How to Apply to Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine

In order to apply to the Cleveland Clinic program, you have to list Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine on your primary (you will NOT find Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine as a separate entry on the AMCAS application since it is part of CaseMed). Once your AMCAS is submitted, you will start receiving secondary applications from the schools you listed on the AMCAS (you can add more schools at anytime before the Fall deadline). You will then receive an online secondary application from Case which will have a section to apply to the Cleveland Clinic program (College Program). You will have to pay only one secondary application fee so it is to your advantage to go ahead and apply to both programs at no extra cost.

Since they're separate admissions committees with separate criteria, here are the possible scenarios for candidates once they submit the Case Western secondary, assuming applicants applied to both programs:

• Rejected either pre-interview or post-interview by Cleveland Clinic (College Program) but accepted by Case Western (University Program)
  
• Rejected either pre-interview or post-interview by Case Western (University Program) but accepted to Cleveland Clinic (College Program)
  
• Accepted at both programs
  
• Rejected either pre-interview or post-interview from both programs
  

You can read more about each program at their respective websites:

• Cleveland Clinic (College Program): http://www.clevelandclinic.org/cclcm/
• Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (University Program): http://casemed.case.edu/

More information about Cleveland Clinic

The Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine (CCLCM) (also known as the College Program) is part of the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (also known as the University program). The Cleveland Clinic program is a unique five-year program with the goal of training physician investigators. The mission of the college is "to educate a limited number of highly qualified persons who seek to become physician investigators and scientists committed to the advanced of biomedical research and clinical practice." The Cleveland Clinic program offers:

• Free tuition for all five years with an option of getting a Masters degree for free within those 5 years (MPH, MBA, Masters in Bioethics, Masters in Applied Anatomy, Masters in Biomedical Engineering, or Masters in Biomedical Sciences, etc). Many students are able to secure funding to receive a stipend for living expenses for the research year in the 5th year. Upon graduation, students graduate with a "MD with Special Qualification in Biomedical Research" or a MD/MS joint degree--all degrees are issued by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Other free perks for Cleveland Clinic medical students include a free laptop, free parking, etc.
  
• Relatively low stress, non-competitive environment: No comprehensive exams, no grades, Thursdays are off for the first 2 years. Classes are M-W and Friday mostly from 8 am-noon, the rest of the day students can do research, get clinical exposure and/or study.
• Innovative and unique medical curriculum that is student-centered and case-based. The program provides a "graduate education in medicine" with a heavy focus on PBL classes and small group case-based seminars as opposed to traditional lectures. Instead of being issued letter grades, students use feedback from classmates and faculty to determine their strengths and weaknesses that need improvement.
  
• Highly competitive program--only 32 spots (nearly 2,000 people apply and this number is increasing every year). Small class-size offers individual attention with each student being provided a physician advisor and a research mentor for all five years but since the program is associated with a university, students won't be limited by a small class size (there are other medical, dental, law, nursing, public health, business graduate and undergraduate students present on the university campus at Case Western Reserve University). There are 1,500 faculty for 32 students per year.
  
