What are the MOST & LEAST IMPRESSIVE schools you have visited/interviewed at so far?

[DropkickMurphy]

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I agree that there's more than one who doesn't like Harvard. I have a friend who interviewed there and withdrew her application afterwards because she didn't like it. I've just seen a thread where DKM posted something similar about Harvard and the thread went south really fast.

Actually I just didn't like the attitudes of the faculty or students that I met when I was in town for a conference and one of the people I met (who was on the faculty) offered me a tour of the school over lunch. As was said, different strokes, for different folks.

BTW, I thought it was the "Boston Sucks" thread that I sent into a flat spin with no chance of recovery?

 

[Hednej]

I agree that there's more than one who doesn't like Harvard. I have a friend who interviewed there and withdrew her application afterwards because she didn't like it. I've just seen a thread where DKM posted something similar about Harvard and the thread went south really fast.

Most: Harvard. In my opinion, it was one step ahead of everybody else. Did you see their building? It looked like the freaking parthenon with those huge columns. And it wasn't just their building that impressed me.

Least: I liked all the other schools fine but UPitt the least, it was a great school nevertheless.

 

[brbsb]

Most: UIC, KCOM, Indiana, GW
Least: Harvard, Northwestern, Maryland, BU, Georgetown

What'd you like about Indiana? It's my state school, so I'm curious...

 

[DropkickMurphy]

What'd you like about Indiana? It's my state school, so I'm curious...

Good hospitals, the faculty and staff are nice, decent research opportunities, kickass EM residency......and it's my state school at the moment (although I'm moving from Indiana)......I don't know if being born and raised here will count for anything once I move

 

[Misfit!]

Actually I just didn't like the attitudes of the faculty or students that I met when I was in town for a conference and one of the people I met (who was on the faculty) offered me a tour of the school over lunch. As was said, different strokes, for different folks.

BTW, I thought it was the "Boston Sucks" thread that I sent into a flat spin with no chance of recovery?

I didn't apply to harvard (and obviously have not interviewed there), but have worked extensively with a few faculty members at HMS through research programs etc., and while its obviously an impressive place and has an amazing hospital system, I was not happy nor did I feel at all comfortable there. The environment (at least research environment) is some situations is a bit cut-throat. The students were very much of the same, and I didn't feel like I could relate to them very well. This was more personal taste though. However, I'm sure if I had applied and gotten in, I'd probably go, because the opportunites don't get much better I guess

 

[brbsb]

Good hospitals, the faculty and staff are nice, decent research opportunities, kickass EM residency......and it's my state school at the moment (although I'm moving from Indiana)......I don't know if being born and raised here will count for anything once I move

I think if you apply to an Indiana state school with an Indiana address and have lived at it for more than 12 months, you're good for the rest of college/med school/whatever. My boyfriend's family moved to Texas right after he got accepted to Ball State, but he still gets in-state tuition.

 

[Lorienne7]

Most: Thus far, UMich 😍 It was by far my best interview day - most organized and fun and I met the nicest people there ie applicants, med students, interviewers, EVERYONE was great!

Least: NYU (but UPitt's a close second) With NYU, the tours seemed more worthless than usual (probably due to the lack of enthusiasm on the part of the tour guides) and the day was so short that I felt we didn't really have that much time to interact much with med students or get a really good feel for the school. With UPitt, maybe I had built it up too much in my head after reading about how much people loved it. I think I went in there expecting to love it and I walked away only just sorta liking it, so that kind of disappointed me.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

I think if you apply to an Indiana state school with an Indiana address and have lived at it for more than 12 months, you're good for the rest of college/med school/whatever. My boyfriend's family moved to Texas right after he got accepted to Ball State, but he still gets in-state tuition.

Well, I'm not applying this cycle, and will have been out of state for....a couple of years by the time I apply......

 

[HumbleMD]

Most: Thus far, UMich 😍 It was by far my best interview day - most organized and fun and I met the nicest people there ie applicants, med students, interviewers, EVERYONE was great!

