suggestions for medical schools?

[ashandtherev]

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Hello! I'm new to the boards and currently finishing up my undergrad. I'm planning on applying next year to medical school. I am planning on getting into pathology, and was curious if you guys had any recommendations for great med schools to attend? (with the intent of getting into pathology) I want to maximize my education, and If i can go to a med school that has a great pathology dept, vs one that doesn't, i'd much rather do so!

Please and Thanks!
Ash

 

[KeratinPearls]

Hello! I'm new to the boards and currently finishing up my undergrad. I'm planning on applying next year to medical school. I am planning on getting into pathology, and was curious if you guys had any recommendations for great med schools to attend? (with the intent of getting into pathology) I want to maximize my education, and If i can go to a med school that has a great pathology dept, vs one that doesn't, i'd much rather do so!

Please and Thanks!
Ash

You know what are the great med schools to attend. Open up US News. Those most likely have great path programs.

Seriously, you have a lot of time to even consider if pathology is right for you...it may or you might find something else interesting in four years.

 

[gschl1234]

Any US allopathic school and try to publish something in pathology prior to the Match. Good luck. 🙂

 

[liliequist]

One thing to consider is medical schools that offer post-sophomore fellowships in pathology: basically a 9 to 12 month, often paid stint in the pathology department between 2nd and 3rd year medical school, where you are basically function as a 1st year resident after the first initial months of training, and you rotate through all the major areas of anatomic pathology. Any med student who has finished the first 2 years can apply. Generally med schools who offer this kind of fellowship have strong path programs. For a list, see here:

http://pathologytraining.org/PostSophomoreSearch.aspx

 

[caffeinegirl]

I respectfully disagree with the above suggestion about post sophomore fellowships.

Medical school is the opportunity to develop a strong foundation in all aspects of medicine..which you need in order to become a great pathologist.

My recommendation is to go to the best medical school you can get into and excel to the best of your ability. Learn how to manage your time when confronted with all of the information that is being thrown at you, and develop an understanding about the greater clinical picture during your clinical rotations. And then during your elective time, do your pathology rotation(s) and see if it's right for you.

Good luck!

 

[KCShaw]

I trend towards the thought that medical school is about building foundations, not about tracking into one specialty or another (particularly at the expense of others). I also agree that most of the generally publicized "top" medical schools also have good pathology departments.

Hardly any medical school teaches pathology in the way that it is practiced by AP pathologists, and to a lesser extent CP pathologists. Hardly any of that is on the USMLE, and it's simply a vanishingly low priority. It's part of why professors in other specialties may still have skimpy, inaccurate, to absent knowledge of what a pathologist generally does. It's a huge reason why most path resident programs ask about your prior rotations/experience in real world pathology during interviews. I don't really know of one medical school which addresses this significantly above and beyond any other.

With those things said, I would suggest running through some of the previously published lists of "top" medical schools and look at each one individually for things that you think suit you.. then apply to most or all of them based in part on what you think is important to you. And, unfortunately, be wary about interviewing and telling everyone the only thing you're interested in is pathology -- because many of them won't know what that means, a few may not even realize it's a medical profession rather than the province of non-MD science, and most seem to like the idea of someone coming to them with an open mind so they can mold you and whatnot.

 

[2121115]

Pathology as we know it may not even exist when you are applying for a residency.

 

[Gene_]

One thing to consider is medical schools that offer post-sophomore fellowships in pathology...Generally med schools who offer this kind of fellowship have strong path programs. For a list, see here:

http://pathologytraining.org/PostSophomoreSearch.aspx

That list is not particularly impressive.

 

[blackbird11384]

Pathology as we know it may not even exist when you are applying for a residency.

What do you mean by this? You think molecular rests will take over morphogenetic analysis under a scope?

 

[ashandtherev]

Pathology as we know it may not even exist when you are applying for a residency.

Do you not recommend getting into pathology? Is the projected job market not looking good?

 

[green mantis]

I agree w/ the above regarding medical schools. You don't need to go to a particular medical school to get into pathology residency. Your medical school pathology course is not going to be anything like residency. There are many programs where you don't even look at glass slides or gross specimens.

When you do a pathology rotation in medical school, at a program that has a residency, you'll discover that the residents have a broad range of backgrounds. There will be both US & foreign graduates. The US graduates will be from a variety of different schools, either MD or DO.


----- Antony

 

[gschl1234]

Hardly any medical school teaches pathology in the way that it is practiced by AP pathologists, and to a lesser extent CP pathologists.

I agree about the AP comment, but my impression of CP is that it is like medical school on steroids.

