New Medical Schools - Pros / Cons

[Kphrogg]

I have been searching for a general discussion of this topic, but have had little luck so far. (And I promise to be suitably chagrined if I missed it.) Rather than school specific information, I am curious about what people think the pros and cons of applying to newer medical schools are. For example: Are the facilities the more up to date? Is it easier to get in? Is it harder to get a residency?

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[aSagacious]

Pros:
- (usually) smaller class sizes
- (usually) newer facilities
- (probably) fewer applicants

Cons:
- smaller class sizes = more applicants per seat
- it is possible that profs are not established within the community, making residency placement slightly more difficult
- less 'prestige' (if you're into that kind of thing)

... of course all of these are generalities and, IMO, none of them are deal makers/breakers

 

[Hoya2009]

I am going to Hofstra - NSLIJ over a more established school (EVMS) because of the class size (40), new building and loads of personal attention my class will get. Also, it's much closer to home.

The last two questions aSagacious brings up are worthwhile, though, as having a known school does give some bit of confidence to knowing what kind of residency placements await. The huge hospital group in NY, North Shore-Long Island Jewish is an owner of the med school, so there is already a huge network of educators/program directors in place; I'm not worried about residency placement, since the university hospital group helped found my medical school.

I don't know about the prestige, though. That really isn't my thing.

 

[Tapepsi]

Having been in a situation where it was between a new school vs. an established I went with the established. New schools usually have problems that need fixed as does any new program. Also I'm uncomfortable with the unknown (such as what will the Step 1 scores be, where will students get residencies at, etc...)

 

[Snuke]

I am going to Hofstra - NSLIJ over a more established school (EVMS) because of the class size (40), new building and loads of personal attention my class will get. Also, it's much closer to home.

The last two questions aSagacious brings up are worthwhile, though, as having a known school does give some bit of confidence to knowing what kind of residency placements await. The huge hospital group in NY, North Shore-Long Island Jewish is an owner of the med school, so there is already a huge network of educators/program directors in place; I'm not worried about residency placement, since the university hospital group helped found my medical school.

I don't know about the prestige, though. That really isn't my thing.

And, you know, it's EVMS.

And the North Shore system is very established. And since the school is new, the curriculum is also new, as in, people had to come up with it in the past few years, so it ought to include all the new studies and schools of thoughts, etc.

 

[Hoya2009]

And, you know, it's EVMS.

And the North Shore system is very established. And since the school is new, the curriculum is also new, as in, people had to come up with it in the past few years, so it ought to include all the new studies and schools of thoughts, etc.

I liked EVMS. Norfolk is nice and it's close to the beach and Virginia ham is excellent. Sentara is a good system to learn in. Also, cigarettes are super cheap, allowing for arbitrage on my trips home

But, I def did not apply to other new schools, since they were much more unknown quantities. NSLIJ is huge, full of super smart people and loaded with $$$, so I know that whatever curriculum/ideas they have in store are most likely spot on. I didn't know that much about other newer schools, though, so I would not buy into a total unknown.

 

[Snuke]

Nah, don't get me wrong. I like EVMS well enough - I just think it's a lower tier school compared to what Hofstra could be in the near future. (and I'm a VA resident, so I definitely get the ham benefit!)

If it was a choice between say, Yale and Hofstra, that might be a different choice. Or pick your other school.

Whether you pick the new or established depends on the choices.

 

[235788]

I applied to oakland. I will only go there if it is my only acceptance.

 

[Eric01]

CONS?

You can get into the situation like Commonwealth is in, where they run into money troubles. I'm not an expert, but I do believe a sustainable and reliable source of funding is one of the qualifications of become permanently accredited.

So the situation could always occur that you get accepted to a new medical school (they're on preliminary accreditation) and then later on they lose their ability to become accredited and you're out 200,000 dollars and 4 years of your life.

With the economy facing a potential great depression in the next 4 years, you never know. It's a risk to consider.

 

[sector9]

CONS?

You can get into the situation like Commonwealth is in, where they run into money troubles. I'm not an expert, but I do believe a sustainable and reliable source of funding is one of the qualifications of become permanently accredited.

So the situation could always occur that you get accepted to a new medical school (they're on preliminary accreditation) and then later on they lose their ability to become accredited and you're out 200,000 dollars and 4 years of your life.

With the economy facing a potential great depression in the next 4 years, you never know. It's a risk to consider.

Wrong.
Your school could lose accreditation, but you'll still get your MD in the US
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=11134987&postcount=22

 

[Tapepsi]

Wrong.
Your school could lose accreditation, but you'll still get your MD in the US
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=11134987&postcount=22

I didn't want to reveal the name but that was actually the new school I was referring to in my established vs. new school post.