Albany vs West Virginia vs Rosalind Franklin

[yurikatsuki]

I have done a lot of research and am torn on what to prioritize. Please let me know if I missed anything in terms of what to consider. For reference I am very set on going into pathology.

Albany
Pros

• University owned hospital for rotations
• Home residency in pathology
• Cost is the cheapest out of the 3 (by $10k/year)
• Location is somewhere I would love to live

Cons

• Grading system is honors/ excellent/ good/ marginal/ unsatisfactory
• None of their students matched pathology in 2022, 2023, and 2024 and they have no pathology interest groups
• Lectures are mandatory

West Virginia
Pros

• P/F grading
• Lectures aren't mandatory
• University owned hospitals for rotations
• Home residency in pathology
• Highest pathology match rate of the 3

Cons

• Students are ranked
• Most expensive of the 3
• Location (Only reason I'm considering this is b/c I have options- I have heard not great things about living here)

Rosalind Franklin
Pros

• Ranked the highest of the 3
• They don't rank their students
• P/F grading
• Lectures aren't mandatory
• Students match pathology every year
• Great location

Cons

• No home residency program in pathology, so I'd have to network to get that experience
• No university owned hospitals for rotations

Summary: RFU is ranked highest but they don't have a university owned hospital, WVU has everything I'm looking for but is in an area I wouldn't love to live in, and my gut is telling me Albany and I want to live there (lol) but they don't have P/F grading which I know is extremely important.

Thank you in advance for your help, time, and advice!

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[chemicalrush21]

Disclaimer: I'm also an admitted applicant this cycle and not a medical student yet. In my opinion, I would not go with Albany simply because they don't have P/F grading and non-mandatory lectures. Personally, I would also not want to live in West Virginia for reasons like you mentioned, especially since you do have options and that freedom to be picky about location. While I understand your concerns about RFU not having their own home residency programs or hospital, I *believe* that pathology is a niche but non-competitive specialty (I might be mistaken though). This means that you should be able to network in the Chicago area at local institutions and hospitals (i.e. UIC, UChicago, Northwestern, Rush, etc.) and build good connections, if you take the initiative. This is evident by students matching pathology each year, which means it is consistently possible. How would the cost difference look between RFU and WVU?

EDIT: I just looked at the last ten years of match data and like you said, there was at least 1-2 pathology matches almost every year. I think it was also cool to see that every single one of those matches was at a different program in various parts of the country (with the exception of Northwestern twice), which means you wouldn't even be limited to just networking and staying in the Chicago area if you'd like to go elsewhere.

 

[yurikatsuki]

Disclaimer: I'm also an admitted applicant this cycle and not a medical student yet. In my opinion, I would not go with Albany simply because they don't have P/F grading and non-mandatory lectures. Personally, I would also not want to live in West Virginia for reasons like you mentioned, especially since you do have options and that freedom to be picky about location. While I understand your concerns about RFU not having their own home residency programs or hospital, I *believe* that pathology is a niche but non-competitive specialty (I might be mistaken though). This means that you should be able to network in the Chicago area at local institutions and hospitals (i.e. UIC, UChicago, Northwestern, Rush, etc.) and build good connections, if you take the initiative. This is evident by students matching pathology each year, which means it is consistently possible. How would the cost difference look between RFU and WVU?

EDIT: I just looked at the last ten years of match data and like you said, there was at least 1-2 pathology matches almost every year. I think it was also cool to see that every single one of those matches was at a different program in various parts of the country (with the exception of Northwestern twice), which means you wouldn't even be limited to just networking and staying in the Chicago area if you'd like to go elsewhere.

This is super helpful, thank you so much for your insight! The cost difference is only $3k/ year, so not a big difference at all.