University of Wisconsin vs Top 20 Medical Schools?

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I think you might as well give it a chance. Apply to any top 20s that you could see yourself going to and decide in March/April once you receive financial aid decisions from all your schools.
 
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I think this question is best answered in the WAMC forum , as for the value of prestige use the search function that topic has been discussed to death along with the MDvsDO and the URM topic so no need to bring it up here and detract from the essence of your post which is asking about your chances. Also I would like to add even though u have good stats never bank on a school accepting you apply to 15 schools where ur number is competitive at which is a vast majority of schools. You would be surprised that someone with your number can get rejected . (I am not wishing this on you)
 
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UW is viewed quite well and is respected in the medical community. It won't hold you back when you apply in a few years. If you do well on Step 1 and on your rotations you can match anywhere from anywhere (including schools far less respected than UW). I think that applicants from top schools fare better in residency applications than others as a cohort, but how much of this is because of the caliber of student that they attract or the school itself can't really be hashed out. I'm of the opinion that top schools' students match well because of both. I'm working extremely hard in med school, but I also wanted to take advantage of being able to make "the leap" while I definitely could from undergrad to top med school. Going to the more expensive top private school as opposed to staying at my state school but having the pressure to duplicate my success when the stakes are higher. I also didn't want to have any regrets about where I could have gone, and I genuinely thought it was what was best for me. If you have any specific questions about my decision please feel free to message me. Obviously, there is plenty to regret for many people with regards to money and location. In any event you should apply broadly, just in case UW thinks that you will go somewhere else and they waitlist you (probably won't happen).
 
Save your money and do the cheaper school. UW-madison seems solid and I know of a few people from there who interviewed and matched at top places in competitive specialties. Sure, maybe someone from a bigger name school may get the nod over you when it comes time for residency apps, but if you do your part you'll have good opportunities. On the flipside, if you end up not choosing competitive residencies, how would you feel spending that extra money to only end up at a place that a Wisconsin grad could have ended up at? I know of quite a few people that chose to attend expensive big name med schools over their State school, only to end up at non-competitive residencies or their home State no-name residency program, which seems like a waste of money to me.
 
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I graduated from UW, part of me would still like to get a refund. The education is adequate, the clinical experience in Madison is superb. However, they farmed us out to rural areas (under the bs guise of a "statewide campus") where the clinical experience was horrendous. Add to this the housing (which is not always provided) was lame, some locations during 3rd year has students sharing bedrooms, some locations 4th year had students living in a hospital room in "a quiet area of the hospital". In the end, I was adequately prepared for intern year, though this largely was due to 4th year electives done in Madison. I'm fairly certain I could have gotten an identical education almost anywhere and saved myself from having primary care and public health jammed down my throat, and saved myself from being outside of Madison in three superstar cities for 24 weeks of 3rd year. So it's up to you, generally I'd say go with the cheapest school but in this case buyer beware.


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I graduated from UW, part of me would still like to get a refund. The education is adequate, the clinical experience in Madison is superb. However, they farmed us out to rural areas (under the bs guise of a "statewide campus") where the clinical experience was horrendous. Add to this the housing (which is not always provided) was lame, some locations during 3rd year has students sharing bedrooms, some locations 4th year had students living in a hospital room in "a quiet area of the hospital". In the end, I was adequately prepared for intern year, though this largely was due to 4th year electives done in Madison. I'm fairly certain I could have gotten an identical education almost anywhere and saved myself from having primary care and public health jammed down my throat, and saved myself from being outside of Madison in three superstar cities for 24 weeks of 3rd year. So it's up to you, generally I'd say go with the cheapest school but in this case buyer beware.


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Did you have the option to do all of your rotations in Madison? Also, how do you think their rotations fare against MCW?
 
So my year the only ones that did all of their rotations in Madison were those with children. This was 4+ years ago and may have changed though. I can't comment on rotations at MCW as I have never been there. Like I said the rotations at the UW/VA are great, those outside of Madison often made me feel like I was wasting my money.


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Also UWSMPH is known to give scholarships to keep competitive applicants instate. So best case scenario you'll have some good options.
 
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You do realize that UW is ranked #25 in research and #14 in primary care?

Whether or not you want to pay an extra $80,000 to go to a T20 school vs a T25 school is your choice.
 
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The primary care ranking is meaningless, I think 2/3 of my class from UW went into "primary care" (FM, IM, Peds). With the exception of the few going into FM the vast majority are sub-specializing. As for the scholarships, nobody in my class who deserved one actually got one. They all went to the "unique students" (old students with kids, etc). One went to quite possibly the dumbest student in our class but she was poor, a minority, and had kids so it was good PR. When you visit UW (or any school for that matter) and you feel at home then go there. Ignore the rankings (to some extent), and certainly the primary care rankings... Nobody outside the school administration gives a **** about that one.


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You have the stats for top schools but not really the ECs. Your clinical experience, volunteering, and research are pretty light. I wouldn't expect a top school acceptance without beefing up your ECs.
 
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