Question

Hi everyone! I'm a junior in college and trying to compile of list of med schools I want to apply to but I'm having a bit of a hard time finding info on what I'm looking for. I've heard from friends with parents at Ivy med schools and my health advisor that if you go to a big-name institution - as well as other med schools that teach in similar fashions - you just memorize symptoms and what illness they relate to and when put into a real life situation these students over complicate things and can't properly diagnose. Above all, I don't want this to be me after 4 years of med school. I would like to go to a school where they teach you to take the whole patient into consideration and think things out logically - not just regurgitate info I learned in classes. I don't know if what I've heard is true about the big name institutions - but if anyone had any input on this point, names of schools that focus on diagnosis and whole patient care or how to seek out this informations - it would be very helpful! I was looking at DO schools because I thought maybe they taught more towards "whole patient care" and diagnosis - but I don't really know. Thank you all so much for your input!

Answer 1

I don't know if I'm to much help with this question. My opinion is that all medical schools will prepare you adequately. I think that sometimes we look to much at what the school's reputation is and if it will teach us what we need to know. I've heard from a physician that sits on the admission committee at the University of Utah Medical school and one from Rocky mountain vista (DO school in Colorado) that almost all medical schools have the resources available to students, but that what makes the difference is to what degree the student applies himself.

My advice is to try your hardest to find schools that meet the criteria, but I wouldn't spend to much time worrying if there are only a few that meet criteria, your ability to diagnose wont be limited because you went to HMS, it would only be limited by how hard you try