<p>Fit is important, but I’ll disagree with you (mathmom, I mean). As it regards medical practice, larger hospitals may tend to treat a person like an inhuman pin cushion, but if there is a disease process that is out of the ordinary, or which has critical features relating to survivability, the “bigger name” institution will have better outcomes due to obvious reasons of information transfer between practitioners, facilities, skill sets, and concentration and frequency of exposure to “outliers,” with variation due to vagaries of the particular discipline notwithstanding.</p>
<p>Thumper, are there other frequent posters here? And I initiated the other thread.</p>
<p>Most of my posts, at least today, are in response to questions or challenges of my posts.</p>
<p>I clearly disagree with some. My Dad actually went to the Univ of Cincinnati Med school, haha.</p>
<p>Most undergrads applying to med schools will feel fortunate to get in ANY…I assume we agree the competition is intense to get in almost anywhere. That said, those same applicants know what the most prestigiuos choices are and decide where to apply based on chances (at least partially). And the same with pursuing residencies. Really cannot understand how that is controversial. Unless there is something self-serving in taking the other view. And equating the excellence of one’s medical training with Medicare reimbursment I find amusing…and confused.</p>
<p>thumper, I invite you to offer something with a little more substance. Do you think acceptances to East Carolina and Hopkins med schools are equal in terms of prestige?</p>
<p>Sigh, finalchild. Do you not get the argument being made here? </p>
<p>If one is seeking to become an investment banker, your chances are very different if you go to Harvard vs Average State U. Some fields are, if not fully closed to you, have some significant barriers to entry if you don’t go to X schools. It is not a “flat” field.</p>
<p>If one is seeking to become a well-paid lawyer, esp BigLaw, your chances are very different if you go to Harvard Law vs Average State U law. The job descriptions, opportunities and experiences are going to be appreciably different between the two. It is not a “flat” field.</p>
<p>If one is seeking to become an everyday doctor, the job description, opportunities and experiences aren’t all that different if you go to Harvard Med vs Average State U med. Your “job” will be the same (you put the stethoscope up to the person’s chest the same way no matter what your fancy degree), your responsibilities will be the same, and your reimbursement will be the same. It is a “flatter” field. </p>
<p>My H helps interview for a residency position at a major teaching hospital. Are you telling me that he’s just making it up when he accepts graduates of Harvard or JHU or WashU Med School at the same time he accepts graduates of Average State U Med School into his program? Both types get accepted into residencies and start out at the bottom, side by side. The Harvard Med grad has absolutely zero advantage over the Average State U Med grad on day 1 of the residency, and no one cares at that point where he went to med school.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No one said that people on the street might not be “more impressed” with an acceptance to JHU med vs East Carolina med. You’re the one with the decal anxiety – I’m sure it’s quite important to you to hear the shock and awe. But the ACTUAL DIFFERENCE is a lot less versus if you were comparing, say, Harvard Law School to Average State U Law school. And the average day of our JHU grad who goes into, say, dermatology looks pretty darn similar to the average day of our East Carolina med grad.</p>
<p>And both of them are doing better than a Princeton Law grad.</p>
<p>Put another way, finalchild – there is some merit to the advice of “go top 14 (law) or don’t bother.” There is a substantial ACTUAL DIFFERENTIAL (not just the level of impressing the neighbors) in job prospects between the tiers. There is no such merit to the advice of “don’t bother going to med school unless you get into one of the top X.”</p>
<p>My daughter’s pulmonologist went to a SUNY for med school. He is famous in the field and unless you get a strong referral, you honestly can’t get in to see him. He is a miracle worker. And you just know I don’t say that about every MD I encounter.</p>
<p>PolarBear, I don’t think we disagree. My Mom at 85 with Parkinson’s felt that community hospital, easy commute, nice friendly familar doctor, was fine. Her diagnosis was for one of the better sorts of breast cancer to have. For SIL cutting edge was more important, cancer was a less friendly type, and she had more energy for the extra driving.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, you can save your sighing for someone else. And thumper, this is why I ahve more posts, because someone keeps at it.</p>
<p>Sure, if you say top investment banker or top lawyer but then compare to only “everyday” doctor. Duke med grads have a somewhat different profilte than WFU grads. Harvard med grads have a somewhat different profile than osteopathy programs. Are they all doctors? OK. Got me there. The fact that residency programs have some from “elites” and some not doesn’t prove anything. There is an Ursinus grad who is at Harvard med. He also was a Rhodes Scholar. The only one in the history of Ursinus. To suggest there aren’t “top” doctors in their areas is just ludicrous and applicants know the difference between chances at ECU, WFU, Duke, Hopkins, Harvard, etc. But maybe someone can repeat the thing about Medicare again.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes, it does. Because medical residency programs aren’t as “badge-conscious” about only accepting grads of, say, Harvard, JHU or WashU med, as, say, white-shoe NYC law firms who only want law school grads from Harvard, Yale, Stanford, etc. Look, I’m not saying it’s good, bad, or indifferent. But it is different. It’s a different field. To some extent, it’s more akin to engineering.</p>
<p>
Looks like finalchild has to have the final say!</p>
<p>Anyone? Anyone? No? </p>
<p>…ok.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Apropos of nothing…many Rhodes scholars are in fields having nothing to do with science. But if you read about Aakash Shah, he seems to credit the education he got at Ursinus with his later success:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Exactly sally. I give Ursinus and the kid a ton of credit. And where did this Rhodes Scholar want to go to med school?</p>
<p>So Pizzagirl, you view ECU, Ohio State, WFU and Hopkins as all equal in terms of med schools? Do the average/median MCATS and GPAs bear that out?</p>
<p>And law school is a waste if you don’t go to a top 14 school? Do all the public defenders, ADAs, and private local attorneys know this?</p>
<p>“You’re the one with the decal anxiety – I’m sure it’s quite important to you to hear the shock and awe.”</p>
<p>Really???</p>
<p>That was used in the title of a thread, but now I am the one who “has it”? A bit of an ad hominen leap. But we do seem to find many of the exact same posters drawn to these types of threads. I imagine that pattern goes back a ways/years.</p>
<p>“And where did this Rhodes Scholar want to go to med school?”</p>
<p>He was not a Rhodes Scholar when he went to Harvard. He got in based on what he did at Ursinus - probably what made him a Rhodes scholar too.</p>
<p>“Then last weekend, something to celebrate: Aakash Shah, a 2010 graduate now studying at Harvard Medical School, was named the college’s first Rhodes scholar.”</p>
<p>[Ursinus</a> College’s latest success: Its first Rhodes scholar - Philly.com](<a href=“Inquirer.com: Philadelphia local news, sports, jobs, cars, homes”>Inquirer.com: Philadelphia local news, sports, jobs, cars, homes)</p>
<p>Popping popcorn and grabbing a seat</p>
<p>^Thanks, texas. I forgot to post the source.</p>
<p>finalchild, Harvard Medical School is fantastic. No one is arguing that it isn’t. Perhaps Shah chose it based on fit, as he did his undergrad institution.</p>
<p>If you want to talk about awards related to undergraduate accomplishments in science, consider this year’s Goldwater scholars. Each institution can nominate four students. Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and University of Chicago were among those who had three students chosen. Only four institutions saw all four of their nominees win: Rice, Drexel, Montana State and tiny Hendrix College. :)</p>
<p>Thank you for clarifying, mathmom.</p>
<p>Also, SUNY Med turn-outs are pretty good.</p>
<p>From what I heard, lots of Asians are applying to Ursinus based on this kid’s success, probably reaching the HYPS or bust status. :D</p>