• Associated with the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic, whose guiding principle is "patients first." Out of 4,861 hospitals in the United States, Cleveland Clinic is ranked 4th overall in the nation by US News immediately ahead of Massachusetts General Hospital (Harvard). It has been ranked number 1 in Heart & Heart Surgery since 1995, and out of 16 specialties Cleveland Clinic has 13 specialties (Digestive Disorders, Rheumatology, Urology, Orthopedics, Pediatric Neurology & Neurosurgery, Respiratory Disorders, Diabetes & Endocrine Disorders, Gynecology, Neurology & Neurosurgery, Ear, Nose & Throat, & Geriatric Care) ranking in the top 10 and the rest in top 15. Cleveland Clinic has/will be opening up hospitals in Florida, Toronto & Abu Dhabi. Many famous people come to the Cleveland Clinic for care including Presidents and Prime Ministers from all over the world, kings and monarchs from the Middle East, sports figures like Lebron James, and celebrities like Robin Williams and Oprah Winfrey, just to name a few. Many of the leaders and experts in their respective fields are working at Cleveland Clinic-- students may be trained under notable experts. Cleveland Clinic is one of the largest residency and fellowship training programs in the US so there are great opportunities to make connections and network--getting letters of recommendation when applying to residency from these top physicians in their fields will have a lot of pull.
• Cleveland Clinic is currently under Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, currently a top-20 medical school. Students at Cleveland Clinic get to share the immense resources of both the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, including other teaching hospitals such as Case University Hospitals (including Rainbow Babies & Children Hospital, MacDonald Women's Hospital, & Ireland Cancer Center), and for the more urban medical cases: MetroHospital, and the Veteran Affairs Medical Center.
• Five-year course of study that requires a research thesis with the last 3 years being customizable to allow students to pursue their own interests in research, clinical specialties, and career goals (i.e. students can do their research year either in 3rd year, 4th year or 5th year). Research is important to get into competitive residencies, such as Dermatology, Radiation Oncology, Neurological Surgery, Plastic Surgery, Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT aka Otolaryngology), etc. at the top residency programs. Research is integrated into the curriculum during the summers in the first two years. The first summer is for basic/translational research and summer in the second year is for clinical research. An entire year is spent doing research (basic or clinical) to write a thesis. This research can be done at Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute ranks among the top independent research institutes in the nation for NIH funding), Case Western (ranks among the top-tier in NIH funding), at the National Institute of Health (NIH) or through other nationally-recognized research fellowships.
  
• Students are treated like professionals from day 1. Students at Cleveland Clinic are issued long white coats so that there is no differentiation between doctors and medical students (almost all other medical schools, even Case Western, provide medical students with a short white coat to differentiate students from medical doctors).
  
• A basic science curriculum for first 2 years that is organ-system based in the context of clinical cases to help students not only prepare for USMLE but also start thinking like a doctor.
  
• Clinical experience starts early with students being assigned a primary care physician as a longitudinal preceptor for first 2 years. First year students have to go to the clinic once every 2 weeks and in the second year students go to the clinic every week. Students have seen hundreds of cases before they even start their clinical rotations their 3rd year. Students enter residency with outstanding clinical skills.
• Impressive residency match list: http://www.clevelandclinic.org/cclcm/match_2010.html. Graduates from Cleveland Clinic have been accepted to residencies at Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins, Massachusetts General Hospital (Harvard), Beth Israel (Harvard), Emory, Stanford, UPenn, University of Chicago, Baylor, UCSF, Yale, Brown, Wash U, Duke, Michigan, Vanderbilt, UNC, UT-Southwestern, and University of Pittsburgh, etc in some of the most competitive specialties: Dermatology, Radiation Oncology, Neurological Surgery, Otolaryngology, and Vascular Surgery.

Introduction

Hey everyone, thanks for visiting my blog!

Just to give you a brief background about myself--I am a candidate for a MD/MS degree at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine starting in the Summer of 2010. This blog will detail my journey as a medical student for the next five years while serving as a resource for future applicants to CCLCM. I also plan on providing USMLE review (once I get to that stage in my second year) for medical students preparing for Step 1.

I applied to medical schools in the summer of 2009 after taking a couple of years off following graduation in 2008. As you probably already know or will experience soon, every aspect of entering medical school is a long and grueling process--from taking all the pre-med requirements to taking perhaps the most challenging graduate school entrance exam to filling out numerous primary and secondary applications and then waiting and preparing for interviews. Unfortunately, waiting in agonizing suspense is an inherent part of becoming a physician.

Out of all the schools that I interviewed at, only a handful made a positive impression on me, including Cleveland Clinic, Harvard, Mayo Clinic, Emory, Case Western, Cornell, and NYU. I narrowed down the schools I was accepted to based on financial aid, geographical location, resources, and reputation. Ultimately, the decision came down to Mayo Clinic, Emory and Cleveland Clinic--all three are great schools.

Mayo Clinic:

Pros: Mayo's guiding philosophy and culture are truly unique, prestigious hospital (top-2 in the US), student-centered with small class-size (less than 50), pass/fail, selectives, innovative curriculum, top-notch faculty and leaders in their respective fields, dual-degree programs, one of the largest residency/fellowship programs in the US (will help with connections), generous financial aid, one of the highest average USMLE scores in the nation, impressive match list.

