When do you think it is worth transfering your 2nd or 3rd year?

[Ubadub]

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Do you think an ambitious medical student only accepted to Drexel should consider transfering 2nd or 3rd year? Students who stay at Drexel have to be at the top 10% of the class and do very well on the boards in order to do secure a competitive residency. U.S. News had Drexel as the least competitive of all US MD programs they list. If I end up going to Drexel, do you think I should plan on transfering in order to do best for my future?

 

[prayerfulMD_MPH2009]

your performance in medschool determines where you end up next. study hard and do well on boards and you will have more choices than those that don't. consider that you are in a very enviable position; you got in when 2 out of 3 applicants are rejected yearly; many of them have strong stats

 

[Telemachus]

Do you think an ambitious medical student only accepted to Drexel should consider transfering 2nd or 3rd year? Students who stay at Drexel have to be at the top 10% of the class and do very well on the boards in order to do secure a competitive residency. U.S. News had Drexel as the least competitive of all US MD programs they list. If I end up going to Drexel, do you think I should plan on transfering in order to do best for my future?

Most med schools don't accept transfers. Those that do often require a very compelling reason, and you have to have people (i.e. deans, profs, etc.) really go to bat for you. And since this post makes you sound like a bit of a jackass, I must question whether or not the administrators at Drexel will find you charming enough to help you out with this hairbrained scheme.......

 

[Ubadub]

Most med schools don't accept transfers. Those that do often require a very compelling reason, and you have to have people (i.e. deans, profs, etc.) really go to bat for you. And since this post makes you sound like a bit of a jackass, I must question whether or not the administrators at Drexel will find you charming enough to help you out with this hairbrained scheme.......

Thanks for rephrasing transferring as a hairbrained schemed. Brilliant.

 

[SkylineMD]

Do you think an ambitious medical student only accepted to Drexel should consider transfering 2nd or 3rd year? Students who stay at Drexel have to be at the top 10% of the class and do very well on the boards in order to do secure a competitive residency. U.S. News had Drexel as the least competitive of all US MD programs they list. If I end up going to Drexel, do you think I should plan on transfering in order to do best for my future?

So what you're saying is that in order for you to obtain a COMPETITIVE residency, you need to be in the top of the class with really good board scores? News flash but that's the case everywhere. Graduating from harvard at the bottom of the class with a 200 step 1 isn't going to get you into ortho. Just go to Drexel and do your best. Transferring is very hard to do (probably harder than getting a competitive residency IMO)

 

[silas2642]

Do you think an ambitious medical student only accepted to Drexel should consider transfering 2nd or 3rd year? Students who stay at Drexel have to be at the top 10% of the class and do very well on the boards in order to do secure a competitive residency. U.S. News had Drexel as the least competitive of all US MD programs they list. If I end up going to Drexel, do you think I should plan on transfering in order to do best for my future?

Look, Drexel is a really good school, so I wouldn't knock it, especially since it sounds like it's where you're going to be spending the next four years. From the doctors I've talked with, they have an excellent reputation for producing competent physicians. Transferring into any medical school is extremely difficult, and you need a really good reason for it other than "I want to go to a better school." Please don't be a gunner who tries to be at the top of their class; it's annoying.

If I were you, I wouldn't place too much faith in US news rankings because no one else in the medical community does. It doesn't matter where you go to medical school as long as you do well there.

If you're really that obsessed with going to a higher ranked school, then forget Drexel and reapply next year with a stronger application. You'll be, by definition, crazy, but hey, only rankings count in the makings of a good physician, right?

 

[silas2642]

Do you think an ambitious medical student only accepted to Drexel should consider transfering 2nd or 3rd year? Students who stay at Drexel have to be at the top 10% of the class and do very well on the boards in order to do secure a competitive residency. U.S. News had Drexel as the least competitive of all US MD programs they list. If I end up going to Drexel, do you think I should plan on transfering in order to do best for my future?

Look, Drexel is a really good school, so I wouldn't knock it, especially since it sounds like it's where you're going to be spending the next four years. From the doctors I've talked with, they have an excellent reputation for producing competent physicians. Transferring into any medical school is extremely difficult, and you need a really good reason for it other than "I want to go to a better school." Please don't be a gunner who tries to be at the top of their class; it's annoying.

If I were you, I wouldn't place too much faith in US news rankings because no one else in the medical community does. It doesn't matter where you go to medical school as long as you do well there.

If you're really that obsessed with going to a higher ranked school, then forget Drexel and reapply next year with a stronger application. You'll be, by definition, crazy, but hey, only rankings count in the makings of a good physician, right?

 

[Telemachus]

Thanks for rephrasing transferring as a hairbrained schemed.

With the circumstances you have given here, it is just that.

 

[Law2Doc]

Do you think an ambitious medical student only accepted to Drexel should consider transfering 2nd or 3rd year? Students who stay at Drexel have to be at the top 10% of the class and do very well on the boards in order to do secure a competitive residency. U.S. News had Drexel as the least competitive of all US MD programs they list. If I end up going to Drexel, do you think I should plan on transfering in order to do best for my future?

As other posters have indicated, transferring is not a usual event, and unlikely for you to achieve. And doing well at the boards is going to be important whereever you go. And without having seen much medicine, how do you even know what residency (competitive or not) you are going to want to pursue? Drexel grads do fine in a lot of fields, I think.

