Why is Mayo so selective?

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Mayo isn't in the top 20 according to US News but yet they are considered the most selective medical school in the country. Is it because it doesn't have an associated undergrad and is purely for medicine or another reason?

Thanks.
 
1. Because they can be.

2. To maintain their rep.

3. A crowd draws a crowd, everyone thinks it is one of the best schools so everyone wants to go.. which results in the school being able to choose the best of that LARGE applicant pool. (should probably check the enrollment stats but I bet I'm right on this one).
 
Verum said:
Mayo isn't in the top 20 according to US News but yet they are considered the most selective medical school in the country. Is it because it doesn't have an associated undergrad and is purely for medicine or another reason?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Mayo isn't in the top 20 because USNWR is flawed by intrinsic bias towards university affiliated institutions.
 
Gamechanger said:
1. Because they can be.

2. To maintain their rep.

3. A crowd draws a crowd, everyone thinks it is one of the best schools so everyone wants to go.. which results in the school being able to choose the best of that LARGE applicant pool. (should probably check the enrollment stats but I bet I'm right on this one).
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Generic but true.😀
 
It's a pretty fantastic place. If you have the chance to interview there, you'll see why.

Also, second what mmmc said - USNWR rankings are inherently flawed. You shouldn't put much in any stock in USNWR rankings other than for amusement.
 
I think it's mostly about class size (~40 for Mayo). If Mayo had a class size closer to other top schools (120-170), it would have an acceptance rate similar to most other schools.

Stanford is similar. A small class size (85) leads to a low acceptance rate (high selectivity).
 
As someone who has visited Rochester, MN, and took a tour of Mayo because I had nothing better to do...I promise you that any medical student who takes a tour of this place will be in tears at its sheer beauty...the friendliness of Minnesotans, the comfort, the caring nature of EVERYONE, and the radiance of this place. I can't imagine how great people who work at this place must feel. One the best medical schools in the world. Hands-down.

It's a dream school of many, including myself, but only the select few have the privilege to be part of this extraordinary institution.
 
dartmed said:
As someone who has visited Rochester, MN, and took a tour of Mayo because I had nothing better to do...I promise you that any medical student who takes a tour of this place will be in tears at its sheer beauty...the friendliness of Minnesotans, the comfort, the caring nature of EVERYONE, and the radiance of this place. I can't imagine how great people who work at this place must feel. One the best medical schools in the world. Hands-down.

It's a dream school of many, including myself, but only the select few have the privilege to be part of this extraordinary institution.
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Going to mayo requires that you live in Rochester, though...
 
I think this is only the first or second year they let themselves get ranked. Anyway, yeah obvious flaw in the rating system, Mayo should be up at 1 or 2 no doubt. If anything, just for the fact that their hospital system is basically used as the model system for everyone else ever.
 
drizzt3117 said:
Going to mayo requires that you live in Rochester, though...
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I actually think living in Rochester might be better though (I might be a bit biased as I live in downtown of a city and I am sick of it). You are away from all the hustle and bustle of cities, rent is MUCH cheaper, and if you want to get your freak on, you could always hop over to Minneapolis...which is only a 45 minute drive away. Now, Minnesota winters on the other hand...eeeekkk
 
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The Rules of SDN:

1) You do not bash Mayo
2) You DO NOT bash Mayo
3) If one says "Mayo sucks," the fight will start

I learned this the hard way. Of course, I didn't bash it, but I questioned Mayo's greatness.
 
dartmed said:
I actually think living in Rochester might be better though (I might be a bit biased as I live in downtown of a city and I am sick of it). You are away from all the hustle and bustle of cities, rent is MUCH cheaper, and if you want to get your freak on, you could always hop over to Minneapolis...which is only a 45 minute drive away. Now, Minnesota winters on the other hand...eeeekkk
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Uh no, Minneapolis is 1:15 away, in good weather (I.e. No snow, which it does a lot in Minnesota)

I go to school 3h from mayo but it might as well be on the other side of the moon; it's really in the middle of nowhere. There are ~5 real restaurants in town, every single person works for mayo or IBM, and there's nothing to do.

