which of the following is most important when choosing a medical school ?

[abracadabraone]

?

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[MilkmanAl]

I pick

 

[flatearth22]

Bad poll. Totally depends on the individual and their future goals, finances, family situation, etc.

 

[nygiants fan]

Well I'll just tell you what I think about each of the items that you listed and hopefully that will help: (DISCLAIMER- keep in mind that this is my personal opinion)

Cost and reputation go hand in hand. Let's say that you only got into to med schools and they were UPenn and Kentucky and that you are a Kentucky resident. UPenn is more prestigious, has more opportunities, better ranking, etc than Kentucky. But Kentucky's tuition is almost half of UPenn and in this hypothetical scenario, you don't have scholarships or parental support and you have to take out max loans. That would be a decision that only you could make on whether it is worth it to go to a much higher ranked school and have more loans or to your state school.

Location is kind of important and might help lift up your spirits during med school drudgery haha. For example, let's say I got into Case Western and a few other med schools. Case is a great school, but I really really dislike Ohio and the Midwest in general so I would cross it off my list. That's just how I feel about it. Also, it depends on how close you are to your family. If you guys are close, then going to med school in your home state or within ok driving distance would be nice for you.

For research opportunities, yes the top 25-30 med schools will have good funding and research based on their rankings, but so do the rest. Research is an important part of med school if you want to try to get matched into a competitive specialty so all med schools will be alright in that regard. I wouldn't really use this to pick a school.

As far as clinical exposure is concerned, I highly recommend asking your interviewers (or older med students if they are available) about the MS3 and MS4 curriculums. All med schools will teach you the same thing in essentially the same way during your first 2 years so it is important to find out how the clinical experiences differ based on the resources and facilities of that particular school and the strengths of their departments (whether they favor primary case, specialization, or both).

Style of grading- Pass/Fail during preclinicals rocks! Also, I prefer traditional non-mandatory lectures over PBLs or mandatory lectures but I also don't go to class at all so that may or may not work for you.

I really hope that I was helpful. Good luck!

 

[johnisles2011]

I think you should include interview day / visit impressions and thoughts. That can definitely change things. In fact, I probably would have voted for that.

 

[jesse120]

Well I'll just tell you what I think about each of the items that you listed and hopefully that will help: (DISCLAIMER- keep in mind that this is my personal opinion)

Cost and reputation go hand in hand. Let's say that you only got into to med schools and they were UPenn and Kentucky and that you are a Kentucky resident. UPenn is more prestigious, has more opportunities, better ranking, etc than Kentucky. But Kentucky's tuition is almost half of UPenn and in this hypothetical scenario, you don't have scholarships or parental support and you have to take out max loans. That would be a decision that only you could make on whether it is worth it to go to a much higher ranked school and have more loans or to your state school.

Location is kind of important and might help lift up your spirits during med school drudgery haha. For example, let's say I got into Case Western and a few other med schools. Case is a great school, but I really really dislike Ohio and the Midwest in general so I would cross it off my list. That's just how I feel about it. Also, it depends on how close you are to your family. If you guys are close, then going to med school in your home state or within ok driving distance would be nice for you.

For research opportunities, yes the top 25-30 med schools will have good funding and research based on their rankings, but so do the rest. Research is an important part of med school if you want to try to get matched into a competitive specialty so all med schools will be alright in that regard. I wouldn't really use this to pick a school.

As far as clinical exposure is concerned, I highly recommend asking your interviewers (or older med students if they are available) about the MS3 and MS4 curriculums. All med schools will teach you the same thing in essentially the same way during your first 2 years so it is important to find out how the clinical experiences differ based on the resources and facilities of that particular school and the strengths of their departments (whether they favor primary case, specialization, or both).

Style of grading- Pass/Fail during preclinicals rocks! Also, I prefer traditional non-mandatory lectures over PBLs or mandatory lectures but I also don't go to class at all so that may or may not work for you.

I really hope that I was helpful. Good luck!

I found that helpful. Thanks for that.

 

[Starlightembers]

For research opportunities, yes the top 25-30 med schools will have good funding and research based on their rankings, but so do the rest. Research is an important part of med school if you want to try to get matched into a competitive specialty so all med schools will be alright in that regard. I wouldn't really use this to pick a school.

What if you plan on going into academics and have very specific research interests that, as far you can tell, not every school has? Am I wrong to assume that, for that person, research opportunities should be a more important factor?

 

[mauberley]

?

Depends on what's important to you.

 

[nygiants fan]

What if you plan on going into academics and have very specific research interests that, as far you can tell, not every school has? Am I wrong to assume that, for that person, research opportunities should be a more important factor?

No, you're not wrong at all! But what I said still holds true and here is why. Let's assume first of all that you aren't applying to MD/PhD programs and that you have applied straight MD and received acceptances. Ok so in this scenario, you have very specific interests in rad/onc and you want to start some sort of rad/onc research from MS1 because that's what you want to match into. That's cool but I have to caution that unless you're MD/PhD, you should keep your mind open in terms of what specialty you want because they will change over the course of your med school years. Also, keep in mind that you could be in the top 10 grade-wise in your class for all of preclinicals then barely pass Step 1 (yes this indeed happens). Going back to the scenario: you've been doing rad/onc research since MS1, you've been doing alright in your preclinical classes, then you take Step 1 and pass with a 206. Rad/onc programs won't even offer you an interview unless you have a 240-245 minimum Step 1 score. This isn't like med school applications where a person could still get into Harvard Med School with a 30 MCAT score as long as they have other random extracurriculars, research, publications, and other things. The computer will screen you out and your chances of getting matched are 0%. It's very numbers driven. And then you would be screwed and heartbroken because you have to choose a different specialty.

My point is that if you are straight MD, your plans might change, you might get derailed by a low Step 1 score (since if you pass on your first attempt you are not allowed to take it again but if you fail, you can take it again but you've screwed yourself over for competitive/academic specialties), or you may simply not like it when you get to the clerkship or do poorly in that clerkship. I'm not trying to say that you shouldn't follow whatever your research passion is. Just that what you research may not be what you are able to match into based on your numbers or it may not be what you are interested in over the long run of med school. It's a marathon.

 

[Narmerguy]

Bad poll. Totally depends on the individual and their future goals, finances, family situation, etc.

Depends on what's important to you.

Exactly! I never understood why people on SDN try to make blanket proclamations about what should matter to each applicant. Not everyone cares about what I care about! And I sure as heck don't care about what many of you care about...and neither of us is right/wrong. We've got our own priorities.

That said, I think there can be value in these types of discussions where everyone explains "why" they care about what they do. It may be that you can convince someone or perhaps show them something they hadn't considered before.

Nevertheless, there can be no definitive statement on what is indisputably the most important factor in selecting medical schools.

 

[whoMD]

i'm not sure i think we can just take this poll as an assessment of our opinions?... of course it depends on the individual, but it is interesting to see what the majority values most...