Baylor vs Dell (Full Tuition)

[MangoWater]

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Hello! I am new to this forum and came for some last minute advice before making one of the most important decisions in my life. I luckily matched into Dell in March and 2-3 weeks later received an acceptance call from Baylor. I was given a 50% tuition + fees scholarship at Dell in March. I intended to enroll in Baylor by the April 30th deadline, but Dell reached out the other day and increased my scholarship to 100% tuition + fees. Now, I feel a bit lost now on what the best decision would be for my future as I am the first in my family to navigate the world of medicine. I have had an interest in derm for years now but am open to exploring other specialities. Below is my pros and cons list.

Baylor
Pros

• Established and known nationally
• I'm from Houston and attended college here, so support system and home are nearby
• TMC center largest medical center & offers many specialty opportunities
• Diverse populations
• Strong research opportunities
• Will prepare me strongly to match into derm
• Innovative electives and general pathways that appeal to me
  • Pathways: Medical Research / Care for the Underserved

Cons

• Administration seems a bit distant
• Feels like a less cohesive student culture (might also be more difficult to connect online)
• No scholarship/aid, only loans
• Big class size
• May need to take extra 5th year for research to be a stronger candidate for derm (extra year with loans)
• More competitive atmosphere

Dell
Pros

• 100% tuition + fees scholarship
• I feel that I really align with their mission and value-based care approach in medicine
• Case-based learning and problem-based learning are fun
• Administration & student body seems warm and inviting
• Austin seems like a fun city, and it might be time to move
• Small class size that seems very supportive
• More collaborative
• 3rd year free for research or dual degree
  • Medical research opportunity to prepare for derm or MBA

Cons

• Limited match information
• Unsure research opportunities
• Far from home (may also be a pro; I flip-flip occasionally ahh)
• New and still establishing itself
• Higher living expenses/rent/food/gas

In essence, I feel very conflicted and have been thinking non-stop for about a month now. I love the atmosphere and feeling at Dell in addition to the incredible scholarship, but I know that Baylor's reputation may useful in my future to pursuing dermatology down the road while having my family and friends nearby. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks for listening! 🙂

 

[wondervisions]

Dell

 

[citymedhopeful]

Hello! I am new to this forum and came for some last minute advice before making one of the most important decisions in my life. I luckily matched into Dell in March and 2-3 weeks later received an acceptance call from Baylor. I was given a 50% tuition + fees scholarship at Dell in March. I intended to enroll in Baylor by the April 30th deadline, but Dell reached out the other day and increased my scholarship to 100% tuition + fees. Now, I feel a bit lost now on what the best decision would be for my future as I am the first in my family to navigate the world of medicine. I have had an interest in derm for years now but am open to exploring other specialities. Below is my pros and cons list.

Baylor
Pros

• Established and known nationally
• I'm from Houston and attended college here, so support system and home are nearby
• TMC center largest medical center & offers many specialty opportunities
• Diverse populations
• Strong research opportunities
• Will prepare me strongly to match into derm
• Innovative electives and general pathways that appeal to me
  • Pathways: Medical Research / Care for the Underserved

Cons

• Administrations seems a bit distant
• Feels like a less cohesive student culture (might also be more difficult to connect online)
• No scholarship/aid, only loans
• Big class size
• May need to take extra 5th year for research to be a stronger candidate for derm (extra year with loans)
• More competitive atmosphere

Dell
Pros

• 100% tuition + fees scholarship
• I feel that I really align with their mission and value-based care approach in medicine
• Case-based learning and problem-based learning are fun
• Administration & student body seems warm and inviting
• Austin seems like a fun city, and it might be time to move
• Small class size that seems very supportive
• More collaborative
• 3rd year free for research or dual degree
  • Medical research opportunity to prepare for derm or MBA

Cons

• Limited match information
• Unsure research opportunities
• Far from home (may also be a pro; I flip-flip occasionally ahh)
• New and still establishing itself
• Higher living expenses/rent/food/gas

In essence, I feel very conflicted and have been thinking non-stop for about a month now. I love the atmosphere and feeling at Dell in addition to the incredible scholarship, but I know that Baylor's reputation may useful in my future to pursuing dermatology down the road while having my family and friends nearby. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks for listening! 🙂

Call or email Baylor, see if now that you have a strong competeing offer they will help mitigate the difference so you can attend.

 

[deleted1079705]

As said above, try to get Baylor to match ASAP, but if they do not, take the scholarship

 

[Dentate Gyrus]

Full disclosure, I'm a current baylor student. The scholarship is pretty enticing so I would second reaching out to Baylor about scholarships.

Just a few points I wanted to clarify. You probably won't have to take a 5th year for research to match successfully into derm. Few students actually do the fifth year overall and we still get lots of matches into Derm every year regardless. In terms of the fifth year, you would typically not have to take out loans because they work very hard with you to find funding (usually the lab PI will just fund your research year, which the NIH rate for trainees is around 31k.

In terms of the bigger class size, I personally dont think this is a negative. It's been fun getting to know so many people and you have a better chance of finding your group of close friends that you jive with. Everyone here has been super collaborative too since we don't have any grades in pre-clinical. This might change after clinicals start but I haven't heard anything that I would worry about.

 

[wysdoc]

Look at the Dell Med Facebook page and you will see that an exceptional graduating MS4 was able to turn a research year into a derm match and an award (Shine Award for research).
I would say Dell requires a lot of initiative on the part of the student but isn't this true at any school? Newer school with less match history to see.
Baylor more structured and traditional curriculum throughout, nationally recognized school, and excellent faculty and mentorship.

You can't make a bad choice.

 

[wysdoc]

What did you end up deciding, @MangoWater?

 

[Bot Puppet]

What did you end up deciding, @MangoWater?

I'm wondering the same thing now!