Albany vs UVM vs Tufts

[Prospective Med Student]

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I am incredibly fortunate to have been accepted into Albany Medical College, Larner College of Medicine in Vermont, and Tufts School of Medicine (MaineTrack), however, I now have to figure out where to go. Here is my list of reasons for each:

• AMC Pros:
  
  • Strong affiliate hospital (Albany Medical Center)
    • wont have to move around as much
  • cheaper COA (~58k for tuition and roughly 25k for remainder)
  • not too far from Boston or New York
  • seemingly strong emphasis on student wellbeing
  • potentially more institutional scholarships and need-based aid
  Albany Cons:
  • Have heard Albany does not have much to do outside class
  • unranked (not sure how much it matters)
  • Honors/Pass/Fail I think?
  • older facilities
  • I believe preclinical is all recorded lectures (aside from labs)
  • Felt less personal during interview

• Larner Pros:
  
  • more robust research opportunities
  • also strong affiliate hospitals
  • newer facilities
  • more active/collaborative learning environment
  • Burlington offers more to do outside of class
  • Ranked (again, not sure how much that matters)
  • Not too far from home
  • Really positive interview experience
  Larner Cons:
  • Quite steep in terms of tuition and living (got into Vermont Clinical Campus and I am OOS applicant)
  • Potentially less diverse patient population, although I have read/heard that this may not be true
  • likely to get less financial aid especially being out of state (tuition at 69k a year)
  • like the collaborative style, but also uncertain about the flipped classroom and how that will actually work in practice. I did ask current students but still do not know how I will function in that
  • A car is REQUIRED before matriculation

• Tufts (MaineTrack) Pros
  • Location is closest to where I live currently
  • Name brand recognition/higher ranked
  • strong research opportunities
  • potential scholarship for MaineTrack to make it closer to 50k for tuition
  • does use some NBME exams (nongraded) in pre-clerkship years
  • housing will be more affordable when back in Maine
  • very small class size (50) with significant student support (coaches, mentors, etc.)
  • great match rates and unique clerkship (longitudinal integrated clerkship where rotations are all done simultaneously in a partnership site in Maine)
  • similar to UVM and Albany where we will have entire training hospitals to ourselves essentially
• Tufts (MaineTracks) Cons:
  • highest price tag (without MaineTrack Scholarship)
  • highest cost of living during fist year
  • potentially a lot of moving around, especially after first year
  • Car necessary after year one
  • less access to robust research opportunities after moving to Portland center
  • fewer facilities in Portland center

It is still very early, and there is more digging for me to do, but I am currently leaning towards UVM or Tufts. Both are more rural care programs and provide wonderful resources for their students. I loved both my interviews from UVM and Tufts as they were incredibly welcoming. I have been told Tufts is the way to go, but UVM also looks really nice and like a great program that is kind of a change up of scenery and experience for me having lived in Boston and Maine for the last several years. I won't know any financial info until March.

Thanks!

 

[chilly_md]

Cheaper school is hard to beat considering both of these programs are at the same level roughly.