Has anyone gone to University of Maryland School of Nursing or Medicine?

I want to go to medical school and become a trauma surgeon, obviously after I graduate from high school and college. I'm pretty sure I want to go to nursing school for my undergrad, so I at least have nursing to fall back on if I don't get into medical school. I have been doing some research and I've found that I am particularly interested in University of Maryland, mainly because of their world-renowned R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center. So my question is... Has anyone on Yahoo! Answers been through either school? What did they think of it? Were you exposed, at all, to the Program in Trauma? And last but not least....Do you live in the state of Maryland? I live in Michigan, and I want to know if it is worth moving for. Thank you and God Bless!

I am a graduate of the University of MD School of Medicine. During medical school, we got no exposure to Shock Trauma at all. I also did my residency there for anesthesiology, and spent 1 month in the neuro ICU out of the 3 year residency.

I think the surgical residents spent more time there, especially the ortho guys.

It may be different now, because I haven't been there since 1993. We got plenty of trauma at University, though. Weekend call could be full of gunshot wounds, stabbings and drunk guys being hit by cars. Ahhhh... life in the big city!

Maryland is nice. I was born and raised there, so it's home to me. The hospital is not in a great part of town, but it is in a better part of town than Hopkins is. You wouldn't want to actually live near either place, though.

Baltimore has its own personality. Kind of kitschy, but fun. There are some good neighborhoods within Baltimore, and lots of nice suburban areas to settle in.

Shock-O-Rama (as we called it) may have its own residency program, or Univ of MD trauma surg program may have their residents spend lots of time there. When the time comes to go to med school and, later, look for residency, that is a question you would want to ask. These things change over time, too, so what is true now may not be so in a few years.

Best of luck to you!

For starters, I didn't go to Univ of Maryland, but I know a little about the process of becoming a trauma surgeon.

You will likely find it harder to get into UMD since it is a state funded school and you are coming from out of state. But don't let that stop you. Just realize that it isn't that important to go there. And also know that just because you went to UMD is not a guarantee that you will get into the fellowship there.

As for becoming a trauma surgeon, it would be more important to get into Maryland after you have graduated medical school and completed your surgical residency. Once you complete those two things you can go into fellowship (further specialization).

Trauma surgeons are made one of two ways. One is to do a trauma fellowship which allows you to call yourself a trauma surgeon. The other, more versatile path (which is the one I chose), is to do a surgical critical care fellowship. This allows you to do both trauma and critical care. Both of the fellowships are an additional year. Some people go overboard and do both, but it is not required. Both critical care and trauma fellowships are available at UMD.

In selecting your residency, I would suggest to you that you find a program that is closely affiliated with a Level I trauma center. This is basically any large urban university hospital. You will likely get an adequate exposure to trauma care there and will allow you to determine if it is really for you or not.

The path to trauma is also a long one that will test your resolve at every turn. First, most people will change their minds as to what they want to do for residency two or three times during medical school alone. So it鈥檚 a difficult decision to do surgery in the first place. Once in residency, people often change their minds again. Most students like the sound of "Trauma Surgeon", but start to shy away from it when they realize the work involved and realize that it isn't a very nice lifestyle and many abandon the path. I don't want to try to scare you; I just want you to go in with your eyes open.

As for nursing: I don't think that you will find that having a nursing degree is any advantage to getting into medical school. But backup plans are good, mine was to do a PhD in chemistry.

Just work hard, do well in _all_ of your classes, but especially in chem, orgo, physics and any biology classs. Study extremely hard for the MCAT to maximize your chances. But don't forget most schools are looking for a well rounded student, so get out there and get involved. Be a volunteer or help out in a charitable cause. It is also very helpful to be leader at your school. They wil both help you to get into med school, but will also help you in the long run.

Good luck.