What Non-Trads should look for in a med school

[thegenius]

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I have several interviews in the coming weeks at a varied selection of medical schools. Because I expect them to ask questions like "Why do you want to attend Albany", or "Why are you interested in Cornell", I've been thinking about what I want from a medical school. And frankly, I can only think of a few things.

I'll list them below. Note that these are what I'm looking for, and not in any particular order:

1. early exposure to patient care - I want to start honing my history taking and bedside communication skills as soon as possible,
2. problem based learning - I want a good amount of that for my education, as I've learned working in industry that you learn more and more thoroughly by doing, rather than by reading,
3. incoming class diversity - I am a non-trad so I don't want my entire class to be 22 and 23 years old,
4. exposure to as many clinical disciplines as possible, before having to choose residency. (This might be hard to find though...),
5. location - it's as important as every other factor. Gotta live in a place my wife wants to move to, and be a good place to raise our son.
6. support for non-trads, specifically families. This goes along with #3 above...is there subsidized housing, good child care facilities, what else should we be thinking of?

I would like to know how you other non-traditionals evaulate schools. Deciding on what school to attend for me might be difficult if I'm in a lucky position of having to choose between several schools. It's interesting how school rank plays a very small role in this, for me, probably a 15%-20% weighting factor.

So I would like to know how other people evaluate schools. It will help me formulate ideas for how I want to approach evaluating and grading schools.

Thanks!

 

[blee]

I think you have a pretty good list. I would caution against coming up with a specific non-trad list, since we're all about as different and diverse (probably more so) than regular undergrads.

I'm interested in clinical research, so I'm looking for a school that has a good clinical program and a good research program. On top of that, I think my learning style would be best served by programs that include small group and self-directed learning. I would prefer a smaller class to a larger one, although that's not absolutely necessary. I also want a class that is cohesive, honestly competitive, and supportive.

When it comes to location, I suppose my needs are different from the typical single early-20s med student. Other than that, though, I can't say my needs are much different from most others'.

 

[thegenius]

I agree, I didn't intentionally come up with a non-trad list. In fact, come to think about it, there is no particular reason why this thread should live in the non-trad forum.

What's important to me is that I don't miss certain criteria that I should be thinking about. So while other people may have criteria that do not apply to me, it's good to read about it.

In some ways, I don't know what I don't know. And I want to prevent that as much as possible!

I'll consider posting this to the pre-allo forum. Thanks blee!

 

[njbmd]

Hi there,
I was in the position of having to choose between six schools. My first choice was location (I wanted to be in an urban environment and have access to research since I was a Ph.D in Biochemistry). My second requirement was that the school had to have a diverse faculty that advocated for students. My third requirement was that the instruction had to be at a very high level for good USMLE background. My fourth requirement was that the department chairs had to be strong in order for me to have good contacts for excellent residency programs. I was more than satisfied with my first choice. Finally, I ended up with a full-ride scholarship at my second choice that offered my all of the above so it quickly became my first choice. By obtaining a good scholarship, I was able to end up owing less than $50K, good grades and USMLE scores and good residency match in a very strong program.

I researched my schools very carefully and knew most of the faculty at my top choices by reputation or through their research. In the end, I made the best decision.

njbmd 🙂

 

[thegenius]

Hi there,
I was in the position of having to choose between six schools. My first choice was location (I wanted to be in an urban environment and have access to research since I was a Ph.D in Biochemistry). My second requirement was that the school had to have a diverse faculty that advocated for students. My third requirement was that the instruction had to be at a very high level for good USMLE background. My fourth requirement was that the department chairs had to be strong in order for me to have good contacts for excellent residency programs. I was more than satisfied with my first choice. Finally, I ended up with a full-ride scholarship at my second choice that offered my all of the above so it quickly became my first choice. By obtaining a good scholarship, I was able to end up owing less than $50K, good grades and USMLE scores and good residency match in a very strong program.

I researched my schools very carefully and knew most of the faculty at my top choices by reputation or through their research. In the end, I made the best decision.

njbmd 🙂

Interesting. I think those are all sensible. But I'm not sure how you could measure some of those criteria. For instance, your second criterion is "that the school had to have a diverse faculty that advocated for students." Is that something that can only be measured by interviewing at the school and talking to current medical students? Because I think standard research on a school will illuminate that all schools say that in one way or another.

And your fourth "that the department chairs had to be strong in order for me to have good contacts for excellent residency programs." Again, how exactly do you measure that?

I think this is good stuff njbmd. Thanks for the post.

 

[njbmd]

Interesting. I think those are all sensible. But I'm not sure how you could measure some of those criteria. For instance, your second criterion is "that the school had to have a diverse faculty that advocated for students." Is that something that can only be measured by interviewing at the school and talking to current medical students? Because I think standard research on a school will illuminate that all schools say that in one way or another.

And your fourth "that the department chairs had to be strong in order for me to have good contacts for excellent residency programs." Again, how exactly do you measure that?

I think this is good stuff njbmd. Thanks for the post.

Hi there,
I spent hours interviewing students outside of the interview day before I signed on the dotted line. Since I was potentially investing thousands in tuition, I had to be sure that I would end up in a school that offered what I wanted in terms of teaching and faculty.

In terms of Department chairs: For me it was looking at their research or textbooks authored. If the department chair has not produced a research paper of textbook chapter in ten years, then that was a no-go for me. If the chair is weak, the the department is likely to be weak.

Since I come from a family or physicians (I am #10 out of 10), I spent some time quizzing my relatives about strong programs and chairs. Since I had been a faculty member in a medical school department, I was able to quiz many of my clinical colleages about faculty at other schools.

You can find out most of what you need on-line. Most schools readily list their faculty and department chairs. You can ge the rest of what you need by asking plenty of questions of current students. Ask the third year students about their USMLE experience this year. Ask about away clerkships and hospitals for required rotations. Ask the fourth-years where they have interviews lined up for residency etc. Ask the current freshmen what they think of their instruction and learning environment. Walk up to people and ask questions. Do not just sit there and listen to what they want you to hear. Be very proactive.

njbmd 🙂

 

[unfrozencaveman]

[*]location - it's as important as every other factor. Gotta live in a place my wife wants to move to, and be a good place to raise our son.

I think location is playing a much larger role for me a few years out of school, than it would have had I just graduated- even without dependents to have to consider.

I am also coming to dislike the idea of problem based learning I think, despite thinking it was cool when I first started applying.

I think the overarching theme is I want to be an old, crotchety, recluse.