<p>I completely understand. I think Drexel is a perfectly fine option. I also wouldn’t worry too much about rankings. Part of Drexel’s low ranking may simply be due to the sheer number/size of the competition within such a short distance. Tulane for example only has LSU in the same city and the university as a whole has an amazing geographic diversity which helps IMO. Again, best of luck.</p>
<p>Do not worry about rankings. The rankings are dependent on things like research funding, how old the school is and other things that have no impact on the quality of the education you will get. If you want to be in private practice, any U.S. Medical School is good enough. If you want to go into academic medicine, the research opportunities do matter, but you could always take a year off and go to NIH or another medical school for research.</p>
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<p>Northern, you are incorrect. The rankings have NOTHING to do with how old a school is. There are many factors that go into the research rankings not JUST research funding either: [The</a> Medical School Rankings Methodology - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/best-medical-schools/2010/04/15/the-medical-school-rankings-methodology.html]The”>http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/best-medical-schools/2010/04/15/the-medical-school-rankings-methodology.html)</p>
<p>“If you want to be in private practice, any U.S. Medical School is good enough.” — Now you are just making things up. At fianchetto’s level, the concern is more over the ability to get into certain very competitive residency specialties, not private practice vs. academic. Academic medicine is craving anyone to stay in academics rather than go into private practice and make more money, so beggars can’t be choosers. If you’re going to give advice to a high school senior entering these type of programs, try telling the truth with facts.</p>
<p>Roentgen,</p>
<p>Relax buddy! </p>
<p>I was just trying to let fianchetto not feel bad about going to Drexel. If I was in his/her situation I would go to Drexal. This is only my opinion, so take it for what it is worth. </p>
<p>Older schools have had more time to get a reputation (with program directors etc.) which does indirectly shows up in the rank.</p>
<p>I never said research funding was every thing, but it is definitely a factor.</p>
<p>What you say about academic medicine is generally true at most places, but at the most elite research oriented medical schools, where you do your residency matters very much for getting hired.</p>
<p>Where you do your residency is less important for private practice jobs. Of course it is always better to do your residency at Mass General or Penn, but going to a no name residency does not doom you to a mediocre career. I personally know many extremely successful physicians in private practice who went to no name med schools and residencies.</p>
<p>Let us say for example that you wanted to go into Radiology. If you graduate from Harvard you have a better shot at the top Radiology residencies and you will have better job prospects than some one coming from a no name program, but you can sill get very good jobs coming out of a no name program as long as you have good training and experience. The training you get at some of the big name residencies is actually inferior to some better no name residencies. For example the big name places tend to have fellows who usually hog up most of the procedures. In no name places there are no fellows and you may be allowed to more procedures as a resident.</p>
<p>I am sorry if you misunderstood my comments. Perhaps my wording was not clear. I said Do not worry about the rankings. I did not intend this to mean that the ranking do not matter at all. My intent was to say that you can still do quite well coming out of a less ranked school. I hope that this post clears up what I intended to say.</p>
<p>I also agree with above. Stick with Drexel (you don’t really have a choice at this point in other regular undergrads since May 1 has passed). According to the rankings, as posted by Roentgen, Drexel University is a Tier 1 university.</p>
<p>Do you get to decide yourself whether to have the undergraduate part for 3 years or 4 years or is it only dependent on your major?</p>
<p>Can you apply to other medical schools and still retain your spot at Drexel’s medical school in the meantime or do you give it up?</p>
<p>Since you have to take the MCAT anyways, just start preparing really early, since you only have 1 less year in which to complete your undergraduate degree and be able to take the MCAT. I would take General Bio + General Chem, both with labs your freshman year, General Physics + Organic Chem both with labs your sophomore year.</p>
<p>[SCDC:</a> Steinbright Career Development Center](<a href=“http://www.drexel.edu/scdc/careerservices/pre-professional-advising/prehealth/bs-md-faqs.html]SCDC:”>http://www.drexel.edu/scdc/careerservices/pre-professional-advising/prehealth/bs-md-faqs.html)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.drexel.edu/undergrad/academics/accelerated-degrees/ba-bs-md/~/media/Files/undergrad/pdf/accel/6017_BSMD.ashx[/url]”>http://www.drexel.edu/undergrad/academics/accelerated-degrees/ba-bs-md/~/media/Files/undergrad/pdf/accel/6017_BSMD.ashx</a></p>