I interviewed at mayo for residency and was rtm there, the program was fantastic, facilities were amazing, faculty were great, pay/benefits/moonlighting was the best of any program I visited, but Rochester itself was just impossible to reconcile so it ended up in the middle of my list.
 
-Small class size, huge faculty:student ratio (something like 10+ facutly for every student)
-Linked to the third best hospital in the country (once youre that high it doesnt matter)
-One of the best schools for financial aid (ive heard it quoted as having the best financial aid department in the country)

They are also not nearly as stat hungry as some of the other giants, meaning that a low MCAT doesnt place you out of the running. HOWEVER given their reputation and low class size, its reasonable to assume that most people do have fantastic stats and also have incredible ECs/unique life experiences. Looking at last years mayo thread there were a bunch of 3.8+,40 people who were denied pre-interview. Mayo is looking for the whole package.
 
Because every student gets a extremely generous scholarship. Also, no secondary.
 
Bro Dude said:
The Rules of SDN:

1) You do not bash Mayo
2) You DO NOT bash Mayo
3) If one says "Mayo sucks," the fight will start

I learned this the hard way. Of course, I didn't bash it, but I questioned Mayo's greatness.
Click to expand...

Hahaha. Yes, Hail to THE Mayo. It is the ONE AND ONLY. Haha. Watch me get outright rejected from this school. Lol.
 
Verum said:
Mayo isn't in the top 20 according to US News but yet they are considered the most selective medical school in the country. Is it because it doesn't have an associated undergrad and is purely for medicine or another reason?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Is this a real question? Because their class size is <50, and they're in a top notch med facility that's world renowned.
 
Mayo Clinic is supposed to be AMAZING. And that's probably an understatement.
 
WOW is had no idea of you guys' views on Mayo. This must be one heck of a school. It does seem like the USNews ranking of it doesn't reflect the school as a whole
 
calvnandhobbs68 said:
I think this is only the first or second year they let themselves get ranked. Anyway, yeah obvious flaw in the rating system, Mayo should be up at 1 or 2 no doubt. If anything, just for the fact that their hospital system is basically used as the model system for everyone else ever.
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Ummm, no. Mayo is great, but the pre-eminent model for the american medical school and hospital is none other than Johns Hopkins.

Of coures you have to live in ****ty Baltimore, so.....
 
Verum said:
WOW is had no idea of you guys' views on Mayo. This must be one heck of a school. It does seem like the USNews ranking of it doesn't reflect the school as a whole

Aye, aye Captain.
Click to expand...
 
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Socrates25 said:
Ummm, no. Mayo is great, but the pre-eminent model for the american medical school and hospital is none other than Johns Hopkins.

Of coures you have to live in ****ty Baltimore, so.....
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HAHA i know what you mean. Baltimore winter sucks. I live like 15 mins away from Hopkins btw. Hopefully i can volunteer at their hospital this or next summer.
 
I was an intern at Mayo Clinic and had the privilege to speak with many of the faculty members and admissions committee members.

1) US News rankings: are based on research (research rankings) and at Mayo, research is not the primary focus of medical students. Unlike Harvard, Hopkins there is no scholarly project required.
2) Selectivity: the student body at Mayo is very different from the make of schools such as Hopkins and Harvard. Mayo is much more popular with applicants from the mid west.
3) Mayo has the brand name and prestige that it can choose to be very selective. Also, Mayo offers great scholarships which makes med school quite affordable.- this attracts a lot of medical students.

To conclude, Hopkins is a medical school built around a university and mayo is a medical school built around a hospital. In terms of basic medical research Hopkins, Harvard, Penn are quite far ahead of Mayo and this fact is reflected in the rankings. Keep in mind these are research rankings.
 
Socrates25 said:
Ummm, no. Mayo is great, but the pre-eminent model for the american medical school and hospital is none other than Johns Hopkins.

Of coures you have to live in ****ty Baltimore, so.....
Click to expand...

I was being overly dramatic but when you're reading about healthcare efficiency/reform you only hear about Mayo Clinic like 10000 times so I think I'm just getting it drilled into my head lately. Seriously though the school should be up in the top 10 on that list no problem.
 
