Medical school prestige and ranking, Does it matter?

I was just talking to a few friends about which Uni's I want to study at, and I was quite surprised that their immediate responce after I named the schools I applied to was the question "So what's the medical school ranking?"
and I replied by mumbling .....euu..I dont know...
and this got me thinking,
Does it really matter the ranking of the med school that you graduate from?
Does it mean you get better teachers/better education (well you know, these rankings are completely subjective, and are not necessarily accurate, I mean there are an infinite number of ways to measure how good a shool is)

the conversation sparked a sudden fear that one day when I do become a doctor and introducing myself, I way tell ppl the name of my school and everyone will realise that its a crap med school followed by a long awkward silence. I mean will i ever get looked down on by someone else who graduated from oxford med school.

I always thought that its up to the person to decide whether they want to be a good dr. or nor and its up to them to put in the hard work. Also, I never really beleived in the ranking anyways because i think every school is good in its own way and there's no real way to compare them. BUT, this is only my microscopic perspective, can it be that the majority of ppl out there will judge or employ you by considering which med school you graduated from?

Reply 1

Good bloke

19

The only ranking you should be concerned with is this one: http://duckdensity.org.uk/uni_index?sortby=duckdensity&reverse=yes

Reply 2

Mr Phil

muslikid

I was just talking to a few friends about which Uni's I want to study at, and I was quite surprised that their immediate responce after I named the schools I applied to was the question "So what's the medical school ranking?"
and I replied by mumbling .....euu..I dont know...
and this got me thinking,
Does it really matter the ranking of the med school that you graduate from?
Does it mean you get better teachers/better education (well you know, these rankings are completely subjective, and are not necessarily accurate, I mean there are an infinite number of ways to measure how good a shool is)

the conversation sparked a sudden fear that one day when I do become a doctor and introducing myself, I way tell ppl the name of my school and everyone will realise that its a crap med school followed by a long awkward silence. I mean will i ever get looked down on by someone else who graduated from oxford med school.

I always thought that its up to the person to decide whether they want to be a good dr. or nor and its up to them to put in the hard work. Also, I never really beleived in the ranking anyways because i think every school is good in its own way and there's no real way to compare them. BUT, this is only my microscopic perspective, can it be that the majority of ppl out there will judge or employ you by considering which med school you graduated from?

If you really want to be a good doctor for the right reasons tehn no, the ranking of the uni wont matter. it will only matter to those who want to go into medicine purely to impresss people.

Reply 3

overclocked

12

In my opinion it doesn't matter in the slightest where you graduate from. I picked my uni's on the basis of the course and the places.
You graduate from medical school with similar degrees from everywhere and when you are applying for FY jobs your medical school is blinded anyway. So no it doesn't matter at the moment .
Obviously you can't be sure what will happen in the future. Who knows?

Reply 4

Krishna442

12

in a word, No.
go where the course suits you and you think you will be able to be happy and see yourself living there for 5 years.
prestige and ranking etc etc come secondary (or maybe even tertiary) to the above things.

Reply 5

Maria91

7

It depends on if its important to you. Do you care if people think you went to a highly ranked med school or a 'bad' one? And to be honest, there are no 'bad' med-schools, because they are all really competitive and difficult to get into.

Reply 6

Princess Bubbles

16

No medical degrees are the same from wherever you graduate

Reply 7

2^1/2

11

Good bloke

The only ranking you should be concerned with is this one: http://duckdensity.org.uk/uni_index?sortby=duckdensity&reverse=yes

very good...

Reply 8

Llamageddon

18

Ranking is overly arbitrary. The criteria they use is a bit... odd, not to mention that the school that's top when you apply could find itself near the bottom when you graduate. Nobody outside of admissions and applicants takes note of it.

Prestige, well, perhaps there's something to be said of that. Perhaps again... not. Iirc they don't even see where you're graduating from, just where you came in the standing.