<p>It seems like if you pick a major in the College of Arts and Sciences or Business you have to complete the undergraduate part in 3 years. If you pick a major in Biomedical Engineering or Engineering the undergraduate part is 4 years. This might be flexible depending on how much AP credit you come in with.</p>
<p>Exactly, what is so bad about Drexel that everyone’s telling me to try to apply out? I just don’t get it.</p>
<p>Read way back in the archives, and you will read about a Drexel student talking about the possibility of getting kicked out of the program over just one bad grade. That’s why in my opinion that regular premed at a strong school is better than this particular program which is not supportive.</p>
<p>Of course if your GPA dips below 3.5 you get kicked out. It’s the same in every program. What I’m asking specifically is Drexel Medical School, not the program. Why does everyone hate it so much?</p>
<p>And mamatata, stop talking about a “strong” premed school. Premed is the same in every school. It might vary because of the competition from other premeds, but basically it’s the same. You take the same classes. You’re not going to get just because their “advising” is great.</p>
<p>Oh, and tell me why Tulane Med is better than Drexel Med.</p>
<p>By the way on my post above, I’m referring to Drexel University being Tier 1 in the undergraduate rankings, NOT its medical school (which was formerly under MCP-Hahnemann before it claimed bankruptcy and was transferred to Drexel).</p>
<p>The medical school is ranked 89 out of 146 programs and that includes D.O. medical schools.</p>
<p>Although, apparently Drexel University College of Medicine is #1 in most student debt: [Medical</a> School Rankings](<a href=“http://www.studentdoc.com/med-ranks.html]Medical”>Medical School Rankings - StudentDoc) - “With a dwindling economy and interest rates higher than before, this is a genuine concern and a list that will likely be considered when applying for medical schools. The big winner? Drexel University. Students from the Drexel University in Pennsylvania can expect to incur approximately $183,000 by the time they complete their medical school training.”</p>
<p>I am aware of the cost as I included it in my first post. So besides the high cost, what is wrong with Drexel Medical School? I feel like people are just trying really hard to find things wrong with Drexel.</p>
<p>My point in including that was bc Drexel’s medical school was top ranked in one thing in comparison to other medical schools: student debt - not exactly a good thing.</p>
<p>Drexel: [Drexel</a> University - Best Medical Schools ranking<a href=“Ranked%2089%20out%20of%20the%20126%20LCME-accredited%20M.D.%20schools%20on%20the%20list:%20%5Burl=http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/items]Best%20Medical%20Schools%20-%20A-Z%20list[/url]”>/url</a>. So that means Drexel’s medical school is in the bottom 30%.</p>
<p>Methodology: [url=<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/items/04058]Ranking”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/items/04058]Ranking</a> Methodology](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/items/04096]Drexel”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/items/04096)</p>
<p>The research rankings take these things into account - you can see the link right above to see exactly what these things below mean.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Peer Assessment Score (.20 for the research medical school model, .25 for the primary-care medical school model)</p></li>
<li><p>Assessment Score by Residency Directors (.20 for the research medical school model, .15 for the primary-care medical school model)</p></li>
<li><p>Research Activity (weighted by .30 in the research medical school model only; not used in primary care medical school ranking model) </p></li>
</ol>
<p>*Total Research Activity (.20)</p>
<p>*Average Research Activity Per Faculty Member (.10) </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Primary-Care Rate (.30 in the primary-care medical school model only; not used in research medical school ranking model)</p></li>
<li><p>Student Selectivity (.20 in the research medical school model, .15 in the primary-care medical school model)</p></li>
<li><p>Mean MCAT Score (.13 in the research medical school model, .0975 in the primary-care medical school model)</p></li>
<li><p>Mean Undergraduate GPA (.06 in the research medical school model, .045 in the primary-care medical school model)</p></li>
<li><p>Acceptance Rate (.01 in the research medical school model, .0075 in the primary-care medical school model)</p></li>
<li><p>Faculty Resources (.10 in the research medical school model, .15 in the primary-care medical school model) </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Overall Rank: Indicators were standardized about their means, and standardized scores were weighted, totaled, and rescaled so that the top school received 100; other schools received their percentage of the top score. </p>
<p>Specialty Rankings: The rankings are based solely on ratings by medical school deans and senior faculty from the list of schools surveyed. They each identified up to 10 schools offering the best programs in each specialty area. Those receiving the most nominations in the top 10 appear here.</p>
