Picking Medical School help?

[baller99]

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Hi,
I'm a pre-med and was wondering if you all could help me out. I'm choosing between med schools and don't really know the best factors for getting a good residency. Some things I have heard earlier:

decent usmle scores
location
price
scutwork amount
hands-on clinical work
school's reputation in field you want (basically school's specialty)
people that place into school's own residency for the field you want

Is there anything you would add/remove from this list based on your experiences as med students? This is considering equal happiness everywhere. Thanks!!

 

[anonymousername]

i personally would remove scutwork amount but if that's a big issue to you then keep it

 

[DocHaji]

You have posted an excellent question. I am in the same boat. When I think applying picking medical schools, I think about research focused or primary care. Other than that, can we be picky? Or do we have to just go where we get accepted. I have not heard of people getting more hand a handful of acceptances, so I always think that people go where they get accepted.

 

[mmmcdowe]

Hi,
I'm a pre-med and was wondering if you all could help me out. I'm choosing between med schools and don't really know the best factors for getting a good residency. Some things I have heard earlier:

decent usmle scores
location
price
scutwork amount
hands-on clinical work
school's reputation in field you want (basically school's specialty)
people that place into school's own residency for the field you want

Is there anything you would add/remove from this list based on your experiences as med students? This is considering equal happiness everywhere. Thanks!!

I would make the hands-on clinical work into hands-on clinical work during your 3rd and 4th year. Before that, there really isn't going to be a lot of hands on stuff (MAYBE draw blood) other than learning physical diagnosis on specially prepared patients or actors. Early clinical experience is nice, but it is available at all school. You just might have to go get
it yourself rather than having it as part of the curricula.

I would definitely look at the student population and how happy/enthusiastic they were, and also get a feel of other accepted students if you go to second look.

 

[Paramedic2DocMD]

Location to me is one of my deciding factors, I mean then again I do have Duke,Wake Forest, Brody, UNC, to name a few in my state so I have better options for trying to stay in state if not local.

I don't think price plays to much into it. Im going to have to get a loan and Im over the worrying about debt its a fact of life for med school.

Hands-On well i think thats more a 3rd and 4th yr thing so you never really know depends on the teaching staff at the time I would assume, so no guarantee.

School's reputation, would not hurt to go to a school with good rep. Though when you say reputation do you mean prestige, or rather do they have a good staff and great learning enviroment among other factors that turn out good Docs.

In the end I would and will send in apps to the places I feel will be the best enviroment for me to excel. So learn about the school, request info, campus tour, pretty much how you picked your undergrad school. See if you can see yourself there.

Good Luck/Disclaimer Don't Take My Word I Don't

 

[J ROD]

First, I would look at stats because you have to be competitive at the school....then,

I would look at price and location....

the rest can be overcome with hardwork and good Steps, grades, etc.

 

[hanjg]

Picking medical schools to apply to next cycle? All your state schools, any other place where you have a plausible connection, and enough other places where your stats dictate you have at least a chance. Stop when you run out of room on the credit card. At least, that's what I did.

Or choosing which school to attend from multiple acceptances? I'm right with you on this one. All the doctors I've talked to say we put too much emphasis on what our first 2 years will be like and that we should be more concerned with our last 2 years. I'm finding that information to be much harder to find. 😕 One orthopedic resident at Mayo was "ranking" the schools on my application list and his focus was entirely on what the grads of those schools (that he had experience with) knew about patient care and procedures coming into residency. He was highly critical of schools whose graduates had limited hands-on exposure and praised those whose hospital experience was "broad" and "deep". He felt that completely over-shadowed the academics (and academic reputation) of the med school and felt that Step scores were largely determined by the students themselves.

Other than talking to recent grads and scouring this site, how else can we find this information? I don't know enough recent grads to get a good sample.

 

[CapnCrunch]

First, I would look at stats because you have to be competitive at the school....then,

I would look at price and location....

the rest can be overcome with hardwork and good Steps, grades, etc.

agree.

I would look at: can I get in? >>> location >/= price

just me though.

 

[baller99]

oh just to clarify this is choosing AFTER one has been accepted. this question is more geared towards med students/residents. i think for picking where to apply, its generally location/price/(general area of interest) x 15-20 schools.

but how do you choose once your accepted? what factors should I consider when doing that? for instance, will residency directors prefer that I have done a lot of scutwork or little? Is a school's reputation in a particular field important for getting residencies in that field? Does a better clinical experience at particular schools translate into better residencies? Do schools who have students match to "better" residencies (eg. anes, derm) have a generally better level of education (or some unknown helpful factor)? Or does it matter at all what med school you go to (not considering prestige)? sorry for the long questions.

