Urban or Suburban Med School Choice?

[Abe Culper]

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I heard a comment and thought I'd check to see if it is really accurate. Someone stated selecting a medical school in a city is more educational than one in a suburban or rural area. The logic was that the types of medical issues encountered have a lot more variety and depth. For example, urban areas are treating trauma whereas many suburban or rural hospitals are sending out those types of cases to centers more equipped to deal with them. However, for the things you are learning in medical school will this exposure, or lack of it, really make a difference? I expect year one and two it would not but perhaps in year three and four it would make a difference. or perhaps not until rotations. Any one with experience or real knowledge of this topic as we begin to decide where to put in applications?

 

[LizzyM]

A school can't get and keep accreditation unless they have enough clinical rotation spots for all the students to get a reasonable exposure to the important areas of medicine.

Don't overlook the fact that sometimes people from big cities go to smaller cities (like Rochester Minnesota) for their care because of the reputation of the clinicians there.

For the most part, you are going to medical school to learn the basics and see the basics. Pathology related to bones, heart, lungs, joints, psyche, brains and nervous system, plus obesity, hypertension, and diabetes plus well babies and pregnant women are going to be plentiful wherever you go. The rare and unusual will be a bigger issue when you get into residency and fellowship.

 

[Abe Culper]

A school can't get and keep accreditation unless they have enough clinical rotation spots for all the students to get a reasonable exposure to the important areas of medicine.

Don't overlook the fact that sometimes people from big cities go to smaller cities (like Rochester Minnesota) for their care because of the reputation of the clinicians there.

For the most part, you are going to medical school to learn the basics and see the basics. Pathology related to bones, heart, lungs, joints, psyche, brains and nervous system, plus obesity, hypertension, and diabetes plus well babies and pregnant women are going to be plentiful wherever you go. The rare and unusual will be a bigger issue when you get into residency and fellowship.

Thank you! Anyone else with any thoughts?

 

[efle]

You can live in a very suburban feeling area of a medium city - where buildings are short, evenings are quiet and there is still a lot of trees - yet have the med school a mile or two away still be a major academic center that gets the weird/special cases. I saw this firsthand in St. Louis, the area around WashU feels nothing like downtown Chicago or New York or Philly but it still is a place that gets crazy cases from a pool of millions of people across a big area of the country. If you're going to factor this into your school list, apply to where you would be happy to live, not to where you think makes for the most nearby sick people.

 

[90otis]

i think it is also going to depend on what type of environment you see yourself working in down the line. if you are more interested in rural medicine, then obviously a rural/suburban school makes more sense to get more exposure to those types of cases. if you just want to get a taste of "everything," then there are schools that have clinical sites in urban and rural areas, so you just have to look into those specifics.

 

[@Hazel-rah]

I've thought about this a lot for many other reasons, but I think that the setting of the medical school is an important factor not just for the type of place you want to live, but also for the type of patients you (and your teachers!) will come in contact with and teach about.

There is a tab on the MSAR called "Facilities" I always read that and sometimes look up the affiliated hospitals.

I currently work in a small community hospital and I definitely want to train in bigger hospitals that have:: level I trauma center, cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery, NICU, & pediatric ICU because of my future goals and interests.

If you go to a rural school that trains in small hospitals, you would rarely, if ever, see complicated medical cases unless you out arrange for away rotations. That experience fits the aspirations of many future physicians.

For example, I have worked for five years in the ED and never seen a pediatric trauma because that would always get flown from the field to the nearby Level I. Our L&D only does stable pregnancies and births because we don't have a NICU. And any neurosurgery case gets shipped out because we don't have one. Etc. Only each applicant can say for himself what type of setting will meet their needs and goals.

 

[COMED2468]

One of the upsides I've heard from many students in a more rural setting is that they get a more hands-on experience--even early on. They argued that they got more experience than busy hospitals b/c they didn't have to stand in line behind the residents and more senior students.

Is there validity to that point or is that an exaggeration?