School Choice?

[artsydoc]

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Hi Current Students,

I've got a little less than a month to decide which school I'd like to attend and I was hoping some of you might share your decision making process.

More specifically, did any of you choose a lower tier school over a solid choice kind of institution simply because you liked it better, felt more welcome, better vibe-what have you. If so, did you regret it at all or do you feel you've made the correct choice as time goes by?

Frankly, how much does school choice really matter once you're in the game?

Thanks so much all you busy people!

 

[Lokhtar]

$$$

 

[deleted263296]

I chose an expensive private university over my public school. Assess your goals now. Certain academic residency programs will discriminate by the institution that you go to for medical school. Other advantages of expensive private schools is the ease of obtaining research opportunities. However, it is not impossible to match well no matter what school you go to. Your education and success (i.e., Step 1 score) in medical school is going to be based entirely on your own efforts, not on the school you go to.

 

[Siverhideo1985]

I had the choice between a 2nd Tier school and one that doesn't usually make it into any rankings. I went with the unranked school. I've never regretted the decision.

I made the decision because I like the people better, the school I went to is still a very big medical center with lots of clinical and research opportunities. I figured med school might be hell for 4 years (worst case scenario) so I might as well be at the school that I felt more at home at, liked the people and attitude better, and that was more welcoming on my visits.

99.99% of the doors will still be open to you if you do well at a less prestigious school. There are about a million factors that make a good medical school, a million more that make you a good medical student, and a million on top of that that get you into residency. Medical school prestige/ranking is one of them.

 

[unsung]

Hi Current Students,

I've got a little less than a month to decide which school I'd like to attend and I was hoping some of you might share your decision making process.

More specifically, did any of you choose a lower tier school over a solid choice kind of institution simply because you liked it better, felt more welcome, better vibe-what have you. If so, did you regret it at all or do you feel you've made the correct choice as time goes by?

Frankly, how much does school choice really matter once you're in the game?

Thanks so much all you busy people!

Here are some things I really didn't think too much about at the time:

-- Mandatory lectures/small groups vs non-mandatory?

-- Similarly, how much freedom do you have over scheduling rotations 3rd/4th yrs?

-- Commute. Yeah, that annoying parking situation or the daily bus ride matters more than you think. (But this dovetails back with the "are lectures mandatory"... you can easily see the 2 could doubly compound your life stress... 😉)

-- Amt of time given to you for boards study. Self-explanatory.

-- Are lectures/class notes available online?

-- And lastly... is the curriculum SYSTEMS-based or do you go over the anatomy, etc. regionally (head & neck, then limbs, etc.)? This isn't an insurmountable hurdle, but I sure wish I had considered this. I learn much better when things are arranged "functionally" by system... so if all the vasculature, etc. stuff was grouped together, I found it much much easier to memorize/learn/digest. But the way our school had us doing it, I found it really difficult. I also wished that the curriculum did not separate form & function so much, as I would've learned much better if I got the anatomy & physiology simultaneously rather than sequentially.

So consider yourself forewarned.


Some things that are NOT important:

-- WHY did every school bother giving me a grand tour of study spaces, the library, the hospital, etc. ?

What's funny is the great simulation center they showed us that I was excited about... basically I NEVER used! (I think we had one activity down there over the course of the entire 2 yrs... and that was a student-initiated change in the curriculum.)

Maybe if I were part of the EM interest group or something, I would've played more with the stuff... but honestly, the school curriculum itself didn't even make use of it.

-- the "vibe"... I'm meh on this one. All I can say about this one is that a great "vibe" from your classmates won't make up for policies that annoy you and inconvenience you daily.

BUT, I will also say that if you get a "vibe" that the admin is really organized or really disorganized... don't ignore that. lol

 

[Lil Mick]

For me, it was a better fit with research, and, as someone going into academic medicine, a school with opportunities in my field would give me a better foundation than some higher ranked schools with few researchers on my topics of interest. So, if, say, pathology is your thing, maybe look at those departments and opportunities to be involved in that during medical school. If one is better than the other, you'll probably have an easier time with good letters of recommendation and experience in that field.

 

[mvenus929]

I had the choice between two out-of-state state schools. One is a top 25 school, and the other is pretty far down in the rankings.

I chose the top 25 school, not because of the rankings, but because I liked the school better. It would have been cheaper for me to go to the other school (in-state tuition after a year, plus I already had a place to live and could rent it out to pay living expenses), but I absolutely hated the curriculum. It was traditional, there were classes from 8 til 3-5 every weekday, the students seemed miserable, and honestly, I would've hated living there again (went to high school there).

My current school has a systems based curriculum, classes from 8-12 with about half of them not required (though I attend most of them anyway), plus one or two days of afternoon activities a week. The area is wonderful, the weather has been great so far (both warm and snow), and the people here are genuinely happy (in general). Plus, you know, better facilities, since it is a top 25 school and all.

 

[jj6vcb]

Don't discount location. I chose my school over one that was significantly (25 spots on research) higher ranked because here I am easily able to have a life outside of class... the other school, not so much