Why is Michigan regarded so highly among residency directors?

[chef]

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Michigan is ranked #4 by residency directors, higher than likes of Columbia, WashU, Stanford..... (other higher ranked top10s). I don't understand why this is? Accepted students GPA is only 3.60, they accept 370 to fill 170 students, and I don't think the best applicants who would get into other top10 schools would attend Michigan over Stanford, Yale, Columbia. Also, Michigan is a state school, 50% of students are from Michigan.. I really can't figure out why Michigan would have such high reputation score?

Is it b/c residency directors believe if one lives in such a cold climate area one becomes mentally & physcially tough? Is it b/c Michigan really beats the crap out of students with materials and teachings so that while students suffer from too much studying and scutting, at the end when they graduate they perform better than other grads?

I might add that during my entire visit to Michigan, almost every student and faculty I met there emphasized that they were ranked #4 by residency directors and that they match really well. They really tried to defend their grading system.

 

[altaskier]

Where are you getting the rankings by residency directors?

 

[Darwin]

If you go to usnews (well, not now since you have to pay...but before) and look at the research rankings you'll see a lot of criteria that goes into the rankings. You can click on the criteria and re-rank the schools based on that criteria only. Reputation by residency directors is one of the criterias and if you click on it UMich comes up 4th.

 

[chef]

bump

 

[tonem]

It means that the general consensus amongst rsidency directors is that graduates of Michigan are well prepared for residency. Which means something in their medical school training enables them to hit the ground running on July 1st. That translates into less headaches for attendings and more senior residents as the new "terns" figure out their role in the grand scheme of things. Graduates of the other programs you mentioned may be more intelligent etc... but they may require more work in acclimating them to their new role of senior scut monkeys.

 

[kafshar]

My brother graduated from UMich med and he matched at UCSF (his #1 choice) for Internal Medicine. 4 others from his graduating class matched at UCSF... the 2nd most of any school at UCSF after UCSF itself. During my volunteering at UCSF doctors candidly told me that they feel the graduates of Michigan were definitely "better" than UCSF graduates and all other med schools except for Harvard and Hopkins. They say the reason is because Mich is hardcore in the 3rd year in "pimping" their students... and they say that that is the best way to learn... stating that everyone uses the same textbooks... so clinical years are the difference. My brother has told me that the UCSF pimping is way too easy and "nice" compared to Michigan.... and personally feels that the students are not pressured enough at UCSF and Stanford (where he spent 1 year at also).

Now... I know I will piss off some with this post.. especially those that go to UCSF or want to go or will go to UCSf... but I am pretty much telling exactly what I heard.

And I am sure that people will bring up the fact that UCSF is now higher than Mich in residency reputation this year (2003).... but once again... this is what I have been told by UCSF attending physicians and my brother who has students under him at UCSF and was a student at UMich med.

 

[chef]

Hey ME,
thanks for your very insightful info. So my guess was right: Michigan med students get worked pretty hard during 3rd&4th years.

Can I ask you something? Did your brother (and his friends) ENJOY studying at Michigan, with all that "hardcore" clinical years? Did he have a miserable time b/c he was getting pimped/scutted too much?

 

[kafshar]

chef,
My brother enjoyed going to Michigan. The only year that was hard for him was 3rd year and he just assumed that all medical schools were the same... but he found out differently while doing his residency at UCSF and seeing how 3rd years are treated there. So.... overall... he liked Michigan but will admit honestly that in his 3rd year... he was suffering and contemplating getting his MD but not going into medicine. His 4th year was very chill. Probably the easiest of the 4 years. He is dorky for the sciences... so he really enjoyed the first 2 years. Another factor that made him happy about Umich was the town of Ann Arbor.... he loves that place.

Chef... are you contemplating going there or just finding out this info out of curiosity? If you have more questions.... let me know.