What To Look for in a Medical School

Choosing the Right Medical School

Medical education continues to fascinate researchers, clinicians, and the popular press how physicians are trained, many believe, directly impacts how they care for patients. Since the standardization of medical curriculums in the early twentieth century, there have been numerous attempts to update medical education to meet public health goals and the evolving images of the physician in society. Educators in the 1960s expanded basic science training, hoping to create physicians who were also scientists. The 1980s brought great praise for Harvard's New Pathway program, which sought to train physicians to be better clinicians, both more humanistic and more analytical. Finally, the 1990s have seen a shift from hospital-based to office based education, emphasizing the real world of medicine and the need for more primary care physicians.
A very reasonable argument can be made that the revolutions in medicine are a lot of bunk. True, there have been marked changes in the science and organization of health care. However, compared to forty years ago, the physicians of today are probably just as (un)humanistic, (un)scientific, and {im)practical as they have ever been. The medical profession, you will soon learn, is a trade, and like masonry and carpentry, the practice may change, but the principles are still the same.

If you understand that medicine is more of a trade than it is an art, then you can also understand why the principles medical education has not changed that much, and, more important, why U.S. medical schools are not that much different from each other. Ask any practicing physician and he or she will be hard-pressed to tell you whether fellow colleagues went to Harvard or East Tennessee State even more important, he or she does not care and nor do his or her patients.
As an applicant, you should not wonder whether you will be a good doctor if you go to a top ten school or be a bad doctor if you go to a bottom-ten school. The most important question you should ask yourself is: Is this school going to help me get where I want to go and become who I want to become? There are several factors that affect this decision, and you must evaluate each one of them to decide what you want and, based on your credentials, what you can have: prestige, location, curriculum, clinical training, support services, residency matching, research emphasis, degree programs, and tuition.

Prestige

U.S. News & World Report makes an enormous amount of money every year with its pseudoscientific assessment of what makes a medical school good and, conversely, bad. Curiously, this list of medical schools doesn't exactly correlate with its ranking of the best hospitals. Why is Iowa ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the top-ten medical centers but not one of the top-ten medical schools? Or, alternatively, Yale one of the top-ten schools but not one of the top-ten centers? This discrepancy should concern you since a school's clinical facilities have as much impact on your education as do its researchers. Who you meet in the hospital (i.e., your professional mentors) often do more to shape your career than an institution's Nobel laureates do.
It is important to use these rankings the way most colleges use SAT scores: to group schools into one of three categories (somewhere near the top, somewhere in the middle, and somewhere at the bottom). A higher ranked school will, in general, assure you of the following: students that have lofty professional aspirations, physicianmentors with lots of research money and contacts at other major medical centers, and better match statistics. Top schools tend to inbreed a lot and thereby bolster each other's reputations, particularly on the East Coast. Prestige does not, however, guarantee some other important characteristics, such as the humanistic quality of students and physicians, opportunities for social outreach, and quality and quantity of clinical training. For example, the clinical judgment and procedural skills of some of my colleagues from the University of Southern California (a hands-on, understaffed medical center), for example, vastly e.xceeds that of some of my colleagues from top-five medical schools (centers that are routinely overstaffed with doctors).

Location

Where a school is located greatly affects your life both inside and outside of school. Attending school in a large city may mean high patient volume and more procedures but may give you a more cynical view of health care and may leave less time for teaching. Similarly, it may mean more opportunities for social outreach (public education initiatives, free clinics), but less opportunity for escaping to more quiet surroundings. Remember that this is going to be your home for four years and often more so keep your longterm goals in mind.

Curriculum

This is probably the least variable element between schools. Virtually aU schools separate education into preclinical and clinical years, and almost all schools have recently attempted to blur this distinction as much as possible. Medical education critics argued in the 1990s that patient exposure should begin as soon as possible, that the traditional basic science years do not prepare students adequately for clinical medicine, and that case-based learning is superior to lecture-based learning. Most schools have changed their curriculums to respond to these critics. Whether or not a school is making these changes, though, is less important in content than it is in style. A school that updates its curriculum is probably more progressive and more welcome to student input than one that is slow to make innovations.

A more important aspect of the curriculum is grading. There is no doubt that pass/fail systems are vastly more student-friendly than letter grading systems medical school is far more enjoyable and equally educational when it fosters cooperation rather than competition.

