Advice - U of Chicago vs. UMich for MD/MBA

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UMich (prolly full tuiton) or U of Chicago (w/ decent scholarship) for MD/MBA?

  • UMich

    Votes: 38 48.1%

  • U of Chicago

    Votes: 41 51.9%
  • Total voters
    79
N

njrpeter

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So with waitlists and acceptances and rejections in hand, I've been lucky and I'm pretty happy to have narrowed my choices down to the University of Chicago (Pritzker) and University of Michigan Medical Schools. Now I'm having a hard time deciding. Pritzker offered me a substantial scholarship that most people would say I'm stupid for even considering turning down, but the money isn't a super huge deal to me. (In the long run, it's not really THAT much, and I think where I spend the next 5+ years of my life shouldn't be dictated by finances alone). I'd have to pay full out-of-state tuiton @ Umich.

I don't even know what to say about my preferences between the two schools - they're both awesome but really different. UMich is super student-focused and really cutting edge with streaming lecture videos and online notes and quizzes. It seems to me that Pritzker is the opposite - old school lecture style with lots of class hours. I liked UMich's approach better - I HATE lecture.

Location wise Ann Arbor is a college town, Hyde Park is in a big metropolitan area - I'm not 100% sure what my preference is there. I heard Hyde Park isn't a great area so that's a point against Pritzker, I guess??

Even by rankings the schools (both medical and business) are close enough that it doesn't matter.

I do want to get an MBA, and in that department it seems like U of C has the upper hand but UMich's Ross School of Business is nothing to sneeze at either.

I honestly don't know what to do - I'm not even sure what criteria I should use to decide. Any and all advice is appreciated - especially from people who know stuff about the schools first-hand - and I hope everyone else got what they wanted/wanted what they got. If not, keep on truckin and best of luck!
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One question to ask is do you hate lecture or do you hate structured group learning? because if it's the latter, man, you're not going to be any happier going to (perhaps required) group sessions at UM when you could skip class at Pritzker and do your own thing.

Hyde Park really isn't as bad of a neighborhood as it's made out to be.

Both are freakin' cold.

I think one reason you may have difficulty deciding is that neither school has a large advantage over the other. Either way, you'll end up my boss someday.
 
OOh see that's something I didn't think of - you're right, I hate structured group learning. Give me the notes, a few hours alone, then let me take a test and go out drinking. I like to learn at my own pace, by myself - so if anything's REQUIRED anywhere, I'm not gonna like it. The oneup Umich has is that all their lectures are available online and all their notes are pre-typed for you - so skipping class doesn't mean missing out on info. I'll have to see if the group learning stuff is a huge deal @ Umich.

You're right about both schools being equally matched - that is my problem. And for some reason I'm opposed, in principle, to just following the money.
 
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Man this is going to be a hard choice either way.
I'd say don't focus on the MBA aspect for now, both schools are great.
Just see which med school you like better.
From the sounds of it, I can sense that you'd be happier at UMich because Pritzker is pretty old school, but maybe I'm just saying that cuz I'll be going to Michigan.

But honestly, I don't think you can go wrong either way.
 
A few things to think about:

NOTHING is required at Pritzker, other than that you take and pass the exams. I'm not sure how it is at Michigan.

Pritzker is true P/F for the first 2 years. How does Michigan grade?

Would you rather be in a city or a town? For most, I think that Chicago would have a HUGE edge in location vs. Ann Arbor. They're both equally cold, and there are way more interesting things to do in Chicago.
 
As a Michigan alum who is true blue to the end, the choice is easy for me, Umich all the way :)

okay, being a little less biased, I noticed you are going for an MD/MBA - Chicago's B-school is undoubtedly awesome, but I think that the Ross School at Michigan gives a lot more flexibility to work in health care economics/business (I come from a similar interest in health economics on the international level, and always really enjoyed Michigan's offerings) - also, Umich's health administration program within its public health school is unparalleled...UChicago's b-school is much more finance/wall-street based, and I don't think it offers too much for an MD program

That being said, Chicago is a great city, and I'm sure you'd do great either way, and if they're giving you more money, that's definitely something ot keep in mind - I'm truly jealous that you get to make that decision!
 
Towelie said:
Would you rather be in a city or a town? For most, I think that Chicago would have a HUGE edge in location vs. Ann Arbor. They're both equally cold, and there are way more interesting things to do in Chicago.
Click to expand...

Let me say first that I work at the University of Chicago and absolutely love the school.

It is more than likely that you will end up living in Hyde Park, which in my opinion is very much like a small town. It is an island in a sea of higher-crime (read: not necessarily unsafe) and lower-income (read: not necessarily rundown) neighborhoods. In fact, Hyde Park was the site of one the first urban renewal projects in the country. Since then, things have been slow to change in the surrounding area. Yet it is affordable, many of your classmates will live there (at least during the first two years), and it is convenient. There is also something to be said about the great diversity of the Hyde Park, Woodlawn, and Englewood population.

