What schools have the best 7 to 8 year med programs?

pmyen
Wed, 22 Dec 2004 19:26:29 +0000

I was probably a little too dogmatic in my last posting. Case, Northwestern, and Baylor are very good schools although not generally thought to be in the top 10 or 15 by reputation. My comments on getting a broad education, intellectual exploration, and personal development and maturity still hold even for these schools. I would advise most students to take the time to get a full college education.

Getting into medical school is a noteworthy achievement no matter what school you ultimately attend. Most schools are affiliated with teaching hospitals that offer training in practically every subspecialty and specialty. So going to a lesser known school should not prevent you from doing what you want to do professionally. If you do well at your med school you will probably gain admission to the training programs offered by your school. You are a known and proven commodity to them. However, just like attending certain colleges that have stronger reputations will improve grad/professional school placement, attending certain medical schools will improve the odds of gaining a top residency placement.

I don’t think medical schools care when you take organic chemistry as long as it is a rigorous course (at least comparable to what you would take at your own college) and you do reasonably well in the course (Ideally B+ or better). Med schools would not look highly on taking Organic Chemstry at a local community college, for instance. Organic chemistry is a tough course to master in a short time so you will have to decide whether you can learn the material in such a format.