Clinical Training

Most applicants do not focus much on clinical training because they have little idea what it involves. In general, applicants should demand an institution that has more than one teaching facility, including preferably a Veterans Administration (VA) hospital (an excellent place to learn by doing); that encourages training in outpatient settings and outside hospitals; that has high patient volume, particularly in fields you might be interested (obstetrics, for example); and that gives students ample time for electives. Ask about the number of requirements there are beyond the standard core clerkships (medicine, surgery, psychiatry, ob/gyn, pediatrics) and whether or not students feel they have enough time to make a decision about their future careers.

Student Services

No matter how large an institution is, it may not offer medical students all the things that make student life more livable. There should be a note-taking service that is dependable (Do students prepare for exams with textbooks, syllabi, or notes?). Counselors should be available to students who are experiencing academic or personal problems (How many students have dropped out in the past year? Did they rejoin the class? How many students have committed suicide in the past five years?). Extracurricular activities should be abundant and a regular part of student life; no matter how difficult classes are, a vibrant extracurricular life speaks to a happy student body (Is there a student-run clinic, a student-run newspaper, or student-run drama production?).

Residency Match

Still a mystery to many who've been through it, the residency match is the process whereby medical students pick the hospital where they will gain their specialty training. This training will likely have a far greater impact on your education and career than your choice of a medical school. When you apply for residency, hospitals consider the reputation of your medical school, but how much this is factored in is highly variable. It is safe to say that graduates of the top five to ten schools have a distinct advantage, but, after that, it usually does not matter where you attend school. Unlike applications for college or medical school, being the big fish in a small pond usually ensures a top match, no matter how small the pond.

DO NOT go to MEDICAL SCHOOL (If This is You)

Primary Care
Though many students express an interest in primary care when applying, particularly now that admissions committees are looking for applicants to say this, few really understand the advantages and disadvantages of such a career until they get a chance to work in this setting. Nevertheless, if you are considering a career in family medicine, make sure your institution offers ample encouragement of such a career. Some top medical schools do not even have a formal family medicine department or clerkship experience. Ask about the percentage of students who pursue family medicine (not just primary care, which often deceptively includes ob/gyn), how politically powerful the family medicine department is, whether or not the hospital has a family medicine service (a sign of how busy and respected the department is), and what rural or inner city (i.e., non-Universitybased) clinical opportunities exist.

Combined-Degree Programs

It is beyond the scope of this blog to discuss all the variations on a medical school career, but suffice it to say, the opportunities are boundless. The most common advanced degree is the M.D.-Ph.D., usually pursued via the National Institutes of Health-funded Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP). If you are considering this, remember that it is a big time commitment, a Ph.D. is not required to perform university-based research, and a number of students prematurely drop out of the program. Nevertheless, it is a powerful and prestigious degree and quite useful if you are already dedicated to a career in academic medicine. One important consideration is whether or not your program allows you to do clinical clerkships before you begin your Ph.D. studies: this is a valuable chance to expand on your research interests and to decide if you really want to work in the lab.

How to Choose the RIGHT Medical School

Other possible degree programs include Master's in Public Health (an excellent time to pursue this is between third and fourth years), JD (for those interested in malpractice or intellectual property law), and M.B.A. (for those interested in health-care policy and economics). Ask to talk to recent graduates if you are weighing one of these options.

Tuition/Financial Aid

An unfortunate trend in the past ten years has been the increase in medical school tuition, the decrease in physician salaries, and the rescinding of unlimited residenc)' deferments for most government loans. The net result? Most medical students graduate with a lot of debt and not a lot of money to pay it back. Since many of you will begin your family lives while in medical school or residency, the debt you incur now, though seemingly manageable, may severely limit your choice of career and location in the future. Strongly consider applying to your state's medical school, applying for scholarships even if they seem long shots, and asking each school for the average student debt.