Least: NYU (but UPitt's a close second) With NYU, the tours seemed more worthless than usual (probably due to the lack of enthusiasm on the part of the tour guides) and the day was so short that I felt we didn't really have that much time to interact much with med students or get a really good feel for the school. With UPitt, maybe I had built it up too much in my head after reading about how much people loved it. I think I went in there expecting to love it and I walked away only just sorta liking it, so that kind of disappointed me.

I had the same situation with UPitt. Everyone seems to be in love with it but I didn't seem to find anything unremarkable (and the batch of students a talked too seemed a little off, as did my faculty interviewer). UMich was the exact opposite case, as I went in expecting I'd hate it (at UMich for undergrad, so expected the same annoying pre-meds at the med school). The studens and faculty blew me away with how wonderful they were.

 

[brbsb]

Well, I'm not applying this cycle, and will have been out of state for....a couple of years by the time I apply......

Oh, sorry! I thought you were applying this year 😛 I won't be applying for a few years, either.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Oh, sorry! I thought you were applying this year 😛 I won't be applying for a few years, either.

Where are in Indiana are you?

 

[Eric Lindros]

Most: NYU
Least: Temple

 

[airshad8]

Where are in Indiana are you?

I love your avatar. Though I think you should include self-immolation.

 

[Heimerfink]

Most: Vanderbilt, Michigan
Least: Georgetown, BU

 

[Stolenspatulas]

Honestly, it's not that uncommon for people to not like Harvard. I mean sure, these people are super smart

im going to go out on the limb and say that people that go to harvard are not 'smarter' than people that go to other medical schools. HST no doubt takes brilliant applicants.... but new pathway is full of kids that have solid but not exceptional numbers with remarkable and sort of random extracurriculars.

 

[instigata]

Most: Loma Linda...very pleasantly surprised 🙂

Least: Haven't gone to enough interviews yet

 

[farikanok]

Just out of curiousity...anyone interview at UAB? What were your impressions of my state school?

🙂

i was pleasantly surprised by UAB, especially by the manner of the interviewers and the plethora of research opportunities available. the hospital facilities looked good and i had a good "gut feeling" about the place. although the M1 and M2 lecture rooms looked a bit run-down. the other thing that i didn't like was that i'll be in hole of ~300K (including incurred interest) if i end up going there b/c i'm OOS. the fin aid guy told me it was almost not worth it to go there if i had other options lol (btw, i was accepted)

most impressive: vandy. (see above posts on why)
least impressive: wake forest. people were really nice and curriculum was great, i just didn't like the atmosphere of the city and didn't think i would "fit" in (maybe because it was raining that day lol). although, i must say that their fin aid presentation was one of the best and most informative out of all of my interviews so far.

 

[Guile]

farikanok, you can't get in-state residency at UAB after the first year even? If not, that's a bummer. UAB's a great school, and if you could get in-state residency after the first year, it would be an even better school. 😀

 

[bubabugster]

Most: Rochester- really warm and friendly people. It felt just like home and I loved the interviews, the program, and student opportunities. The students have spark and look healthy and alive!!

Least: NYMC- soooo depressing. The interviewer kept looking at me like I was crazy for being passionate about pursuing a career in medicine. The campus is extremely isolated etc. and students look depressed and melo.

 

[geno2568]

most: Tufts. It's in a great part of the city, and the administration seemed like they care about the students.
least: Downstate. The general feeling I got was that education wasn't even the focus of the place...and the armed guards at every door didn't help

 

[farikanok]

farikanok, you can't get in-state residency at UAB after the first year even? If not, that's a bummer. UAB's a great school, and if you could get in-state residency after the first year, it would be an even better school. 😀

nope. they changed their policy this year. basically, if you don't have family ties there, there's almost no way you can get in-state tuition. the OOS "tuition" is ~3x the in-state. (12k to 36k i think)

 

[EmbellisMaVie]