Errr, I interviewed at Mayo, and while I thought it was pretty cool, in my opinion it was nothing extraordinarily better than other schools. Rochester was not the greatest too. Their scholarships are nice though...
 
It's mostly because of small class size (~40).

It's a great hospital with tons of history. But I don't think they truly stand out at the medical school level. Student facilities were lackluster and not much else in Rochester besides medicine.
 
mayo.jpg
 
The premed fascination with mayo never ceases to amuse me.
 
hiyaman said:
Is mayo really that great? Love the condiment, goes great with my turkey sandwhiches...
Click to expand...

It's a great school, but it really depends on what you're looking for. Rochester sucks unless you're specifically wanting a small town feel. The hospital system is fantastic. You can do rotations at their other two campuses (Arizona and Florida) which is pretty cool. They have an interesting curriculum comprised of "selectives" in between courses and during traditional breaks where you can either take time off or shadow/do research/etc.. Great scholarship support, but depending on your situation it might still be as expensive as other schools.

I thought it was a pretty cool school, but like anything else it's not for everybody.

(sent from my phone - please forgive typos and brevity)
 
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This is from the perspective of someone who attended Mayo Medical School and is now a resident at one of the residency programs often cited as "the big 4 (UCSF/MGH/BWH/JHU)" on these boards.

Reasons why Mayo is fantastic for medical school:
1) Tuition: The most you could pay for tuition was approximately $8,000 a year (many people received full rides). There were two years when they emailed the medical school and informed us everyone would be receiving a full scholarship. Average debt approximately $60,000.
- Once you're a resident and realize how much interest accumulates on even the "average medical student debt of a $160,000," you appreciate this even more. Many of my colleagues are making career decisions based on finances.

2) Selectives: Mayo's first two years are structured such that you have a "block" of 6 weeks where you focus on a topic (i.e. in second year cardiovascular system, GI system), and then have two weeks for "selectives" You receive a $5,000 travel budget to use during selecties.
- This was amazing. It made medical school so painless. Essentially, you work hard for six weeks and then have 2 weeks of selective to do research casually, travel and work abroad. Selectives can be as structured as you want them to be. But honestly, they're essentially a break for you to do what you love, enhance your resume, or just rest.
- The majority of students had done clinical work (and sometimes non-clinical) in at least 1-2 countries courtesy of this by the end of second year (work in Haiti, Uganda, South Africa, Kenya, India etc...).

3) Teaching: I honestly think this is what really makes Mayo unique. The classes are extremely clinically oriented. There are no PhD's or MD/PhD research gurus who come in and lecture you on the nuances of their research. Our faculty goes through a huge screening process as many clinicians at Mayo want to be involved in education. Evaluations of faculty are used to screen out "bad apples." Thus, you end up with professors who are teaching because they want to, love to, and excel at it. In addition to this, the faculty that teach various blocks discuss and integrate their curriculum. This avoids redundancy and minutia from being taught.
- The medical students who I work with now (from a "top 5 medical school") often comment on how frustrating it is to have "famous research faculty" come in and lecture for an hour about something not relevant. At the end of the day, I believe the reason Mayo is NOT like this is because 1) The institution as a whole is clinically oriented (and clinical research oriented) and not as basic science oriented as top NE places (which can be a con depending on what you want to do).

4) Research: Whether it be clinical or basic science (though basic science not as strong), it is easy to do research. Mayo DOES have a 3 month research requirement built into third year (which is an AMAZING break). The year I graduated, out of the approximately 40 of us, >than half had more than 2 published papers (not counting abstracts, presentations etc..). There were a few of us that had published >10 papers by the end of medical school, and most in respected, high impact journals. At the end of the day, because there are so few Mayo medical students and Mayo provides incentives for faculty to publish papers with medical students (faster track to professorship), research and publishing is very accessible.