Easiest Medical Schools To Get Into And Where to Apply to Medical School

You have a difficult decision ahead, but, believe it or not, this decision is not nearly as important as you think it is. Few people ever truly regret having gone to their medical school. What they regret more is not having the right perspective and guidance when they applied. Your goal in picking a school should be to find the best combination of prestige, location, clinical training, and cost. Keep in mind that you will have a life outside of medical school, that you do not want to limit your future by financial decisions you make now, and, most important, that everyone who graduates, even if last in the class, is a still a doctor.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Creighton University School Of Medicine: Acceptance Rate, Tuition, Class Profile, GPA and MCAT Scores

Image
Creighton University (est. 1878) is one of twenty eight Jesuit operated colleges and universities in the United States and one of four J esuit colleges/universities that have medical schools. The Jesuit tradition places a strong emphasis on service to humanity as well as education. A new curriculum has been incorporated that places less emphasis on the traditional lecture format and focuses on organ and disease based learning. More emphasis is being placed on clinical problem solving and clinical experience earlier in the curriculum. In addition, the grading system has been changed from a strict percentile/class ranking to an honors/pass/fail system. The change in grading policy was meant to further decrease competition between students, although frankly, the environment was not hostile or overly competitive under the previous system. Creighton University School Of Medicine predominantly emphasizes clinical training and provides solid clinical preparation for an internship/r
Read more

Weill Cornell Medical College: Acceptance Rate,Admissions, Yearly Tuition, GPA and MCAT scores

Image
Recently renamed tor generous benefactor Sanford Weill , head of CitiGroup , the Weill Medical College of Cornell University celebrated its centennial in 1998. The school and its associated medical center enjoy a well earned reputation in New York and around the world for first class health care as well as academic prowess. Overlooking the East River , Cornell is located in one of New York 's most exclusive neighborhoods, and patients at New York Hospital , the main teaching affiliate, tend to reflect this demographic. Cornell Medical School requirements (GPA and MCAT scores) GPA Ranges: 10th percentile: 3.58 science/3.63 total 25th percentile: 3.77 science/3.78 total Median: 3.9 science/3.9 total 75th percentile: 3.98 science/3.97 total 90th percentile: 4.00 science/3.98 total MCAT Ranges: 10th percentile: 513 25th percentile: 517 Median: 518 75th percentile: 522 90th percentile: 526
Read more

George Washington University School Of Medicine: Admissions, Financial Aid, Class Profile, Average Gpa and Mcat Scores

Image
George Washington University School Of Medicine  offers students many perks, but they come at a high price. Students who graduate from  George Washington Medical School  leave with memories of studying on the National Mall , shopping and playing in Georgetown , and listening to congressional debates. Ironically enough for a school located in the nation's capital, though, GWU gets no federal funding, making the school's tuition one of the highest in the country. Students need to seriously consider how in debt they want to be if they want to attend George Washington University School Of Medicine And Health Sciences . Admissions/Financial Aid/Class Profile The class size averages about 150. Student ages range from 21 to the 40's. For the class of 2019 , the range was 19 to 32, with an average age of 23. GWU is proud to accept nontraditional students, and, as a resuh, many students are older with famihes. There are always cliques but these tend to disintegrate during th
Read more

Dartmouth Medical School (Geisel): Acceptance Rate, Average Gpa and Mcat, Cost and Class Profile

Image
Dartmouth Medical School (Geisel)  is as close to a liberal arts medical school as is possible. The School has small class sizes and, correspondingly, one of the lowest acceptance rates in the nation, so faculty members get to know the students personally. While the School has a reputation as a primary care school, this is somewhat unfounded. Many Dartmouth students tend to pursue careers in specialties from neurosurgery to emergency medicine to dermatology. Despite the School's smallness, research endeavors are extremely active; the number of grant dollars brought in per researcher ranks very high nationally. Geisel School of Medicine  fosters a student's individual interests and goals, whether those goals and interests are to become an academician sorting out the most esoteric of riddles or to become a family practitioner laboring in the trenches of rural Maine. Geisel School of Medicine Acceptance Rate  Typically,  Dartmouth Medical School  receives 6,500 to 7,500 a
Read more

Case Western Medical School: Acceptance Rate, Cost, Average Gpa, Class Profile and How to get into

Image
ALL ABOUT CASE WESTERN RESERVE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE Located on the shores of what the locals call America's North Coast (you guessed it: Lake Erie ), the School of Medicine at Case Western has the feel of a 150 year old work in progress. It's a place where the traditional in medical education is combined with the state of the art, There's no dearth of ideas and educational experimentation at Case Western Reserve University School Of Medicine ; some of it is screwy, some brilliant, all of it an earnest attempt to find better ways to fashion excellent physicians for the new century. You may sometimes feel like a guinea pig, but Case Western makes students doctors. How to get into Case Western Medical School?  Average UGrad GPA 3.76 Average MCAT Score 517 Total Med School Enrollment 947 Acceptance Rate 9% How much does CASE WESTERN RESERVE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE usually cost? The cost of tuition is full time  $65,500- $75.000 Preclinical Years  Like othe
Read more

What GPA and MCAT do you need to get into Harvard Medical School?

