Case Western (paying full tuition) vs Ohio State

[StuckwithDecisions]

Really really really beyond stuck with this decision.... Ohio state is cheaper by $170k over four years taking into account housing and tuition, but it has a match list that is significantly less impressive than Case Western. I know people have said you can work hard and match where you want, but I feel burnt out from undergrad and I don’t think I would prefer that lifestyle at Ohio State (the work hard study all day to be the top in the class mentality is very stressful). Ohio is ranked P/F by quartile and Case is unranked during preclinical years.

Cost for Case is high but parents may be able to chip in some (but still not a huge amount overall). Here are the overall pros and cons:

Case Western
Pros:
-name recognition and possibility for better connections
-May be less stressful with true Pass/Fail with no internal ranking during clinical years
-beautiful new building
-students seemed very happy with their choice
-love the curriculum with PBL and the opportunity to work in small groups that change every block. I think it’ll be a great way to get closer to classmates that I might not get the chance to otherwise and to make friends
-love how infrequent the exams are and the amount of free time

Cons:
-I don’t like the amount of snow East Cleveland gets, its beyond anything I’ve ever imagined or heard of. Also don’t like the cold. Cleveland snows more than 3x as much as Ohio State and is much colder.
-cost is very very high
-no housing near the new building that’s walkable unless it’s expensive housing at this one apartment
-didn’t seem like as many students did rotations at a Cleveland clinic as I thought there would be
-difficult to be selected for volunteering at the free clinic (application process and many people don’t get in)
-Case name seems strong but mostlt because of Cleveland Clinic and not actually the school itself? Not too sure on this but I get that vibe.

Ohio state
Pros:
-lovely area and weather; undergrad campus is beautiful and feels like a park
-school spirit is huge and everyone is very enthusiastic about the school and happy to be there (seemed a bit happier than Case)
-lots of clinical experience in the first few years
-easy to volunteer at the many different free clinics
-cheaper housing and tuition

Cons
-students seem to have less free time than Case
-ranked pass fail may cause more stress
-less name recognition

To me the most important things are happiness and my future (in terms of match). I don’t know what specialty I want to enter though I’m slightly considering internal medicine. I think I’d be happy at Ohio State or Case, but for reasons mentioned above in terms of having to work much harder at Ohio to match as well when I want to be less stressed, I am worried about the match list for Ohio. Even if I were to be in the top at Ohio State, the matches still don’t seem to be same tier as Case. However, I think I like Ohio’s overall environment a bit better. Please help!

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[yakarma11]

maybe im misreading this, but your title says Case (full tuition). Does this mean you didnt get a scholarship?

 

[libertyyne]

Making a big deal between the weather at ohio state and cleavland is kinda weird

If you are happy with ohio state I would go there considering it is 170K cheaper.

 

[papercutscissors]

Ohio State. Case may have a slightly better reputation, but not $170k better.

 

[rball]

Case easily. Keep in mind OP many of your peers will be on Case waitlist this time of year and that may skew the results of your poll. When deciding between schools in completely different tiers like in your case, school name matters more than anything you'll do in med school. You will have to achieve significantly more at Ohio State to get the same result as you would coming out of Case. Case is highly respected across the country and a machine for matching students into fields and programs of their choice. It would be a mistake in my opinion to turn that down.

I know this opinion is unpopular on pre-allo forum. I will likely get flamed. But take a look at med student forum, or even just talk to real med students/residents/attendings about their opinions. That will give you a better idea of the real world.

Nothing you have said suggests that you'd perform significantly worse at Case, so I would take Case hands down.

 

[Espressoshot436]

Case easily. Keep in mind OP many of your peers will be on Case waitlist this time of year and that may skew the results of your poll. When deciding between schools in completely different tiers like in your case, school name matters more than anything you'll do in med school. You will have to achieve significantly more at Ohio State to get the same result as you would coming out of Case. Case is highly respected across the country and a machine for matching students into fields and programs of their choice. It would be a mistake in my opinion to turn that down.

I know this opinion is unpopular on pre-allo forum. I will likely get flamed. But take a look at med student forum, or even just talk to real med students/residents/attendings about their opinions. That will give you a better idea of the real world.

Nothing you have said suggests that you'd perform significantly worse at Case, so I would take Case hands down.

