Accepted to HMS but not attending?

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boxergirl

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Hi all,

This post is a bit different from DrJ2B's thread on UPenn. Is there anybody that has been accepted to HMS, but has decided to go elsewhere? If so, can you tell me what factors influenced your decision not to go to HMS? Any comments would be useful and greatly appreciated! Thanks.

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Personally, I am not in this situation, but I know from reading this forum all the time that a bunch of people elect to matriculate at UCSF and Johns Hopkins rather than HMS. Not sure what the motives are, unless you're from California. Probably location, financial aid, that sort of thing. I know you'd rather hear from people who've actually made this decision, and I'm sure they'll reply, but just figured i'd give you what i had.
 
superab2003 said:
Personally, I am not in this situation, but I know from reading this forum all the time that a bunch of people elect to matriculate at UCSF and Johns Hopkins rather than HMS. Not sure what the motives are, unless you're from California. Probably location, financial aid, that sort of thing. I know you'd rather hear from people who've actually made this decision, and I'm sure they'll reply, but just figured i'd give you what i had.

Others on here took Stanford over HMS... and maybe Penn, Duke, etc. too?
 
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My little sister took Yale over HMS. She seems pretty happy....
 
Thank you to those that have responded. Can anybody provide me their reasons for deciding to go elsewhere? Thanks.
 
He remains an Englishman.
 
Don't get too caught up in the name. It's a fantastic name that'll open doors, of course. There are other names that can open doors too. I ended up choosing based on cost, location, and curriculum (with probably more weight on curriculum). You'll be a good doctor if you go to HMS or not.
Good luck!
 
I ended up choosing Hopkins over Harvard because I felt that Harvard was a little too over-rated. Hopkins has a great name as well, top rated clinics, and an international presence just like Harvard. However I thought that the clinical experience at Hopkins was second to none, and I preferred the traditional lecture / small group / seminar style learning versus the hugely PBL based with some lecture style of Harvard's.
 
neoneil said:
I ended up choosing Hopkins over Harvard because I felt that Harvard was a little too over-rated. Hopkins has a great name as well, top rated clinics, and an international presence just like Harvard. However I thought that the clinical experience at Hopkins was second to none, and I preferred the traditional lecture / small group / seminar style learning versus the hugely PBL based with some lecture style of Harvard's.


Ditto for me here. They are both great schools, but my interests aligned a little more with what was going on at Hopkins. I hate PBL, and Hopkins' financial package was about 6x what I was offered by HMS.

Good luck to all!
 
I chose UCSF over Harvard for 3 reasons:
1. I liked the California attitude at SF better than the slightly more intense HMS atmosphere.
2. The weather in SF is much better.
3. I didn't really like PBL, and the students seem happier at SF (small sample size, i know)

Overall, they are equivalent schools (medically-speaking, not in terms of name recognition) in my opinion and you can't go wrong with either.

411.
 
Decided to go with DMS instead.

During my visits to HMS, I got the distinct impression (which several students there actually confirmed during converstations) that the student body is fairly fragmented. Specifically, members of ethnic/cultural groups tended to be very cliquish and socialized only amongst themselves. I noticed this when I saw for myself that whites stuck with whites, Asians w/ Asians, blacks w/ blacks, and international students w/ themselves. Of course I recognize this is a generalization (based on limited observation), but I definitely noticed this phenomenon much more than at other schools -- and was that much more surprised (and disappointed) since I expected more from such a top ranked med school. The fact that many current students openly complained of the same issue was also both confirmatory and disappointing.

In particular, the hot white chicks were extremely stuck up and only spoke with other pretty white chicks. Felt like high school all over again... :cool:

DMS has a much more collaborative and collegial community feel. Smaller class (1/2 of HMS' size), stellar faculty (many of whom moved b/w DMS and HMS during their careers), NICE students, not cutthroat competitive, top-notch residency placements, great campus & outdoors. A student class that seems happy is very important to me :)
 
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