what should I look at to see which med schools are for me?

[paul2752]

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Other than, "it's good school", what are the criteria I should look at?

Also, what things should I NOT care about when I apply to med school?

 

[aalamruad]

Location, mission, and COA are three big ones. A lot of people also consider things like curriculum and P/F, extracurricular opportunities, and whether they feel like they fit in with the general atmosphere and community at a school.

 

[Catalystik]

Other than, "it's good school", what are the criteria I should look at?

Median matriculant stats similar to your own, cost, location, curriculum style, grades vs P/F, research opportunities, recreation availability, job/school prospects for an SO, availability of cheap student insurance, weather, city vs rural location, etc.

 

[partypantss]

A lot of pre-meds try to impress people by asking canned questions about how anatomy is run: "How many people to a body?" etc.

As long as you're participating in the dissections yourself you'll be fine no matter how it's taught.

As the son of a NeuroAnatomy Prof at a med school, I was told that I should specifically find this out while I'm at my interviews🤣. Will it have any significant effect on my decision though? Probably not. But an argument can be made that finding out that ratio can give a general sense of the resources available at the school (sort of like the faculty student ratio.) Obviously cost, location, student culture and reputation will all be the main things to focus on, but it doesn't hurt to get as much info as possible!

 

[787593]

A lot of pre-meds try to impress people by asking canned questions about how anatomy is run: "How many people to a body?" etc.

As long as you're participating in the dissections yourself you'll be fine no matter how it's taught.

Mayo probably has 2 bodies for each student

 

[Chelsea FC]

The attractiveness of the student body. .

 

[paul2752]

I m sorry but what is "body" in this context?

 

[mistafab]

Med student here - you should look at three things (on MSAR)
1. GPA range
2. MCAT range
3. Out of state : In state matriculant ratio

These will give you a list of "potential schools" to sift through. After this, look to see if there are any unique exclusions per school via some hunting (for example, RUSH requires tons of community service to be interviewed / matriculate, don't bother applying without at least 300 hours).

After that, you can look at location, weather... you name it. Do you like research? If so, look up potential schools that met your 1-3 criteria and see if they emphasize research... yadayadayada you get the point.

Apply broadly.

Other than, "it's good school", what are the criteria I should look at?

Also, what things should I NOT care about when I apply to med school?

 

[protego]

Honestly I didn't really know what schools were good fits for me until I interviewed there.. the websites are informative but a lot of them really end up looking the same and there's something about the "feel" of a place in person that can't really be replaced. Other than what others have mentioned if you're not into research I would be cautious about schools with a required research component for graduation. I'm interested in schools that encourage a personalized education so with a wide variety of potential electives, opportunities for research and extracurricular involvement, etc. In my experience some schools seem to prioritize these experiences more than others. The other thing to think about would be learning style. Some people I know thrive in traditional lectures while others prefer group learning and that could definitely affect your experience in med school.


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