In med student forums go ahead and ask about their debt too. Case is a notch ahead, but $170k is a TON of money, even on a doctor salary. Keep in mind that will easily turn into $250k or more when you factor in interest. If it was $170k cheaper for a brand new DO school that would be a different story, but I don't think a top notch graduate from tOSU will have any doors shut in their face.

 

[StuckwithDecisions]

maybe im misreading this, but your title says Case (full tuition). Does this mean you didnt get a scholarship?

Haha you’re right. Fixed it to avoid confusion. Thank you!

Case easily. Keep in mind OP many of your peers will be on Case waitlist this time of year and that may skew the results of your poll. When deciding between schools in completely different tiers like in your case, school name matters more than anything you'll do in med school. You will have to achieve significantly more at Ohio State to get the same result as you would coming out of Case. Case is highly respected across the country and a machine for matching students into fields and programs of their choice. It would be a mistake in my opinion to turn that down.

I know this opinion is unpopular on pre-allo forum. I will likely get flamed. But take a look at med student forum, or even just talk to real med students/residents/attendings about their opinions. That will give you a better idea of the real world.

Nothing you have said suggests that you'd perform significantly worse at Case, so I would take Case hands down.

Thank you for your opinion—that’s what I was kind of thinking too, and one reason why Case is such a huge draw for me! At the same time, I’d feel worse if I went to Case and didn’t match well, as I’d be in much more debt too, so there’s also that fear. If price difference weren’t so significant, I would probably lean more towards Case.

In med student forums go ahead and ask about their debt too. Case is a notch ahead, but $170k is a TON of money, even on a doctor salary. Keep in mind that will easily turn into $250k or more when you factor in interest. If it was $170k cheaper for a brand new DO school that would be a different story, but I don't think a top notch graduate from tOSU will have any doors shut in their face.

Yes the debt is very very high. But the stress of being a top notch graduate at Ohio State is also very high and mentally draining. I’m very burnt out and not too sure if I want to keep working as hard as I did in undergrad. But in that case, there comes the question of prestige and whether I should stop chasing it or not to avoid feeling so burnt out in the first place. I feel torn because I want to match well and I tend to like prestige and having more options and not needing the pressure to be top of my class to match well, but I also don’t know if prestige is worth the cost and it seems like a lifelong chase for prestige that may never end.

 

[StuckwithDecisions]

Making a big deal between the weather at ohio state and cleavland is kinda weird
View attachment 260576

If you are happy with ohio state I would go there considering it is 170K cheaper.

Huh that’s interesting! I was tracking weather all winter between the two cities and it certainly looked very different on my week to week weather app! Snow wise, I know East Cleveland gets close to 90 inches and Columbus gets significantly less but it’s intreeting to see that temperature comparison though! Thank you

 

[meronebib]

Case easily. Keep in mind OP many of your peers will be on Case waitlist this time of year and that may skew the results of your poll. When deciding between schools in completely different tiers like in your case, school name matters more than anything you'll do in med school. You will have to achieve significantly more at Ohio State to get the same result as you would coming out of Case. Case is highly respected across the country and a machine for matching students into fields and programs of their choice. It would be a mistake in my opinion to turn that down.

I know this opinion is unpopular on pre-allo forum. I will likely get flamed. But take a look at med student forum, or even just talk to real med students/residents/attendings about their opinions. That will give you a better idea of the real world.

Nothing you have said suggests that you'd perform significantly worse at Case, so I would take Case hands down.

Going to be the first to flame lol.

But this just isn’t true. I don’t know what you’re basing these assumptions on, but I have the numbers from USNews, and they show that Case and Ohio State are not in different leagues. There is nothing to suggest they are. Case is ranked 24, Ohio State is ranked 30. Case’s residency director score is 3.7, Ohio State is 3.5. Interpreting match lists is really futile - remember, Case is a private school attracting students from all over the country that likely are not so interested in the primary care specialties nor are they interested in staying in Ohio. On the other hand, 40+% of graduates stay in Ohio from Ohio State, and a similar amount choose primary care specialties. This is not because they couldn’t do any better - this is what they likely wanted.

