What's in a name?

[Barton]

WARNING: THIS POST IS LONG!
After having spent some time reading through the posts, I had become aware that many folks out there place an inordinate amount of emphasis on a school's reputation or ranking when applying to med schools. Granted, this often applies to sophomore pre-med gunners who don't know a heck of a lot about actual med school, but others have exhibited such a pre-occupation as well. The number one argument for such a position is that if one wants to match in a competitive specialty (i.e. derm, ophtho, rads, etc.) s/he must attend a "highly ranked" institution (to most, this refers to the US News rankings). I recently ran across a website that shows (preliminarily) the 2003 derm match results. 90 med schools are represented in the 211 posted matches, including 3 outside the US <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" /> . A good portion of these (42 to be exact) come from the "top 10" schools (Harvard, JHU, Duke, Penn, WashU, Columbia, UCSF, Yale, Stanford, Michigan), but a far greater number come from other, less "renowned" places . Here are the represented schools:

Merharry
LSU
UTSW
UTSA
Baylor
Arkansas
SUNY Syracuse
South Alabama
NYU
George Washington
UCLA
Washingtoon
UMDNJ
Colorado
Einstein
UCI
Pritzker
Cornell
UCSD
UTMB
UIC
Tufts
USC
Kansas
Jefferson
Georgetown
Howard
Oklahoma
West Virginia
South Florida
Ponce
MCP
Emory
Alabama
Loyola
SUNY Brooklyn
Northwestern
Missouri
Indiana
Tennessee
Some school in Iceland
Arizona
NE Ohio
LSU Shreveport
Tulane
Rochester
McGill (Canada)
Some school in Austrailia
Medical College of Wisconsin
Albany
Wayne St.
Boston University
Michigan State
Minnesota
South Dakota
Missouri-Kansas City
UT Houston
NYMC
Siani
SUNY Stony Brook
North Carolina
Wake Forest
Nebraska
Temple
Case Western
SUNY Buffalo
Ohio State
OHSU
Louisville
Penn State
Pitt
Virginia
Medical College of Ohio
Medical University of South Carolina
Vanderbilt
Texas A&M
New Mexico
Medical College of Virginia
Nevada
Florida

Here's the url:
<a href="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/longk/DermMatch2002.htm" target="_blank">http://mywebpages.comcast.net/longk/DermMatch2002.htm</a>

The moral: you don't have to pick a school based on rankings, even if you want to match derm (or anything, for that matter).

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[THE instiGATOR]

Unless you have awesome stats, you probably won't get to pick the med school. The med school will pick you. You'll have your say when choosing schools to apply to, but other than that....good luck! The chips will fall where they will.

I don't see my future school in that list. Oh well, I don't want to enter a derm residency anyway!

 

[THE instiGATOR]

Wait! It's there!

<img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />

 

[chef]

hey, that site is great! Are there sites like that for other residencies??

Also, what is Michigan-C?

(Research at X): What does this mean? Doing research after graduating from med school? Is there a formal program?

 

[chef]

hey, that site is great! Are there sites like that for other residencies??

Also, what is Michigan-C?

(Research at X): What does this mean? Doing research after graduating from med school? Is there a formal program?

finally, some are listed as "Non-match". what does that mean?

 

[ramkijai]

A great post, Barton! Who would have thunk that much maligned MCP Hahnmeman (!) would place 6 into Derm or LSU (!!) would place 5, numbers that paralell the 7 matched by Baylor? <img border="0" alt="[Wowie]" title="" src="graemlins/wowie.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />

 

[metsn02]

Barton,

Thank you. FINALLY, someone with some sense on this message board. All this talk of rankings and prestige is laughable when placed in the light of true evidence that Barton has provided for us. I am surprised many of you who talk about not attending this school or that because its unranked or doesn't have a good reputation, have ever really talked to physicians in the field. Four years from now, you will understand that hard work and dedication beats rank and prestige. Barton your a pimp. peace

 

[medicine2006]

To OP;

What makes you think UCLA med is a "less renonwned" med school. It is #14 in research (us news) it is ranked in almost every category imaginable and its hospital is #5 is US and #1 in the west and is world renowned!

 

[Barton]

the point of the post is that rankings are bull****. I used the term "less renowned" (in quotes, no less) to refer to any school not currently ranked in the top ten by us news. The quotes were meant to imply a sense of sarcasm. I'm not dissing any school. the point is that students from all schools can get into any field they want; their school's name won't preclude that. Sorry to offend.

 

[oldman]

that's right Barton.

in the end go to the school where you will be happy.

on that note, hope to see you at the U.

 

[CANES2006]

Medicine2006,
Dude, chill. Barton meant no harm. UCLA is a great school, and no one is disputing that. Hey, Barton, I totally agree with you. Ranks are bull. What matters is the school that you are most comfortable being in. Remember, we are going to be spending FOUR LONG YEARS (just thinking about that makes my head spin) in medical school. You should at least like it there. If only my other pre-med counterparts can see that. Alas, c'est la vie.