Although the number of applicants has declined substantially (I haven't seen survey data but I suspect that the difficulty sunk in over time) there are still well over twice as many formal applicants to Medical School as openings and virtually all those applicants have top grades, all their pre-med ducks in a row, and are paying non-trivial fees so they think they have a chance. The less serious have already made other choices. A majority of people who try very hard to get into US medical schools never get accepted anywhere.
Just about anybody who gets a BA can get into some law school. Many of the rejected applicants to low tier Med school get into top tier programs in other graduate schools.
I wasn't talking about hospitals or "practicing" medicine. I was talking about getting a job with a company/agency that needs a licensed MD. They generally pay 100K and up for that qualification alone. Most large corporations employ MDs, ditto lots of Federal and state agencies. Drug companies employ busloads. Most don't practice medicine in the ordinary sense of that phrase nor do they do research. They review employee Medical claims, do employee exams, pitch drugs at seminars, etc.
As far as panache, I can see doing what you love but not for image. Who is it that is supposed to be impressed? What's the objective? Once you do a residency anywhere you are in the club as far as corporations and agencies are concerned. In private practice a few patients might care about Brown and the Mayo clinic- most would only care about whether they like you.
Get in anywhere, do a residency anywhere, and you can make enough to pay off the massive student loans and try to recover from years of hazing (24 hour on calls etc).
I only agree with you on the law school quote.
I dont know about that pharma quote. Most guys who work for pharmas have to have a relationship with a hospital. Most pharma clinics are in major hospital systems, at least to my knowledge. When I worked with Pfizer in Connecticut they operated out of Yale University Medical Center. When I was with Bristol Myers Squibb they were in Robert Wood Johnson Hospital, in Trenton and UMDNJ Hospital in New Brunswick. Glaxo Wellcome Smith Kline Beecham was in the University of Penn, center city Philadelphia. Wyeth Ayerst also had a pharma in Philadelphia. There are others those are just the places I worked. Shoot someplaces may have 1 doctor on staff but most of the work is done by nurse practitioners or physicians assistants.
Say what you want to bro, but my dad went to med school U of Chicago and he told me when he finished to try down south because they are less selective than up North. I had a 2.6 when I graduated from State University of NY-Oneonta and I got in LSU-New Orleans. You need to compliment your application with needs, languages, skills, stuff like that that shows you re more of an asset than some schmuck with a 4.0 but no life. Especially in a great place like NO.
The thing about the image is reality is people will look to that when they decide to give you a hoi poloi appointment. The Brown, Mayo Clinic, NFL team physician bull sells. CalState, the free Clinic downtown Detroit, and the Walmart help truck, not so much. Thats a fact. When people have no idea of who is good or not they look for status symbols. You believe that "residencies anywhere and good everywhere". Not so. Tell a guy you did yours in the Ozarks or Beverly HIlls, which do you think we ll be talking about? Tell them you went to Cedar Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles or you were appointed to the Lakota Indian Reservation in South Dakota and see when their eyes will glaze over. My point is who cares about money. It will come no matter where you go...and besides if they never get it back, sucks to you for giving it to me. You cant put a price on being healthy.
For the OP asking about local schools, I dont know...but does it matter? You speak spanish, if you cant get in here there is always Cuba, Colombia, or Argentina