<p>im considering medicine. if i were to go to suny-buffalo for a medical degree , as opposed to cornell university would i not have the same opportunites to get into the residency programs after??</p>
<p>For example, would i be limited to lesser fields only, such as family practice and internal medicine and not surgery, and radiology.</p>
<p>or do you have the opportunity to get into any specialty from any medical school as long as you do well?</p>
<p>You should be able to get into any residency you want, provided that your GPA and USMLE scores are high. However, "they" say that at a more prestigious med school, you will have more opportunities (research, internships, etc.) and the connections to get into one of the top residencies. Is it true? I don't know; maybe someone else will be able to tell you for sure.</p>
<p>any response, Psedrish md or anyone else</p>
<p>Residency, like CDN pointed out, is mainly based on your performance in medical school and your USMLE. Take into account that some schools give pass/no pass grades, while others give a type of grading assessment (i.e. highly recommended, recommended, etc- basically equiv to A,B,C,F in a sense). UCLA medical school boasts of a 100% success rate in landing residencies, but the catch is that they will not allow students to apply to schools that were beyond their academic/ testing achievements (maybe other medical schools run in a similar fashion?). As far as specialties are concerned, some are harder to get into other so you do not have an equal opportunity to get into any specialty you choose. The last I heard (may be outdated?) was that dermatology was one of the hardest to specialize in.</p>
<p>Elite medical schools do tend to place their students into elite residencies.</p>
<p>Elite residencies choose from all applicants, however, and successful residents tend to be drawn from all sorts of schools. If you are from a lesser known school, it is wise to do an elective at your favored training program so that they can know what they're getting.</p>
<p>Different residencies are very different in terms of competitiveness. In psychiatry, for example, there are only about 15 highly competitive programs. A solid student (meaning above the bottom 25% of his class) with good interpersonal skills who is graduating from a mediocre medical school should be able to essentially choose a residency. There is an upper echelon (of Columbia, Cornell, Mass General, and UCSF, though you could possible add Duke, Hopkins, and UCLA) where successful applicants are often from top-notch med schools with substantive research and great rec's.</p>
<p>In surgical/procedural specialties like ortho or derm, you really need to show some substantial research and interest if you're going to get in anywhere.</p>