How to Choose a Medical School

you've decided that you're applying to medical school congrats but deciding which medical school to attend isn't as straightforward as some might suggest these are the considerations to determine which med school is best for you dr jubal medschoolinsiders.com before you can determine which medical school you want to attend you need to determine which medical schools to apply to the average student applies to 15 to 20 schools but i generally advise students to apply to too many schools rather than too few think of it from a risk assessment perspective if you don't apply to enough schools there's a higher risk you don't get any acceptances requiring you to reapply in a future cycle or reconsider another career path that's a huge downside if you apply to too many schools on the other hand the main downsides are cost and the time it takes to write additional secondaries costs can be mitigated through the fee assistance program and writing secondaries gets easier the more you do as you're able to recycle similar essays between programs with only slight modifications there's an asymmetric upside to applying to more schools i personally applied to 40 schools which in hindsight was much more than i needed to but i received over 20 interview invitations attended more than 10 and had several acceptances it was far better to be in a position to decline an interview invitation rather than wishing for more and with multiple acceptances you're in a stronger position to secure stronger financial aid packages and decrease your student loan burden when determining which schools to apply to your stats should obviously guide you to a certain degree but you should also consider how strong their in-state preferences are some public schools take a tiny percentage of out-of-state applicants and if you're out of state that may change whether you think it's worth it to apply there after applying broadly hopefully you have one or more acceptances to choose from this is an excellent position to be in here are the most important considerations first prioritize the location you'll be in medical school for at least four years and your location can play a huge part in your overall experience location can mean being close to friends and family who will be your sources of support in medical school in addition to your newfound friends and colleagues location can mean being in an environment you're familiar and comfortable with or it can mean exploring a new city or region that fancies your interest i chose uc san diego for medical school in part because of the location i love it there and i figured it's great to be in a low stress environment like san diego with beautiful beaches amazing weather and reasonable traffic while in a higher stress period of my training the location of your medical school also plays a large role in your fit fit is somewhat of a nebulous term referring to how you relate to the medical school culture some suggest you look at the school's mission statement to get an idea of their interests values and goals in my experience mission statements are too broad and generic rather consider your experiences interacting with the school and its people you'll get a feel for it on interview day and certainly if you attend a second look weekend even if you're doing a virtual interview rather than attending in person you can still get an idea of the school's persona and priorities do you vibe with the other students there do they feel like your kind of people what about the faculty and staff you come across do they care about similar things that you care about maybe that's underserved medicine or primary care how does the environment feel and the immediate surroundings this after all is where you'll be spending a great deal of time this is the time to consider what type of doctor you want to be and whether this environment will help you work towards that goal while cost is important i don't think this should be your primary consideration the white code investor certainly feels different arguing that medical schools provide comparable education and choosing the cheapest school is almost always the best decision if all medical schools were created equal this would be a strong argument after all the compounding effect that works for you in investments also works against you with debt cost includes more than just your tuition as well attending medical school in san francisco or new york city will have higher associated costs of living compared to omaha or ann arbor we know that location and fit are obviously highly variable based on the institution but aren't medical schools otherwise more or less the same not quite bringing us to our final point prestige and your intended specialty the reality is that prestige can certainly play a role in your future residency matching opportunities particularly if you're trying to train in a competitive specialty the reality is that your pedigree can certainly be an asset in helping you have a leg up this prestige effect continues on through fellowship applications getting additional degrees like an mph or mba and even with your future doctor job applications there will certainly be some butt hurt comments below as this can damage sensitive egos but that's just the reality of it and i don't water things down this is med school insiders more prestigious programs are also more likely to be affiliated with larger medical centers that have a wide breadth of specialty exposure if you're set on matching into ent or neurosurgery but don't have those departments at your medical school you're at a substantial disadvantage first you won't get proper exposure until your fourth year of medical school when you do away rotations it will also be more difficult to find a long-term mentor who can guide you or go to bat for you during your residency application you can look up the various departments at medical schools or affiliated hospitals or you can ask during your interview day ideally you want medical school faculty in your specialty of interest as these individuals are involved with research teaching and mentoring of medical students community physicians that have a looser association with the hospital can sometimes become great mentors if they take a liking to you but that's the exception not the rule as there isn't the same obligation to your education the stability of the department is also highly relevant here if the neurosurgery program at a medical school was put on probation or has been subject to controversy or scandals resulting in high turnover of leadership you'll want to tread carefully when deciding on a medical school to attend i want you to be able to have your pick why can't you attend the med school that's in a city you love that fits you like a glove that's highly ranked and that doesn't put you in hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt i feel so fortunate that i was able to find that for myself with uc san diego and a big part of that was becoming the most competitive applicant i could be by having multiple schools vying for me i was in a position to secure the merit-based scholarship awarded to only one student each year that covered my entire tuition and most of my living expenses if you want to learn from my failures and triumphs i've developed the pre-med roadmap to medical school acceptance course to guide you use the coupon code choose20 for 20 off your purchase through the end of the month when deciding on a medical school md versus do versus caribbean is massively important check out my video explaining the pros and cons of each or how to choose a specialty much love and i'll see you guys there

Channel: Med School Insiders

Views: 71,049

Keywords: Pre-med, Premed, Med Student, Medical School, Med School, Medical Student, how to choose a medical school, which med schools to apply to, applying to medical school, amcas, location, fit, prestige, does med school prestige matter, cost, cost of med school, specialty choice, how to choose a specialty, does med school matter, does med school rankings matter, which medical schools should i apply to

Id: vSFzgRb-Fkg

Length: 7min 12sec (432 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 07 2020