What do you look for in a medical school?

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ohword3

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Out of curiosity, what do you guys look for when narrowing what schools you are applying to? I mean, yeah, everyone looks at class size, geographic location, and the cost of tuition, but what are some of the smaller things you pay attention to?
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As someone with somewhat mediocre stats, I felt I couldn't initially be too picky about "less important" factors like location and focused on creating a short list of schools with mean GPA and MCAT scores that matched mine. After eliminating OOS schools that aren't friendly to OOS applicants, I had a list of about 25 schools that I planned on narrowing to 15 based solely on personal preference. Personally, I looked at mission statements and global health options (if a Global Health Track exists, if students do medical mission trips, % of graduates who have a global health experience etc.) to determine if I am a decent fit, as I'm interested in global health. I eliminated any schools with a mission statement I don't positively respond to, and those that don't appear to facilitate an interest in global health.
 
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By far the biggest concern to me is applying to schools with high OOS admission rates.

Especially if you're a CA resident, make sure you get the MSAR and take your time to look at the number of OOS interviews and matriculants. Otherwise you're not only wasting your money, but you're applying to schools where you have basically zero chance.
 
Average rent prices for a 1 bedroom nearby
Whether there are a variety of residency programs in the area (so that if I enjoy the area, I have the option of staying)
 
You should take a look at 3rd/4th year clinical sites/curriculums. Yes you learn in the first 2 years during classroom sessions, but people seem to forget that the bulk of your learning occurs clinically, and so the more you see/are exposed to in your clinical years the more you retain and take away from the whole experience. I know I didn't look that far ahead when I was applying, but its worth considering.
 
Curriculum is always a good one to look in to. Personally I'm a fan of schools that employ pbl.
 
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I'm only a third year undergrad, so I haven't looked into all the little things that differentiate med schools, but one thing that a mentor of mine stressed was grading system: true Pass/No pass systems, etc. He said that this has a big effect on your stress levels throughout med school, which I think is pretty important.

Other than that I've only considered ranking and affordability (in-state vs. oos) lol
 
Basically, you select schools based on your MCAT/GPA. While prepping for the interview, you learn every minor detail about the school that makes it a special snowflake, and then you play up those details during the interview. Interviewing at a school that has a lot of PBL? PBL is now your preferred learning style. The school has an accelerated preclinical curriculum? You can't wait to get into the clinic during second year! The school has a high research ranking? You are now interested in academic medicine. Your state school wants to make primary care physicians? Suddenly you like babies and you want to be a pediatrician. Repeat until you have multiple acceptances, and choose a school based on some grey area between ranking, location, and price.
 
ghboyd25 said:
Curriculum is always a good one to look in to. Personally I'm a fan of schools that employ pbl.
Click to expand...

lol why

also the thing about pass/no pass is that there are schools that rank you internally so it's as if you had grading anyway. it's just that they just tell you less
 
Non-mandatory lecture attendance with video streaming/playback. The only way to roll.
 
Pre-clinical: pass/fail grading, podcasted lectures, minimal pbl (these three things probably sound lazy and/or stupid to pre-meds, but seriously trust me)

Clinical: quality/variety of sites- I chose my school because we're affiliated with 9 hospitals, including big research hospital, fancy pants private hospital, 2 county hospitals, 2 VA's, Kaiser, etc. Also, more hospitals = smaller teams, fewer students per team, more individual instruction.

Edit: and good lookin women
 
cookiemonsters said:
Basically, you select schools based on your MCAT/GPA. While prepping for the interview, you learn every minor detail about the school that makes it a special snowflake, and then you play up those details during the interview. Interviewing at a school that has a lot of PBL? PBL is now your preferred learning style. The school has an accelerated preclinical curriculum? You can't wait to get into the clinic during second year! The school has a high research ranking? You are now interested in academic medicine. Your state school wants to make primary care physicians? Suddenly you like babies and you want to be a pediatrician. Repeat until you have multiple acceptances, and choose a school based on some grey area between ranking, location, and price.
Click to expand...

Sad but very, very true! :laugh:
 
Faculty research interests. I'm applying only MD/PhD, so I want to be somewhere where I can feel like a kid in a candy store when it comes time for research rotations and picking a mentor. Since I'm doing MD/PhD I also look at funding for students. I applied straight MSTP save for one program that was still fully funded. No way in hell I'm footing the bill for medical school when my plan is academic medicine.

I'll worry about things like pass/fail grading, PBL, location, stipend size, and class size when (if) I have multiple acceptances. Ideally I want a place with low cost of living, decent stipend size, no PBL, true pass/fail grading, and in a warm climate since as a lifelong Southerner I don't know how well I'd fare in a real winter. I've heard stories about how in some parts of the country it gets so cold that water actually freezes. That possibility scares and confuses me.
 
Not to hijack my own thread but could someone explain the pros/cons of PBL from their personal experience?
 
summary so far
important: location, bathrooms, rent, 3rd and 4th year sites, true pass/no pass for preclinicals, non mandatory lecture with recording, lack of pbl
not important: size of class, attractiveness of women, match list
 
yehhhboiii said:
summary so far
important: location, bathrooms, rent, 3rd and 4th year sites, true pass/no pass for preclinicals, non mandatory lecture with recording, lack of pbl
not important: size of class, attractiveness of women, match list
Click to expand...

Also important: free caffeine
 
An acceptance letter/email/phone call.

I guess it's grading system and how expensive it is.
 
When deciding where to apply
1) Geography
2) Whether or not they accepted AP credits for certain subjects
3) How OOS friendly they were

When it came to choosing between the schools I was accepted to:
1) Stress level of students
2) True P/F pre-clerkship curriculum
3) The 'feel' of the school, which you only get on interview day
4) Things to do outside of class
5) Shortened pre-clerkship curriculum
 
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