Best med school cities?

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
F

FishermanDon99

Full Member
7+ Year Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2015
Messages
97
Reaction score
32
Points
4,631
  1. Pre-Medical
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
I know that most people don't get a choice in where they go, you go where you get in. But if it was only up to what city the school was in what school would you go to, and why? Things I am considering: food scene, cost of living, cultural things to do, etc. Go.
 
New Orleans
Las Vegas
Madison
Portland
Seattle
Phoenix
Nashville
New York City
Chicago
St. Louis
Cincinnati
Denver
Houston
San Antonio
Miami
Houston
Minneapolis
Milwaukee
Des Moines

Not comprehensive by any means but you get the idea.
 
FishermanDon99 said:
I know that most people don't get a choice in where they go, you go where you get in. But if it was only up to what city the school was in what school would you go to, and why? Things I am considering: food scene, cost of living, cultural things to do, etc. Go.
Click to expand...
Austin
 
Goro said:
You haven't experienced Houston summers, I see.
Click to expand...

lived there for 10 yrs! but I agree. The worst part about TX is the weather. Give me cold, gray, and rainy (without flooding) any day
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Florida - you get great weather without California cost of living 😛
 
allantois said:
Florida - you get great weather without California cost of living 😛
Click to expand...
Great beaches for sure, but also giant hissing flying cockroaches, Burmese pythons, alligators, hurricanes and humidity.
 
Warm places with less depressing winters > cold depressing places with long winters.

Chicago is a wonderful city, but if you are prone to seasonal depressive disorder (VERY REAL), it would be ideal to go to places like...

Atlanta, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, Miami, California, etc.

I’m from Atlanta, and from what I’ve gathered in comparison to other people who come down here from up north, they all say people down here are a lot happier and friendly.
 
Agree with comment on Chicago and that goes double for NYC. On the other hand, Minnesota is colder but has more sunny days in winter (high pressure in winter means wicked cold but clear blue skies.) With the right clothing, cold sunny days can be very pleasant.
 
Goro said:
Great beaches for sure, but also giant hissing flying cockroaches, Burmese pythons, alligators, hurricanes and humidity.
Click to expand...

I hear that some of the humans there are weird too. On the flip side you could hunt gators (legally of course) and make gator burgers!
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
I like Philly lol
Lots of med schools here and two close by in South Jersey. They did a student mixer last week for all seven schools in the area at the Mutter Museum!
 
Goro said:
And cobras too! A friend of mine is an ER doc in southern FL and they have imported cobras in FL now, not just pythons!
Click to expand...

That is terrifying.
I had a panic attack when i saw a snake cross my path in Orlando. It was like a foot long.
 
ciestar said:
I like Philly lol
Lots of med schools here and two close by in South Jersey. They did a student mixer last week for all seven schools in the area at the Mutter Museum!
Click to expand...
For the cheese steak sandwiches alone it's worth applying.
 
LizzyM said:
Agree with comment on Chicago and that goes double for NYC. On the other hand, Minnesota is colder but has more sunny days in winter (high pressure in winter means wicked cold but clear blue skies.) With the right clothing, cold sunny days can be very pleasant.
Click to expand...
As a Minnesotan, I wholeheartedly endorse this. I love our sunny 10 degree days much more than cloudy and 25 degrees. The sunshine is so good for my soul.
 
Anywhere warm year round. Winter is depressing
 
Goro said:
And cobras too! A friend of mine is an ER doc in southern FL and they have imported cobras in FL now, not just pythons!
Click to expand...
No thank you! I started speaking gibberish when an itsy bitsy garden snake slithered by me. Imagine what I'd do if I saw Cobras and pythons in my back yard, or even worse, in my bed:scared::dead:.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Drakozord X said:
New York City, you'll need to sell an arm or a leg to afford a place to live in. (Joking, but kinda serious at the same time)
Click to expand...
That's the beauty of being a student-- subsidized student housing.
 
Last edited:
LizzyM said:
That's the beauty of being a student-- subsidized student housing.
Click to expand...
That's right; I didn't think about that. Now I know to look into subsidized student housing (thank you!!).
 
For what it's worth, I saw more snakes during undergrad in the northeast than I have in Miami so far. Lizards though, they're everywhere. Don't come here if you have any sort of problem with lizards.

Serious answer though: I am loving Miami so much more than I thought I would. Everything is so vibrant and I'm only a little bit dying of heatstroke (thank god for AC). Meanwhile I would've been absolutely miserable doing med school in NYC. But the answer is going to vary so much between people based on what they value.
 
