Service-Oriented MD Schools

[frosty42]

I know that many people say you need to apply to medical schools whose mission aligns with your goals. For me, that means avoiding schools that emphasize research and applying to schools that emphasize community service/working with underserved communities.

I'm looking for the best ways to go about seeking out these types of schools. Does anyone know of any lists that compile schools that are more service-oriented as opposed to research-oriented? Or of the best ways to go about doing this (aside from reading the mission statement of a million medical schools - which, of course, I will do eventually, but I'm looking for a place to start to narrow down my options to apply to)?

Thanks in advance!

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[M&L]

I know that many people say you need to apply to medical schools whose mission aligns with your goals. For me, that means avoiding schools that emphasize research and applying to schools that emphasize community service/working with underserved communities.

I'm looking for the best ways to go about seeking out these types of schools. Does anyone know of any lists that compile schools that are more service-oriented as opposed to research-oriented? Or of the best ways to go about doing this (aside from reading the mission statement of a million medical schools - which, of course, I will do eventually, but I'm looking for a place to start to narrow down my options to apply to)?

Thanks in advance!

EVMS .

 

[candbgirl]

All of the Jesuit schools: Georgetown, Loyola, SLU and Creighton!

 

[Goro]

In addition to the above, Drexel, BU, Albany, Emory, UCSF, Miami, Tulane, USC, Quinnipiac, WVU (especially for rural service), Rush, Loyola....especially Rush.

A few others are a bit more specific: UTx-RG-service to Hispanic communities; Mercer-for Georgians; ETSU/Quillan-miliatry service

BTW: they're not looking for 6 months of last minute, high-volume volunteerism.

 

[deleted1063986]

All schools value service and your lack of research won't hurt you as long as you have a strong application otherwise. I would apply wherever your GPA/MCAT are around median.

 

[lacrossegirl420]

uchicago, rochester i know are super service-oriented

 

[gyngyn]

Any school with a public teaching hospital.

 

[LunaOri]

Also UMass (especially PURCH track), UNC. Some other state schools. If you do a search for schools with good Rural Medicine or Urban Medicine programs, you will find more.

 

[Cspine]

UW-Madison is very service oriented. They have a path where students can do rotations in Milwaukee to serve underserved populations in an urban setting. This program you apply for after like 1-2 years. They also have a rural med track (WARM) if that's your thing. This you have to apply to when applying through AMCAS. Or you could just stick with staying in Madison as they have lots of service opportunities too.

MCW is also fairly service oriented. If interested in rural med and primary care/psych, definitely apply to the satellite campuses. If interested in urban settings, stick with the main campus in Milwaukee.

 

[Catalystik]

I know that many people say you need to apply to medical schools whose mission aligns with your goals. For me, that means avoiding schools that emphasize research and applying to schools that emphasize community service/working with underserved communities.

I'm looking for the best ways to go about seeking out these types of schools. Does anyone know of any lists that compile schools that are more service-oriented as opposed to research-oriented? Or of the best ways to go about doing this (aside from reading the mission statement of a million medical schools - which, of course, I will do eventually, but I'm looking for a place to start to narrow down my options to apply to)?

Also U Utah.

 

[TelemarketingEnigma]

Can second Miami, there are a lot of opportunities for service and that has been a big aspect of my time here.

However, research doesn't always have to mean no service, and vice versa. Tons of research going on here, and a lot of us do both - but many also focus more on one or the other. there's room for anyone, and I imagine many other schools are similar.

 

[datboi_58]

I was in your position. A few tips:

1. Don’t ever say you don’t like research. If you think that, you’re probably wrong and should figure out why research is important. With that said, you don’t need to love doing research or see it as a major part of your future. Just be comfortable knowing you will likely engage with research in some way in the future and know that this is important.

2. Don’t sell yourself short. If you have good stats and ECs, apply to good schools even though they’re research-heavy and you don’t have good research experience.

3. There are only a handful of schools that care about research so heavily that they’ll reject you because you don’t have good experience. A good example is Virginia Tech Carilion and you can browse through their website to see how clear they make it that they really want to focus on research.

4. Most schools emphasize service and it’s too broad of a category to match your interests to medical schools’ interests. Think specifically about what kind of service (inner city - try urban schools; kids - good peds programs ; etc.).

TLDR: As long as you have other ECs, I would largely factor out research in your search except for the literally handful of medical schools that really emphasize research. VT Carilion is the only one that comes to my mind.

PS: I don’t know how AdComs think but as a medical student, these are the factors that I would consider as important in picking a medical school assuming you don’t have a very specific / particular interest. If I were an AdCom, I would like to hear about these for “why pick this school” because it would make me think you know what your priorities are:

1. P/F curriculum. Medical school is hard and you don’t want to be competing against some of the best in the world. It’s better to not have to care about keeping a good GPA. I think this is highly underrated and you guys are going to be spending most of your time doing school stuff as opposed to EC stuff so consider P/F seriously!

2. Location. Some people don’t care. Some do. For those that do, make sure you will be happy here.

3. Finances. You don’t want to spend a lot of money.

4. Class size / personality. Do you want to be in small / medium / large class? Do you want your classmates to be chill or challenging you? Some schools don’t really have good class bonding whereas other schools have classmates become really good friends.

5. Curriculum. I would personally like to minimize my time in the classroom so 1.5 year pre-clinical curriculums sound way better than 2 year pre-clinical curriculums.

6. Daily Schedule. Different schools have different schedules. Try to see which ones you might like better.

7. EC opportunities. Maybe the school has specific EC opportunities that you’re interested. I would also rope in curriculum “add-ons” in this category. For example, some schools pair students with patients so they can form a longitudinal relationship. This is only a tiny part of your school experience so it shouldn’t be heavily emphasized but it can be considered.