Which Factor Matters Most to You when Choosing a Professional School?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

Which Factor Matters Most to You when Choosing a Professional School?

  • Cost

    Votes: 14 15.7%
  • Fit

    Votes: 21 23.6%
  • Location

    Votes: 17 19.1%
  • Prestige

    Votes: 3 3.4%
  • Family needs (spouse's job, etc.)

    Votes: 15 16.9%
  • Lunch on the interview day

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Multiple

    Votes: 17 19.1%
  • Not sure

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other (post below)

    Votes: 2 2.2%

  • Total voters
    89

QofQuimica

Seriously, dude, I think you're overreacting....
Moderator Emeritus
Lifetime Donor
15+ Year Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2004
Messages
18,899
Reaction score
4,290
Assume for argument's sake that we're talking only about accredited American schools here.

For me, the top three factors are cost, cost, and cost. I feel even more strongly about choosing the cheapest school now after having been out of med school for a couple of years and seeing some of my residency classmates struggle under crushing debt. Assuming cost was equal, I'd choose based on fit and/or location.

Members don't see this ad.
 
Location/Cost tie for #1 ~45%
Fit comes in at #2. ~ 10% (sadly as a low gpa comeback, i'm not in the position to make a lot of choices, so I will take what i can get).

If I was in the position to choose, ie multiple acceptances, then it changes to fit/location with cost being last (hey i can always borrow).
 
Multiple for me:

1. Cost
2. Location (as in proximity to family support structures)
3. Spouse's job proximity.

Luckily these three all converge on the school I want to attend.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I chose fit, having been a couple different places fit can really make things a lot smoother and less stressful and I think that increases your likelihood for success. But yeah being a Nontrad, cost is right up there.
 
Not to sound arrogant, but I strongly feel that anyone who isn't emphasizing cost above everything else is doing it wrong. I just don't feel people in their early 20's (or some a bit later here) really understand how much $250k+ is if they've never earned it, it just doesn't seem like real money.

I can't see myself going to even a top university if my public schools are much cheaper. Being highly in debt just limits your option too much.
 
Gonna be cost for me. I don't plan to go into a particularly lucrative specialty and debt terrifies me.
 
Fit is huge. I have seen too many times otherwise successful people not succeed because of a bad job location or bad culture.

To me, fit is almost synonymous with location. Cost can easily be overcome if you are moderately successful and in a good fit. For example, think of the cliche 2.0 GPA ivy leaguer who probably would have had a 4.0 at his state school. In the workplace I've seen this as the #1 reason for poor success.
 
1) Cost (totally gunning for my state school)
2) Location
3) Spouse's needs

2 and 3 are basically the same for me.

I agree with the above about cost. I would take my state school over any other. I hate hearing people say that the cost is just a "drop in the bucket". It's not really a drop in the bucket when debt exceeds your annual salary.
 
For me cost was less of an issue because all the schools I was accepted to would have similar costs, and my primary motivator was being able to live with my husband and keep my marriage...
 
I based my decision on the food served at interview day. Of my three acceptances, lunch at NOVA was a slightly soggy ham and cheddar sandwich. VCOM-CC was turkey and swiss on rye. Tulane was crab jambalaya, fried catfish and black beans and rice. It wasn't a difficult decision to make.
 
I based my decision on the food served at interview day. Of my three acceptances, lunch at NOVA was a slightly soggy ham and cheddar sandwich. VCOM-CC was turkey and swiss on rye. Tulane was crab jambalaya, fried catfish and black beans and rice. It wasn't a difficult decision to make.
Nice. I'm adding "lunch on the interview day" to the poll choices. You'd better "eat your words" and vote for it. :D

Edit: For the record, Wash U had by far the nicest spread when I interviewed. You know it had to be good when I remember it seven years later!
 
I can't vote twice or I would change my vote. It's too bad my undergrad grades weren't good enough for Washington U; it sounds like my kind of school.
 
I based my decision on the food served at interview day. Of my three acceptances, lunch at NOVA was a slightly soggy ham and cheddar sandwich. VCOM-CC was turkey and swiss on rye. Tulane was crab jambalaya, fried catfish and black beans and rice. It wasn't a difficult decision to make.

I visited Tulane while on a service trip down there, and they had rice and beans, fried catfish, hush puppies, and some sort of andouille sausage and bean stew. Emory and Duke have nothing on this school.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Based on above comments I guess I'll be bringing my own food on interview days!

Anyway, I voted location. And sadly it's not to stay in my boring state near my husband (at least he's willing to commute when he has time off from work).
 
3) Cost

2) Extracurricular opportunities

1) Academics geared towards my particular learning style.
 
Cost was the primary factor for me, which knocked out one school immediately, but with the 3 other schools whose costs are similar, it came down to fit, then location, and lastly perhaps prestige... withdrew from a newer school because I loved the older schools just as much, but they were not new!
 
I wish there was a way to see votes split between pre-meds and those who are in or finished with school. It'd be interesting to see the "if you had to do it all over again, would ______ still be your first priority?"
 
I wish there was a way to see votes split between pre-meds and those who are in or finished with school. It'd be interesting to see the "if you had to do it all over again, would ______ still be your first priority?"

Another poll? Then again we will have to continue making these choices for residency and employment as well.
 
My husband and I were just discussing this earlier. I voted cost but location is a very close second. I will happily move, but he is a die hard Oregonian. We'll see what happens.
 
For me:
1. 50/50 between cost and fit
2. Location, I would gladly move just about anywhere.

Sent from my LG-E739 using SDN Mobile
 
It may not be the case for medical school, but for law and business, prestige is the pretty much only consideration.
 
It may not be the case for medical school, but for law and business, prestige is the pretty much only consideration.
It's not the case for med school. Unlike business, law, and grad degree programs in many fields, the biggest hurdle for medicine is in getting accepted to an American accredited medical school. Once you reach that point, nearly everyone completes their degree, and nearly everyone gets a residency and a job. Whether you can go into a competitive specialty depends much more on individual effort (board scores, clerkship grades, honor society selection, research, etc) than it does on where you went to med school. At my high power academic program, we have people from top ten research schools along with people from schools that aren't even on USNWR's top 50 list. This is the norm.
 
It's not the case for med school. Unlike business, law, and grad degree programs in many fields, the biggest hurdle for medicine is in getting accepted to an American accredited medical school. Once you reach that point, nearly everyone completes their degree, and nearly everyone gets a residency and a job. Whether you can go into a competitive specialty depends much more on individual effort (board scores, clerkship grades, honor society selection, research, etc) than it does on where you went to med school. At my high power academic program, we have people from top ten research schools along with people from schools that aren't even on USNWR's top 50 list. This is the norm.

Oh certainly, I completely agree with you. I was just pointing out that since you wrote "Professional School" in your poll, that med school is special in that prestige is not an important factor. Other professional schools are not as lucky.
 
Cost, fit and location.

Family does come in there, but my husband is sure he'll be able to find a job just about anywhere we'd move.

Most important to me are the eventual loans to pay back, my ability to adapt to the learning environment and the possibility of moving to a place with a larger religious community than my hometown.
 
Top