What to look for in medical schools

[thegenius]

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 others 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!

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[MoosePilot]

Not in order:

1. Excellence
2. Location
3. Chance they'll accept me
4. Concentration on my interests
5. Prestige
6. Affordability
7. Student body
8. Don't annoy me during the app process

 

[Saluki]

Also not in any particular order
1)small class size (please Mayo please)
2) clinical research opportunities
3)international health program
4)location
5)prestige
6) willingness to grant me an acceptance
7) good pediatrics reputation/good pediatric hospital

 

[Rendar5]

most places I know of expose u to patients during the first couple years. Here's something u might want to know that I only know to look for in hindsight (got lucky in that my school had what I needed):

The course layout:
few, short, intense classes, or many, long, drawn-out classes at a time? and block scheduling of exams? I prefer having month-long superintense courses and only 2-3 at a time instead of 5 year-long courses that all cover lots of material and aren't as intense. Others are different.

Also, check for P/F over grades. I think P/F the first couple years is vastly superior to grades.

 

[2112_rush]

If you have a tour led by a third or fourth year student, you may want to ask them how much hands-on experience they get during their clinical rotations...like not just observing a central line being placed, but doing one themselves.

You may want to see a list of the fields and hospitals where their students matched last year. You might not want to attend a school that is great at making primary care physicians if you want to do neurosurgery.

 

[Shredder]

1 good business school
2 traditional curriculum
3 location
4 competitive students

 

[ClearDay]

Exam schedules. Some schools have an exam every week. Others have a few exams in 1 week and followed by a couple of weeks of no exams.

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 others 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!

 

[Shredder]

Exam schedules. Some schools have an exam every week. Others have a few exams in 1 week and followed by a couple of weeks of no exams.

that is a good post interview question

 

[thegenius]

Yes yes! All very good! Keep them coming!

I think some of these suggestions are great. But on some of them I don't have an opinion on them. For instance, exams....my general stance on them is the more the merrier because it forces you to stay on top of the game. I like Michigan's flex-time system for exams. But I could also live with exams every month.