Medical Schools

[schoolboy]

Are there any bad medical schools? Are all medical schools good? When you graduate from one medical school, do you have to continue to work in that hospital? Can you work in another state?
Thank you.

[rworkman]

Assuming that you are focusing on US allopathic (MD) schools, there is a spectrum of quality across the board just as there is for anything else in life. I would say that the US has the best medical education in the world, so the quality of instruction at all US schools is high. Some schools have more resources ($$) than others and can therefore support more variety/better facilities/more research/big name faculty, while other schools focus on teaching their students to be primary care givers (hence the major divisions of “research” and “primary care” schools that you may have heard of). With regards to the medical student curriculum, this distinction is misleading because it is mostly in the research labs rather than in the medical school classroom and clinics that research schools will be significantly different from others.

When you graduate from medical school, you enter what is called “the match” to decide where you will train in your specialty (this training is called residency). Seniors apply to medical centers and are invited for interviews by those medical centers and each ranks the other. You can apply anywhere, but must train where you match.

Although it only scratches the surface, I hope this clears up some things for you.

Best regards,

Ron Workman, MD
AdmissionsConsultants
(703) 242-5885

[coner]

I have been looking on the web at different ranking lists to partly aid in my decision to enter a particular medical school. Clearly, there is no consensus, but is there a list of % of students that enter the top 3 residency programs on match day (match rates) … or something equivalent to help me make a more informed decision about which medical school to attend. A site which compares various important criteria of medical schools would also be ideal, but I doubt such a site exists. Thank you for your help.

[ggoldmakher]

quote:

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Originally posted by coner

I have been looking on the web at different ranking lists to partly aid in my decision to enter a particular medical school. Clearly, there is no consensus, but is there a list of % of students that enter the top 3 residency programs on match day (match rates) … or something equivalent to help me make a more informed decision about which medical school to attend. A site which compares various important criteria of medical schools would also be ideal, but I doubt such a site exists. Thank you for your help.

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Individual medical schools do keep track of the success of their graduates in the match, but there is not a public repository of such data. You thus have the opportunity to ask some very intelligent questions on this topic during your interview visits to medical schools.

Gregory Goldmakher, MD, PhD

AdmissionsConsultants
703.242.5885

[thymol_blue]

quote:

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Originally posted by coner

I have been looking on the web at different ranking lists to partly aid in my decision to enter a particular medical school. Clearly, there is no consensus, but is there a list of % of students that enter the top 3 residency programs on match day (match rates) … or something equivalent to help me make a more informed decision about which medical school to attend. A site which compares various important criteria of medical schools would also be ideal, but I doubt such a site exists. Thank you for your help.

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Actually, looking at the % that matched to their first choice or top three choices is misleading. Why? Because it is self selecting. If the majority of the students at a given medical school rank less competitive residency programs as their top choices, say family practice at Podunk General Hospital, and they end up matching there, it doesn’t indicate a more successful school than one whose students rank very competitive residency programs (Dermatology at Mass. General) and have a lower % of top three match. When comparing matchlists, the WHAT and WHERE are most important.

WHAT: Which specialties have students matched to? Dermatology, Radiology, Opthomology are very competitive specialities to match into, with Derm. being the hardest. Why? Because these are the so called “lifestyle” specialties — decent hours (minimal call), and lots of $$$. Harvard’s matchlist from last year had twenty matches into Derm. — this is extremely high, most schools match a handful of students, if that, into Derm. Of course, specialty choice is driven by student interest, and you could also read this as a commentary on the types of doctors that Harvard is graduating (looking to work less and make tons of $$), but that is a whole other discussion.

WHERE: As a general rule, university affiliated residency programs are more competitive than community based programs, with of course world famous hospitals like Mayo and MGH being the hardest to get into.

However, even with all of this being said, in most cases it does not matter where you go to med school, as long as it is in the US. If you look at the matchlists of even the lower tier US schools, like NYMC, Drexel, Albany, even there, students are still matching into Derm, Rad., etc. and also into excellent programs. What matters most in the match is your own performance in med school. In rough rank order the most important things are: USMLE Step I scores, AOA status, clinical rotation grades, basic science grades, school reputation. You can do a search on MEDLINE (http://www.pubmed.gov) and look at the studies for yourself. Plus, from talking to three seperate residency program directors at U. of Michigan, and U. of Washington (both difficult schools to match into) I have anecdotal evidence to the same. Where it really matters where you go to med school is in academic medicine. If your ambition is to become a faculty member at a medical school or to have a big time research career, then you want to aim to get into the most prestigious school you can. If you’re just looking for private practice, go with cheapest tuition (less debt later), and best location.

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