 

[Ubadub]

As other posters have indicated, transferring is not a usual event, and unlikely for you to achieve. And doing well at the boards is going to be important whereever you go. And without having seen much medicine, how do you even know what residency (competitive or not) you are going to want to pursue? Drexel grads do fine in a lot of fields, I think.

I don't mean to disrespect Drexel. I'm just trying to assess what's best for my future, given that I would like to seriously consider cardiology, emergency medicine, oncology, surgery, or neurology. I have gotten feedback suggesting Drexel students could not necessarily consider these thing unless they did very well there.

 

[silas2642]

I don't mean to disrespect Drexel. I'm just trying to assess what's best for my future, given that I would like to seriously consider cardiology, emergency medicine, oncology, surgery, or neurology. I have gotten feedback suggesting Drexel students could not necessarily consider these thing unless they did very well there.

Who was the idiot who gave you this feedback?

 

[quideam]

Ubadub, none of the specialties you mentioned are very competitive - surgery is getting less competitive, em is getting more competitive but certainly doable out of ANY school, and you don't have to be at the very top either, and cardio, oncology, and neurology are all done after internal medicine residency, which is also not at all difficult to get. So, relax, you'll be fine - just focus on doing well in med school and the rest will take care of itself.

 

[WatchingWaiting]

I don't mean to disrespect Drexel. I'm just trying to assess what's best for my future, given that I would like to seriously consider cardiology, emergency medicine, oncology, surgery, or neurology. I have gotten feedback suggesting Drexel students could not necessarily consider these thing unless they did very well there.

First off, if the best med school you can get into is Drexel, what exactly makes you think your stellar application package is going to make some higher-ranked (read: higher average matriculant MCAT/GPAs) want you as a transfer?

Second off, you clearly have no clue about the difficulty of getting into different specialties. Neurology is an easy match and cannot be compared to radiation oncology in difficulty of matching. There is a big difference in difficulty in getting into surgical subspecialties versus general surgery. Cardiology is a subspecialty off of internal medicine. You can get into good internal medicine programs from pretty much any med school if you're above average (not top 10% above average either). From there, it's up to your schmoozing skills and whatever research you've done to get you into cards. Hem-Onc is not a particularly difficult subspecialty to get into after IM.

 

[Wednesday]

I don't mean to disrespect Drexel. I'm just trying to assess what's best for my future, given that I would like to seriously consider cardiology, emergency medicine, oncology, surgery, or neurology. I have gotten feedback suggesting Drexel students could not necessarily consider these thing unless they did very well there.

Nothing you've mentioned is particularly competitive. Additionally it is very likely that you will want to pursue something entirely different (although you have a lot of fields represented there). Seriously, relax. You future will be fine. You can definitely pursue any of the fields you mentioned coming out of Drexel.

 

[DoctorFunk]

I would like to seriously consider cardiology, emergency medicine, oncology, surgery, or neurology. I have gotten feedback suggesting Drexel students could not necessarily consider these thing unless they did very well there.

That's ludicrous. First, you really need to do some research into what is considered a competitive residency. Cardiology--competitive. General Surgery--not really that competitive if geographic location isn't important to you. I would also hazard a guess that Neurology does not require uber-gunner skills to get into, as they fill only half of the positions they offer in the match with US grads. Sure, cardiology is competitive at this point, but will it be in another 5 years? No one can really predict the trends of residency popularity...

You can get a position in any residency program coming from any allopathic school in the US, you just need to work as hard as you can on clinical rotations and nail the Step 1, with a smattering of research here and there. Focus on what you can control yourself, not your school's ranking.

 

[SkylineMD]

U.S. News had Drexel as the least competitive of all US MD programs they list.

people sometimes put too much weight into what US News has to say.

 

[thackl]

Thanks for rephrasing transferring as a hairbrained schemed. Brilliant.

Well, it is what it is and your shceme is hairbrained

TTU isn't considered terribly competitive by US News either, but we get great students here and the match list is excellent every yr.

The specialties you mentioned aren't competitive (though some of them were intermediate)

If Drexel is that bad and it's the only place you got in....... well, you know where this one is going. Then again, maybe you don't?

Lastely, when it comes time to transfer, tell the prospective school that you have a brand new bf/gf in their city. That should get you the x-fer 👍 🙄

 

[Paws]

And since this post makes you sound like a bit of a jackass, I must question whether or not the administrators at Drexel will find you charming enough to help you out with this hairbrained scheme.......

Hey Telemachus, you are not living up to your namesake. How about some compassion and sensitivity? We all have our fears and insecurities and at least he had the confidence to voice them and ask for feedback.

As for the OP, you will be just fine at Drexel. I can understand your fears but we all have them. "Is my school good enough?" "Am I going to do ok?" You are more important than the school, and how you do will be a reflection of your own efforts. I know several people who turned down top schools - Columbia, Cornell - to go to a state school. Why? because the education is pretty much the same and yet, you're only $100 000 in debt instead of $250 000. A big name is not what you need, just buckle down and learn as much as you can, do your best and you will be just fine. Drexel is an awesome school, I would be proud to go there.

👍