School Selection Criteria

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libertyyne

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What are some good factors to choose a school if you take away location and cost.

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What are some good factors to choose a school if you take away location and cost.

Pick the school that you envision yourself being happiest at. Medical school can be miserable at times and it certainly does not help to attend a school that is not a good fit for you. This is something you should be trying to get a feel for during interview day and/or second look.
 
The people around you. I think that's the most important in making any life choice. It doesn't matter if the school has the most research money, the most research opportunities, the best clinical training, etc. if you're miserable working with the type of people there (type of people being your peers).
 
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Pick the school that you envision yourself being happiest at. Medical school can be miserable at times and it certainly does not help to attend a school that is not a good fit for you. This is something you should be trying to get a feel for during interview day and/or second look.
I feel like most interview days are first dates. Everyone is bringing their A -game, trying to get lucky.IMHO, It is difficult to fully determine one's happiness in such a time. But, "Fit" will be added to the selection criteria.
 
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The people around you. I think that's the most important in making any life choice. It doesn't matter if the school has the most research money, the most research opportunities, the best clinical training, etc. if you're miserable working with the type of people there (type of people being your peers).
Who knows where the fellow interviewee's will land, and the makeup of the m2-m4s could vary wildly.
 
I feel like most interview days are first dates. Everyone is bringing their A -game.IMHO, It is difficult to fully determine one's happiness in such a time. But, "Fit" will be added to the selection criteria.

You are correct, it is tough to make a judgement based off of one day. Second look days can help a bit, but it is still difficult.

Speaking with current students is also helpful. Do the students seem happy? Choosing a school involves considering a variety of factors, but your gut feeling about the school should not be ignored.

And obviously location and cost are a couple of the most important factors.
 
Schools I will rank highly :
Those that accept me

Schools I will not rank highly:
Those that do not accept me
 
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Schools I will rank highly :
Those that accept me

Schools I will not rank highly:
Those that do not accept me
I mean I understand this is a first world problem. But still inquiring minds want to know if you have multiple acceptances. What do?
 
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Another thing to consider is the curriculum style. Do traditional lectures predominate, or do they utilize a lot of team-based learning (TBLs)? I would not be a fan of a TBL-heavy curriculum but this is a matter of personal preference.
 
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MD always over DO
Curriculum, rotations, and student culture are big factors- go with what seems like it'll fit your personality best.
 
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Another thing to consider is the curriculum style. Do traditional lectures predominate, or do they utilize a lot of team-based learning (TBLs)? I would not be a fan of a TBL-heavy curriculum but this is a matter of personal preference.
This is a very good point, and what I am actively considering. Part of me wants to sit at home all day in my underwear and watch lectures at 2.5X. But the evidence based part of me says that TBL has evidence to support its use and improved outcomes.
 
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This is a very good point, and what I am actively considering. Part of me wants to sit at home all day in my underwear and watch lectures at 2.5X. But the evidence based part of me says that TBL has evidence to support its use and improved outcomes.
This certainly seems to be the direction that many curriculums are heading. But again, if you hate it and it makes you miserable, it's not going to be as good for you no matter what the evidence says about the population as a whole.
 
Type of curriculum
Research opportunities
Your gut feeling after interviews
Comments from current or past students
Your specialty choice
Class size
Video taped lectures?
Mandatory class attendance?
Time for Board prep
Exam frequency
Quality and number of rotation sites
School mission


What are some good factors to choose a school if you take away location and cost.
 
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Who knows where the fellow interviewee's will land, and the makeup of the m2-m4s could vary wildly.

That's why second-look is important. Even if the other people there aren't going to be at that school in the end, one may be able to discern the kind of person a school admits - each school has its own distinct culture.
 
list below
Thank you. This is a good list, some follow-up questions.

Type of curriculum- TBL, PBL, ETC - Still trying to figure this out.

Research opportunities- How does one quantify this?

Your gut feeling after interviews- Mostly diarrhea.

Comments from current or past students- I will work on obtaining this.

Your specialty choice- Dont know yet, But provided none of the schools focus on Primary Care how would I tell them apart. Since looking at match lists is a fool's errand.

Class size- How much does this matter?

Time for Board prep
- How do I figure this out?

Exam frequency
- How do I figure this out?

Quality and number of rotation sites- How do I figure this out?

School mission
: Do most schools really believe in this or do they just pay lip service?
 
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MSAR can tell you how much the school receives in extramural funding, and you can go to the school's Faculty or Dep';t pages to see what tyupes of research is going on. then look at the publication numbers and quality of the PIs.

Research opportunities- How does one quantify this?

Do you like being 1/250? or 1/75?
Class size- How much does this matter?

Ask current students...or at interviews
Your specialty choice- Dont know yet, But provided none of the schools focus on Primary Care how would I tell them apart. Since looking at match lists is a fool's errand.
Time for Board prep- How do I figure this out?
Exam frequency- How do I figure this out?
Quality and number of rotation sites- How do I figure this out?


They believe it. If you don't think so, ask OOS applicants who try to get into Mercer, or clueless non-African-American kids who apply to the HBCs.
School mission: Do most schools really believe in this or do they just pay lip service?[/QUOTE]
 
I am selecting a medical school based on the following three criteria:

1) Curriculum, medical education and clinical training
2) Location and cost
3) Diversity, inclusion, interview day experience and second look
 
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Thank you. This is a good list, some follow-up questions.

Type of curriculum- TBL, PBL, ETC - Still trying to figure this out.

Do you like learning in case based approaches or lecture based approaches? Honestly this won't matter as much as you might think it does. It's more going to be how you study the material on your own than how it's presented to you that matters.

Research opportunities
- How does one quantify this?

Ask current students how easy it was to find research that they wanted to do and whether or not they were easily able to get funding.

Your gut feeling after interviews- Mostly diarrhea.

Comments from current or past students- I will work on obtaining this.

Your specialty choice- Dont know yet, But provided none of the schools focus on Primary Care how would I tell them apart. Since looking at match lists is a fool's errand.
This is hard to do before you actually go to the school and go to the department. Perhaps the most reliable way to do so is if you're interested in a particular specialty, check the match lists and see if they have matched people into that specialty at all consistently. If you wanna do ophtho but they have matched literally 0 people into ophtho in the last 4 years, something might be up.

Class size
- How much does this matter?

I don't think it matters too much. Different people will be more comfortable in different environments.

Time for Board prep
- How do I figure this out?
ask students or faculty!

Exam frequency
- How do I figure this out?
ask students

Quality and number of rotation sites
- How do I figure this out?
ask students

School mission
: Do most schools really believe in this or do they just pay lip service?

I can only speak for my school whose mission statement is to generate future leaders in medicine or something like that but they really encourage you to get involved in things that may help with that stuff. I suspect this only matters if you are set on a specialty but go to a PC focused school, and even then it probably won't make a huge difference.

The last thing I will add is look for preclinical grading schema. Some people will disagree with me and say it doesn't matter but I think it matters more than some might think and I really really like having true P/F.
 
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