Brown vs. UVM

[real_king]

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I'm very fortunate to hold acceptances to these two programs and am looking for some community feedback. Realistically I'm going to have to wait for financial aid packages to be released to make a final decision, but I am curious if anyone has a strong opinion one way or the other

UVM
Pros

• IS Tuition (40k with no aid)
• Close to the outdoors
• Close to a fantastic, very supportive community of friends (this is potentially huge?)
• Burlington is awesome
• Match list is good.
• Vermont is a small, tight-knit community.

Cons

• Being a local I don't have a fantastic impression of UVM Health system from a management standpoint (only game in town), unsure how this will affect the education. That being said I have had very positive experiences with individual physicians and other health providers.
• Very little diversity in the patient population
• Lots of focus on new Connecticut program, unsure what this will mean in the long run.
• Lots of IS students. Not terrible but in general I think the more diversity the better.
• Impression from interview day was just lukewarm from faculty and students.
• Vermont is a small, tight-knit community.

Brown
Pros

• Match list is ridiculous.
• Providence is a great city... Some good parks around and access to outdoors isn't terrible.
• I'm potentially interested in academics, and I feel like name/prestige will go far in the right circles.
• Incredible vibes from faculty/staff on interview day; they really blew it out of the water compared to virtually all of my other interviews. Also, other interviewing students seemed stellar.
• Lots of research in a variety of fields, with big tech innovation push in the area (a huge interest of mine)

Cons

• Tuition (60k with no aid) (probably ~80k more expensive than UVM with loan interest at the EOD)
• Close to family (in a bad way)
• Lots of PLME (high school link program) students has me nervous about maturity/diversity of the incoming class.
• New City, not a ton of connections/friends for support in a stressful time (but that's part of the fun?)

Similarities: Cost of living comparison between PVD and BTV is negligible by most accounts. PF curriculum. Friends at both schools say they love their respective programs and that student happiness is high.

Summary: Overall I think Brown can be viewed as the "more expensive, career-oriented" choice and UVM can be viewed as the "close to home, strong community, and fun" option. I'm tempted to pick UVM due to how easy it would be to transition, but nagging at the back of my mind says Brown has huge potential to open doors via traditional (and non traditional) routes later on.

 

[puahate]

Brown

 

[Quantal Reasoning]

My opinion, UVM for being close to friends and... far (?)... from... family...

...

Anyway, I'm biased towards the side of personal happiness, and it sounds like UVM is where the heart is for you. Also substantially less expensive.

But you really can't go wrong.

 

[sunnysideup220]

It sounds to me like you really like Brown as a school better. I think you're right- that name will open up doors for you. It's probably worth the tuition. That being said, like someone else mentioned it seems like your heart is really at UVM and having a built-in support system is certainly a huge positive. Also depending on what specialty you want to do/ where you want to ultimately practice having the "prestige" of Brown might not matter that much in the long run.

I think it comes down to what you think you would regret more: Leaving your friends or passing up the opportunity to go to Brown. You said that if you choose UVM you worry you might have a nagging feeling feeling in the back of your mind about what if you had gone to Brown... do you think you would feel the reverse about UVM if you went to Brown?

Overall though, you have two very excellent options. You can't go wrong either way! Congrats, future doctor!