Cons: Rochester, Minnesota (there is absolutely nothing to do there, its a small town in the middle of no where and the Mid-West winters are brutal and depressing, it was -10 when I interviewed here), students will see limited range of cases since its basically a tertiary care center and will miss out on the medical cases found in more urban areas (gunshot wounds, trauma, etc.), not a free-ride though half tuition scholarship makes it cheaper than most schools (still have to pay $16,000+ per year in tuition--UPDATE: turns out that this year's class was offered free tuition for the first year which is amazing), and small class size (less than 50 students per year) though Mayo does have other graduate programs.

Emory:

Pros: top-20 school, top-15 in NIH funding, incredible research opportunities, associated with a great university--the medical school is right on the main campus, 1.5 yr basic science curriculum with 4-5 month research phase, Pass/Fail, Atlanta is a great city with amazing weather, great teaching hospitals (Grady Memorial, Emory University Hospitals in Decatur and Midtown, VA, Emory Clinic, etc), beautiful new medical school building,

Cons: expensive

Cleveland Clinic

Pros: prestigious hospital (top 4 hospital), free tuition, no exams, no grades, student-driven, PBL-centered curriculum, Thursdays are off, small class size for individual attention but associated with a university so won't be limited by small class size (other medical, dental, law, nursing, public health, business graduate and undergraduate students present on university campus), option of getting a Masters for free within the 5 year program, notable faculty and leaders in their respective fields, treats students like doctors from day 1 (e.g., students at Cleveland Clinic are given a full-length white coat while most medical students around the nation wear short-length white coats to differentiate them from physicians), Cleveland Clinic is one of the largest residency/fellowship programs in the US (will help with connections), have access to the resources at both the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University, can rotate through all teaching hospitals to see different aspects of medicine including Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals (including Rainbow Babies & Children Hospital, MacDonald Women's Hospital, & Ireland Cancer Center), and for the more urban medical cases: MetroHospital, and the Veteran Affairs Medical Center, cheap living expenses as compared to other cities, very impressive match list, had the nicest facilities out of all the schools I visited (yes even nicer than Mayo Clinic lol...the best facilities at the schools I interviewed at were at Cleveland Clinic, Harvard & Cornell but don't let this factor into your final decision)

Cons: Cleveland and weather but Cleveland is a decently sized city so there will be things to do, an extra year's worth of commitment but now a days taking a year off to do research before applying for residencies is VERY common especially for competitive specialties like dermatology, radiation oncology, plastic surgery, ENT, etc. (Harvard, Stanford, Cornell, Mt. Sinai, etc. all encourage their students to do an extra research year--Duke used to do it also but they just revamped their curriculum to include a research year in the 3rd yr), small class-size (only 32 students) but that has its negatives and positives and is canceled out by the ~160 medical students at Case medical school and other graduate/undergraduate students at the university.

In my opinion, the Cleveland Clinic combined aspects of both Mayo Clinic and Emory University School of Medicine. Once I made my decision, I withdrew from all schools including waitlists--I just could not turn down a school that was offering me:

• Free tuition with an option of getting a FREE masters degree (~$50,000 scholarship at Cleveland Clinic vs. ~$17,000 scholarship at Mayo);
  
• Relatively low stress, non-competitive environment: No exams, no grades, Thursdays off for the first 2 years;
• Opportunity to do extensive research which is necessary in order to get into competitive specialties;
  
• The program is associated with Cleveland Clinic (a world-renowned hospital and a top-4 hospital in the US) AND Case Western School of Medicine (and for those who put emphasis on US News rankings, its currently a top-20 medical school & has historically ranged from top-14 to top-25 by US News, interesting facts: CaseMed were top choices for my two role models: Paul Farmer & Greg Mortenson, (author of Three Cups of Tea, and was the front-runner for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize) when they applied to medical school.

I am very happy with my choice and feel extremely fortunate to have been in this position!
If anyone has any questions about the application process, Cleveland Clinic or anything else feel free to contact me!