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Harvard will help you achieve your end goals better than UCSF due to its stratospheric prestige. Only you can decide if weather and money are worth giving up having the big H on your CV.
 
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As a fellow Sacramentonian I would recommend UCSF 🙂 UCSF has better rank than Harvard in primary care and since you are really wanted to stay in west coast, UCSF connections will help you with securing residency and also job afterwards.
 
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ahotmess said:
My ultimate goal is to match into a surgical specialty on the west coast and be faculty in California.
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As someone who is choosing HMS over UCSF, I think you should do the opposite.

People always assume that Harvard is in a class of its own and you should always choose it if you have the chance, but I don’t necessarily think that is true. UCSF is very well respected in medicine and will not put you at a disadvantage compared to HMS. I’ve actually had academic physicians (in CA) tell me that they would choose UCSF over HMS, so what you hear on forums is not always true in the real world. So the “more prestigious” pro is null IMO. UCSF at a cheaper cost and you want to do surgery in California – that is not a bad decision. UCSF is a premier surgery center and even takes referals from other academic hospitals in California.

Also, don’t read too much into match lists. There is not a lot to takeaway from them besides where that year’s class wanted to go.

(We have a lot in common. Feel free to DM me)
 
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OP what a fantastic problem to have!
Either school will set you up appropriately for the outcome you are looking for.
Wahkoon said:
As someone who is choosing HMS over UCSF, I think you should do the opposite.

People always assume that Harvard is in a class of its own and you should always choose it if you have the chance, but I don’t necessarily think that is true. UCSF is very well respected in medicine and will not put you at a disadvantage compared to HMS. I’ve actually had academic physicians (in CA) tell me that they would choose UCSF over HMS, so what you hear on forums is not always true in the real world. So the “more prestigious” pro is null IMO. UCSF at a cheaper cost and you want to do surgery in California – that is not a bad decision. UCSF is a premier surgery center and even takes referals from other academic hospitals in California.

Also, don’t read too much into match lists. There is not a lot to takeaway from them besides where that year’s class wanted to go.

(We have a lot in common. Feel free to DM me)
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I think when people talk about prestige they talk about prestige for the parent institution and lay man recognition. Medical people know UCSF is just as good or better in some instances compared to harvard, But most lay people would not associate UCSF with prestige throughout the country.
 
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libertyyne said:
OP what a fantastic problem to have!
Either school will set you up appropriately for the outcome you are looking for.

I think when people talk about prestige they talk about prestige for the parent institution and lay man recognition. Medical people know UCSF is just as good or better in some instances compared to harvard, But most lay people would not associate UCSF with prestige throughout the country.
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Oh I completely understand that, but I don’t think it has a place in determining medical schools or making decisions about your career. Factoring in people saying “Oh you are only a doctor from the #5 med school and not the #1 med school” is not useful at all in my opinion
 
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UCSF. The cons you have listed for UCSF should not be concerns you should have. Step 1 is going to be highly dependent on you, as @Wahkoon mentioned, match list is highly skewed to where students want to end up, and in medicine UCSF = HMS. The pros you listed for HMS are not real pros imo either for the reasons I have listed previously (aside from the 1 year preclinical, which I agree is a nice plus) . You do list very important pros for UCSF. Weather is valid. Boston is pretty cold, even for a east coast city. Money is a huge issue and will lead to less financial stress. In all, I think you will be happier in UCSF and therefore more likely to perform better. You will have so many opportunities at either med school that you won't even scratch the surface during your time there. Good luck and congratulations!
 
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I was accepted to UCSF but not Harvard. I would gladly take Harvard over UCSF for extra 70k because I am very prestige-conscious. However, if you don't care about prestige, pick UCSF!!
 
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jessicajonesharvard said:
I was accepted to UCSF but not Harvard. I would gladly take Harvard over UCSF for extra 70k because I am very prestige-conscious. However, if you don't care about prestige, pick UCSF!!
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Why though? Within the medical community they both have equal prospects. And once you get to residency, no one cares where you went to medical school. Heck, once you get to a practice no one really cares where you went to residency! (Both overgeneralizations)
 
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If you are specifically set on matching at UCSF specifically (rather than any top west coast program), then is an easy decision. If not, then HMS sends a majority of those who choose not to stay in Boston to UCLA, Stanford, and UCSF, I wouldn't worry about going back west after medical school.

I think it is fair to equivocate between UCSF and HMS in pure terms of clinical training, as they both have top-tier programs and will have some of the most unique cases in the nation. Where I would consider Harvard more heavily is if you see yourself doing anything outside of pure clinical medicine. There's simply no other program that has either the depth of breadth of options in research, policy, business or public health given HMS's 3 hospitals and all the associated grad programs at Harvard and MIT. If you're pretty sure your goals are primarily within the realm of clinical medicine, biomedical research, or public health, I would say go to the coast you'd be happier on and that is cheaper. If you have any other non-traditional dreams, give HMS a hard look before you decide.
 
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Personally I would look at the track record for either school, and realize that yes Harvard students on the whole have a stronger track record for placing into competitive surgical specialties across the country. I think UCSF is a great place, but I dont think it will offer you “better” clinical training than Harvard and I also am having trouble uderstanding why some people are saying you would be happier at UCSF-your post doesnt seem to indicate that. From my experience, Harvard does a bit more for its students to get to the top in any field (including outside of medicine), whereas at UCSF you will have to take more inititative but can still do equally as well.

I do think Harvard will provide a more nurturing atmosphere for its students, and if you go there you have to really screw it up to not match into a surgical subspecialty. Whereas at UCSF you will need to take more initiative to make things happen (it’s a UC after all: bigger school, more bureacratic, etc). Either place is great though, cant go wrong. Id recommend harvard for surgical subs and ucsf for primary care, but of course both schools do everything extremely well.
 
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Havard is more prestigious than UCSF, but both schools are uber-prestigious so the difference may not be material to your future, especially since you want to match on the West Coast. I suspect that the quality of your match will be based largely on your STEP scores and recommendations from your clinical rotations. The debt difference is material, but not so big as to be dispositive. I would go with where you feel you fit best.
 
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