<p>Well where and what you want to do for residency.</p>
<p>Basically, if you are hoping to do private practice (ie like most physicians in the US) then where you attend medical school, and complete your residency is not that important - patients are unlikely to ever ask, and less likely to even care if they think you are doing a good job.</p>
<p>If you are hoping to go into one of the notoriously difficult to obtain residency fields like Radiology, Opthalmology, Anesthesia or Dermatology, our general consensus is that it couldn't hurt go to a "better" medical school. It's by no means a given that going to a better school is going to get you in, but given the absolutely cutthroat nature of getting these spots, any little edge helps. However, just because you don't go to one of those schools doesn't leave you SOL - your board scores, your LOR's, your Dean's Letter (essentially the comments about you during your third year clinical rotations) and your interview are most assuredly way more important than where you went to school. </p>
<p>If you are hoping to go into academic medicine or heavily research oriented medicine, then where you go to medical school and complete your residency matters anywhere from a little to a lot more. How much depends on what your field is, and which institutions you are trying to find a job at. Certainly if you are hoping to become a physician affiliated with Harvard's or UPenn's or WashU's medical school, it's going to be more important that you went to a comparable medical school for your MD/PhD. But if you are less concerned about where you end up, then it probably means only a little, and you'll likely be judged more on your research than what location it was accomplished at.</p>
<p>Finally if you are hoping to go into a field where perceived public opinion of your medical training will play a large role in your success, then obviously going to a name school will be better. Careers like being plastic surgeon to the rich and famous, or being involved in politics or lobbying will be enhanced if you are from some place like Harvard. Keep in mind though that it is the public perception that will matter more than the actual quality. While medical schools like WashU, UCSF, University of Washington and UPenn hold a lot of weight in the medical world and are generally considered "better" than Yale, Stanford, and Georgetown, the general public will likely value the latter schools over the former. Further, one cannot overlook the regional biases that exist throughout the country. For example, I know for a fact that many people in Kansas think the KU SOM is phenomenal and that I was an idiot for not going there when I got in, despite the fact that my medical school is much higher ranked in USNWR and pulling in more research money, so on and so forth. I'm sure that many Kansans would choose a physician, all things being equal, from KU SOM over WashU SOM, simply b/c they don't know the real reputations.</p>