Overall, 170k is a large amount of debt to take on for a marginal (if any) increase in medical school prestige. No OP, you don’t have to work harder to prove yourself at Ohio State. In fact, I doubt Case will offer much more than Ohio State, but I know for a fact that Ohio State will offer 170k. If this was between Ohio State and a top 10 school, I would’ve told OP to reconsider. But in this case, I think Ohio State is the clear winner. It’s a fine institution, and one of the more renowned public medical schools.

 

[catnip12]

OHSU.

I’m not going to attend Case, nor do I have friends on that waitlist. But I am a premed so take that for what it is.

I’m just not convinced that you will not have to work as hard at Case vs at OHSU, especially to justify a 170k additional debt burden. Also, if you feel like you need to gun to be the top of your class (emphasis on top of class which is =/= saying that I want to be really well prepared to succeed on my boards / exams) then you’re going to continue to feel burned out. Going to Case will not alleviate any stress. I’m concerned because there just might be more super competitive folks in a class that big and you might once again find yourself in a position of wanting to do really well or be in a higher position in your class rank. And then you’ll remember how much you paid for this. And then the story will continue to write itself.

I agree with the poster above me that Case May not be worth the additional 170k when compared to OHSU.

 

[Rachapkis]

$170K is a substantial sum of money. You will certainly be able to pay it off, but it will have a material impact on your life. Given that Case Western and Ohio State are similar in terms of prestige, and you like the feel of Ohio State better, this seems like a fairly easy call to me: Ohio State by a wide margin.

 

[smileyfacegirl27]

Going to be the first to flame lol.

But this just isn’t true. I don’t know what you’re basing these assumptions on, but I have the numbers from USNews, and they show that Case and Ohio State are not in different leagues. There is nothing to suggest they are. Case is ranked 24, Ohio State is ranked 30. Case’s residency director score is 3.7, Ohio State is 3.5. Interpreting match lists is really futile - remember, Case is a private school attracting students from all over the country that likely are not so interested in the primary care specialties nor are they interested in staying in Ohio. On the other hand, 40+% of graduates stay in Ohio from Ohio State, and a similar amount choose primary care specialties. This is not because they couldn’t do any better - this is what they likely wanted.

Overall, 170k is a large amount of debt to take on for a marginal (if any) increase in medical school prestige. No OP, you don’t have to work harder to prove yourself at Ohio State. In fact, I doubt Case will offer much more than Ohio State, but I know for a fact that Ohio State will offer 170k. If this was between Ohio State and a top 10 school, I would’ve told OP to reconsider. But in this case, I think Ohio State is the clear winner. It’s a fine institution, and one of the more renowned public medical schools.

Also keep in mind that Case's match list includes the 32 people in the Cleaveland Clinic Learner program who are more on par with say, the HYPSM Graduates than the rest of Case. I personally chose to decline my acceptance at Case for a "slightly less prestigious state school" so I have no ulterior motive, but I don't foresee you having to work so much harder at Ohio State to get the same results where you'll likely be in the top of your class unless you're planning on slacking off or purposefully only doing the bare minimum. In my choice, I asked people on the internet for advice -mostly premeds, and all told me to choose Case. But I also asked established physicians, residents, and medical students, and they all said the state school - that the difference in prestige was marginal and that in reality what is the most important is your step score and coming out with less debt (which you CLEARLY) would be at the state school. At the end of the day, an MD is an MD. If you work hard enough to get into your desired speciality, where you went to school won't hold you back, especially at an established place like Ohio State. Think about 5 years from now paying off that debt - how many months of rent is that, and is it worth it to you

 

[freedoctor17]

I was in this position beforehand and was easily gonna go for OSU. It was significantly cheaper and still has a great reputation. I don't think you'll have to work significantly harder at OSU, if you want to match well from case you still have to work hard. You can't just do the bare minimum and then slack off on step 1 studying and expect the name to pull you through. I think you'll be fine at either one so go with the cheaper option.

Disclaimer: was accepted to both with a similar pricing difference (OSU was about 100-130k cheaper).

But also another disclaimer. Don't forget to account for the increase in tuition at OSU third and fourth year. It jumps up to 45k instead of 30k (assuming you are in state). But even then it seems like osu would still be significantly cheaper.

 

[StuckwithDecisions]

Hello all, just wanted to update that I have decided to go with Ohio State!