Really, the important thing is where you'll fit in, where you want to be, and how you want to study medicine. Choose the course, choose the location, but don't choose the university. You'll find you spend little time there.

Reply 9

Mirose

I'm not a medic but personally when I look at medical applicants choosing universities.. I feel it doesn't matter. It's about the same everywhere and the fact you got in is already very prestigous indeed.

I still know people who are crazilly applying to those at the top only though.

Reply 10

sonicstrike

2

Apply to a top uni, you'll feel better for getting in. Afterall it's a coveted place isn't it?

Prestige and ranking give you some idea of experience and/or facilities of the university, that WILL affect how much 'above' the standard quality of teaching you will get. The 'standard quality' is that which has been approved by the GMC etc and is very high in itself - so it's not to say ANY med schools are sub-standard.

But let's be honest, BMAT Unis have a certain universally recognised prestige associated with them... in some way or another that prestige was made for a reason.

Reply 11

hamster33

11

to go into top research i dont see a pbl course at liverpool being better than a traditionslly taught course at cambridge. But thats for research, if u wanted to be the best doctor it could be the other way around.

Reply 12

pianofingers

10

Rankings change year on year... back when I applied for 2007 entry, Southampton was 3rd just behind Oxford and Cambridge and now it's 25th. Surely a place can't change that much in the space of three years?

What's also interesting to note is that on the Times listings, the total score ranges from a maximum of 100 to a minimum of 95.9. So there really isn't a drastic difference between each medical school if you're going on league tables (which is a bad idea anyway!).

Reply 13

Gizmo!

11

Mr Phil

If you really want to be a good doctor for the right reasons tehn no, the ranking of the uni wont matter. it will only matter to those who want to go into medicine purely to impresss people.

to further make this more accurate.... for those who go into medicine purely to impress THEMSELVES.

after all, if prestige is what matters to you, its what you get.
you'll ave no one to blame when you find out you should ave been focusing on other more important areas of your life, mind (not you Dr Phil lol)

Reply 14

Gizmo!

11

hamster33

to go into top research i dont see a pbl course at liverpool being better than a traditionslly taught course at cambridge. But thats for research, if u wanted to be the best doctor it could be the other way around.

well lets look at that.
if you did a 1 year career/research-related msc after you liverpool medicine degree, in a subject directly related to your career (after all, there more scope and choice wif mscs) then you get a much better, more focused research oriented degree than an oxbridge graduate (who can only offer study up to BA/Bsc level, and in a limited range of subjects, few of which are directly career related, and which were studied at a time when the oxbridger often had no idea what to pick becos they werent sure what area thay wanted to work in at that 3rd year stage of their course). An Msc is topic specific, and its forms are ten thousand fold by comparison.

for the same amount of years studied, i would add.
i'm not sure why a point like this constantly eludes some TSR readers..is it because they are mostly teenagers trying to substitute prestige for their lack of accomplishments?

Reply 15

Gizmo!

11

sonicstrike

Apply to a top uni, you'll feel better for getting in. Afterall it's a coveted place isn't it?

Prestige and ranking give you some idea of experience and/or facilities of the university, that WILL affect how much 'above' the standard quality of teaching you will get. The 'standard quality' is that which has been approved by the GMC etc and is very high in itself - so it's not to say ANY med schools are sub-standard.

But let's be honest, BMAT Unis have a certain universally recognised prestige associated with them... in some way or another that prestige was made for a reason.

please explain this idiot post.

Reply 16

The_Jatt_Joker

1

I think all Medical graduates must be qualified to a certain level so which uni you apply to really makes no difference.

Reply 17

sonicstrike

2

Gizmo!

please explain this idiot post.

Err... I've come across your other posts etc on TSR and I don't like people who insult others or their views so I shant explain that supposedly "idiot post". Read what you want from it.

Reply 18

Gizmo!

11

sonicstrike

Err... I've come across your other posts etc on TSR and I don't like people who insult others or their views so I shant explain that supposedly "idiot post". Read what you want from it.