UCLA (Geffen Scholarship) vs Yale (full COA)

[HesitantPreMed]

Hi! Plz help

UCLA
Pros

• Geffen Scholar Prestige, merit award
• Cali Weather
• Ranked 6 for research, 5 for primary care
• chill program, class optional

Cons

• Far away from family
• Far away from girlfriend (serious relationship, marriage within 1-4 years likely)
• I think I want to match in northeast
• Not really pass fail? ("high pass, pass, fail")-not sure though

School Y
Pros

• Yale name (I'm from the northeast, so Yale sounds more impressive than UCLA- is this true everywhere?)
• closer to family (2 hour drive), closer to girlfriend who goes to med school 1.5 hours away
• Optional tests, chill program
• Full cost of attendance (like 5k a year realistic cost to me), due to financial aid though

Cons

• New Haven, unsafe and dreary
• Not ranked as highly, decreasing in rank over past few years

Summary: I want to do a surgery residency (maybe cardiothoracic, peds cards, plastics or even neuro?), and I don't know what to do.

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[ENZm3Qk5]

Yale

 

[dodolol21]

COA although slightly higher at Yale, the Yale System is worth it

 

[rball]

I wouldn't recommend focusing on USNWR rank, as it means little when you are comparing two top schools like these. I also wouldn't focus too much on "Geffen scholar prestige" - while it can help, it is not going to be as big a factor as other metrics such as your performance and the the reputation of your school.

To answer your question, yes Yale has a stronger name at the medical school level (not hospital level though) compared to UCLA, even here on the west coast. This is not a knock on UCLA, just a statement of strength for Yale. You can compare the historical match outcomes from each school and see for yourself: Yale matches on another level than most other schools in the country, UCLA included.

You're worried about the grading scheme: from my understanding UCLA has a fairly typical grading scheme (H/HP/P/F) on clinical rotations, and grading can be highly variable depending on the actual site you rotate at. Yale heavily inflates clinical rotation grades such that a majority of the class gets honors. This is fairly typical of elite private schools.

Based on the fact that you have family in the northeast, you want to match in the northeast, and you may want to do a competitive surgery residency such as plastics, I would choose Yale. I think based on what you've told us you would be happier there, and it would be quite a bit easier to match into a competitive surgical specialty in the northeast. You also say that the COA would be 5 K/year at Yale which is nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Hope this helps, and best of luck!

 

[acciobutterbeer]

Yale. If you don’t want to live in New Haven, there are tons of great places nearby that are nice! Some parts of New Haven are nice though—check out East Rock

 

[libertyyne]

Yale. You want to stay in NE, stay close to fam , and gf.

 

[meronebib]

This is one of those few moments in which the Geffen loses.

 

[Mynameisnobody]

Yale definitely!

 

[Upstage]

Many of my colleagues are in log-distance relationships here at UCLA and seem to make it work fine, but given the opportunity to stay near family and your partner I would take that especially since the two programs are practically comparable. UCLA can match you anywhere it’s just up to you to do away rotations and break into the east-coast.

Also COL might be much better in New Haven. The stipend for Geffen Scholar is about ~2,700 a month and average graduate rent is about ~1500. The places are nice but LA is more expensive than most place, and flights from LA to New Haven probably aren’t very cheap.

Go with Yale man. Congrats

 

[puahate]

Yale.