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I’d personally choose UMich. However, looking at your list of pros and cons, it’s really a toss up. Don’t think you can go wrong w either. I wouldn’t be concerned about Michigan students matching in the mid west; surely, they have the national reputation to be looked upon with favor across the nation. Given the fact that you don’t know where you want to be or what you want to do post residency, I would choose Michigan. I think it has all of the resources you need to go wherever and do whatever you want. The same is likely true for UCSD, I am just more familiar with Mich.
 
If the cost is the same and you don’t mind the Midwest weather, I’d pick Michigan, a much stronger name. I don’t think you are bound to Midwest matches out of Michigan. You can practically go anywhere ouf of U of M.
 
Michigan is a powerhouse brand plain and simple. UCSD while strong is definitely not Michigan. A lot of medicine has to do with regionalism where students are choosing to attend school/residency in a certain geographic area b/c of various factors like support system/spousal commitments/familiarity of surroundings which is not a limitation though from you being able to match anywhere especially from a institution like UM.

That being said, can you handle living 4 years in a college town with brutal winters vs a large metropolitan area that most people dream of living in but comes with a higher COL
 
I'd also go with Michigan here. It has better grad programs in case you want to do dual degrees, a better hospital system, and a bigger name (in medicine and outside), better residencies.
 
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nontoxicpremed1 said:
Thanks! One concern I have about Michigan (in addition to the weather) is being LGBTQ in rural/suburban part of the midwest. Anyone have experience with being LGBTQ or URM in Ann Arbor? Or San Diego?
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I wouldn't worry about that. You are in Ann Arbor which is a college town and thus runs progressive. All sorts of crowds and faces in Ann Arbor
 
chilly_md said:
Michigan since you are not IS at UCSD. Proximity to family and friends is not an issue here.
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I believe initial in state tuition matters less for UC schools because they can change residency after first year and get in state from then on. I think that's the case foe ucsf and ucla at least. In that case, it's like a 10k one time difference. Not sure about ucsd though.

In any case, I'd still choose UMich because that cost differential isn't big enough.
 
nontoxicpremed1 said:
Thanks! One concern I have about Michigan (in addition to the weather) is being LGBTQ in rural/suburban part of the midwest. Anyone have experience with being LGBTQ or URM in Ann Arbor? Or San Diego?
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Can't speak to this at either school. Are you worried about discrimination or finding a partner? If it's general discrimination, both are pretty liberal areas and so that shouldn't be a factor. If it's finding a partner, I imagine san Diego might be better because it's bigger?
 
BritainKittenMittens said:
I believe initial in state tuition matters less for UC schools because they can change residency after first year and get in state from then on. I think that's the case foe ucsf and ucla at least. In that case, it's like a 10k one time difference. Not sure about ucsd though.

In any case, I'd still choose UMich because that cost differential isn't big enough.
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I shouldn’t have used IS since that’s mostly for tuition and whether the school will prefer an applicant. I meant it more that they don’t live in California, so they wouldn’t be leaving their support system.

I did not know you could change residency for UC schools. The undergrad campuses used to love having OOS students to gain extra money and I wouldn’t expect them to give a chance at changing residency to those kids. I think it’s only if you’re moving to California for non-educational purposes, but they may have changed it.
 
chilly_md said:
I shouldn’t have used IS since that’s mostly for tuition and whether the school will prefer an applicant. I meant it more that they don’t live in California, so they wouldn’t be leaving their support system.

I did not know you could change residency for UC schools. The undergrad campuses used to love having OOS students to gain extra money and I wouldn’t expect them to give a chance at changing residency to those kids. I think it’s only if you’re moving to California for non-educational purposes, but they may have changed it.
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For medical school, you can get in state tuition after your first year at the UCs. It is different than for undergrad.
 
I went to U-M Med School. Lots of gay med students. Ann Arbor is as progressive as it gets in the Midwest (similar to Madison, WI).
Probably just as easy being openly LGBTQ in A2 as in relatively conservative San Diego (compared to rest of Calif). No kidding.
 
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Congrats on such a great cycle! I would go with Michigan, but full disclosure I did not interview at UCSD. I am choosing between some schools including Michigan. The vibes are immaculate and the school has a very strong reputation nationally I think. I think match lists are difficult to interpret and only provide a snapshot, same with the step scores (some places, students just study by themselves and their scores aren't an indication of their school).

I think having a well rounded education with the most doors open is super important. If you feel like that's the case, then Michigan might be it for you.
 
Thanks for all the input. I am having a bit of difficulty finding match lists from UCSD for the past few years. Anyone have any links?

Also, I have family in San Francisco (90 min flight from San Diego). Not sure if this should factor in as "support system" in weighting the location piece (vs no family or friends anywhere in/near Michigan).
 
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nontoxicpremed1 said:
Thanks for all the input. I am having a bit of difficulty finding match lists from UCSD for the past few years. Anyone have any links?

Also, I have family in San Francisco (90 min flight from San Diego). Not sure if this should factor in as "support system" in weighting the location piece (vs no family or friends anywhere in/near Michigan).
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I found this one from 2020:

I wouldn’t factor it in too much if they are not close family members. You might be able to do a flight to San Francisco for 3 day weekends if you can’t fit in a trip home instead. But I feel that’s not very significant.
 
I'll echo other commenters and recommend you Go Blue, but after thinking through some of your cons.
- Match list is midwest-heavy because many students are from midwest or decide they like it while there. They match well outside and their med students are supposedly the best prepared for intern year
- Location - not much to say here. Whether does suck. Detroit can be neat. Cheap direct flights to other major cities for weekends
- Diversity - very LGBTQ friendly place and ultra-progressive
- 1 year preclinical - trust me the only thing worse than a 1-year preclinical would be a more than 1-year preclinical
- AOA/rank - this is none ideal, but at the end of the day even in P/F people are low-key competitive. That just the culture of medicine
- Spanish speaking population - this is honestly the biggest tradeoff you'd have to make. There's decently active affinity groups, but you won't see many Latino folks walking around town or in the hospital. If directly serving Latino patients *as a medical student* is critically important to you, then I'd go UCSD. If you can wait till residency to do this then Go Blue!
 
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