Most: I'm extremely impressionable, so I find something to love in just about every med school. But, the most lovable, in no particular order...
1) WashU, which has money lining its hallways, apparently. They obviously care a great deal about their students, and everyone I met there was surprisingly happy and friendly.
2) Michigan... I applied here a several months after I first started submitting applications, because it was completely outside of my radar, but I was really pleasantly surprised when interviewed there. I loved just about everything from the curriculum to the faculty to the students to the opportunities. Well, basically everything except the weather (it snowed when I interviewed in mid-November), and maybe the facilities weren't as astoundingly gorgeous as some other places (*cough*WashU*cough*), but Ann Arbor isn't a terrible place to be.
3) Vanderbilt was also a pleasant surprise. NashVegas was cool, the students were happy, the faculty is great, the resources are awesome, and I do like the Emphasis Program, personally. I also truly got the impression that the atmosphere was collegial rather than competitive, and I felt like that expression seemed more sincere here than it did at some other schools. The students also seemed more like the kind of people I'd like to hang out with. Oh, and my interview group was really cool, too, so that's a bonus point.

Least: Pitt. I've really got to agree with some of the other posters. I know that Pitt's a great school and that a lot of people love it, so I came in really hoping to love it, too. Maybe it was just my high expectations or maybe it was just the weather (yeah, so I have a bias against bad weather), but I just couldn't click there as much as with other places. The tour was weird, my interview group was kind of unfriendly (except for a few people), my student interview was awkward, and the students I met, while nice, just weren't the sort of people I could see myself being really comfortable with. And it also seemed like everyone tried too hard to sell the city of Pittsburgh.

 

[Wordplay]

I didn't apply to harvard (and obviously have not interviewed there), but have worked extensively with a few faculty members at HMS through research programs etc., and while its obviously an impressive place and has an amazing hospital system, I was not happy nor did I feel at all comfortable there. The environment (at least research environment) is some situations is a bit cut-throat. The students were very much of the same, and I didn't feel like I could relate to them very well. This was more personal taste though. However, I'm sure if I had applied and gotten in, I'd probably go, because the opportunites don't get much better I guess

That's what my faculty interviewer at Yale said 🙄 haha.

 

[brbsb]

Where are in Indiana are you?

Muncie by way of Indianapolis

 

[DropkickMurphy]

I love your avatar. Though I think you should include self-immolation.

If you can come up with a similarly formatted cartoon of self-immolation (so that it doesn't look different), I'll include it. 👍

 

[yalla22]

Bump.

 

[modelslashactor]

if i decided to pick a school based on my interview day perceptions, i would end up at a flashy school with a great location and prestine facilities that has been discussed thoroughly on this thread (wonder which one it is?). however, even though this is indeed a great school, i have decided that this would be a dumb way to pick.

you will find me next year at the school that gives me the most money and has the best hospital.

 

[EBI831]

hey embellismavie did you by any chance go to vandy interview today as in 12/11 cuz i like a lot of the ppl in my group today and you did post the vandy thing today so i guess its a semilogical question

 

[EmbellisMaVie]

hey embellismavie did you by any chance go to vandy interview today as in 12/11 cuz i like a lot of the ppl in my group today and you did post the vandy thing today so i guess its a semilogical question

No, I actually interviewed 10/30 and loved it. I guess Vandy has a knack for picking cool/nice/awesome people to interview? I got my acceptance last week, though, so I may be a little biased... 🙂

 

[EBI831]

sweet action! i hope to get an acceptance.

 

[Iniqitous]

Better than expected
Vandy - friendly, intimate, happy students, admin/fac clearly happy too and enthused about their school
UVa - best organized, most personal , no grades for 2 years (!) = happy students
Wash U- great school despite ST Louis for all the reasons mentioned
Yale- other than New Haven, whats not to like ? they treat you like adults here and all the students have transcended the pre-med mentality
Michigan - agree with everything said here- class size may be a bit large for some, and weather may be too much for anyone outside of the midwest

Less than Expected
Duke- hospital was not all that - no where near as impressive as Wash U- and people year 1 is like undergrad again - nothing but studying and tests- life is TOO short IMO
Hopkins- great place for residency, but med school ?? (and truly isolated in run down section), claustrophobic; do students ever get to touch the patients ?
Columbia - student education has been an afterthought here(indeed recently cited for this shortcoming on recent accreditation visit) -ugly part of an already tough city
UCSF - hospitals were not all that impressive/modern
U Wash- a really nice state school - but a top 10 institution ??
Emory- students werent that positive; Grady has issues obviously...