 

[ElegantWeapon]

I think the scut/hands on experience of the 3rd and 4th year is something to look into that a lot of people neglect. On multiple occasions now I have heard this from physicians and 4th years. The hard part is figuring out how to actually investigate the issue...

 

[silverhorse84]

Hi,
I'm a pre-med and was wondering if you all could help me out. I'm choosing between med schools and don't really know the best factors for getting a good residency. Some things I have heard earlier:

decent usmle scores
location
price
scutwork amount
hands-on clinical work
school's reputation in field you want (basically school's specialty)
people that place into school's own residency for the field you want

Is there anything you would add/remove from this list based on your experiences as med students? This is considering equal happiness everywhere. Thanks!!

As others on this forum have said, step scores are really more based on the individual not the school, so I would throw that one out. Plus, schools don't publish that, so you're going on their word and every schools says they're "above average."
Hands-on clinical work in years 1/2 are pretty even throughout the country, and frankly it's a fairly moot point. Sure it's nice to use it as a reminder of why you're sitting in a classroom memorizing the krebs cycle yet again, but you really don't get those skills down until 3/4 years no matter what the schools do in years 1/2.
Location and price are much better to look at. Also, I know you said consider happiness equal, but it's not equal in real life. You will be spending the next 4 years of your life at this school - go somewhere where you'll be happy!!! If you're disappointed in what you chose later it won't matter how "good" the school is, your grades may suffer if you're not happy there. If the school with the better step scores or the school with the most students who matched in X speciality is in a place where it snows and you hate snow, don't go there.

When choosing a school, I took a little over a week and went to the schools I was debating between. I seriously sat in the middle of their courtyard (if the school had one) and closed my eyes and tried to picture myself there. I thought about the time I had spent at the schools previously (interviews, second look, etc) and the people I had met. I had previously made a pro/con list for each school (which I recommend for those who are more analytical), but it really all came down to how I felt at the school. I chose the school where I felt that I fit in best with the students who were already going there, and the location where I could really see myself living.

Good luck! And have some fun! If you have multiple acceptances, you're doing really really well! It may not seem so on SDN where people are bragging about 6+ acceptances, but not many medical students have a choice of where they attend - you've earned the time to sit and ponder about this. Wait until you see what financial aid you get, wait to attend second looks for the schools that have them - I waited until a few days before the May 15th deadline and took the time to travel to see each school again - I wouldn't have done it any other way 🙂

 

[diosa428]

Definitely agree with above - go to second looks and see if you like the campus, the students you meet, etc.

Location and price should also be factors in your decision.

In terms of what residency directors look for? Step 1 scores, grades in years 3 & 4, letters of recommendation, research. Most of this is not going to be significantly affected by where you go to school. It always helps to have a strong letter from someone who is well known in the field that you're going into, but I wouldn't base my decision on that.

Scutwork probably doesn't vary by school as much as it does by the resident who you're working with or the specialty that you're on. It also depends upon your definition of "scutwork". Most med students I know don't mind doing things like making follow-up appointments for patients, or running errands if it's relevant to their patient, however some view that as scut. Others view things like going to get the team coffee as scut (FWIW, I have never had a resident ask me to go get coffee and not offer to buy me some as well). And often doing these "menial" tasks are more entertaining than sitting around doing nothing, or trying to read in a workroom that is loud and crowded. Trust me, as a med student, you're never going to be *so* busy that you don't have time to help out the team, unless it's the day before your shelf, you are in the middle of writing an H&P, or you're a sub-I.

Hands-on clinical work also probably doesn't vary as much as you think it does, and most likely varies more from service to service than from school to school.

 

[235009]

factors to consider when choosing which schools to apply to:
1. location
2. school's average stats as they compare to yours

...that's all

factors to consider when picking a med school post-acceptance:
1. location
2. price
3. reputation of med school in the geographic location where you want to do residency (it doesnt really matter if you want to go into a specialty that your school isn't particularly well known for....you can do an away rotation)

and less importantly:
4. curriculum
5. grading style

...and that's basically all that matters

why i think things that you have mentioned don't matter:

decent usmle scores - the average usmle scores of every US MD school is greater than the average. the fact that one school has a high average doesnt mean that you are more likely to get a higher score

scutwork amount - not even sure what this means...define "scutwork"?

hands-on clinical work - this and "early clinical exposure" are meaningless as you will find out because you basically don't know anything worthwhile in your preclinical years. getting exposure to standardized patients however is very important.
school's reputation in field you want (basically school's specialty) - the specialty you "want" now most likely won't be the specialty you want later

people that place into school's own residency for the field you want - see above regarding "the field you want". also, why would it matter whether people stay at the school for residency? if you do well you will have plenty of options.

 

[halekulani]

pick the school with the hottest girls. duh.