and buckettes?😱 )

 

[Apollyon]

Being first in your class at the 50th ranked school is superior to being 50th in your class at the 1st ranked school.

I went to undergrad on a full academic ride, and med school on a partial. Take the scholarship and use that same skill that got you the scholarship to kick academic ass.

As BKN says, it's the person. Be the person - not the bag of numbers and organs.

 

[Voxel]

There is no doubt in my mind that you should take the scholarship. 1) You are relieving your self from a huge financial debt burden (probably 100-200K savings) that will impact your quality of life in many ways, especially if you decide to go into a low paying specialty or you go into academics. 2) There is no telling what salaries will pay when you finish your residency (a minimum of 7 years from now). There is alot of political uncertainty. 3) UMDNJ-NJMS is a decent school and the match list from there isn't too shabby. 4) Being at UMDNJ-NJMS, you will be close enough to NYC. 5) Make no mistake, Pitt and NYU are good schools but they are not Harvard (the name). 6) The only potential downside is if you want to be do a very tough to match speciality like dermatology or combined plastic surgery. In my mind, this will mean you will have to work slightly harder at UMDNJ. This makes the decision process very, very easy. In my humble opinion, the choice is clear, crystal clear. Take the money (scholarship) and don't look back. You will never regret it.

 

[Jim Picotte]

Take the money. Being a good doctor and doing well is about the individual not where you trained or the name on your degree. Being from Harvard will get you a pass for a little while from your peers when you're done, but if you're incompetent, unpassionate, uncaring, etc this will be quickly discovered and you may find the most respected doc in the hospital/department didn't train or attend a big name institution.

Plus, being in as little debt as possible is a huge, huge advantage.

 

[jetproppilot]

Basically, I'm looking for anyone who's been through the match process and can shed some light on this for me. I'm a senior in college and have a couple days left to choose a med school, and I'm currently debating between a top 20 school (Pitt), a school where I have a full scholarship offer (UMDNJ-NJMS), and the school I liked best (NYU).

There's a lot of pressure on me to take the full scholarship offer, because my family is in that middle class in between where we can't qualify for financial aid but my parents can't foot the bill for me either. My only concern is that, since I'm interested in a career in academics (or at least don't want to rule it out), I might be shooting myself in the foot going to an unranked school. I'm confident in my abilities as a student, but I just want to make sure they won't go unrecognized.

I've read a lot of threads in the pre-allo forum saying that prestige doesn't matter and its how well you do that counts. But then I've seen posts in the IM forum and from random 4th years saying that school name plays a huge role in the process. Plus the match lists at Pitt and NYU seem to have a lot of stellar matches every year (especially NYU, whose list seems disproportionately good for a school ranked 32)... the school name must be helping at least a little bit.

I figure posting here will give me a good shot at catching people who've been through the process and know what they are talking about, and bypass some of the speculation from the pre-allo board. If anyone has any insight it would help immensely.....

Here's my opinion, Dude.

I'm a private practice anesthesiologist with ten years experience.

Academics is WIDE OPEN. If you are a US allo grad from an allo residency, you can get an academic spot virtually wherever you want.

On the monetary side, debt is an anchor in life.

Do whatever you can now to minimize The Anchor.

You'll thank me ten years from now when you have two kids and a mortgage.

Godspeed.

 

[neutropenic]

Here's my opinion, Dude.

I'm a private practice anesthesiologist with ten years experience.

Academics is WIDE OPEN. If you are a US allo grad from an allo residency, you can get an academic spot virtually wherever you want.

On the monetary side, debt is an anchor in life.

Do whatever you can now to minimize The Anchor.

You'll thank me ten years from now when you have two kids and a mortgage.

Godspeed.

Prestigious academic positions are definitely not wide open. Being an "assistant clincial professor" is probably in the dime a dozen category but probably not what the OP meant.

Even at my not so uber prestigious institution the neuro department (to just use an example) has quite a few people from UCSF/Harvard type places for medical school and/or residency -- UT Memphis, not so much.

Being first in your class at the 50th ranked school is superior to being 50th in your class at the 1st ranked school.

I went to undergrad on a full academic ride, and med school on a partial. Take the scholarship and use that same skill that got you the scholarship to kick academic ass.

As BKN says, it's the person. Be the person - not the bag of numbers and organs.

