OK, I'm an M4 applying to residencies now and I am a student at Michigan.
I appreciate the comments from both bones and footcramp. The issues raised by both posters have validity.
First of all, let me start by saying Congratulations to all of you who have been accepted here to Michigan. It is a great institution, I'm proud to have gone here, and I think it is a remarkable achievement to be accepted here. I'm so jealous of you all who got fleeces...I didn't get squat!
Now, with this aside, I will offer my perspectives about two things that have been mentioned--reputations within/outside the Midwest and the clinical years.
(1) Reputation - When I matriculated, Michigan was #4 in terms of reputations amongst residency directors. I would like to offer that in addition to the quality of students that graduate from Michigan, there are two additional factors that may bias this ranking.
#1 - Michigan graduates 170 to 180 people per year vs. other schools that graduate anywhere from 80-120 per year. Hence, there is a lot of Michigan alums who are physicians all across the country. Many stay in the Midwest because they have family here, they grew up here, and they love it here. I am from the east coast and from going on residency interviews on the west and east coast, I do get the distinct impression that these folks are not as impressed as I would like to hope. Michigan's reputation is largely regional however, it is still well respected everywhere. Michigan's reputation does not seem to reward the applicant who is seeking to go back to California for residency. I know many people here who come to Michigan from California. Their intention is to return to that state for residency. However, some of these folks have a hard time. They will rank California programs #1-4 and Michigan #5 (because Michigan is strong in and of itself--how dare we rank Michigan low, right?). Guess what. Some of these folks end up at Michigan. Michigan loves to keep its own folks...there is quite a bit of inbreeding here. But this is not a completely bad thing because Michigan is a strong institution and you will get solid training. I will stress though that Michigan is far from being the absolute BEST! But it's pretty damn good.
#2- I will expand on this in the next section. However, some of my friends posit this hypothesis which I think is pretty interesting (I wish I could take credit for this one). Again, this is only a hypothesis. Michigan, during the clinical years, works you HARD. I mean really...you get absolutely WORKED! Michigan students are beaten down and trained well. Hence, when they go to residency programs, they have seen close to the worst of the worst. Michigan students are used to the crap and won't bitch and moan as much. So program directors won't hear a lot of lip from us because we're so used to being treated like crap. Think about it...let's say you go off to residency being used to taking overnight call every 4th night. Then there's the resident who came from a medical school that doesn't subject its students from taking overnight call. Suddenly, things get really busy. The Michigan resident isn't gonna bitch; he/she will be better adjusted to this schedule, will buckle down, and get the work done efficiently. The other resident may not be as prepared and so who is the program director gonna like better? My problem with this hypothesis is that adjustment woes are only temporary and things will even out as all the residents get used to the workload.
(2) Many premeds judge the medical school by looking at the first two years and the preclinical curriculum. Let me focus your attention to the clinical years. Did I mention that students get worked HARD? Absolutely WORKED! Also, grades are relatively deflated at our school. At some medical schools, most students get an Honors or High Pass and fewer students get a Pass. At those schools, a Pass means you really screwed up! At Michigan, it's a different mentality. A Pass is considered a huge accomplishment! Accordingly, half the students on a rotation will get a Pass. Internal Medicine, which is the rotation all residency program directors look at with close attention, is notorious for handing out a ridiculous number of Pass grades. I think this logic is ass backward. Now, a few of my classmates have posited this hypothesis (damn, I wish I came up with this one too!):
Why would Michigan hand out a lot of Pass grades? I will bring up the concept of inbreeding again. If you have a lot of Pass grades on your transcript, many residency directors may look down on your application. You may not even get an interview (although, I know of plenty of people with straight Pass transcripts who get interviews at fantastic places). However, they may not rank you highly in the Match. But guess who is gonna accept you with open arms? You got it. Michigan! Because Michigan's attitude towards a Pass grade is a bit skewed to say the least compared to other schools' attitudes toward Pass. Now you can put this together with the inbreeding concept. Many of us stay in Michigan for residency (I think close to 30% in the Class of 2002). Sure some of us ranked Michigan #1; they have family here and love Ann Arbor (which is an absolutely beautiful town). However, I do know some disgruntled California folks who got screwed because of this (talk to my roommate, he can bitch your ears off about this).
Anyways, I'll stop this diatribe. These are some of the issues which I didn't even come close to thinking about when choosing schools and I hope this gives you some insight into some "intangible" factors that don't seem obvious.
I will end by saying that as a graduating senior at Michigan medical school, I am still overall happy that I chose this place above other places. I worked my butt off here but I learned a ton. No school is gonna be perfect and sure I wonder what things would have been like if I went somewhere else. What you need to do at this point is this. You have been accepted to Michigan. So you are strong, smart applicants. You will get into other places. So you need to make the best decisions for yourselves, whether Michigan ends up being in your future or not. You will encounter challenges wherever you go and you will need to adapt which will allow you to kick ass.
Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions about UMich. I am happy to help anyone make an informed decision.
