Case Western vs Tufts vs U of Illinois- Chicago

[JohnJacobJingleheimer]

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The latter of the 3 only becomes part of the question if financial aid is that much better than the other 2. Without this, I'm really debating between Case and Tufts. I'm from the Northeast and would like to end up here for residency. My SO would also be moving with me and prefers Boston to Cleveland. I like Tufts a lot and it has the edge given the location as well as name recognition in the Northeast. I'm really having a hard time deciding whether or not passing up on the better-ranked program in Case would come back to bite me come time for The Match. They both seem to do equally well historically in getting equal proportions of their grads into competitive specialties. Do you think if I do well at either place the same doors will be open for me? Or is one just simply the better move for my career?

 

[chilly_md]

If Tufts isn’t significantly cheaper, take Case. Great school, lot more opportunities that you probably want to take advantage of if you’re paying full cost at both schools.

 

[Morningnight]

Any idea if you may be interested in one of those competitive specialties? I'm also currently debating CWRU vs a state school, and part of what's pushing me over to the state school (where I'm comfortable and have a great support system with my SO) is that I'm interested in internal med. That and how much more costly Case Western would be (not sure what the cost difference is between Tufts and Case without factoring in fin aid).

 

[JohnJacobJingleheimer]

Any idea if you may be interested in one of those competitive specialties? I'm also currently debating CWRU vs a state school, and part of what's pushing me over to the state school (where I'm comfortable and have a great support system with my SO) is that I'm interested in internal med. That and how much more costly Case Western would be (not sure what the cost difference is between Tufts and Case without factoring in fin aid).

If I knew I wanted to go into primary care, I would 100% just go wherever is cheaper and better geographically for me. However, I'm pretty deadset on having as many doors open as possible, Derm/ortho/plastics/ENT/Neurosurg included. That's where I question if, step 1 now being P/F, I would be better off at a top 20-25 as opposed to elsewhere. However, I do think the Tufts brand name and it being ranked not sooo much ridiculously lower might ultimately make it a place with just as much opportunity.

 

[chilly_md]

If I knew I wanted to go into primary care, I would 100% just go wherever is cheaper and better geographically for me. However, I'm pretty deadset on having as many doors open as possible, Derm/ortho/plastics/ENT/Neurosurg included. That's where I question if, step 1 now being P/F, I would be better off at a top 20-25 as opposed to elsewhere. However, I do think the Tufts brand name and it being ranked not sooo much ridiculously lower might ultimately make it a place with just as much opportunity.

Is Tufts cheaper right now? Case gives you a leg up that I can’t advise you to pass up on if they’re both going to be 400k COA unless you have other reasons to be in Boston. Boston University would be an obvious choice, but I assume you aren’t counting of them still.

 

[icysnake]

Currently debating the same 3 right now. My intuition tells me UIC since I know I'd be happiest there, but I'm interested in a few competitive specialties, so I feel like Case is the smarter move even though I don't know if I'd be 100% happy there. For others, is the ranking difference between Case (25ish) and UIC (50ish) substantial enough for matching to a competitive specialty?