Pre-med: ASU Barrett vs UMD vs Miami...your thoughts?

College Search & Selection
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<p>A question - does school rank have an effect on matching to a competitive residency? I’m most interested in some of the surgery residencies.</p>

<p>not really. </p>

<p>your accomplishments AT your med school will largely make the difference. You personal ranking at your SOM and your test scores and LORs will make the difference for residency matching. </p>

<p>Right now, my son is a first year (MS1). His SOM only lets them know what quartile they’re in (I don’t know if that’s the way it will always be). After each test, they’re told which quartile they’re in. Son is doing everything he can to stay in the top quartile (I think he calls is P1…but not sure). </p>

<p>Getting matched into the most competitive residencies usually mean that you have to be a top student at your SOM. </p>

<p>Many of the US MD schools arent ranked at all. I think that there are about 140 MD SOMs. About 80 of them are given a ranking. I’ll have to check. </p>

<p>Plus there are two different ranking systems. One is more important for those interested in Academic Medicine PhD/MD programs. The other ranking can be more interesting for the rest. </p>

<p>That said, even the top students at the unranked SOMs get matched into the competitive residencies.</p>

42

<p>Teenbodybuilder, the medical school has no correlation between medical school ranking and matching to a residency.</p>

<p>In my case, I graduated from UMD, attended a medical school ranked, surprisingly in the 70s, and matched at Johns Hopkins for a very competitive residency.</p>

<p>You need to make yourself an outstanding residency applicant. Great grades, top USMLE scores, research is helpful, and recommendations to seal the deal.</p>

43

<p>Thanks for the answers. I’ll definitely be grateful if I get into any medical school and won’t worry about rankings!</p>

<p>You all are very helpful & insightful.</p>

44

<p>Pick your state schools then schools that have tertiary facilities serving their state. You want as much exposure as possible. I didn’t realize that I would be a hematological and pulmonary expert right now strictly from my medical school exposure. These are outside of my specialty but my medical school exposure has made a difference 15 years later.</p>