UPitt or RWJ(UMDNJ)

[pkakka]

I know you must be sick of these threads by now but do bear with another one.

I got an email from Upitt on Friday ,where I was waitlisted, intimating that I have a good chance of getting accepted if I am still interested.

Let me try and list the pros & cons of each school as seen through my viewpoint:

RWJ -
-Close proximity to where I live
-Cheaper In State Tution (20K/year)
-Feel comfortable at RWJ Univ Hosp due to my shadowing work in Neurosurgery and Cardiac-Electrophysiology.

-Mid tier/Average Med School (http://www.state.nj.us/health/hset/chapter4.htm)


UPitt-
-Better name/prestige
-Better Clinical training(from what I have been told).

-Higher tution cost(35k/year)
-Would need to move

Based on my interests and shadowing work I am leaning towards Optho,Rads or Cardiology-Interventional. I know its still early and my interests could change over the next couple of years.

However does choosing one school over the other matter when applying for competitive residency such as Optho, Rads, Rad-Onc etc. to top tier programs ?

I mean is the UPitt education/name going to give me a big boost (which RWJ cannot) that would make taking on the extra cost and the pain of moving worthwhile ?

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[criminallyinane]

I know you must be sick of these threads by now but do bear with another one.

I got an email from Upitt on Friday ,where I was waitlisted, intimating that I have a good chance of getting accepted if I am still interested.

Let me try and list the pros & cons of each school as seen through my viewpoint:

RWJ -
-Close proximity to where I live
-Cheaper In State Tution (20K/year)
-Feel comfortable at RWJ Univ Hosp due to my shadowing work in Neurosurgery and Cardiac-Electrophysiology.

-Mid tier/Average Med School (http://www.state.nj.us/health/hset/chapter4.htm)


UPitt-
-Better name/prestige
-Better Clinical training(from what I have been told).

-Higher tution cost(35k/year)
-Would need to move

Based on my interests and shadowing work I am leaning towards Optho,Rads or Cardiology-Interventional. I know its still early and my interests could change over the next couple of years.

However does choosing one school over the other matter when applying for competitive residency such as Optho, Rads, Rad-Onc etc. to top tier programs ?

I mean is the UPitt education/name going to give me a big boost (which RWJ cannot) that would make taking on the extra cost and the pain of moving worthwhile ?

I think if you're interested in a competitive specialty, going to the best medical school you can get into is always a boost. That's not to say that you can't get a good residency from RWJ, though, either. Optho, rads, and cards pay well, so you'll be able to repay your debt from Pitt. If you would be happy at Pitt, I think it's the best choice for you professionally, but if you'd be miserable being away from your family, you'd be better off in Jersey.

 

[Dr. Chiquita]

I was in a similar situation as you were several weeks ago. I pretty much withdrew my apps from mid-tier schools like Einstein & Tufts after being interviewed, because I didn't feel that they were worth paying extra over RWJ. But I held on to UCLA, which I thought was worth it. But when they waitlisted me, I withdrew my app right away and is now 100% committed to RWJ. This is in no way that I felt RWJ is just as good as UCLA. I still do strongly believe UCLA is of a higher caliber school and so is Pitt than RWJ. But my family being in NJ and my fiance landing on a good job in NJ, I just felt that these reasons plus RWJ being a solid med school were good enough for me not to pursue UCLA till the end. Granted that I didn't get any sort of indication from UCLA that you received about how good your chances were of getting off the waitlist. But I really didn't want to risk having to wait through the summer and not getting in eventually.

If you think you have a very good chance of getting in, pursue it till the end. Pitt name, I am sure, will help with competitive residencies. But otherwise, you might want to re-evaluate how important it is for you to live near your family in NJ. If that's really important to you, then RWJ, I don't think, is a bad choice considering that it won't prevent you from any of top specialties if you are good.

Good luck!