UVA Med School Reputation

Pre-Med & Medical School Specific Med Schools
1

<p>So how well-regarded is the University of Virginia School of Medicine? Would it be considered top-tier and beneficial for residency placement? It doesn't have much name recognition amongst the lay person, but it's ranked pretty high and has really high MCAT/GPA averages (36/3.9). </p>

2

<p>“Top tier” in what sense? </p>

<p>USNews research rankings are primarily indicators of how much federal grant funding a school receives and really has very little to do with its quality of education. USN’s primary care rankings are based on even more specious criteria.</p>

<p>Medical education is very standardized and all US medical school teach the exact same curriculum. All med students take the same exact national standardized exams (USMLE or COMLEX) and take the same nationally standardized exams during clinical training in various specialties in MS3-4 (“shelf exams”). </p>

<p>Generally speaking the name of the med school of your diploma has very little to do with your residency placement. Your ability to match into a competitive specialty has much, much more to do with your performance in medical school: your grades & standardized exam scores and letters of recommendation from specialty preceptors than does the name on your med school diploma. </p>

<p>As for the eventual location of your residency placement–that’s even less linked to your med school. You decide which programs to apply to, you decide which programs to rank and a computer program decides where you will eventually end up. (The National Residency Match Program–NRMP.)</p>

<p>For how the NRMP works see: <a href=“http://www.nrmp.org/match-process/match-algorithm/”>http://www.nrmp.org/match-process/match-algorithm/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>During MS4 year, you have the option of doing away rotations at various institutions/hospitals other than your own to get a wider exposure to other residency program sites. Getting these away rotation is something you arrange yourself through ERAS (an electronic application service)–it has zero to do with your med school. The only part your med school plays to certify that you have malpractice coverage.</p>

<p>~~~ </p>

<p>You may also want to read this piece about the recent [over] expansion of the UVA’s biomedical research center and hospital</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.c-ville.com/uvas-rapidly-expanding-medical-center-is-its-biggest-financial-challenge/”>http://www.c-ville.com/uvas-rapidly-expanding-medical-center-is-its-biggest-financial-challenge/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;