4) The system at Mayo is amazing. It's seamless. It is truly cost effective, efficient, and patient-oriented. You REALLY appreciate this as a 3rd year, 4th year, but most importantly as a patient. While I LOVE the institution that I currently am at for completely different reasons (again a "big 4" residency), I remember being dumbfounded my intern year by how inefficient, slow, and difficult the system at this "top hospital" was... more importantly, how these inefficiencies often led to patient errors.

5) Other random perks: Can do an MD/JD at ASU in 2 years. Mayo will pay for it, you don't have to take the LSAT. Mayo will also give you $10,000 if you pursue another degree (MPH etc...) at any other institution (people have left to do MBA's, MPH's, Master's at Oxford/Cambridge, Master's in fashion design, Master's in Journalism). At the end of a six week block, faculty will take you out or invite the class over to their place for dinners/drinks. The student body is MUCH MORE diverse in terms of where Mayo pulls students from (i.e. it is not IVY league undergrad heavy).

CONS:
1) ROCHESTER: This is a HUGE con. After applying to medical schools, I ended up narrowing down my choice of schools to Mayo vs. UCLA vs. Harvard vs. U of Chicago. All three other programs were in superior cities. While I loved my classmates at Mayo, and that made it fun, being in chicago/boston/LA would have been amazing. The truth is who you're with can make or break the experience. Mayo tends to pick a really interesting and fantastic group of people, but at the end of the day, you're in a city with limited bar/restaurant options. It also gets REALLY cold in the winter. Rochester sucks, but your classmates can make it fun. At the end of the day, I had no regrets as I came out of Mayo with no debt, really happy with my education, and when it came down to residency applications, received numerous "ranked to match calls" from top programs and matched at my top choice in an awesome city. I was also told that if I ever wanted to return for fellowship/faculty that there would be an open door. Some of the highest ranked medical schools in the country are AWFUL to be junior faculty at (in terms of pay, pressure to produce basic science research), thus it is nice to have the option to go back to an institution that you know will treat you well.

2) SMALL CLASS SIZE: While this is a pro in terms of teaching, can be a huge con if you want to meets tons of new people all the time.

3) Not university affiliated: No sports to go to, no college campus, just the Mayo campus.

4) At residency interviews, other "top places" that I interviewed were intrigued by my medical school experience and by what Mayo was like. While many Mayo Med Students that want to match at top NE/West coast places do, alot end up staying at Mayo. Thus, Mayo has less of an incestuous relationship with the UCSF, Harvards, Hopkins, Penn etc... (if you're looking to be streamlined into one of those places). My year, 30% of us ended matching at one of those institutes (which is quite high).

5) Basic science research: First of, Mayo does have a significant amount of basic science research going on that I would never scoff at. However, it is not as vast as the other "highly ranked" institutes. Thus, if you KNOW you want to be a basic science researcher, go to hopkins, Harvard, UCSF etc... you'll have way more opportunity there.

Obvious I'm biased, but I absolutely loved my medical school experience and am really grateful for all the opportunities I was given to excel at Mayo. Keep in mind though that Rochester blows, and if being in a big city = being happy for you, I would not recommend coming to Mayo.
 
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wannadoctor said:
This is from the perspective of someone who attended Mayo Medical School and is now a resident at one of the residency programs often cited as "the big 4 (UCSF/MGH/BWH/JHU)" on these boards.

Reasons why Mayo is fantastic for medical school:
1) Tuition: The most you could pay for tuition was approximately $8,000 a year (many people received full rides). There were two years when they emailed the medical school and informed us everyone would be receiving a full scholarship. Average debt approximately $60,000.
- Once you're a resident and realize how much interest accumulates on even the "average medical student debt of a $160,000," you appreciate this even more. Many of my colleagues are making career decisions based on finances.
Click to expand...

😱👍

wannadoctor said:
CONS:
1) ROCHESTER: This is a HUGE con. After applying to medical schools, I ended up narrowing down my choice of schools to Mayo vs. UCLA vs. Harvard vs. U of Chicago. All three other programs were in superior cities.
Click to expand...

Wow nice! what were your stats? are you URM?
 
wannadoctor said:
This is from the perspective of someone who attended Mayo Medical School and is now a resident at one of the residency programs often cited as "the big 4 (UCSF/MGH/BWH/JHU)" on these boards.