 

[KCShaw]

Well.. yes and no, IMO. For the most part, in medical school one is taught what a CP test result means to a patient/diagnosis. In pathology residency you also learn what other things affect a test result, what the result means to the lab, what it doesn't necessarily mean, and what its limitations are, among other things -- if that's being on steroids, I dig. My biggest point is that in medical school it's still generally not taught from a CP pathologist point of view, but from a clinician point of view, much like AP -- send blood or tissue, get a result, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain nor the variables that go into obtaining the result. WAIT!! There's someone behind the curtain??!?!

I think I told a story before on here about a BrandName hospital where a documentary was being filmed -- I don't remember exactly what it was about, breast lumps or somesuch. The focus for several weeks had been on the surgeons, until the last 2 days when the film crew followed a surgeon to a multidisciplinary conference where pathology was presenting some things. At the end of the conference the producer hurried up to the pathologist (who told me the story) and was like.. wait, YOU'RE the one making diagnoses? And doing the intra-op reads?? All this time we thought the SURGEON did.. WTF?!? ..so they spent their few remaining hours running around the pathology department. People don't know the difference, and for the most part aren't volunteered the difference by those who do.

 

[gschl1234]

Well.. yes and no, IMO. For the most part, in medical school one is taught what a CP test result means to a patient/diagnosis. In pathology residency you also learn what other things affect a test result, what the result means to the lab, what it doesn't necessarily mean, and what its limitations are, among other things -- if that's being on steroids, I dig. My biggest point is that in medical school it's still generally not taught from a CP pathologist point of view, but from a clinician point of view, much like AP -- send blood or tissue, get a result, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain nor the variables that go into obtaining the result. WAIT!! There's someone behind the curtain??!?!

The "behind the curtain" stuff is what I meant by steroids. It's like medical school but one step further. Not only do you have to be able to interpret the test, you have to know every detail about how the result came to being as well as synthesize that information. Even though the focus of medical school is clinical, you use the same skills/tricks to learn CP as you did in medical school to cram in general medicine.

 

[LRAccord624]

One thing to consider is medical schools that offer post-sophomore fellowships in pathology: basically a 9 to 12 month, often paid stint in the pathology department between 2nd and 3rd year medical school, where you are basically function as a 1st year resident after the first initial months of training, and you rotate through all the major areas of anatomic pathology. Any med student who has finished the first 2 years can apply. Generally med schools who offer this kind of fellowship have strong path programs. For a list, see here:

http://pathologytraining.org/PostSophomoreSearch.aspx

Thanks for this link.

Does anyone know how competitive these positions are? How do they evaluate you? Basically MS1 and fall of MS2 grades, and extracurricular activities?

 

[LRAccord624]

Actually, I have just been thinking about this... what is the benefit of doing one of these programs, when you could instead do an actual fellowship after residency and then have something to show for it? It would make sense if it was for a summer or something... but it seems superfluous to take a year to do a pathology rotation sophomore/junior fellowship, when you will be doing that exact same thing in two years, if that's what you end up deciding to do.

 

[gschl1234]

Actually, I have just been thinking about this... what is the benefit of doing one of these programs, when you could instead do an actual fellowship after residency and then have something to show for it? It would make sense if it was for a summer or something... but it seems superfluous to take a year to do a pathology rotation sophomore/junior fellowship, when you will be doing that exact same thing in two years, if that's what you end up deciding to do.

If you want to take a year off during medical school you would probably do yourself a bigger favor by doing a research fellowship and publishing. In the old days, the PSF counted for a year of residency but it doesn't anymore.

 

[GoodNewsEvery1]

If you want to take a year off during medical school you would probably do yourself a bigger favor by doing a research fellowship and publishing. In the old days, the PSF counted for a year of residency but it doesn't anymore.

I think that is a good idea. I did a PSF and glad I did, but it certainly isn't for everyone. I think I was an ok applicant this year but I think the PSF had a lot to do with getting interviews at places I wouldn't have otherwise. You certainly don't need it to get into pathology if that is your main goal. I think it would help getting into a big name residency of your choice. Research would probably allow more flexibility in that if you decide to go into another field, it will probably help there as well, while the PSF may not.

To the initial poster: I would just suggest going to a school that has a path program, as you will have more opportunities during medical school to get involved as the residency programs do want the applicant to have enough pathology exposure. Going to a big name school certainly won't hurt you either.

 

[ashandtherev]

thanks so much guys! I'm a total spazz/type A personality, so of course I have to start thinking about all of these things now. I like to always be a step ahead.

 

[yaah]

Medical school is not primarily intended to be where you learn about pathology. That is what residency is for. People make this mistake all the time - some people even do PSFs because they think it will make them a better resident. PSFs are generally for people who want the year to learn pathology - oftentimes because they think they will do another career and want to exposure to pathology, oftentimes because they just don't know if pathology is right for them.

Medical school is for learning about basic concepts in medicine and exposure to all different fields. A general introduction.