 

[LIRRfriend]

I've been reading for a little while and joined this evening...

Most Impressive:
Tufts, Mount Sinai...Both gave me an overall great feel, the people I met were wonderful, there seem to be great opportunities, and both schools made me feel like there would be a lot of support if I attended. The facilities and housing at Mount Sinai really impressed me as well. I liked the area that Tufts was in.

Least Impressive:
SUNY Downstate...The interview day was really short. I didn't meet any students aside from the tour guides, and the one other person I met was someone giving a really short information session that I and two others (out of the five people interviewing) basically missed because it overlapped with our morning interviews. The tour was short, and I would have liked more than one interview. It actually was a great interview, but I would have appreciated getting to talk with more people.

Middle of the Road:
SUNY Buffalo and SUNY Stony Brook...I liked both of these schools when I visited, but nothing in particular struck me in a really positive or negative way.

 

[DrZeke]

im going to go out on the limb and say that people that go to harvard are not 'smarter' than people that go to other medical schools. HST no doubt takes brilliant applicants.... but new pathway is full of kids that have solid but not exceptional numbers with remarkable and sort of random extracurriculars.

I have to say that even though people tell me this all the time, a good friend ended up at Harvard, and his story is different.

4.0, 38 MCAT, not amazing EC's cuz all he did was study, and then tacked some on during final year of UG to make sure he had some "experience"

 

[DrZeke]

I've been reading for a little while and joined this evening...

Most Impressive:
Tufts, Mount Sinai...Both gave me an overall great feel, the people I met were wonderful, there seem to be great opportunities, and both schools made me feel like there would be a lot of support if I attended. The facilities and housing at Mount Sinai really impressed me as well. I liked the area that Tufts was in.

Least Impressive:
SUNY Downstate...The interview day was really short. I didn't meet any students aside from the tour guides, and the one other person I met was someone giving a really short information session that I and two others (out of the five people interviewing) basically missed because it overlapped with our morning interviews. The tour was short, and I would have liked more than one interview. It actually was a great interview, but I would have appreciated getting to talk with more people.

Middle of the Road:
SUNY Buffalo and SUNY Stony Brook...I liked both of these schools when I visited, but nothing in particular struck me in a really positive or negative way.

did you interview at Upstate...if so, what did you think?

 

[xprs yrslf]

Most: NYU
Least: Temple

We're going to need a "why" here. please?

 

[ICCONFETTI]

even though you guys were unimpressed by some of the schools, would you still consider going to them if you got an acceptance?

 

[trying]

I didn't like Northwestern for a lot of reasons:

1) The interview. I think that it went fine for me, but I hated the entire process. The interviewers asked tons of questions that had no relation to medicine, only to try to make the applicants look stupid. I was asked questions like--"if you could be an animal, what kind would you be?," and other equally weird questions. Others that I know had the same experience. To me, there is something fundamentally wrong with interviewing in this way. Out of my 15 interviews, this was by far the worst experience.

2) The curriculum. It was mostly PBL based, and while PBL is the new "hot" method of teaching, I think it's hard to learn from a PBL-based curriculum. The students were constantly complaining about it when I was there.

3) The cost. Their financial aid department, from what students told me, is weak. Very weak. Compare that to Pritzker, which gives tons of merit and need based aid. I don't think I would pay 150K more to go to Northwestern than to my state school.

4) The facilities. They have a nice, new hospital, but in general their hospital system is regarded as nothing special. Compare that to a similarly-ranked school like Pitt, which has one of the top ranked hospital systems in the country.

5) The gut feeling. Everything about the place just didn't feel right for me, on a personal level. I have many friends that had an entirely different experience. But you have to go with your gut in this process, and my gut tells me that anywhere would be better than Northwestern.


The area of Chicago, however, was gorgeous. It was so nice that I really wish I had liked Northwestern.

not to mention that there is a LOT of racial tension between students.

 

[Hednej]

not to mention that there is a LOT of racial tension between students.

