What is the point of going to a top 20 medschool?

[superfob54]

Everybody wants to get into Harvard, Johns hopkins etc., but I’ve always wondered if that is a good idea. The main question that I have is if it really pays off to get straight A’s in med school. In high school, you get straight A’s so you go to a good school for pre-med. In pre-med, you get straight A’s so you can get to medical school. In medical school, what is the motivation to get better grades? THe only thing that is required in med school is to simply pass your courses and get a degree, it doesn’t make a difference if you get straight A’s or not. If this is the case, then why is it that I was told it is better to do well in an average med school than it is to do average a top med school. I need an answer to this because I don’t really know if I want to try for a top 20 medical school or not.

[yokelridesagain]

>>The only thing that is required in med school is to simply pass your courses and get a degree, it doesn’t make a difference if you get straight A’s or not.

The above statement is patently false. Your grades (and standardized test scores) in medical school will determine what specialties you will be able to get into. If you want to get a residency (post-graduate medical training) in dermatology, radiology, orthopedics, any surgical specialty, you had better NOT “simply pass your courses”.

If you want to be in a “less competitive” specialty (psychiatry, family medicine, etc.), your grades will still affect where you are able to attend residency.

>>Why is it that I was told it is better to do well in an average med school than it is to do average at a top med school? I need an answer to this because I don’t really know if I want to try for a top 20 medical school or not.

Some residencies (at premiere programs and “premiere” specialties–i.e., the above mentioned) strongly favor people who do well enough to make medical school honor society (AOA). An AOA graduate from a “25-50” medical school might have an advantage applying to some programs over a “top 20” graduate without the same honor. So there is a potential kernel of truth to what you say. Big picture: due to admissions standards, medical schools are filled almost exclusively with people who have been in the top 10 percent in school. It is an immutable fact of mathematics that only ten percent of people can BE in the top ten percent, and ergo most medical students are former top achievers who become average medical students. You would be wrong to assume that there is such a thing as an “easy” medical school: speaking from a probability standpoint, you are more likely to be near the center of the bell curve whereever you go to school; an average student at Harvard would likely be an average to slightly better than average student at, say, Case Western.

A better question is, is the amount of money you will have to come up with for tuition/fees/expenses for four years at an “elite” private medical school (this could easily total $250,000 dollars) really worth the advantage you will get from it? For some professions like law and business, the answer is easy: YES. For medicine, it may not be because the residency also plays an important role and jobs in medicine are more decentralized. If you or a benefactor you expect to pay for medical school has enough money that the above figure is no object then absolutely I would “try for a top 20 school”. Otherwise, it’s a judgment call.

Physician-resident

[Astrife]

As I realize that residency plays a factor in the amount of money you will make when you are actually a practicing doctor, it seems like having a medical degree from a well known name like Harvard in your office will superficially in itself warrant a person to make more money than a graduate of a less prestigious medical college. Does anyone know of any data comparing doctors in their respective specialities and their salaries?

[Author]

Posts