Baylor vs. UNC

[ck_17]

Hi,

I am debating between Baylor or UNC...

I have some experience with Baylor as I lived in Houston while doing my MPH. The TMC med center is great and Baylor students are awesome, but I have a strong interest in public health research...and in this one category, there weren´t too great of opportunities in Houston (though of course there is no shortage of research at MDA). Ive also heard that Baylor can be pretty cutthroat.

UNC Gillings of course has a great name in public health, and UNC Med is ranked higher than Baylor for primary care...but in my experience it doesn´t seem to carry the same name as Baylor does (I could just be biased since I lived in Houston). And the match list for UNC doesnt boast the big names as Baylor does.

Factors I am considering:
- does it help to be closer to home during med school? NC is driving distance while HTX would be flying distance
- how much time does each school give for Step 1 studying
- culture of the school: collaborative or competitive?
- age range of matriculants: i´m late 20s and would prefer not to be surrounded by 22 year olds (no offense).
- access: I know Ben Taub in Houston is great. I would love to hear if UNC has a similar level I trauma center or other big county hospital?

Any other pros / cons of either, or general advice, would be much appreciated. TIA!

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[Dunkin4532]

Baylor

 

[dark_knight]

If Public Health is a big priority for you UNC. They're a much bigger name in the field. Ranking wise they are both equivalent. Look for the best fit for you.

As far as location, depends on how far of a driving distance to your home and proximity to airports.

 

[ck_17]

If Public Health is a big priority for you UNC. They're a much bigger name in the field. Ranking wise they are both equivalent. Look for the best fit for you.

As far as location, depends on how far of a driving distance to your home and proximity to airports.

Well UNC is 8 hours from home but still driving distance. It looks like the airport is closeby in NC. I know in Houston both the airports are outside the city.

Yes public health is something I am very interested in, but so is surgery. And UNC doesn´t have many students that match - let alone well - into surgery, as compared to Baylor.

 

[dark_knight]

Well UNC is 8 hours from home but still driving distance. It looks like the airport is closeby in NC. I know in Houston both the airports are outside the city.

Yes public health is something I am very interested in, but so is surgery. And UNC doesn´t have many students that match - let alone well - into surgery, as compared to Baylor.

You can't go wrong with either choice. And Baylor has super cheap tuition as well. So if you feel career wise it's better definitely go there.

As far as match lists, you have to remember that UNC is focused on training primary care physicians which is why they have fewer surgery matches. It doesn't mean that you'll have any trouble there trying to match surgery, just that most of their students don't care for it.

As far as trauma sorry I don't know much about either to say. I know Houston is a major city so there should be a lot but I can't say much about UNC. Maybe try reaching out to current students?

I don't think 8 hours driving is reasonable, so I wouldn't count it as a pro.

 

[Anonyme27516]

Well UNC is 8 hours from home but still driving distance. It looks like the airport is closeby in NC. I know in Houston both the airports are outside the city.

Yes public health is something I am very interested in, but so is surgery. And UNC doesn´t have many students that match - let alone well - into surgery, as compared to Baylor.

Just helping to answer a question: RDU is about 20 minutes from Chapel Hill and a $25 uber ride. The airport is never ever ever busy: I can usually arrive just about 1hr before my flight takes off and be totally fine. Traffic in the area hardly exists so getting to and from the airport is incredibly easy. I fly out of RDU from Chapel Hill about 5 times a year for the past 4 years. Super easy.

 

[The Unburnt]

A few notes to consider about UNC:

-If you're interested in public health and public health research, Gillings is amazing obviously and that is part of the reason I will be matriculating at UNC.

-As far as prestige/name recognition, I feel like they are about the same. I'm from Florida and haven't heard much about Baylor so maybe the Houston thing is making that a little biased.

-As for the match list at UNC, UNC tends to be a school that attracts a lot of people interested in primary care (obviously) which is why a lot of their match list is primary care. When I interviewed I spoke with an MS4 that matched ortho surgery this past month so I don't think it closes any doors in terms of specialty, it just happens that a lot of people WANT to go into primary care, so they do.

-The culture at UNC is VERY collaborative from what I saw, and I also met a lot of students that were in the "older" age range.

-RDU is really close and not super busy which was really nice when I flew in/out

If you have any specific questions about UNC/my experience on interview day/second look let me know and I can try to answer them! I'm a lowly incoming student so I don't know much outside of what I saw on interview day/second look/heard from others!