Residency directors' thoughts on new schools

[Discs]

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I got accepted to a school that's only a couple years old. I know that it's hard to generalize the criteria employed by residency directors for resident selection, but I heard that certain specialties care more about school prestige than others.

Is this true as a generality, and if so, which specialties?

 

[flodhi1]

I got accepted to a school that's only a couple years old. I know that it's hard to generalize the criteria employed by residency directors for resident selection, but I heard that certain specialties care more about school prestige than others.

Is this true as a generality, and if so, which specialties?

Schools care about the students performance not the prestige of the school. What's the point of attending Mayo or Harvard if you're scoring 190s in the Step exams seriously?

 

[linebacker57]

the only way I could see it affecting residency placement is if the school doesn't have an AOA chapter by the time you graduate. Does anyone know when AOA's typically get established? will schools like oakland and hofstra have these by the time they have M3's and M4's?

 

[crprep23]

Schools care about the students performance not the prestige of the school. What's the point of attending Mayo or Harvard if you're scoring 190s in the Step exams seriously?

This is a very ignorant statement to make on a topic that has been discussed on SDN many times in the past. Prestige most certainly plays a part in the discussion. To what degree? That's hard to say. Performance obviously trumps prestige, but that doesn't mean prestige isn't considered.

OP, you're fine. Focus on your performance rather than getting caught up in extraneous details. The most important determinant will be your performance. Focus on that instead of worrying about how your school is viewed.

 

[sector9]

the only way I could see it affecting residency placement is if the school doesn't have an AOA chapter by the time you graduate. Does anyone know when AOA's typically get established? will schools like oakland and hofstra have these by the time they have M3's and M4's?

Hmm I don't know the answer to your question except that the school needs to have full accreditation by the LCME (not provisional like all the new schools have) which won't happen until the school graduates a class. They also need to have at least 6 faculty members who are AOA members. From there, the new chapter has to be approved so there might be some bureaucratic slowdowns. These requirements would require a gap between the opening of the school and the establishment of AOA

However, it seems strange that AOA status is such a big deal to you when some respected med schools (like Stanford and Mayo) don't have it for their med students

 

[ilovelanguages]

However, it seems strange that AOA status is such a big deal to you when some respected med schools (like Stanford and Mayo) don't have it for their med students

It doesn't matter whether AOA status is a big deal to linebacker57, what does matter is that is that AOA status is unquestionably a big deal to PD's in some specialties


But I feel this is just one aspect of the argument. How does the fact that PD's have 0 experience with students going through the clinical years at a school affect a PD's desire to hire a student from that school? It is well known that the reputation of a school for its clinical training is considered in the match. New schools for the most part have zero track record in that aspect

 

[alwaysaangel]

It matters somewhat, exactly how much is hard to say.

And its not really prestige. That can factor in, but there is more to it than that.

For example, prior history with students from the school matters. When I interviewed for residency, many residency directors commented on how impressed they were with prior residents who they took from my school. They can use that as a decision factor as it tells them something about the level of clinical training you received and what they can expect from you.

Another factor is having well known faculty - medicine is a pretty small world, and it gets smaller when you pick a specialty and apply to residency. If the school is well established, so that the faculty in a given specialty are well-known (either in the area or nationally) then your letters have more meaning to the programs you're applying to, since a letter from someone they know well will be more valuable than a letter from someone they've never met.

 

[sector9]

It doesn't matter whether AOA status is a big deal to linebacker57, what does matter is that is that AOA status is unquestionably a big deal to PD's in some specialties

Dang, I'm glad you came along to give us the definitive word. Don't go to Stanford or Mayo or any new school.

/sarcasm