Top clinical medical schools

[Magus]

Hey everyone,

Many people know what schools are excellent for research (i.e. US News, but some say those rankings are questionable) but not so much about clinical excellence. What schools do you feel provide excellent clinical preparation for residency? Do these schools have particular characteristics that aid them in preparing their students particularly well i.e. patient population, type of environment (city, rural, suburb), affiliated hospitals, med student interaction with patients, attending/resident teaching? I think making a list of excellent clinical schools like this (not using the US news primary care list!) might be helpful for current applicants. Thanks for your input.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[jr doctor in sd]

bump =]

 

[aaj117]

I was really really impressed with the clinical experience and training facilities at both Georgetown and GW. Georgetown talked about having a lot more responsibility for 3rd years in rotations and how it helps their students get and do well in residencies. They cited specific things like testing you on your clinical skills early and having students placing central lines, tubing, cutting during surgeries, etc. GW had a whole floor of the hospital set up for clinical practice, including a mock OR with phenominal training equipment.

 

[drizzt3117]

Look at the affiliated hospitals. Mayo, CCF, B/W, MGH, NYP are all very good.

 

[macbookpro]

I guess one way to rank the best clinical schools is to look at the assessment score from residency directors (on the USnews website). Is this a reliable source for deriving a good ranking?

 

[Depakote]

Keep in mind... great affiliated hospitals might mean great affiliated residency programs. You don't want to be competing with the residents every time there's a new procedure to be learned. Just make sure you go somewhere where you won't go your whole OB rotation without catching a baby.

 

[luv2sd]

Hey everyone,

Many people know what schools are excellent for research (i.e. US News, but some say those rankings are questionable) but not so much about clinical excellence. What schools do you feel provide excellent clinical preparation for residency? Do these schools have particular characteristics that aid them in preparing their students particularly well i.e. patient population, type of environment (city, rural, suburb), affiliated hospitals, med student interaction with patients, attending/resident teaching? I think making a list of excellent clinical schools like this (not using the US news primary care list!) might be helpful for current applicants. Thanks for your input.

what's wrong with using the US news primary care list? it's not like the schools listed at the top of the list SUCK in any way. Most of the schools listed at the top of the list are also listed at the top of the research list. If a school is ranked high in both research and primary care list, it must provide good clinical experience.

 

[drizzt3117]

The metrics used to evaluate research rankings are heavily dependent on factors that will not affect a typical med students clinical training. There is a relationship between the research rankings and clinical training quality but that is coincidental and not based on the metrics used.

 

[tigercu]

clinical medical

 

[luv2sd]

The metrics used to evaluate research rankings are heavily dependent on factors that will not affect a typical med students clinical training. There is a relationship between the research rankings and clinical training quality but that is coincidental and not based on the metrics used.

you can think of top tier medical schools as applicants who have high GPA, high MCAT score, stellar EC's, vibrant LORs, founded clubs and organizations, etc... usually they are good at all aspects of the game. cocoincidental? maybe

 

[drizzt3117]

Thats a complete non-sequitur. Please explain how increased NIH funding will give you better clinical training.

 

[jr doctor in sd]

Keep in mind... great affiliated hospitals might mean great affiliated residency programs. You don't want to be competing with the residents every time there's a new procedure to be learned. Just make sure you go somewhere where you won't go your whole OB rotation without catching a baby.

^^^ wisdom 👍

 

[Dendrite]

University of Miami Miller School of Medicine is fantastic for this, especially with having one of the busiest hospitals in the country for their students to spend their clinical rotations in their third and fourth year.

 

[45408]

you can think of top tier medical schools as applicants who have high GPA, high MCAT score, stellar EC's, vibrant LORs, founded clubs and organizations, etc... usually they are good at all aspects of the game. cocoincidental? maybe

You can make the comparison, but that doesn't make it valid. In this case, it isn't.

 

[Monarch Kong]

Look at the affiliated hospitals. Mayo, CCF, B/W, MGH, NYP are all very good.