Do you lnow this from personal experience?

 

[Dookter]

Better than expected
Vandy - friendly, intimate, happy students, admin/fac clearly happy too and enthused about their school
UVa - best organized, most personal , no grades for 2 years (!) = happy students
Wash U- great school despite ST Louis for all the reasons mentioned
Yale- other than New Haven, whats not to like ? they treat you like adults here and all the students have transcended the pre-med mentality
Michigan - agree with everything said here- class size may be a bit large for some, and weather may be too much for anyone outside of the midwest

Less than Expected
Duke- hospital was not all that - no where near as impressive as Wash U- and people year 1 is like undergrad again - nothing but studying and tests- life is TOO short IMO
Hopkins- great place for residency, but med school ?? (and truly isolated in run down section), claustrophobic; do students ever get to touch the patients ?
Columbia - student education has been an afterthought here(indeed recently cited for this shortcoming on recent accreditation visit) -ugly part of an already tough city
UCSF - hospitals were not all that impressive/modern
U Wash- a really nice state school - but a top 10 institution ??
Emory- students werent that positive; Grady has issues obviously...

Um, if you hate studying and taking tests, you should like Duke MORE than other schools since it has only one year of it and other schools have two years of it. And yeah, WashU has a fancier hospital....

 

[Hednej]

Um, if you hate studying and taking tests, you should like Duke MORE than other schools since it has only one year of it and other schools have two years of it. And yeah, WashU has a fancier hospital....

So how much does that one year suck? Somebody I talked to at one of the other med schools said she couldn't imagine it being any shorter and more condensed (But I guess what they cut out of the curriculum is another question).

 

[ADeadLois]

not to mention that there is a LOT of racial tension between students.

Huh?

 

[DrZeke]

if i decided to pick a school based on my interview day perceptions, i would end up at a flashy school with a great location and prestine facilities that has been discussed thoroughly on this thread (wonder which one it is?). however, even though this is indeed a great school, i have decided that this would be a dumb way to pick.

you will find me next year at the school that gives me the most money and has the best hospital.

I'm 100% with you on how you're going to decide. A lot of the whistles and bells they try and impress you with on interview day often have no effect on your medical education. It's all about clinical training, reasonable price and hospitals for me too.

 

[Towelie]

I'm 100% with you on how you're going to decide. A lot of the whistles and bells they try and impress you with on interview day often have no effect on your medical education. It's all about clinical training, reasonable price and hospitals for me too.

I think it would be tough to pick based on "hospital," because the prestige of the hospital might not correlate at all with the quality of clinical training for the medical students. For example, Hopkins, Harvard, CCLM, and Mayo have clearly the best hospitals, but how can you really tell what school gives it's students the best clinical training? It's probably better to talk with students, rather than go on hospital prestige alone.

Money definitely seems like a good way to choose, within reason. I am struggling with this right now--whether to go to a school that I am in love with but will get little financial aid from, or to go to a school that I feel "blah" about that will cost virtually nothing. I'm finding the decision to be completely impossible, and I imagine it will get worse as time goes on. Is it worth 4 years of regret and misery to not go into debt? I have no clue.

 

[Dr. Dukes]

Most impressive: USUHS
The students and the other interviewees at USUHS were all really nice, relaxed, and seemed like a good group of people to go to school/serve with. That being said, the military match for residencies is a big weird (points for prior service, so you have to do GMO, so you have to stay longer if you don't like it).

Middle of the road: NYMC and LSU-NO
NYMC: The building is brand new and nice. The kids on the tour were a little weird, and I'm not quite sure what to think of that. I honestly have no idea how my interview went, but I think it was alright.
LSU-NO: Despite Katrina, the actual facilities aren't that bad. The area of New Orleans that LSU is in isn't that great, but then again I'm interviewing at SUNY-Downstate, so I can't hold that against them. I applied for MD-PhD, and am waiting till I know more about the PhD process/research there before I really make up my mind (accepted into the MD, should hear PhD ~Feb).

