Reputation and Rank

[pinkie08]

Hello there
I was wondering when applying to a residency program how important is the reputation and ranking of the medical school you graduated from? Does it only matter for competetive fields and residency programs? How important is it in the big picture ( as a practicing physician)? What do they base the reputation from, clinical experience, research funding?

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[Future Surgeon]

It does matter -- more at the extremes though. What I mean by this is that the top 5-10 schools get some preference, and the bottom 5-10 schools (e.g., foreign schools) have a rougher time in the competitive residency matches.

But in the big grey zone in the middle, it doesn't really matter as much. So ... if you are at a middle school, stuff like boards scores, research, etc. become a little more important in terms of "distinguishing yourself" from the pack. (Not that people from top schools don't have to worry about this, but they are already a little "distinguished" by coming from a top school.)

 

[Future Surgeon]

And one thing you might not realize about what they base their opinon of the rank of the school on (besides the amount of research the institution does) is THEIR EXPERIENCE with past residents from that school. That's not really something you can anticipate or change.