Good hospitals means it's the best place to get treated as a patient. Doesn't mean you'll get good training.

Cush hospitals = less to do

 

[Jolie South]

am i the only one excited by county hospitals and the va?

 

[drizzt3117]

It also means the best clinical faculty are there. You may need to seek out opportunities to shadow or work w/ them, but they may also have more time to teach.

 

[Law2Doc]

am i the only one excited by county hospitals and the va?

Well, if the goal is the best clinical experience, then your goal is really to find the most understaffed, overbooked hospitals you can find, because that will mean you get to do the most. So you really cannot beat the VA or inner city county hospitals for this. Not sure I would use the phrase "top" for these places -- most are not best at anything, but you will learn a lot.

 

[Monarch Kong]

am i the only one excited by county hospitals and the va?

Jolie, if you like county hospitals, you should've applied to UTSW. Parkland is the biggest, most amazing county hospital ever.

 

[Jolie South]

Well, if the goal is the best clinical experience, then your goal is really to find the most understaffed, overbooked hospitals you can find, because that will mean you get to do the most. So you really cannot beat the VA or inner city county hospitals for this. Not sure I would use the phrase "top" for these places -- most are not best at anything, but you will learn a lot.

i'm finding myself drawn to working with the underserved. i know it sounds crazy, but the more i think about it, the more that's what i want to do.

baylor's underserved track would be perfect! like super stressful EM, yea. i don't enjoy work when i'm not stressed. weird.

 

[Law2Doc]

what's wrong with using the US news primary care list? it's not like the schools listed at the top of the list SUCK in any way. Most of the schools listed at the top of the list are also listed at the top of the research list. If a school is ranked high in both research and primary care list, it must provide good clinical experience.

You have to look at what that list actually measures. Percentage of the class that enters primary care doesn't really tell you if the school was any good at teaching clinical stuff, it often just tells you that it wasn't as good at getting it's students into more competitive specialties as the other schools. The fact that some of the most prestigious allo schools don't make the top 20 in that list, despite the fact that most people concede that the clinical skills of those schools is not really lacking, ought to give you some pause.

 

[SexiMexi]

UTSW provides intense clinical training.

Ask students at places you interview how much hands on they get, how many babies they delivered...etc. This should help you get a better idea of clinical training from place to place.

 

[smq123]

What schools do you feel provide excellent clinical preparation for residency? Do these schools have particular characteristics that aid them in preparing their students particularly well i.e. patient population, type of environment (city, rural, suburb), affiliated hospitals, med student interaction with patients, attending/resident teaching?

In med school, not all students rotate at the same place. Most places offer a choice of rotation sites. Sometimes you're "stuck" somewhere, other times you can kind of choose to go somewhere.

For instance, at my school, you can do pediatrics at Reading (very poor, mostly Hispanics or African-Americans, underserved), or you can do your peds rotation at Geisinger (central PA, kind of in the middle of nowhere). You can do your surgery rotation at the VA (no call at all, very limited exposure to trauma or transplant) or you can do it at the University hospital (call every 4th night, huge trauma service).

So, even if you go to a school with a "great" reputation for clinical training, you still need to remember that you might get a different experience based on where you did your rotation.

 

[maestro1625]

what's wrong with using the US news primary care list? it's not like the schools listed at the top of the list SUCK in any way. Most of the schools listed at the top of the list are also listed at the top of the research list. If a school is ranked high in both research and primary care list, it must provide good clinical experience.

primary care is clinical

but

clinical is not necessarily primary care.

plus, when MSU DO is the #5 school in the country, you tend to tilt your head a bit at the rankings.

Not that the research rankings are any better. The research I did at a major university wasn't really any different than the research done at my small LAC, yet because it was basic bio research, the lab had an affiliation with the med school, and therefore the $ that the lab took in counted toward the ranking... and I can't say that having PhD candidates and undergrads chopping up mouse slides had anything to do with the undergraduate medical education at that school.

I believe that USNews used to have a "comprehensive" category for med school, but I have no idea what that even took account of.