Some Considerations for Selecting Medical Schools

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Some Considerations for Selecting Medical Schools

• Spring 2006

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All US Medical Schools are Good Medical Schools

• If you really want to become a physician, you
  should be prepared to attend any US medical
  school, since they will all prepare you well to
  practice medicine.
• Foreign Medical Schools - Several are strong but
  may take 5 years and residency placement may
  present issues.

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General Strategies

• Nothing will substitute for work you put into
  exploring which medical school is best for you
• Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR)
• WWW.AAMC.ORG
• WWW. AACOM.ORG
• and other websites.

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Find Schools With The Best Fit

• 1) Acceptance profile
• GPA and MCAT

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2002 2003National Pomona

• Applicants
• 65,916 111
• Matriculants
• 31,820 91
• Matriculating
• 48 83

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GPA (2002 - 2004)National Pomona

• Applicants
• 3.5 3.5
• Matriculants
• 3.6 3.6

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MCAT (2002 2003)National Pomona

• Applicants
• 27 30
• Matriculants
• 29 31

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Who Doesnt Get In?

• Relatively low GPA (lt3.5 without other strong,
  relevant achievements)
• High GPA with low MCAT score
• Poor selection of schools
• Poor interview- no prep, no energy
• Various other reasons (e.g. late application,
  poor essay, lack of experience)

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Find Schools With The Best Fit

• Acceptance profile (GPA and MCAT)
• UCSF 3.8 GPA VR11, PS11, BS12
• U North Dakota 3.5 GPA, VR9, PS8, BS10

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Applying To Medical School

• Submit most of your applications to those with a
  similar academic acceptance profile
• Submit a few to those with a higher academic
  profile, especially if you believe other aspects
  of your application would be particularly
  attractive to them.
• Also apply to interesting schools that have an
  academic profile below yours.

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Find Schools With The Best Fit

• Required courses
• Oklahoma 3 semesters of English
• UCLA 1 year math (calculus recommended)
  Spanish, computer science, and humanities are
  recommended
• UCI Biochemistry, calculus

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Find Schools With The Best Fit

• Educational Approach traditional? problem based?
  Some examples
• Harvard Problem-based, small-group tutorials,
  self-directed learning
• Yale First two years basic sciences
• USC (and increasing across the country) Patient
  contact begins in first week

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Find Schools With The Best Fit

• State residency
• UCI, Arizona, Florida, U South Florida, Southern
  Illinois, LSU, U Mass, Mississippi, SUNY Buffalo,
  East Carolina, Northeastern Ohio U accepted 0 or
  almost 0 of out of state applicants
• Duke 78 out of state matriculants
• U Chicago 68 out of state matriculants
• UCSF 24 out of state matriculants
• U VT 68 out of state matriculants

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Find Schools With The Best Fit

• Mission
• Mercer Univ. (Macon GA) to educate physicians
  to meet health care needs of rural and other
  underserved areas of Georgia
• Uniformed Services to prepare young men and
  women for careers as health care professionals in
  the uniformed services
• Loma Linda overriding purpose is the formation
  of Christian physicians

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Find Schools With The Best Fit

• Special Programs (examples)
• Stanford summer matriculation program for
  matriculants from disadvantaged backgrounds.
• Uniformed Health Services no tuition, salary
• UCSF MD/MPH program with Berkeley
• Tufts Free Chinatown clinic run by first and
  second year students.
• Many schools have special programs

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Find Schools With The Best Fit

• Research
• Medical Science Training Program (MSTP)
• Other MD/Ph.D. opportunities
• MD w/ Clinical Research Experience

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Curricular Specialty of School

• Research Universities
• Primary Care
• Family Medicine
• Internal Medicine
• Alcohol/Drug Abuse
• Rural
• AIDS
• Pediatrics
• Geriatrics
• Womens Health
• This is much less important for Medical School
  than for Residency, but might be useful to know.

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Find Schools With The Best Fit

• Location, location, location

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Group Medical Schools by Location

• Find places you would like to spend your medical
  school career
• May facilitate grouping your interviews together

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A Favorite Interview Question

• Why are you interested in our medical school?
• Now is a good time to begin to explore what
  attracts you to different medical schools

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POMONA MATRICULANTSCalifornia UCsFrom 1996-2005

• UCSF-29
• UCLA-24
• UCI-17
• UCSD-34
• UCD-21

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POMONA MATRICULANTS California Private From
1996-2005

• USC-50
• Stanford-10
• Loma Linda-9

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POMONA MATRICULANTS Rest of the West From
1996-2005

• Arizona-6
• Colorado-4
• Hawaii-7
• Nevada-1
• New Mexico-5
• North Dakota-1
• Oregon-11
• Utah-2
• Washington-23

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POMONA MATRICULANTS New York From 1996-2005

• New York Medical College 25
• Albert Einstein 20
• NYU 12
• Rochester 17
• Albany Medical College 10
• Mount Sinai 8
• Columbia 5
• Cornell 5
• SUNY Brooklyn - 1
• SUNY Syracuse 3
• SUNY Stony Brook 3
• SUNY Buffalo 1

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POMONA MATRICULANTS Pennsylvania From 1996-2005

• Jefferson Medical College 13
• Drexel (MCP-Hahnemann) 14
• Pittsburgh 14
• U Penn 8
• Temple 6
• Penn St. 3

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POMONA MATRICULANTS Rest of East From 1996-2005

• Tufts 21
• Boston U 9
• Harvard 6
• Vermont 11
• Yale 3
• Dartmouth 7
• U Conn 2
• UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson 1

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POMONA MATRICULANTS Mid Atlantic From 1996-2005

• George Washington 16
• Georgetown 9
• Johns Hopkins 8
• Maryland 3
• Uniformed Services 6
• Virginia 3
• Howard 2

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POMONA MATRICULANTS Illinois From 1996-2005

• Northwestern 17
• U Chicago 20
• Rush 7
• Illinois 6
• Chicago Med 3
• Loyola 2
• Southern Illinois 1

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POMONA MATRICULANTS Midwest From 1996-2005

• Michigan 13
• Washington U 13
• Case Western Reserve 9
• St. Louis 7
• Med College of Wisconsin 6
• Creighton 5
• Ohio St. 4

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POMONA MATRICULANTS Midwest From 1996-2005

• Minnesota 3
• Iowa 2
• Mayo 2
• Cincinnati 4
• Wayne St. 2
• Wisconsin 2
• Missouri 1
• Oklahoma 1
• Indiana 1
• Kentucky 1

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POMONA MATRICULANTS Texas From 1996-2003

• Baylor 10
• UT Southwestern 4
• U T San Antonio 3
• UT Houston-1
• UT Galveston-1
• Also Texas Tech, Texas A M

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POMONA MATRICULANTS Rest of South From 1996-2005

• Tulane-15
• Vanderbilt-13
• Emory-2
• Also Arkansas, East Tennessee, Louisville,
  Medical College of Georgia, North Carolina,
  Tennessee (1 each).

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Implications

• Apply to your state medical school(s)
• Apply to private institutions
• Apply to state schools that accept significant
  number of out-of-state applicants if a good fit
• State institutions with national reputation
• Many are very competitive (e.g. Michigan)
• State institutions that cant fill all seats with
  state residents (e.g. Vermont)
• Consider Postbacc or Special Masters Programs to
  strengthen your application

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Happy Trails. Now . . . Go To It!!!