Lucca said:
best food in TX (and East of the West Coast, maybe) but I think I'd rather live in Houston as a med student.
Click to expand...

Gotta disagree with you on the food. Houston's got Austin beat for food. San Antonio too if you really like Mexican or TexMex. Bars, on the other hand... 😀
 
WedgeDawg said:
Still unfortunately very expensive 🙁
Click to expand...

if you're not dressing up as spider-man part-time in Times Square to help pay the bills then you aren't even trying tbh
 
DokterMom said:
Gotta disagree with you on the food. Houston's got Austin beat for food. San Antonio too if you really like Mexican or TexMex. Bars, on the other hand... 😀
Click to expand...

Agree to disagree. But I also lived in Houston at a time in my life when I didn't have much independence (or any money) so theres probably a lot more I need to explore.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
LizzyM said:
Agree with comment on Chicago and that goes double for NYC. On the other hand, Minnesota is colder but has more sunny days in winter (high pressure in winter means wicked cold but clear blue skies.) With the right clothing, cold sunny days can be very pleasant.
Click to expand...

This is really interesting info I never knew.
 
Goro said:
Great beaches for sure, but also giant hissing flying cockroaches, Burmese pythons, alligators, hurricanes and humidity.
Click to expand...

Yea but also I spent last February doing flash cards while floating in my rooftop pool, which is ~30 feet above the pythons, alligators, flying cockroaches, and Zika mosquitoes.

And I don’t have to fly to visit friends and family because they’d all rather come spend a weekend on the beach

Miami!
 
The Knife & Gun Club said:
Yea but also I spent last February doing flash cards while floating in my rooftop pool, which is ~30 feet above the pythons, alligators, flying cockroaches, and Zika mosquitoes.

And I don’t have to fly to visit friends and family because they’d all rather come spend a weekend on the beach

Miami!
Click to expand...
But zika mosquitos fly to you!
 
FishermanDon99 said:
I know that most people don't get a choice in where they go, you go where you get in. But if it was only up to what city the school was in what school would you go to, and why? Things I am considering: food scene, cost of living, cultural things to do, etc. Go.
Click to expand...

Stay where you are! That’s where I’m trying to get back to later down the road. I’ll try my best for some 4th year rotations, residency, fellowship (if applicable) and then life.
 
I can comment on Seattle:

- CoL is high
- Pretty liberal
- Starbucks started in Downtown Seattle
- The only med school here is UW, which is difficult to get accepted to if you're not WWAMI (unless you really can play with UW's mission or are applying MSTP)
- Mt. Rainer is only a few hours away (+ options to ski within 1-2 hours of driving), as is Vancouver B.C.!
- Rush hour traffic is horrid
- Do you like Jimi Hendrix or grunge music like Nirvana? If so then Seattle is the place for music (including Mackelmore)
- Large Asian presence, especially from Vietnamese restaurants (can get the largest pho soup in the world, if you dare).
 
Goro said:
You haven't experienced Houston summers, I see.
Click to expand...

Oh! They're not that bad, haha. This week will be fairly sweltering, but we're loving it! Cannot say I miss the WA weather at all.
 
People overlook a lot of midwestern cities that are great.
For example, Kansas City is a hidden gem. Very low cost of living, best BBQ in the world with any other type of ethnic food you could imagine as well, multiple medical schools, friendly midwestern people, lots of young people, safe urban center, etc. I would put it well above the more popular midwestern cities of St. Louis (dump), Chicago (expensive and crowded), and Cincinnati (area around university is frankly unacceptable), which made the lists above.

Nicer college towns can also be great: Charlottesville, Chapel Hill, Ann Arbor, etc.

I would also add Charleston, SC on the list. Awesome place to be in your mid 20s.

NYC/Boston/SF/Philly/LA are so overrated and not worth the pricetag IMO. You can visit them for vacation and conferences. Day-to-day? Forget about it.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
Schools with the best/worst lifestyle?
Replies
4
Views
984
Goro
Goro
K
Fulbright ETA vs Med School
Replies
1
Views
2K
deleted1209180
D
D
Advice on Next Steps for Med School
Replies
13
Views
2K
Hollow Knight
Hollow Knight
pinkdoctor213454
MPH choice (USC vs CDU) – does program name matter for med school?
Replies
1
Views
105
Med Ed
Med Ed
natanguyen
Feeling defeated I need help with med school apps
Replies
10
Views
2K
nobadwaves
N
Top Bottom