May be this question is already answered in another post but couldn’t find it. Please help.
I am aware that BS MD programs are extremely competitive with low acceptance rates. However, when I look at AAMC website for all the available BSMD programs, I see that only a few of them are from reputed universities like Brown, case western, Baylor etc. Is it worth pursuing the medical degree from some of the other lesser known universities? I am not sure if the college brand name matters for MD (I know that it doesn’t matter much for pre-med).
If you graduate last in your medical school class at ANY medical school…you will still be a doctor.
Most aspiring doctors apply to 20 or more medical schools, often with a mix of DO schools and MD schools. It’s smart to hit a variety of medical school selectivity points. Even with that, 60% of applicants get NO acceptances, answer of the 40% that do, a LOT get only one acceptance.
If you want to become a doctor, you go where you are accepted.
It matters some, but probably not in the way you think it will. A doctor who graduated from JHU SOM and one who graduated from Never-Heard-Of-It SOM will get paid the same when they get out and start working as attendings. And students from low and mid-ranked med schools can and and do end up doing their residencies at brand name programs like Harvard, Yale, Stanford, WashU, JHU, Columbia, UCSF, UCLA, etc.
The primary difference at the brand name is the availability of research opportunities for those wanting to match into the uber-competitive specialties. A better resourced school has more research funding and has in-house residency programs in competitive fields so the med student can do home rotations in those specialties.
Does that mean someone who goes to a lower ranked med school won’t be able to become a dermatologist/orthopedist/neurosurgeon/ENT ? Of course not, but they will have to hustle a bit more to find research opportunities and specialty mentors. And they will need to do audition rotations in their hoped for specialty. (But for the uber-competitive specialties, everyone needs to do audition rotations anyway, regardless of where they go for med school.)
Thank you. This is super helpful.
One more question - Does the brand name matter for undergrad Pre-med with respect to research opportunities? Because they are not yet looking for specialities, any research would do? I am trying to understand the cost vs. payoff for pre-med undergrad. State schools seem cheaper & easier to get into if one’s ultimate goal is Med school.
One of my daughters went to the state flagship U; the other went to a private R1 university known for its pre-med program. Both had approximately the same opportunities at their respective schools and both had multiple med school acceptances. Both went to med school and both are now attending physicians in their first choice of specialty.
My experience says it’s the student, not the school that makes for a successful med school applicant.