My concern is that I haven't had 4 years of premed and a ton of premed friends to tell me what to do. I'm really lost seeing posts about checking schools match lists and how people know all this different stuff about what student life is like at different schools because I have no idea where to get this info.
Eh, you're probably better off. Having a ton of pre-med friends sharing "advice" with you brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "the blind leading the blind." Getting a bunch of premeds together is like a huge fiesta of misinformation.
Do NOT pick your future school based on match lists! This is an example of what I mean by the blind leading the blind. A pre-med has NO clue how to read a match list because match lists are based on how motivated an individual student is - it is NOT based on the "quality" of his school.
Student life at different schools is overrated. You can decide if you like the "feel" of the campus when you come visit for an interview.
GIST: When considering schools to go to, where do I start? What criteria should I be looking for in MSAR? So far all I have done is match my gpa and approx. mcat scores to see where I can go.
Very rough way to figure out a list of schools to apply to:
1)
Geographic location. How far are you willing to go? Do you want to stay in your current city/state, or are you willing to go across the country?
2)
Cost. How much are you willing to pay?
3)
State of residence. Some state schools are cheap, but are very unwilling to take out of state (abbreviated as "OOS" on SDN) students. [Sometimes, they are required by law to select almost exclusively in-state students.] Some state schools don't have such laws, and will take people from anywhere. Some state schools will accept out of state students, but charge them incredibly high tuition rates. (This is tied to point #2.)
4)
Mission statement. In the MSAR, under each school, there is a little blurb - a mission statement. They sound sort of similar, but, if you read it carefully, you can figure out if that school focuses mostly on community-health care, or if it focuses a lot on research. If you hate research, think twice about going to a research-heavy school - they may force you to do a research project. If you love research, be careful about going to a school with a community-health focus. They may not have the truly top-notch research facilities that you're looking for. All med schools are active in both aspects (well, except for the Ivy Leagues, maybe), but generally tend to focus on one over the other.
5) [ADVANCED STUFF]
Curriculum. Some schools use Problem Based Learning (PBL), in which you "learn" by doing case conferences in a small group setting. After discussing the case, you disperse and study a certain aspect of the clinical case on your own. The following meeting, you teach the other people in your group what you've learned. Other schools stay with the traditional lecture format. I personally hate PBL, but that's a whole other issue. If you're still confused by that slap-dash explanation, PM me.
Some schools are organ based - i.e. they divide up their topics by organ system. That means that, for instance, in your GI block, you learn about GI anatomy, GI-related pharmacology, GI-related pathology, infectious diseases of the GI tract, etc, at the same time. The advantage is that the information is all kind of "linked" together in your mind. The disadvantage is that you are studying multiple subjects at one time, and have to balance it out. You'll also be taking 3-4 exams in the same week.
Other schools are on the "block" system - you study one topic at a time. You study only anatomy for 3 months, then you study only biochem for 3 months, then you study only physio for 3 months, etc. While the information is not linked by organ systems (and perhaps a little disjointed), you're studying only ONE thing at a time, and studying for only one exam at a time.
The MSAR should tell you which school focuses on what.
I hope that helps you figure out a list of schools to apply to (beyond just MCAT/GPA stats). It might be more than what you were looking for, but hopefully someone (sometime) finds it helpful! Good luck.