Most of the people you will meet in Hyde Park will be students and faculty from the university. Most of the people you will have sex with will be students and faculty from the university. Consequently, most of the people you will get VD from will be affiliated with the university. I'm being facetious but the fact remains that Hyde Park, if you end up living there, has nothing on Ann Arbor. I've spent time in Ann Arbor, and it's in a different league.

The University of Chicago, while within the Chicago city limits, is about 25 minutes away from the south loop and downtown Chicago (the loop) and 45 minutes from Wrigleyville, Wicker Park, and Lincoln Park. It is possible to live in one of these areas and commute to school. It is neat to drive along Lake Shore Drive if you do.

Anyways, this goes without saying: Chicago is the shiznit. The fact that the University of Chicago is less than 10 miles from the shiznit is a major draw for incoming students. All I'm saying is consider where you'll be living before you compare which school has a better location.
 
well seeing as i was faced with this exact choice myself, ill go through what i thought (and to ruin the suspense, im going to uchicago, though i did go back and forth):

-the curriculums were about even in my mind possibly favored to umich, but picking a med school based on the preclinical stuff is inane. clinical years are what matter, and i preferred chicago on this front.

-i like AA a lot, but i went to a college town for undergrad and was ready for a change. i will miss the football games though. hyde park isnt a bad area, but going too much further west (where our glorious olympic stadium will be, for example) isnt the greatest idea. not to mention you could use all that extra money you saved with your scholarship to buy a posh condo downtown and take the metra to school.

-this is completely subjective, but i felt like the uc people were more honest and less sales-pitchy about their school. at umich i felt they told me whatever i wanted to hear and would never consider that their system was anything but perfect.

-as to your scholarship, i also think it would be crazy to turn this down. if youre rich, use the surplus to buy a ferrari.

-as to the md/mba, i was under the impression that it is easier to get into the mba program at uc. i met some umich folk and i got the impression the competition to get into the md/mba was tough in their class, though i have no numbers to quote, but at chicago they said either 4 out of 5 or 100% that applied got in (cant remember which). plus in chicago you will be close to a lot of the top consulting firms etc who are very loyal to the chicago schools.

as always, these are my opinions as someone who has attended neither school, so you should probably just forget everything you just read. at any rate, good luck with your choice and enjoy the summer!
 
Wow this is all great info - Kaudung so you think that the overall lifestyle in Ann Arbor is better than Hyde Park? Seeing as how I know pretty much nobody outside of a couple of friends in Evanston in IL, I don't think I'd wanna be out on my own downtown away from my med school classmates and likely the people I'm gonna be friends with/hang out with most often considering my schedule. What did you like about ann arbor that makes you say Hyde Park's got nothing on it?

modelslashactor - why did U of C have the edge for you re: clinical years? And getting into the B-school is something I've been worried about - I'll have to look into that. I won't be a happy camper if I end up not being able to get an MBA if I want one. I'm quite sure I want to do a residency after med school so I doubt I'll be recruited by mckinsey or something rite after my graduation like a standard MBA grad.

Thanks so much for all ur adivce!!
 
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oh and to the OP i think your poll is biased because i voted just based on reading the poll options and it says Umich prolly full tuition...i assumed you had full tuition scholarship...that was prior to reading your post...so the poll may not actually reflect peoples votes based on your situaiton
 
Yea I noticed that but I don't know how to edit the poll options??
 
Towelie said:
A few things to think about:

NOTHING is required at Pritzker, other than that you take and pass the exams. I'm not sure how it is at Michigan.

Pritzker is true P/F for the first 2 years. How does Michigan grade?

Would you rather be in a city or a town? For most, I think that Chicago would have a HUGE edge in location vs. Ann Arbor. They're both equally cold, and there are way more interesting things to do in Chicago.
Click to expand...

Oh my gosh, for it's size, Ann Arbor is amazing! Plus, I talk to a lot of Uchicago kids, med and undergrad - they dont leave Hyde Park much.
Umich does P/F too.
I cant imagine turning U of M down ever but here's a good question - which is cheaper? I would use that as my criteria if you're that torn.
 
okay, ya, i just realized you said probably full tuition versus some scholarship. you'd be crazy to miss out on full tuition when both are on par with each other. makes no sense. go to u of m :)
 
No I wasn't clear in my writing - i'd have to PAY full tuiton @ Umich whereas I'd get a substantial scholarship at U of C... sorry that's totally unclear in my poll. And that's why i'm torn - I am leaning to Umich and if I had a full tuiton scholarship there this wouldn't be an issue. But U of C threw a juicy steak on my plate that's hard to turn down :)
 
MissSonu said:
Oh my gosh, for it's size, Ann Arbor is amazing! Plus, I talk to a lot of Uchicago kids, med and undergrad - they dont leave Hyde Park much.
Umich does P/F too.
I cant imagine turning U of M down ever but here's a good question - which is cheaper? I would use that as my criteria if you're that torn.
Click to expand...

ann arbor is pretty cool for a college town, but it's also expensive. i was shocked at how high the rents and restaurant prices are, considering it's full of college students and there's not much surrounding it. and there are obvious issues with comparing an entire college town to a single neighborhood in a very large city. if you like big-city stuff, all the ann-arbor-to-detroit driving in the world ain't gonna make up for being minutes from downtown chicago.