Now that I'm in somewhere else, wouldn't go there: SUNY Buffalo
They made a huge deal about the complimentary lunch (bad cold cuts), their patient simulator (the Fire-EMS dept I work on has a better one), the campus is blah, the students didn't seem that nice or interesting, 8 people to a body, their match list is mediocre at best, and they left me sitting in the student lounge for an hour after my second interview.

 

[DrZeke]

I think it would be tough to pick based on "hospital," because the prestige of the hospital might not correlate at all with the quality of clinical training for the medical students. For example, Hopkins, Harvard, CCLM, and Mayo have clearly the best hospitals, but how can you really tell what school gives it's students the best clinical training? It's probably better to talk with students, rather than go on hospital prestige alone.

Money definitely seems like a good way to choose, within reason. I am struggling with this right now--whether to go to a school that I am in love with but will get little financial aid from, or to go to a school that I feel "blah" about that will cost virtually nothing. I'm finding the decision to be completely impossible, and I imagine it will get worse as time goes on. Is it worth 4 years of regret and misery to not go into debt? I have no clue.

I'm having serious issues deciding too. But I wasn't referring to hospital PRESTIGE. I was referring to big public hospital vs. private. How much hands on can you get at the hospital. What types of patients go to that hospital....what is their emphasis...blahblah...

 

[Towelie]

I'm having serious issues deciding too. But I wasn't referring to hospital PRESTIGE. I was referring to big public hospital vs. private. How much hands on can you get at the hospital. What types of patients go to that hospital....what is their emphasis...blahblah...

What is your preference among these groupings? I would have a very tough time choosing between public and private, tertiary care vs. more primary care, etc.

 

[Bubblehead-to-MD]

not to mention that there is a LOT of racial tension between students.

I hope this comment was meant to be drenched in sarcasm! If not, I think you are way out in left field on this one. The student body appeared to be very diverse in terms of race/ethnicity, and from my short interaction with a lot of them, they appeared to be a close-knit, friendly group of people.

 

[modelslashactor]

I think it would be tough to pick based on "hospital," because the prestige of the hospital might not correlate at all with the quality of clinical training for the medical students. For example, Hopkins, Harvard, CCLM, and Mayo have clearly the best hospitals, but how can you really tell what school gives it's students the best clinical training? It's probably better to talk with students, rather than go on hospital prestige alone.

The reason I mentioned hospitals is because, after talking with doctors, the consensus was that the majority of clinical learning is done in residency, so medical school training is important but not the most important thing. I could be wrong, but I figure that going to a school with an associated top hospital would give you a leg up on doing your residency there, which would ultimately be what mattered.

 

[Guile]

What is your preference among these groupings? I would have a very tough time choosing between public and private, tertiary care vs. more primary care, etc.

I think "big and public" should be the mantra. Tertiary care is out because you won't even get to start an IV. (exaggeration) I have family friends at the Mayo, and they all encouraged me to go elsewhere for med school (not saying that I really had a shot at getting in b/c who really knows what they're looking for) because at a world-renowned tertiary care center like Mayo, you'll probably leave having seen things that few people in your intern class will have seen, but you won't get to do much. Really, do you think that someone who flew from Kuwait to have the best care he possibly could is going to let you put in a central line? Heck no. He's going to want the attending who's done 10,000 of them.

 

[Bubblehead-to-MD]

The reason I mentioned hospitals is because, after talking with doctors, the consensus was that the majority of clinical learning is done in residency, so medical school training is important but not the most important thing. I could be wrong, but I figure that going to a school with an associated top hospital would give you a leg up on doing your residency there, which would ultimately be what mattered.

While I tend to agree with you on one level, on another, I would not underestimate the importance of the clinical skills development in medical school. If you do not develop a solid foundation in medical school, not only will you struggle to get into your desired residency program, but once you do begin internship/residency, your life may be extremely difficult as you attempt to make it through a challenging environment while having to develop skills some of your peers find to be second nature.

I'm not saying this would be your fate. I'm just posing this as a potential worst-case scenario if you do not consider the importance of clinical skills development in med school. I doubt there is any accredited med school that does not in some way emphasize the development of these skills. But, there are some that definitely place a stronger emphasis on it than others!