Teaching Hospital vs. Distributive Model for Internships/Residency

[BCL801]

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Hi, I am a pre-vet student trying to decide between a distributive model school vs. a traditional teaching hospital school, both are about the same cost for me but the distributive one is much closer to my family/partner/friends while the teaching hospital school is about 10+ hours away. I know that I want to specialize following veterinary school and have been struggling about deciding which one is better for me. I am curious if anyone feels a distributive curriculum would put you at a "disadvantage" when applying for internships... would love to hear thoughts/opinions! I am lucky to be able to even have the choice and its been weighing heavily on me! 😣

*Edit, I would be happy going to either school and I like both curriculums but not sure how others would feel

 

[supershorty]

I don't know that it puts you at a disadvantage for match, but I think that having a teaching hospital available comes with innumerable benefits and I personally would encourage someone to always choose that over a distributive model unless there is a substantial cost difference that favors the distributive one.

 

[pp9]

Hi, I am a pre-vet student trying to decide between a distributive model school vs. a traditional teaching hospital school, both are about the same cost for me but the distributive one is much closer to my family/partner/friends while the teaching hospital school is about 10+ hours away. I know that I want to specialize following veterinary school and have been struggling about deciding which one is better for me. I am curious if anyone feels a distributive curriculum would put you at a "disadvantage" when applying for internships... would love to hear thoughts/opinions! I am lucky to be able to even have the choice and its been weighing heavily on me! 😣

*Edit, I would be happy going to either school and I like both curriculums but not sure how others would feel

Agree with shorty...idk if there is any proven disadvantage you'd face when trying to specialize, but there are some things to consider.

1. Is the cost really the same after you factor in any additional housing and travel done in your clinical year at the distributive school? I'm not sure which school you are considering, but I would verify that the tuition/cost estimates does or does not include the extra costs associated with being farmed out to multiple different hospitals for clinics.
2. Without knowing what rotations/specialties/etc the distributive school makes mandatory, whether or not they are prepared to help you find externships, what faculty they have, etc...well it is possible you might get less exposure in certain areas compared to a traditional teaching hospital clinical year.
3. You may not know if you want to be in academia or private practice as a specialist yet, but if you want academia, you could argue that having your clinics in academia and starting your connections early would be beneficial. Doesn't mean you wouldn't succeed in PP or in academia if you choose the distributive model, though.
4. The distributive models will lack a lot of opportunities that are available at teaching hospitals for didactic year students. Getting to know clinicians early, some summer opportunities, jobs during school years, etc. You'd have to decide how important those things might be for you.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

I don't know that it puts you at a disadvantage for match, but I think that having a teaching hospital available comes with innumerable benefits and I personally would encourage someone to always choose that over a distributive model unless there is a substantial cost difference that favors the distributive one.

I agree.

I can see the benefit in the distributive model being that it is potentially more representative of what an average "day to day" general practitioner is like (if someone wants to be a general practitioner) compared to a vet school which is part general practice but also highly specialty-driven, and you can't discount that.....however in my mind there are significant drawbacks:

1) Not all general practice vets are good teachers or even like to teach. A GP vet didn't go into clinical practice to have half a dozen students running around and it is harder for them to distribute the attention that is needed when they are also running a business. I'm not saying every single clinician at a vet school, by comparison, is an amazing perfect teacher either....but overall they joined the school and took a MUCH lower salary than they could have made in private practice because they LIKE to teach and are good at it. They are used to students and understand how to communicate science and procedures in an accessible way.
2) There is a lack of standardization both in medicine quality and in evaluation of students with the distributive model
3) In the distributive model, you lack having other specialties basically at your doorstep to learn from - i.e. you are learning in a much more isolated environment with more constraints. Being able to have cardio or neuro or whatever just down the hall significantly enhances your understanding of medicine and physiology in complex cases.
4) It can limit your networking for certain specialties

Not saying that distributive models can't produce excellent vets. If all other things are equal (your experiences, stats, letters of re ,etc) to a student from a regular model, I doubt you would be looked down upon just for that. But these are things that need to be considered because they can affect how easy it is to attain those same things.

 

[JaynaAli]

Retweet what everyone else said.

 

[reyofsunshine]

I personally don't think it puts you at a disadvantage as far as internships go, in fact I like having the distributive model for my school because it gave me the opportunity to rotate at different hospitals and see how their internship programs run up close. I've also been able to network with doctors which I think has helped my chances with getting internships at some private practices im interested in and its allowed me to get some letters of recommendation for intern applications. If you're thinking of academic internships idk if there's a difference as far as teaching hospital vs distributive.

 

[battie]

On a financial level, why would you pay the same cost to attend a school *without* a teaching hospital? You are physically getting less for your money in a tangible way. You can't go hang out with cardio if you have a random class cancelled, as an example. Whereas, if you have a teaching hospital, you could spend free time with a service starting first year to network and make those connections

 

[gartersotter]

As someone who reviews applications... If I have two applicants that are identical on paper, and applicant A has 2 letter writers that I know or are familiar with, but applicant B has no letter writers that I recognize, then applicant A probably has a better chance. That is the advantage of a teaching hospital.