new med schools and residencies

[acromonkey]

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Does anyone have any knowledge of how residencies look at attending "new" med schools? How are the "newly instituted" med schools viewed by residencies?

What is the consensus of how you guys (SDN) view new med schools? Worth applying to? Do you think the education is "decent" or similar to what you would get in an older institution? Obviously, I know no one can answer this definitively, but any advice here on things they've heard or experienced?

 

[acromonkey]

Really...No one can comment on this?? No one has any insight or info on where to get insight??

 

[Barcu]

People tend to be suspicious of new med schools, and from what I've heard on here, that suspicion stretches to residency directors.

For one, many new schools have had only one or two classes (or maybe none) take Step 1, which is the biggest factor in residencies. While much of Step 1 success is said to be based on the individual student, a school's curriculum can influence how one performs. As well, residency directors tend to pick students from the same schools (usually their own institution's med school but they find others as well) because they know how well students from that school are trained. They may be less likely to trust a student from a new program because they are unfamiliar with the training.

Going to a new school can have advantages. It will be cheaper in many cases (new schools offer scholarships to attract students), and you may get a bigger voice in curriculum development. Still, there can be a significant "guinea pig" feel to a new school and many applicants don't want that feeling when training for their career. There may also be some hiccups in clinical training. A new MD school will probably have fewer of these issues than a new DO school, but the concerns are present nonetheless.

Take home: People tend to go with the sure thing, and it is the safer choice. However, going to a new school (especially MD, I would be more wary of clinical training at new DO schools) wouldn't be the end of the world.

 

[acromonkey]

Thanks for the input...I appreciate it. This process is so difficult. There's so many things to factor in to figure out what is the "best" thing to do!