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Some Considerations for Selecting Medical Schools. Spring 2006. 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.
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Some Considerations for Selecting Medical Schools Spring 2006
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.
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….
Find Schools With The Best Fit • 1) Acceptance profile • GPA and MCAT
2002 & 2003National Pomona • Applicants • 65,916 111 • Matriculants • 31,820 91 • % Matriculating • 48% 83%
GPA (2002 - 2004)National Pomona • Applicants • 3.5 3.5 • Matriculants • 3.6 3.6
MCAT (2002 & 2003)National Pomona • Applicants • 27 30 • Matriculants • 29 31
Who Doesn’t Get In? • Relatively low GPA (<3.5 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)
Find Schools With The Best Fit • Acceptance profile (GPA and MCAT) • UCSF: 3.8 GPA; VR=11, PS=11, BS=12 • U North Dakota: 3.5 GPA, VR=9+, PS=8+, BS=10
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.
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
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
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
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”
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
Find Schools With The Best Fit • Research: • Medical Science Training Program (MSTP) • Other MD/Ph.D. opportunities • MD w/ Clinical Research Experience
Curricular Specialty* of School • Research Universities • Primary Care • Family Medicine • Internal Medicine • Alcohol/Drug Abuse • Rural • AIDS • Pediatrics • Geriatrics • Women’s Health *This is much less important for Medical School than for Residency, but might be useful to know.
Find Schools With The Best Fit • Location, location, location
Group Medical Schools by Location • Find places you would like to spend your medical school career • May facilitate grouping your interviews together
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
POMONA MATRICULANTSCalifornia: UCsFrom 1996-2005 • UCSF-29 • UCLA-24 • UCI-17 • UCSD-34 • UCD-21
POMONA MATRICULANTS California: PrivateFrom 1996-2005 • USC-50 • Stanford-10 • Loma Linda-9
POMONA MATRICULANTS Rest of the WestFrom 1996-2005 • Arizona-6 • Colorado-4 • Hawaii-7 • Nevada-1 • New Mexico-5 • North Dakota-1 • Oregon-11 • Utah-2 • Washington-23
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
POMONA MATRICULANTS PennsylvaniaFrom 1996-2005 • Jefferson Medical College– 13 • Drexel (MCP-Hahnemann) – 14 • Pittsburgh – 14 • U Penn – 8 • Temple – 6 • Penn St. – 3
POMONA MATRICULANTS Rest of EastFrom 1996-2005 • Tufts – 21 • Boston U – 9 • Harvard – 6 • Vermont – 11 • Yale – 3 • Dartmouth – 7 • U Conn – 2 • UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson – 1
POMONA MATRICULANTS Mid AtlanticFrom 1996-2005 • George Washington – 16 • Georgetown – 9 • Johns Hopkins – 8 • Maryland – 3 • Uniformed Services – 6 • Virginia – 3 • Howard – 2
POMONA MATRICULANTS IllinoisFrom 1996-2005 • Northwestern – 17 • U Chicago – 20 • Rush – 7 • Illinois – 6 • Chicago Med – 3 • Loyola – 2 • Southern Illinois – 1
POMONA MATRICULANTS MidwestFrom 1996-2005 • Michigan – 13 • Washington U – 13 • Case Western Reserve – 9 • St. Louis – 7 • Med College of Wisconsin – 6 • Creighton – 5 • Ohio St. – 4
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
POMONA MATRICULANTS TexasFrom 1996-2003 • Baylor –10 • UT Southwestern – 4 • U T San Antonio – 3 • UT Houston-1 • UT Galveston-1 • Also: Texas Tech, Texas A & M
POMONA MATRICULANTS Rest of SouthFrom 1996-2005 • Tulane-15 • Vanderbilt-13 • Emory-2 • Also: Arkansas, East Tennessee, Louisville, Medical College of Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee (1 each).
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 can’t fill all seats with state residents (e.g. Vermont) • Consider Postbacc or Special Master’s Programs to strengthen your application