•••quote:•••Originally posted by Klebsiella:
•
What I'm saying is that at IVY league, there are slightly more students with more impressive CV's. The student with the stellar CV is more likely to be coming from an ivy league program.•••••Why do you suppose that is, Klebsiella? And if this is true, then are not PDs perhaps slightly biased in favor of Ivy League applicants?
•••quote:••• Klebsiella also wrote:
I went to the name brand University ... and I think it's assanine to attribute my success to the name of my school. ••••Sorry, but I can't help myself:
It's hard to believe that you attended a "name brand University" considering you can't even spell "asinine". The word has nothing to do with "ass", as you've spelled it.
P Diddy is right. My elitism notwithstanding, going to a big-name place can bring mucho rewards. I am at a decent-but-not-great state medical school, and I cry every March when I see our senior match list because it pales in comparison to the match lists from UPenn, Columbia, and Wash U. Whether the school's rep gets a student into a competitive residency or whether it's simply a case of a higher caliber of students at the famous schools, no one can argue that students from these schools do only "slightly better". Stop deluding yourself. These guys kick the **** out of state schoolers (UMich, UCSF, et al notwithstanding).
A word on elitism:
In my experience, all medical schools have a fair share smart kids. All of 'em. Most kids at most med schools are smart, in fact. The difference is that the average student at an Ivy League med school can actually read and write his own name, while most state schoolers are lucky to get past P in the alphabet. Honestly, even the smart guys at state schools who get 250+ on Step I can't read a nonmedical book to save their lives, can't discuss intelligently anything outside of medicine. State schoolers, in my experience, even the better ones, are far more likely to be pure memorizing machines with no native cleverness or wit, or out-and-out one-dimensional science geeks.
To put it into numbers, if you're a stat man:
Your typical state schooler who knocks down a 250+ on Step I probably only got a lousy 1200 or so (if that) on the SAT and a 29 on the MCAT (11s in the sciences, 7 verbal) whereas your typical Ivy Leaguer who throws down a 250 (or even 240) on Step I undoubtedly uncorked a 1460 or better on the SAT and got a 36 MCAT in his sleep.
Remember, I am only speaking of averages, more likely scenarios, etc. Undoubtedly, there are exceptions to prove the rule. I'm a state schooler myself. Therefore, knowing only this bit of information, one would not be a fool to surmise that I probably did not do as well in high school, on the SAT, in undergrad, or on the MCAT as Klebsiella did, since he's at a big-ticket institution. I freely admit this.
How much this affects one's shot at residency is a different discussion altogether that we (present company included) have beaten to death. This is simply my four cents on so-called elitism. I, for one, happen to enjoy more the company of the intellectually well-rounded to the intellectually square and one-dimensional. Yes, I am an elitist. I also prefer dating pretty women to ugly ones. Elitist again. I'm not shallow, though, b/c I prefer smart girls to dumb ones. I suppose I'm doubly elitist: only smart and pretty girls will do for me. No surprise, then, with my elitist and choosy nature - to say nothing of my self-absorption - that I sit at home alone most Saturday nights reading Proust and wondering why no one ever calls.
<img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />
