Difference Between Med Schools

[dkallday93]

Hi guys,

 

As I've been doing research for med schools, I noticed that some schools in Canada are very renowned internationally while some are not.

For example, UofT McGill UBC McMaster are all ranked very high if the rankings mean anything.

I'm just wondering how big of a discrepancy there is between these "prestigious" schools versus the "less prestigious" schools.

Is medicine simply medicine no matter where you learn it, or is there a (possibly sizeable) gap between different schools?

 

I just ask out of curiosity as I do wanna become the best surgeon(hopefully) I can be, and was wondering how big of factors learning at certain schools come into play.

 

Thanks!

[TechToMD]

Those rankings are generally based on research productivity and have little to nothing to do with undergraduate medical education.

 

All 17 of Canada's medical schools will train you well to become a surgeon, and there will be almost no difference in education.

 

When you pick a school (if you have such a luxury), choose based on location (are you close to home/social support structures? is this a city that you would enjoy living in?), length of training program (do you prefer 4 years with summers off or 3 years no summers off?), school environment, and class size. Prestige should not be in the conversation.

[rmorelan]

Those rankings are generally based on research productivity and have little to nothing to do with undergraduate medical education.

 

All 17 of Canada's medical schools will train you well to become a surgeon, and there will be almost no difference in education.

 

When you pick a school (if you have such a luxury), choose based on location (are you close to home/social support structures? is this a city that you would enjoy living in?), length of training program (do you prefer 4 years with summers off or 3 years no summers off?), school environment, and class size. Prestige should not be in the conversation.

 

I would agree - this comes up from time to time and it is kind of confusing. I mean exactly how are they determining these things? Do those metrics in anyway match up with something we would care about? 

 

One thing I would add to above - I mean kind of obvious - the point of medical school is to get into residency and specifically get into a residency program of your choice. If all the of the other things are there BUT in the end you don't match (and in the end doesn't always mean 1st round) then that isn't a great outcome. 

 

Being happy at your school is a big part of staying motivated so that is important for sure. You want to make sure the place you go to gives you what you need to succeed. As an example I turned down TO to go to Western because Western had something I wanted that TO didn't (it was an imaging lab that I could immediately go into as a productive member doing radiology research). Thought that would help me in the long run (can argue it probably did). 

 

The point of your UG is to get into medical school, the point of your medical school is to get into a residency program, the point of your residency program is to gain the skills to be very good at whatever you are doing and to get you into a fellowship of your choice, and the point of your fellowship is to master an area cold and to get a job you want. 

 

That is a rather cold analysis of that (perhaps too cold) but I am trying to present a particular perceptive (a long term one). Prestige directly is meaningless until probably residency at the earliest as for one thing it would be a CMG going to a Canadian residency program - and there is a ton of standardization in our system. 

 

and yeah as  side note - those metrics are often so stupid. Research as a big factor? Number of books in the library? (I mean a physical book - so last century ha), scholarships to the school (nice to have but in the end so what? We can afford it without that - the school isn't better because it is cheaper for you. The education quality isn't effected by that.....

[older]

All med schools in Canada and US have to meet educational quality standards. The US and Canadian bodies responsible for accrediting medical  faculties inspect programs at universities and issue reports pointing out deficient areas. In justified cases, these bodies put medicals schools on probation. That happened to the "prestigious" McGill med school in 2015.

 

Prestige is less about actual quality of education than about name recognition, which can be attributed to several factors : age, tradition, quality of research, and international exposure.

 

Your chances for becoming the best surgeon when graduating from University of Manitoba are as good as when you graduate from any "renowned" US or Canadian schools. Your further training will decide how good a doctor you will become.

[dkallday93]

Maybe I'm a bit naive, but is it fair to say that real "training & and education" to become a doctor of your field really begins in your residency program?

Nonetheless, would where you got your MD have an impact on you getting into the best residency programs?

[OwnerOfTheTARDIS]

Maybe I'm a bit naive, but is it fair to say that real "training & and education" to become a doctor of your field really begins in your residency program?

Nonetheless, would where you got your MD have an impact on you getting into the best residency programs?

I'm not really sure what your question is - I think that both med school and residency are both equally essential parts of the path to becoming a doctor, just different in their nature.

And from what I've heard, where you get your MD has little impact on where you get into residency, that has more to do with the electives you choose and your ability to connect and network with people. 

[Mithril]

Maybe I'm a bit naive, but is it fair to say that real "training & and education" to become a doctor of your field really begins in your residency program?

Nonetheless, would where you got your MD have an impact on you getting into the best residency programs?

I would say most of my basic knowledge came from medical school, but I didn't truly start acting like a clinician till residency. You have lots of safety nets in med school where you can go to your resident or staff if you don't know something.

 

But in residency you are training to be more or less independent in your specialty. You should have a basic approach, management, and follow-up plan with every person you see. If part of your residency involves being in a rural area with one staff member who may or may not be there with limited resources you learn pretty quickly to work alone from start to finish. Med school gives you the tools and residency gives you even more tools and even more chances to apply your knowledge. There's just a huge difference between the two stages of medical training.

 

In terms of where you got your MD determining your chances of getting into the best residency programs, I would say that it means far less than having good reference letters and interviews. Besides, everyone has a different idea of what "best" is.

[Edict]

Hi guys,

 

As I've been doing research for med schools, I noticed that some schools in Canada are very renowned internationally while some are not.

For example, UofT McGill UBC McMaster are all ranked very high if the rankings mean anything.

I'm just wondering how big of a discrepancy there is between these "prestigious" schools versus the "less prestigious" schools.

Is medicine simply medicine no matter where you learn it, or is there a (possibly sizeable) gap between different schools?

 

I just ask out of curiosity as I do wanna become the best surgeon(hopefully) I can be, and was wondering how big of factors learning at certain schools come into play.

 

Thanks!

 

Rankings don't matter at all. I have not heard one mention of rankings after the first 4 months of medical school. 

 

3 yr vs 4 yr is a big difference. 3 years means you have one less year to prepare your application, you have less time to decide specialty and you 100% have to work harder than 4 yr students due to less time and you will have less vacation time but you are out making money a full year earlier, you are given more responsibility a year earlier and you pay one less year tuition. 

 

Do medical school where you want to live. Its 3-4 years of your life, medical school and residency is damaging enough to your life already. 

 

Do medical school where you want to do residency. Your best chance is at your home school. 

 

I'll be crucified for this but some schools are probably better for preparing a surgical residency app than others or at least garnering interest in surgery i'm thinking (UT, Western, UofA, McGill) here and some schools are better for medicine, psych, peds etc. than others (UT, Mac). Every subspec can be different and so this is probably the least important factor. The reason for this is that in the curriculum there may be more support for preparing a surgical or medical application. Some schools will have more programs for this (dissection, surgical programs) etc. and others just have slightly longer rotations in medicine fields or stronger research in the area. None of this is determinate but it can sway things for you.  

 

Culture of the school. This is hard to tell as a candidate for sure, but speaking from Mac's perspective the culture just amazed me. People are all very friendly and very supportive and there is this camaraderie between Mac students sometimes because we are a 3 year program and also potentially because we aren't even P/F we almost never fail students.