Being "50th" at Harvard is still better than being "1st" at nowhere IMHO. Harvard's list is just stellar. You can easily find 50 stellar matches which could have been something a number 1 student at an unranked institution might not have gotten. And there is no guarantee you will be "1st" anywhere, grading systems are capricious, and in the core clinical year quite arbitrary IMHO.

Head on over to the rad onc forum if you don't believe me and read the story of the number 1 kid with 260s who had a hard time over her Harvard-esque friends.

 

[Apollyon]

Being "50th" at Harvard is still better than being "1st" at nowhere IMHO. Harvard's list is just stellar. You can easily find 50 stellar matches which could have been something a number 1 student at an unranked institution might not have gotten. And there is no guarantee you will be "1st" anywhere, grading systems are capricious, and in the core clinical year quite arbitrary IMHO.

Head on over to the rad onc forum if you don't believe me and read the story of the number 1 kid with 260s who had a hard time over her Harvard-esque friends.

First, rad onc is idiosyncratic - 5 years ago, you couldn't give a rad onc spot away. Secondly, ask a program director about someone from the middle of the pack at a top school versus first in the class from a middle school - they'll echo me each time. Finally, I know a guy from Harvard who didn't match in ophtho. He had to scramble mid-year of his prelim year. It's not always a lock. It helps being from the top, but not a given.

 

[Bfriccia1]

First, rad onc is idiosyncratic - 5 years ago, you couldn't give a rad onc spot away. Secondly, ask a program director about someone from the middle of the pack at a top school versus first in the class from a middle school - they'll echo me each time. Finally, I know a guy from Harvard who didn't match in ophtho. He had to scramble mid-year of his prelim year. It's not always a lock. It helps being from the top, but not a given.

The problem is you can never gaurentee where someone will be in their class. Just because someone goes to a "less prestigious" school than they got into doesn't mean they will automatically be top 10% or whatever of the class. Going to the lesser "name" for the money will only not hurt you if you can be in the top 10% or so of a UMDNJ class, and there is absolutely no gaurentee of that. YOu put an awful lot of pressure on yourself, and you basically have to be perfect for four more years.

 

[Voxel]

You do not have to be perfect at UMDNJ to land a good residency. That is BS. Just study hard, work hard, and be personable. Do not let anyone tell you that going to NYU over UMDNJ is worth the extra dough; The only caveat is very hard to match specialties derm, plastics, rad onc. Otherwise you can probably match into any other specialty with relative ease (especially if the full ride scholarship is merit based as it is hard to get a merit based scholarship to med school in general).

 

[Apollyon]

Just because someone goes to a "less prestigious" school than they got into doesn't mean they will automatically be top 10% or whatever of the class. Going to the lesser "name" for the money will only not hurt you if you can be in the top 10% or so of a UMDNJ class, and there is absolutely no gaurentee of that. YOu put an awful lot of pressure on yourself, and you basically have to be perfect for four more years.

Nobody is saying that - no one is automatically anything. You get out of it what you put into it. What I said is that the same academic juice that got the scholarship should be used to study and be top of the class. You must be VERY naive if you think that it is at ALL uncommon for virtually everyone in a med school class putting "an awful lot of pressure on [themselves]" - you'd swear they were cooking Kentucky Fried Chicken with all the pressure all the time.

Your reasoning is questionable - there are no "guarantees".

 

[Dr. V]

Go with the scholarship, or the place you like the most if you don't like the scholie offer.

In my experience the name of the school didn't mean anything, just the LOR, grades, and USMLE scores.

I attended a very small medical school and of the 54 graduates one was Rad/Onc (toughest match there is), one Derm, one Plastic Surgery, two Anesthesiology, three Radiology, and one triple board Peds/Psych/Child Psych. These were at places like Mt. Sinai, Mayo etc. There were something like 10 General Surgery. There was only one prelim in the entire class.

This is at a "primary care" school that is very small, young, and not well known.

However, it is very solid and prepares students well. The programs went mostly by grades and USMLE scores. Most every graduate got their #1 choice, most likely the number that did NOT get their top choice was between 10 and 20, and maybe even less than 10.

It will be what you make of it. As another poster already mentioned, the only hurdles were for DO, FMG, and people that failed a class/step.

Harvard/Yale etc may matter, aside from that the only thing that matters is your individual performance and an MD from a US medical school.