njrpeter said:
No I wasn't clear in my writing - i'd have to PAY full tuiton @ Umich whereas I'd get a substantial scholarship at U of C... sorry that's totally unclear in my poll. And that's why i'm torn - I am leaning to Umich and if I had a full tuiton scholarship there this wouldn't be an issue. But U of C threw a juicy steak on my plate that's hard to turn down :)
Click to expand...

this really wasn't clear. "full tuition" really does imply that you were offered a full tuition scholarship. with scholarships being as rare as they are, paying full tuition would be assumed. it's also tougher to judge this if you don't put out the numbers.
 
as far as the clinical years, i think they are both strong but a couple personal preferences leaned me toward chicago: first, id like to work with the spanish speaking population in the city, and chicago is ideal for this. second, i've heard a lot of encouraging things all across the country about chicago's clinical training. third, i am interested in academics, and chicago is regarded extremely well for academic training. lastly, and i don't think this is trivial, michigan is grade-deflated in the clinics (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=155768) while chicago is inflated, not to mention grades are not on the transcript at chicago.

in regards to your chances of getting into the mba program when you apply, you should call each school and ask them the number that applied and the number that were accepted. i ballparked the numbers i said before based on what some students i talked to said, but for 250k you deserve to know the exact figures from the horse's mouth. this should not be an unreasonable request as im sure both keep track of this sort of thing.

again, i want to say that it is tough to think of absolute advantages of one over the other because they are pretty evenly matched. if you asked me a month ago i probably would have said i was going to umich, but after thinking about it some more i changed my mind. that's the thought process i used and im sticking to it. good luck!
 
Chicago, great town

Chicago MBA, one of the most reputable in the world.

University of Chicago medical school, highly ranked.

Am I missing something ?
 
cleothecat said:
Chicago, great town

Chicago MBA, one of the most reputable in the world.

University of Chicago medical school, highly ranked.

Am I missing something ?
Click to expand...

the nice scholarship at university of chicago's medical school. ;)
 
Honestly, there are two things holding me back from Chicago - the Hyde Park issue and how easy/difficult it is to drive, meet people, etc. without having to fight downtown traffic to have anything to do.

Second, U of C seemed to have a really old-school curriculum that's super lecture-based. UMich sold itself as really cutting edge, what with streaming lecture videos and online notes and all that jazz.

I know it seems stupid to think about turning down a scholarship (which would cut tuiton @ Pritzker by more than half) but I'm just thinking in the long run, it's 5 years of my life, and I want to enjoy them and be where I want to be, not where I'm being paid to be. I have the rest of my life to do that :)

AND I hardly speak spanish, nor am I inclined to learn it from scratch now!
 
cleothecat said:
That combined with everything else means.....

TROLL
Click to expand...

I think you're just jealous, because as QuakerPreMed said, he (or she ) will be our boss one day. :D
 
njrpeter said:
Wow this is all great info - Kaudung so you think that the overall lifestyle in Ann Arbor is better than Hyde Park? Seeing as how I know pretty much nobody outside of a couple of friends in Evanston in IL, I don't think I'd wanna be out on my own downtown away from my med school classmates and likely the people I'm gonna be friends with/hang out with most often considering my schedule. What did you like about ann arbor that makes you say Hyde Park's got nothing on it?

Thanks so much for all ur adivce!!
Click to expand...

If you're comparing Ann Arbor lifestyle to just Hyde Park, for me, Hyde Park loses hands down. Ann Arbor is consistently rated as one of the best places to live in the country. Ann Arbor has close to 40 bars, dozens of golf courses, dozens of grocery stores, and several movie theaters. Hyde Park has one or two places that show movies, one or two grocery stores, a couple bars, and zero golf courses. Ann Arbor has more restaurants. It also has one tree for every two residents. Ann Arbor is pretty, though The Point in Hyde Park is as pretty as they come.

Ann Arbor has more of everything because it is bigger. Still, Hyde Park is close to Chicago. You will have quick access to the many things to do there. Ann Arbor is more suburban and Hyde Park is more urban, which I like. Hyde Park is a small community of mostly academics and students crammed together in a roughly 10x8 block area. It is in essence a small college town enveloped by an urban landscape. Ann Arbor is a much larger college town.

I guess I can't answer for you whether Ann Arbor is a better place to live. I can say that I like it better than Hyde Park. I don't, however, like it more than Chicago.

You can still hang out with friends if you live downtown. Sometimes they'll be in the city on weekends and weeknights. You'll probably just need a car.
 
Damn right.

I am an MBA, also faculty at a prestigious business school.

University of Chicago is for MBAs' what Mecca is to Moslems, the Vatican is to Christians, and Jerusalem is to the Jews.

It is the pinnacle of achievement to which many in business schools aspire to attain, and it makes the Michigan option merely academic, or at the very least "sacrilege"!

(Incidentally it is also a darn good Medical school)
 
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