Tufts Medical School Prestige?

[GatorPhD]

I was really suprised when i first saw the us news rankings that tufts was in the 40s. I grew up in MA and tufts med is one of the first schools i heard about, and it was always mentioned in a very prestigious light.

I'm not weighing in on this, but Infinitydrop's thought raises an interesting point. Namely, that regional bias plays a big role in how medical centers are perceived by the citizenry. I'm from a small town in Northwest Florida, and I can tell you that everybody from Pensacola to Orlando thinks that Shands at UF is the best hospital around. The fact is, it's the only academic medical center within about 250 miles that is in Florida. UF is my alma mater and Shands is a great hospital, and I might go to med school at UF, but it's no MGH, HUP, or Hopkins. I mention this because UF is similarly ranked to Tufts, and I heard the same stuff about UF growing up. This, despite the fact that UAB and Emory are also around 250 miles away. My guess is that a lot of this stems from (1) folks who have been treated there for somewhat obscure cases and received good care (I know several of this type, including my own grandmother) and (2) many local MDs are UF alums and people happy with their docs get a good impression of their alma mater, among other things. My guess is that levels of specialty care received at academic medical centers and the amount of NIH dollars they get every year aren't highly correlated. So, the folks are right. Shands at UF is the best hospital around. They can go there and get treatment for things that Dr. Red Neck back home in Bugtussle couldn't cure. They don't care about grants and papers in Nature...just food for thought.

Thanks for the interesting conversation.

Gator

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[dw2158]

I'm not weighing in on this, but Infinitydrop's thought raises an interesting point. Namely, that regional bias plays a big role in how medical centers are perceived by the citizenry. I'm from a small town in Northwest Florida, and I can tell you that everybody from Pensacola to Orlando thinks that Shands at UF is the best hospital around. The fact is, it's the only academic medical center within about 250 miles that is in Florida. UF is my alma mater and Shands is a great hospital, and I might go to med school at UF, but it's no MGH, HUP, or Hopkins. I mention this because UF is similarly ranked to Tufts, and I heard the same stuff about UF growing up. This, despite the fact that UAB and Emory are also around 250 miles away. My guess is that a lot of this stems from (1) folks who have been treated there for somewhat obscure cases and received good care (I know several of this type, including my own grandmother) and (2) many local MDs are UF alums and people happy with their docs get a good impression of their alma mater, among other things. My guess is that levels of specialty care received at academic medical centers and the amount of NIH dollars they get every year aren't highly correlated. So, the folks are right. Shands at UF is the best hospital around. They can go there and get treatment for things that Dr. Red Neck back home in Bugtussle couldn't cure. They don't care about grants and papers in Nature...just food for thought.

Thanks for the interesting conversation.

Gator

i think i already brought the geographic point up, albeit in a laughing-at-myself sort of context.

 

[GatorPhD]

i think i already brought the geographic point up, albeit in a laughing-at-myself sort of context.

Oops. Sorry!

 

[dw2158]

Oops. Sorry!

no worries, you said it more coherently than i did anyway

 

[alibai3ah]

so i'm getting all these ridiculous emails every day about apartments and moving sales and summer trips and I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF I'M GOING THERE YET. and i turned in all my financial aid docs on like the first day i could, and they haven't sent me a package yet..

Seriously!!! What is up with all these schools emailing you about whether to withdraw or not. I have ZERO financial aid packages at hand..... And on top of that, the schools have given deadlines by mid April (makes no sense to me).

 

[ontheroad86]

I'm not sure about Tufts being to New England as Vanderbilt is to the South...I think Wake Forest is probably a more apt comparison. Both Tufts and Wake are top-tier institutions that enjoy very strong regional reputations but are not as well-known on a national level. In terms of rank, they are almost identical (for undergrad, Tufts and Wake are tied at #28, while their medical schools are ranked 45 and 43, respectively).

 

[Medgirl55]

wtf?

Well I mean the fact that he would classify the schools that way is kind of disturbing. I was thinking he would at least talk about the programs/the location/or prestige regarding different schools.

 

[BTC]

He's referring to residency directors viewpoint on the school (from a research standpoint). Each school is given a score on a 1-5 scale.

Here's some relevant schools in NYC and Boston for comparison:

Harvard: 4.7
Columbia: 4.4
Cornell: 4.3
Mount Sinai: 3.7
Tufts: 3.7
NYU: 3.6
Boston University:3.5
Einstein: 3.4

Anyone have the new numbers for this?

 

[BubbaChuck3]

He's referring to residency directors viewpoint on the school (from a research standpoint). Each school is given a score on a 1-5 scale.

Here's some relevant schools in NYC and Boston for comparison:

Harvard: 4.7
Columbia: 4.4
Cornell: 4.3
Mount Sinai: 3.7
Tufts: 3.7
NYU: 3.6
Boston University:3.5
Einstein: 3.4

Anyone have the new numbers for this?

Here you go. They are ranked by residency scores. I attached it as an excel file to this post. I only put the top 25 ranked schools. There are few schools ranked below 25 that have a higher residency score than case and mount sinai.

 

[sosuede]

Here you go. They are ranked by residency scores. I attached it as an excel file to this post. I only put the top 25 ranked schools. There are few schools ranked below 25 that have a higher residency score than case and mount sinai.

That's incredibly awesome of you. Would it be a pain to post more than the top 25?

School's I'm looking at aren't exactly on that list....

 

[BubbaChuck3]

That's incredibly awesome of you. Would it be a pain to post more than the top 25?

School's I'm looking at aren't exactly on that list....

Here you go...

 

[sosuede]

:

Here you go...

Thanks!!

 

[kris37]

Agree with this. Tufts is a good medical school. It's also the MOST expensive medical school in the country. Just not worth the price tag, IMO.

I agree. It seems a lot of people may agree with me in thinking that Tufts is just too expensive and not really worth it... especially considering it's so-so ranking and how much cheaper state schools really are.

 

[skeptic29]

Harvard tuition: $42,500

Penn tuition: $42,472

Temple tuition: $50,488

NYU tuition: $46,778

Tufts tuition: $50,320

..... Just a highly abbreviated list of price tags but similar numbers can be expected of most private schools... Yes, there's a difference. Is this difference significant enough to warrant mention all the time? Not really. If you go to any medical school that's not your state school, you are going to have to pay a ridiculous amout of money. At tufts you'll probably pay a few thousand dollars more, but again, I don't think this difference is large enough to create so much discussion. It's hardly a reason to condemn Tufts, especially since the tutitions of most private medical schools are not too far off.

 

[alibai3ah]

Harvard tuition: $42,500

Penn tuition: $42,472

Temple tuition: $50,488

NYU tuition: $46,778

Tufts tuition: $50,320

..... Just a highly abbreviated list of price tags but similar numbers can be expected of most private schools... Yes, there's a difference. Is this difference significant enough to warrant mention all the time? Not really. If you go to any medical school that's not your state school, you are going to have to pay a ridiculous amout of money. At tufts you'll probably pay a few thousand dollars more, but again, I don't think this difference is large enough to create so much discussion. It's hardly a reason to condemn Tufts, especially since the tutitions of most private medical schools are not too far off.

+1, I agree. I'm not too sure why Tufts gets the bad rep for its price. Every OOS private school that I have been accepted to costs roughly 45-50K. The only way you are paying less than that is a state school/Ohio/NY state schools (for OOS). Aside from that, they are all roughly 45K plus or minus a few thousand.