Reasons why Mayo is fantastic for medical school:
1) Tuition: The most you could pay for tuition was approximately $8,000 a year (many people received full rides). There were two years when they emailed the medical school and informed us everyone would be receiving a full scholarship. Average debt approximately $60,000.
- Once you're a resident and realize how much interest accumulates on even the "average medical student debt of a $160,000," you appreciate this even more. Many of my colleagues are making career decisions based on finances.

2) Selectives: Mayo's first two years are structured such that you have a "block" of 6 weeks where you focus on a topic (i.e. in second year cardiovascular system, GI system), and then have two weeks for "selectives" You receive a $5,000 travel budget to use during selecties.
- This was amazing. It made medical school so painless. Essentially, you work hard for six weeks and then have 2 weeks of selective to do research casually, travel and work abroad. Selectives can be as structured as you want them to be. But honestly, they're essentially a break for you to do what you love, enhance your resume, or just rest.
- The majority of students had done clinical work (and sometimes non-clinical) in at least 1-2 countries courtesy of this by the end of second year (work in Haiti, Uganda, South Africa, Kenya, India etc...).

3) Teaching: I honestly think this is what really makes Mayo unique. The classes are extremely clinically oriented. There are no PhD's or MD/PhD research gurus who come in and lecture you on the nuances of their research. Our faculty goes through a huge screening process as many clinicians at Mayo want to be involved in education. Evaluations of faculty are used to screen out "bad apples." Thus, you end up with professors who are teaching because they want to, love to, and excel at it. In addition to this, the faculty that teach various blocks discuss and integrate their curriculum. This avoids redundancy and minutia from being taught.
- The medical students who I work with now (from a "top 5 medical school") often comment on how frustrating it is to have "famous research faculty" come in and lecture for an hour about something not relevant. At the end of the day, I believe the reason Mayo is NOT like this is because 1) The institution as a whole is clinically oriented (and clinical research oriented) and not as basic science oriented as top NE places (which can be a con depending on what you want to do).

4) Research: Whether it be clinical or basic science (though basic science not as strong), it is easy to do research. Mayo DOES have a 3 month research requirement built into third year (which is an AMAZING break). The year I graduated, out of the approximately 40 of us, >than half had more than 2 published papers (not counting abstracts, presentations etc..). There were a few of us that had published >10 papers by the end of medical school, and most in respected, high impact journals. At the end of the day, because there are so few Mayo medical students and Mayo provides incentives for faculty to publish papers with medical students (faster track to professorship), research and publishing is very accessible.

4) The system at Mayo is amazing. It's seamless. It is truly cost effective, efficient, and patient-oriented. You REALLY appreciate this as a 3rd year, 4th year, but most importantly as a patient. While I LOVE the institution that I currently am at for completely different reasons (again a "big 4" residency), I remember being dumbfounded my intern year by how inefficient, slow, and difficult the system at this "top hospital" was... more importantly, how these inefficiencies often led to patient errors.

5) Other random perks: Can do an MD/JD at ASU in 2 years. Mayo will pay for it, you don't have to take the LSAT. Mayo will also give you $10,000 if you pursue another degree (MPH etc...) at any other institution (people have left to do MBA's, MPH's, Master's at Oxford/Cambridge, Master's in fashion design, Master's in Journalism). At the end of a six week block, faculty will take you out or invite the class over to their place for dinners/drinks. The student body is MUCH MORE diverse in terms of where Mayo pulls students from (i.e. it is not IVY league undergrad heavy).

CONS:
1) ROCHESTER: This is a HUGE con. After applying to medical schools, I ended up narrowing down my choice of schools to Mayo vs. UCLA vs. Harvard vs. U of Chicago. All three other programs were in superior cities. While I loved my classmates at Mayo, and that made it fun, being in chicago/boston/LA would have been amazing. The truth is who you're with can make or break the experience. Mayo tends to pick a really interesting and fantastic group of people, but at the end of the day, you're in a city with limited bar/restaurant options. It also gets REALLY cold in the winter. Rochester sucks, but your classmates can make it fun. At the end of the day, I had no regrets as I came out of Mayo with no debt, really happy with my education, and when it came down to residency applications, received numerous "ranked to match calls" from top programs and matched at my top choice in an awesome city. I was also told that if I ever wanted to return for fellowship/faculty that there would be an open door. Some of the highest ranked medical schools in the country are AWFUL to be junior faculty at (in terms of pay, pressure to produce basic science research), thus it is nice to have the option to go back to an institution that you know will treat you well.

