lobsterroll
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Hello SDN,
I wanted to make this post because I am at a crossroad as to which medical school to attend. I have been accepted to both Virginia Tech and Drexel. I made a pro and cons list below and was hoping for some advice as someone looking to potentially do dermatology as well.
VTC
Pros:
Cons:
Drexel
Pros:
Cons:
If you are a current VTC, drexel, or even someone interested in dermatology I would greatly appreciate your insight
I wanted to make this post because I am at a crossroad as to which medical school to attend. I have been accepted to both Virginia Tech and Drexel. I made a pro and cons list below and was hoping for some advice as someone looking to potentially do dermatology as well.
VTC
Pros:
- COA is ~60K plus automatic 5K scholarship, so it would be cheaper for me to go here
- Small Class Size of 50 people, making it way easier to stand out especially during rotations
- Can get really close to my class and form deep lifelong friendships
- Not only that, it would be a lot easier to get close to faculty and receive more personalized and better letters of recommendation
- In a way it means less people are going for my desired specialty which in a way makes you more competitive
- Overall no competition, faculty and students emphasize that if a med student wanted exposure to something they’d get it somehow someway
- VTC wants to create their term “scientist physicians”, meaning they facilitate/force students to undergo research from day 1 of medical school. I feel like as someone who wants to do some research as an MD, this seems enticing and a really good opportunity for applying to dermatology residency programs.
- P/F preclinicals and graded (honors, high pass, pass, fail) clinical rotations
- UPDATED curriculum that utilizes past NBME exams, helpful for STEP 1 and 2
- From my interview day, faculty showed data of average step scores for students being 10-15 points higher than national average (on par or higher than a lot of T20 schools)
- Has their own hospital for clinical rotations and encourages away rotations as well
- Match list is overall solid to most schools, 100% match rate
- Aside from academics, it is 15 min from the appalachian trail
Cons:
- The School is located in Roanoke, which is a moderate-sized city, however, there is not much to do besides outdoor hikes and going to their downtown. I grew up in a suburban area of DC and went to undergrad in a big city, I am worried about feeling isolated.
- 4 hours away from home (DC area), not easy to travel as flying out of Roanoke is EXPENSIVE
- Very new school, not sure what VTC’s reputation is on the East Coast and how that would affect me in terms of dermatology residency programs.
- My SO also is going to medical school, and assuming her choice of med school is on the east coast, I would be 4-5 hours away from her as well. If she chooses the midwest school, the decision wouldn’t matter.
- I may be interpreting the match list too deeply, however, out of the ~10 classes that have graduated so far from VTC only 4 schools have received VTC students for their residency program so far, as one of them includes VTC which takes 2 students per year. While in a way this isn’t a con, I want to have the option of being able to go somewhere else after medical school that is not VTC. (this could be sampling bias too as there arent that many students so far that have gone through VTC)
- Also I am worried that being a newer program might have residency directors cautious of accepting students from here
- Lastly while VTC has a home dermatology residency, not much clinical research is happening at this location at the moment but having talked to a student there right now faculty will help make projects for them? So in terms of getting research specifically for derm might be challenging.
- Class size could be too small if I end up disliking my peers
Drexel
Pros:
- A more established medical school (since like the 1850s) that is located in Philadelphia (BIG focus on community service with many opportunities to work with the diverse patient population and diverse clinical experiences
- Match lists are consistent and solid every year, has more consistent residency matches to diverse places across the country for all specialties and dermatology specifically.
- While Drexel does not have that much of a focus on research, Drexel neighbors UPenn, Temple, and Jefferson and having talked to a student at Drexel many students undergo research at those institutions and could be very beneficial in terms of being able to get the derm research that I want to undergo.
- While Hahnemann closed back in 2019 (their philly teaching hospital due to financial reasons), students can rotate through other hospitals in philly as well as York, Reading, AGH in pittsburg and UPMC in harrisburg for clinical rotations (including a kaiser hospital in the Bay Area of California) which could give a lot of ways to meet and make connections for future residency spots
- HUGE alumni network of which students have said have been helpful for interviewing and getting to know from past Drexel students at their desired residency locations
- Theoretically if my SO was on the East Coast, I’d be 2 hours away from her if I went here and closer to home by 2 and a half hours.
- Class size is around 250 for the philly campus, which makes room for a lot of companionships and being able to meet people
Cons:
- While there is a lot of opportunity at Drexel and getting involved with the community, there seems to be not as much research present at this campus itself and I would have to go out and find it, sort of “being on my own” in getting the research and overall guidance I desire. I went to a big public school for high school and undergrad and it’s tiring to constantly compete with other students for things like that.
- Class size is 250, making the faculty to student ratio a lot higher. I’ve read about how administration is not as involved with students here, but I want to see if that is true now
- While Drexel has all of these teaching hospitals and is in a way a PRO, I do believe that not having the security of a proximal teaching hospital may be disadvantageous, especially for applying to residency? ← (let me know if that’s true or not I’d appreciate it haha)
- COA is ~75,000 no aid (as of right now), so it would be more expensive unless I get money in the next couple weeks
- First two years was in-house exams (not NBME style), I talked to a current 4th year about this however they may have changed this recently? (if you are a drexel student pls confirm LOL)
If you are a current VTC, drexel, or even someone interested in dermatology I would greatly appreciate your insight
