Question

[thinker2021]

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[Goro]

Dartmouth
UCSF
Duke
Vandy
Columbia
Stanford
U Chicago (maybe)
Keck (maybe)
UCLA (maybe)

You CAN get into a T20 (which actually has some 30 schools) without research experience, but you'll need to have other ECs that make up for that. Your experiences are great, and I've advices a fair number of SDNers who did well with identical experiences as yours. Work in public health policy is appreciated as well; ditto health care disparities studies

 

[thinker2021]

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[LunaOri]

Perhaps you should focus less on the arbitrary school ranking, and more on finding a school whose mission fits your interests....

 

[PigsHaveWings]

Perhaps you should focus less on the arbitrary school ranking, and more on finding a school whose mission fits your interests....

Research, rural area/underserved and amount of resources devoted training minority physicians are probably the 3 main distinguishing characteristics in a schools mission, that I can discern from the websites.

If you are not URM and not that keen on working in underserved rural areas, outside of research differences between institutions (mainly the T20), it is hard for me to decipher the difference in missions in any of the schools. What other differences in missions should I be looking out for ? they look all similar on their websites and completely transposable between most of the medical schools, that if given a blinded test, the staff of that medical school would hardly be able to distinguish their mission statement from another similarly rated medical school. This is why the average pre-med has to depend on the USNMR to prevent themselves from going crazy trying to figure out which school is better than the other. There needs to be some objectivity to the data, instead of vague subjective statements. Every SDN advice says, make the school mission fit your mission.....maybe I am missing something.

The things which are important to us are not available in an objective, clear format anywhere on most of their websites, they are all extremely vague. End of the day, I understand none of it matters, since most of us will not get in, and the ones who get in will not have a whole lot of choices, except the very elite top 10% who get multiple acceptances.

I will name some of the criteria which would be helpful to get from a schools mission statement for applicants:

1. Performance of their class in the residency match. very confusing when you look at the numbers. How many students got into their top 3 choices ? How many students applying to a particular specialty matched in that specialty ?
2. Objective measures of comparison between student satisfaction in each medical school
3. Student to physician mentor ratio. How many full time teaching faculty do they have in each department ?
4. Whether there is a true pass/fail system in the pre clinical years ?
5. Availability of mentors for undergraduate research. What kind of research has been conducted by the graduating class.. it is basic science, clinical, translational ? how many papers in peer reviewed journals ?
6. Ability to help failing students to prevent dropouts and burnouts
7. Scholarship (merit and needs based) given in prior years for admitted students
8. Amount of clinical time I can spend in specialty rotations in the third and fourth year.
9. For state schools, when they give their OOS numbers, how many of them are truly OOS versus neighboring states ?

I could name another 10 of the criteria which would be helpful.

@LizzyM

 

[LizzyM]

You have research experience, OP, so that box is checked. I'd triangulate T20 school list (if you have GPA > 3.79 and MCAT> 517) with list of schools that offer doctorates in public health and/or anthropology. I think that those are the universities where your work will have the most resonance.

 

[LunaOri]

Research, rural area/underserved and amount of resources devoted training minority physicians are probably the 3 main distinguishing characteristics in a schools mission, that I can discern from the websites.

If you are not URM and not that keen on working in underserved rural areas, outside of research differences between institutions (mainly the T20), it is hard for me to decipher the difference in missions in any of the schools. What other differences in missions should I be looking out for ? they look all similar on their websites and completely transposable between most of the medical schools, that if given a blinded test, the staff of that medical school would hardly be able to distinguish theirs from another similarly rated medical school. This is why the average pre-med has to depend on the USNMR to prevent themselves from going crazy trying to figure out which school is better than the other. There needs to be some objectivity to the data, instead of vague subjective statements. Every SDN advice says, make the school mission fit your mission.....maybe I am missing something.

The things which are important to us are not available in an objective, clear format anywhere on most of their websites, they are all extremely vague. End of the day, I understand none of it matters, since most of us will not get in, and the ones who get in will not have a whole lot of choices, except the very elite top 10% who get multiple acceptances.

I will name some of the criteria which would be helpful to get from a schools mission statement for applicants:

1. Performance of their class in the residency match. very confusing when you look at the numbers. How many students got into their top 3 choices ? How many students applying to a particular specialty matched in that specialty ?
2. Objective measures of comparison between student satisfaction in each medical school
3. Student to physician mentor ratio. How many full time teaching faculty do they have in each department ?
4. Whether there is a true pass/fail system in the pre clinical years ?
5. Availability of mentors for undergraduate research. What kind of research has been conducted by the graduating class.. it is basic science, clinical, translational ? how many papers in peer reviewed journals ?
6. Ability to help failing students to prevent dropouts and burnouts
7. Scholarship (merit and needs based) given in prior years for admitted students
8. Amount of clinical time I can spend in specialty rotations in the third and fourth year.
9. For state schools, when they give their OOS numbers, how many of them are truly OOS versus neighboring states ?

I could name another 10 of the criteria which would be helpful.

@LizzyM

The answers to some of those questions can be gleaned from the school's websites, or Google. The others can be asked at Q&A sessions, or asked of previous/current students. Your university may be able to put you in touch with graduates who have attended that medical school. The medical school may also have student ambassadors who can answer some of the questions.

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

Perhaps you should focus less on the arbitrary school ranking, and more on finding a school whose mission fits your interests....

perhaps main interest is getting into T20s and then adopt that school's mission 🙂

 

[PigsHaveWings]

perhaps main interest is getting into T20s and then adopt that school's mission 🙂

I agree, this is a sellers market, and majority of the applicants need to go in with a beggars cant be choosers approach. Thus, the seller is not obliged to make this fair.

 

[thinker2021]

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