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!