2) SMALL CLASS SIZE: While this is a pro in terms of teaching, can be a huge con if you want to meets tons of new people all the time.

3) Not university affiliated: No sports to go to, no college campus, just the Mayo campus.

4) At residency interviews, other "top places" that I interviewed were intrigued by my medical school experience and by what Mayo was like. While many Mayo Med Students that want to match at top NE/West coast places do, alot end up staying at Mayo. Thus, Mayo has less of an incestuous relationship with the UCSF, Harvards, Hopkins, Penn etc... (if you're looking to be streamlined into one of those places). My year, 30% of us ended matching at one of those institutes (which is quite high).

5) Basic science research: First of, Mayo does have a significant amount of basic science research going on that I would never scoff at. However, it is not as vast as the other "highly ranked" institutes. Thus, if you KNOW you want to be a basic science researcher, go to hopkins, Harvard, UCSF etc... you'll have way more opportunity there.

Obvious I'm biased, but I absolutely loved my medical school experience and am really grateful for all the opportunities I was given to excel at Mayo. Keep in mind though that Rochester blows, and if being in a big city = being happy for you, I would not recommend coming to Mayo.
Click to expand...

This is why I want to go here so badly, and I think this is also why I would be so sad if I get rejected from this place.
 
Just an aside, Minnesota winters really DO suck. If you have no experience with snow or have enough experience with it to hate it, you'll want to take this into account. I have friends who live in Minneapolis and have been there to visit them and it's awful. To be fair, it's MAYO, but man, if I am fortunate enough to eventually get an acceptance letter there, it's going to be a hell of a decision to make. For reference, I currently live in Northern Illinois and have lived in Chicago and Madison, WI during my life. MN winters make any of those places look like a chilly April by comparison.
 
From many practicing physicians & surgeons I've talked to: the US News top ranked hospitals are very nice, but Mayo Clinic's system of care is on another level. The affiliated medical school surely must benefit from that.
 
nychila said:
From many practicing physicians & surgeons I've talked to: the US News top ranked hospitals are very nice, but Mayo Clinic's system of care is on another level. The affiliated medical school surely must benefit from that.
Click to expand...

Mayo's system is definitely different. The nice thing seems to be the resources available to students, residents, attendings, etc. It's a fantastically collegial place as well. I didn't find it an optimal place for those interested in academic medicine.
 
NightGod said:
Just an aside, Minnesota winters really DO suck. If you have no experience with snow or have enough experience with it to hate it, you'll want to take this into account. I have friends who live in Minneapolis and have been there to visit them and it's awful. To be fair, it's MAYO, but man, if I am fortunate enough to eventually get an acceptance letter there, it's going to be a hell of a decision to make. For reference, I currently live in Northern Illinois and have lived in Chicago and Madison, WI during my life. MN winters make any of those places look like a chilly April by comparison.
Click to expand...

I know it is cold, but really? Compared to Philadelphia, the average temperature is only about 10-12 degrees cooler throughout October to February. Maybe wind chill?

http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USMN0632

http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USPA1276
 
NightGod said:
Just an aside, Minnesota winters really DO suck. If you have no experience with snow or have enough experience with it to hate it, you'll want to take this into account. I have friends who live in Minneapolis and have been there to visit them and it's awful. To be fair, it's MAYO, but man, if I am fortunate enough to eventually get an acceptance letter there, it's going to be a hell of a decision to make. For reference, I currently live in Northern Illinois and have lived in Chicago and Madison, WI during my life. MN winters make any of those places look like a chilly April by comparison.
Click to expand...

hahahaha is it seriously that bad? I've lived in Columbus, Ohio almost all my life and can't stand it.
 