Image
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is one of the oldest and most respected medical schools in the country. It has been ranked the number one medical school in the country for several years in a row. HMS receives more money for research than any other medical school . For those with interests in research, the finances and the facilities can be found to do almost anything. Admissions/Financial Aid   HMS has recently joined the AMCAS application process. This makes applying to Harvard easier than it has been in the past. Of the 3,500 applicants, only 165 enter the freshman class. The average GPA of enrolling HMS students is 3.94. Total GPA: 3.74 (10th %ile) to 4.00 (90th %ile) Science GPA: 3.69 (10th %ile) to 3.94 (90th %ile) MCAT: 513 (10th %ile) to 525 (90th %ile)   (Changes every year) Interviews are held with one faculty member and with one medical student or with two faculty members. Interviews generally earn,' a light tone. Students are chosen based on their achie
Read more

Emory University School Of Medicine: Requirements, Acceptance Rate, Class Profile, Financal Aid and Tuition

Image
Located adjacent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the national headquarters for the American Cancer Society in what is arguably the most scenic area of Atlanta , Emory University School of Medicine is on a mission to become the premier medical school of the Southeast . Emory Medical School continues to attract and cultivate leaders in the field of medicine (and build new hospitals at an astounding rate). Emory Medical School Requirements, Acceptance Rate, Class Profile, GPA and MCAT Scores You must complete a minimum of 90 semester hours (or 135 quarter hours) of a balanced undergraduate education from a regionally accredited institution within the us or a similarly accredited institution in Canada . Completion of the baccalaureate degree is very preferred. If your undergraduate degree is from a university outside the us and Canada , you want to complete all 32 semester hours of the specified science coursework at a regionally a
Read more

Is Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) a good school?

Image
The city of Boston has the highest physicianpopulation ratio in the country. Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) is one of three medical schools in Boston. Students receive a strong preclinical and even stronger clinical background. Generalist training and primary care are key missions of BU School of Medicine and the affiliated Boston Medical Center . The Center for Primary Care develops programs that establish it as a national center of excellence in primary care, general medicine, and health services research. To this end, medical students are given the exposure and experience to become leaders in the field of primary care. As early as a student's first year in medical school he or she will work one on one with a physician in internal medicine, pediatrics, or family practice, in such settings as a private practice, a community health center, or a hospitalbased practice. Boston University Medical Center has more than fifteen departments in medical and surgical subspe
Read more

Duke University School Of Medicine: Acceptance Rate, Tuition, GPA and MCAT, Class Profile and Real Estate Program

Image
ALL ABOUT DUKE MEDICAL SCHOOL Established in 1925, Duke University School Of Medicine  has been ranked consistently among the top medical schools in the country. The year of scholarly work has been the centerpiece of Duke's medical curriculum for more than thirty years and provides an excellent opportunity for in-depth learning in almost any field of interest. While a few students choose to earn a master's degree (M.P.H., M.P.P., or even an M.B.A.), most undertake extensive basic science or clinical research. Students with a Ph.D . can skip this year entirely. Duke Medical School Acceptance Rate Duke Medical College has an extremely low acceptance rate of just 3.4%. How much does  Duke University School Of Medicine  usually cost? The cost of tuition is full time $61,000-$65,000  Average GPA and MCAT Scores GPA 3.90 MCAT 520 Preclinical Years   First year at Duke Medical School is designed to get students out of the classroom and into the clinics as q
Read more

Columbia University Medical School: Tuition, Acceptance Rate, Admissions ,Average Gpa and Getting into

Image
All About Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons Since awarding its first doctoral degree in 1767, Columbia University's medical school has been known quaintly as the College of Physicians and Surgeons . Today, the school, referred to affectionately as P&S, maintains a reputation for academic excellence and rigor. Applicants often ask about the school's location in Washington Heights , which is some sixty blocks uptown from the main campus ot the university. Although the neighborhood has a reputation for a lack of safety, the crime rate citywide has dropped significantly in recent years and security around the hospital and affiliated buildings is quite good. Thanks to New York City 's legendary subway system, the medical school remains accessible to the social and cultural resources for which New York is famous. How to Get Into Columbia Medical School Columbia University Medical School Admissions Statistics: Columbia Medical Scho
Read more