<p>RNP or Rank Not Published means that U.S.News did calculate a numerical ranking for that school/program, but decided for editorial reasons that since the school/program ranked below the U.S. News cutoff that U.S. News would not publish the ranking for that school/program on usnews.com. U.S. News will supply schools/programs marked with RNP with their numerical rankings, if they submit a request following the procedures listed in the Information for School Officials in the About the Rankings section on usnews.com. Schools/programs marked as RNP are listed alphabetically. </p>
<p>Unranked means that U.S.News did not calculate a numerical ranking for that school or program. The school or program did not supply U.S. News enough key statistical data to be numerically ranked by U.S. News. Schools or programs marked as Unranked are listed alphabetically and are listed below those marked as RNP or Rank Not Published.</p>
<p>[Award</a> Data for Individual Organizations - NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools (RePORT)](<a href=“http://report.nih.gov/award/trends/FindOrg.cfm]Award”>http://report.nih.gov/award/trends/FindOrg.cfm)</p>
<p>You can see here how much NIH funding Drexel’s medical school or any other institution, for that matter, gets.</p>
<p>Tulane’s Medical School’s Early Assurance program isn’t ONLY through Xavier University, it’s actually though several other undergrads, including Tulane University, which is ranked #50 in national universities (Drexel is #88).</p>
<p>They also have a 7 year medical program as well, the Tulane Accelerated Physician
Training Program (TAP-TP).</p>
<p>Tulane has voluntarily taken itself out of the USWNR rankings because of the hit by Hurricane Katrina, rather than have to take a huge drop in ranking over something that wasn’t under their control. In fact, when Katrina hit, the students from New Orleans came to Houston and were taught in Baylor College of Medicine’s facilities. However, that doesn’t mean its a bad school esp. for students. In fact, Tulane’s medical school is actually a very good medical school and students their have a strict “Pass” or “Fail” only system in the first 2 years.</p>
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<p>Well obviously it is ranked at the bottom for a reason, and not just because of the Research Activity portion which is actually only 30% of the entire score. Drexel’s medical school is not doing too good in the other 70% of the score as well - very unusual considering Drexel’s undergrad is top tier, but maybe because they took over after MCP-Hahnemann went bankrupt.</p>
<p>Let us focus only on Drexel Medical School, not Drexel University. I really don’t care about the undergrad years. Do you guys think Drexel Medical School’s reputation will climb in the following years? I think people give little credit to Drexel because it is constantly shadowed by its neighbors, UPenn, Jefferson, and Temple. </p>
<p>And clfdwlr, being insulted doesn’t mean I’m a jerk. And I questioned your credibility because I haven’t seen you appear on the premed forum before.</p>
<p>He could have just chose to ignore instead of displaying disgust at someone whose only intent was to help. Also, the OP asked that at a later point, I was referring to the original objective of the thread. If you want my opinion here it is: Drexel is in an absolutely terrible and dangerous part of Philadelphia , it has a very dirty campus , it is a complete party school, the academics are barely mediocre, their attempts to lure kids with the aspect of the co-op (which in this case does not apply) is horribly misleading, many kids absolutely hate it (I have met soo many Drexel to Temple transfers it is not even funny), and you can clearly see from the ranking provided, the med school is not very great either.</p>
<p>Drexel University (undergrad) is not the issue - it’s a Tier 1 institution. The issue at hand is obviously the medical school.</p>
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<p>The rankings have nothing to do with the medical schools in the immediate vicinity. The school is tabulated and ranked like all other 126 allopathic medical schools. UPenn, Jefferson, and Temple have nothing to do with Drexel. In answer to your question, probably not, esp. considering the state of the economy and even if it did, probably not fast enough to where it would make a difference by the time you match and graduate. Drexel College of Medicine has officially existed since 2002: <a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drexel_University_College_of_Medicine[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drexel_University_College_of_Medicine</a></p>
<p>MD2B2012, since rankings are relevant here, take NYMC for example. It is ranked the same as Drexel. But on SDN strangely, NYMC does not seem to get bashed at as much as Drexel. When bashed, I mean it’s usually something like “Drexel is terrible”, not caring to elaborate what’s so terrible about it. What is the reason behind this?</p>
<p>I don’t even know what to say to clfdwr’s latest responses, lol. First hand experience is best supported by anecdotes, not simply adjectives. If you have spoken to Drexel-Temple transfers, what did they say made them unhappy enough to transfer? Why is the co-op program that Drexel advertises misleading? What makes the campus dirty, is it not enough trash cans so people litter the place or what?</p>
<p>I’m not trying to specifically target you, but as you’ve said yourself, if you post something, don’t get angry at the responses just because they don’t agree with you or say what you’d like them to say.</p>