NickNaylor said:
Keep in mind that if you're in a big, downtown area, the buildings will help block some of the wind and snow. In Rochester, you have no protection.
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Agreed, except for Chicago. That place is frigid 😉

Mayo is a great school, but it also seems to self select viciously. Mayo students are rabidly pro-their school, even by my standards. I think it's a great example of the benefits of going to a place that really clicks with you, if you can.
 
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I live in minnesota and it is that bad. (grew up in Virginia). This past winter was an anomaly. It was almost like fall went straight to spring. Besides this past winter, winter is usually really really brutal. It can snow here anywhere between September and may. Couple years back it snowed on may 29thish. It can dump snow anywhere between 1 and 3 feet in a storm. And because of that spring seems almost like winter because it takes until mid may for all the snow to be gone usually (this is even when it doesn't snow in April or may). From December to mid march it is freezing (colder than usual). There are days where it's 0 to 5 degrees and your like "nice it's not that bad today" this is of course when theres no wind. Ultimately, you gotta keep your thyroxine levels up to keep warm. However, summer in minnesota is unreal, but that's outside the point. Also, keep in mind I live in northern Minnesota which has a bit different weather than southern Minnesota where Rochester is. As an example, in may the twin cities may be at 80ish while 2 hours north its usually 60ish.
 
drizzt3117 said:
Yes, it is. The weather isn't as bad as the lack of diversity of people and lack of things to do.
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So true, it's like Madison but colder!

I feel like people can't really appreciate this until they visit in December or January in a typical year.

However, some people (myself included) really enjoy the winters for whatever reason, but then you're left with the small towness which I can't stand no matter how nice the weather.
 
Yeah lack of diversity is big too. As as far as fun things to do at least in the winter. There's either hockey or cross country skiing. But mostly, by far, you end up drinking a lot.
 
Also, if you look at the schools with huge applicant pools, Mayo isn't really all that selective. Take a school like Georgetown, GWU, BU, or Tulane that gets 10,000+ applicants. Statistically many of these schools are just as "selective" as Mayo. Mayo just has a class size of 40.
 
AvidAvatar said:
I know it is cold, but really? Compared to Philadelphia, the average temperature is only about 10-12 degrees cooler throughout October to February. Maybe wind chill?

http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USMN0632

http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USPA1276
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's not even as much the cold (though that's pretty bad) as the amount of snow they get. As Revolver said, 1-3 feet of snow per storm is pretty typical there-must be those 10,000 lakes 😉. It doesn't help any that I've really come to loathe snow the past few years-after a lifetime of it, I'm finally just sick of it. While I'd very likely attend if I managed to get accepted (because, yeah, Mayo), I'd definitely be a lot happier if they relocated the bulk of their medical education department to the AZ or FL campus~

To be fair, like Revolver says, summer in MN is pretty great, especially if you're into outdoor stuff like camping. Granted, it's June or so before you want to DO those sorts of things, but the months you do get are nice. And I think everyone should experience the Zombie Pub Crawl they do every October at least once-there's nothing quite like a sea of 10,000+ (not a typo) zombies wandering around from bar to bar.
 
A lot of that is probably driven by those schools average rankings and statistics, making them seem like good schools to apply to as mid-range, without considering the fact they probably receive the most applications.
 
ericL said:
So true, it's like Madison but colder!

I feel like people can't really appreciate this until they visit in December or January in a typical year.

However, some people (myself included) really enjoy the winters for whatever reason, but then you're left with the small towness which I can't stand no matter how nice the weather.
Click to expand...

Rochester is infinitely worse than Madison. Madison is a little small and you can definitely feel like you've exhausted all the city can offer in 4 years, which is one of the reasons I'm moving back to LA, but there are quite a few diverse groups of people there with it being the site of a large university and the capital of WI (and metro madison has five times the population of Rochester). Rochester has two groups of people; people who work for the mayo clinic and people who work for IBM. You would exhaust all the city has to offer in a week.
 
The colder and smaller, the better, for me. It's a shame that most who apply to Mayo think its location is a negative.
 
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