Research schools vs. Clinical schools

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dara678

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Hi everybody, I'd appreciate some help! I'm applying to medical school in the summer of 2003, and I need some advice about which schools are the best to go to for clinical experience. I have no interest whatsoever in doing research in my career, and for that reason I'd really like to know which schools are more research-oriented (so I know which ones to avoid). Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find this information in the MSAR or U.S. News. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

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The more "clinically-oriented" rankings are provided by US News under primary care rankings.
 
I know the University of Chicago-Pritzker asks a question specifically about your research experience...so if you have none you're screwed. U Chicago in general is known as a research heavy school anyway.

Many large public universities will probably be able to offer many research opportunities and clinical experience. For me a large school is best for that reason.

Are you asking about which schools value research experience, or encourage/demand their med students to do research while in med school?
 
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Thanks for the input Adcadet! I'm actually asking about the classes at the medical school themselves ... I'm looking for a school that doesn't rely so much on faculty interested in doing research, but rather on faculty who are interested in teaching and helping us learn about how to work in the medical profession ... I read a post somewhere that Northwestern Med School turned out very poor doctors because their faculty and their programs were more oriented towards research. Consequently, in their residencies these doctors are unprepared. I'm afraid to get into something like that (but don't get me wrong, NU is a great school, just not what I'm looking for; I go to NU undergrad).

It's good to know U of C is a research-oriented school ... I'll be sure to steer clear :).
 
Univ. of Washington is considered one of the best schools for training primary care physicians. I would imagine they get such a reputation from having really good clinical training.
 
Ah. Well, I think many schools use PhDs to teach the basic science stuff in the first two years (especially the first year), and thus are more prone to discussing research early on. I've heard complaints about a few profs at the U of MN teaching about research stuff in the first two years rather than just covering the basics. Personally I like that.

Medical school teaches you to see patients, so I think just about any program will focus on clinical medicine.

I interviewed at Wake Forest and GW, and found both didn't have enough of a research focus for me. I hear Jefferson is very clinically-oriented. Some schools have a thesis requirement, so that's one way you can screen schools. I seem to remember Mayo having a thesis requirement...can't remember the other schools. Wake just dropped their requirement.
 
Another thing Ive heard is that research schools tend to graduate specialists/surgeons while clinical-oriented schools tend to graduate more primary care physicians.
 
Originally posted by Gleevec
Another thing Ive heard is that research schools tend to graduate specialists/surgeons while clinical-oriented schools tend to graduate more primary care physicians.

stop following me Gleevec! ;)

anyway...I would imagine that tends to be true. But I think it's hard to classify many schools. For example, the U of MN is a huge school with tons of research going on. Yet it's a public university that needs to train physicians to serve the state (and nation, and world). A large percentage of graduates enter primary care (~50% I think).

Even if a school tends to be research-heavy, it's still very possible to get a great education in clinical medicine. I think you need to actually talk to current students (many students, so you don't get a biased view from a few individuals) to figure out if you would be a good fit. Who knows...a research heavy school may have a great program in an area you love and provide excellent mentors for that.
 
Originally posted by Gleevec
Another thing Ive heard is that research schools tend to graduate specialists/surgeons while clinical-oriented schools tend to graduate more primary care physicians.

i was just going to mention something along these lines. i don't know if this is obvious to everyone, but research schools tend to be better places to go if you plan on specializing. so even if you don't want to do research in med school or afterwards, you should apply to these "research schools" if you want to do something other than primary care (family med, internal med, peds, ob-gyn)
 
It's probably not such a good idea to think that research oriented and good clinical teaching are mutually exclusive. Just as high rankings in primary care aren't necessarily synonymous with strong clinical teaching. Case in point, from what I understand Michigan is a research power-house but their medical students have a very strong reputation for being very well prepared for residency. From personal experience, Pittsburgh is another place that is perceived as being a big research center but we started seeing patients in our first week of first year. We also spent a lot of time learning clinical skills, patient doctor relations etc...

My point is don't eliminate schools just because they have a research reputation. Read about them, talk to students, alumni etc... to see if they feel right for you.
 
I don't think the medical school you go to makes much difference in whether or not you are going to be able specialize. Just about every non-surgical specialty requires that you first complete a primary care residency (medicine, pediatrics, ob-gyn). So unless a majority of graduates go into surgery almost every school graduates a majority into "primary care" residencies, at least intially. Whether or not you get into the fellowship that allows you to specialize depends more on where you did your residency and how well you did as a resident.
 
There are definitely no absolutes, but it seems that a majority of the graduates of top research schools enter specialties while a majority of graduates of top clinical/primary care schools enter the general practice.

Originally posted by tonem
I don't think the medical school you go to makes much difference in whether or not you are going to be able specialize. Just about every non-surgical specialty requires that you first complete a primary care residency (medicine, pediatrics, ob-gyn). So unless a majority of graduates go into surgery almost every school graduates a majority into "primary care" residencies, at least intially. Whether or not you get into the fellowship that allows you to specialize depends more on where you did your residency and how well you did as a resident.
 
This may be a good question to post in the Allo forum - since they are actually in medical school, they may have better answers!!

:)
 
Most schools you go to, research is up to the student. It seems somewhat silly to make students do research if they have no desire to. At Wake, we're given a loooooong summer break so that students can have at least 12 weeks for research purposes, plus another 2 weeks for some other requirements we have to fulfill. The reason we have the 12 weeks is b/c the NIH thinks that you need at least 3 months to do effective research, and so they award more grants to schools that have more time for research. Wake has 20+ guaranteed NIH research grants for summer work which is a pretty large number.

Of course, if you have no desire to do research, 3+ months off is a nice bit too.
 
I have to concur with a couple of the above posts -- just because a school is a "research powerhouse" does not mean that it isn't one of the top clinical training schools. (And top primary care does not guarantee a good clinical training, depending on what you want to go into).
In fact, I actually chose a "research" ranked school mainly because the reputation for its graduates' clinical skills.
If you talk to some people at the schools you're interested in, you find out mcuh more. As a first pass I used the 'evil' USNWR rankings system for "reputation by residency directors" (sorry I don't have access to the list right now). Although the rankings don't matter much in the end, it gave me a sense which research schools are respected for their clinical skills as well as their baseline reputation.

Good luck.
 
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