Colorado vs Miami (24 hour deadline)

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LivinLike-Larry

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Colorado (50% tuition & 12.5k need based annually. COA: ~260k)
Pros
  • Cheaper COA and COL
  • More cost friendly and active things to do like hikes, nature, etc.
  • Better west coast connections
  • No internal rankings at all
  • More research funding
Cons
  • Weather is worse imo
  • History of toxic culture
  • Curriculum seems like a hit or miss for a lot of students
Miami Miller ($20k annual scholarship but meeting w/ fin aid director tmrrw. COA: ~380k)
Pros
  • Clinical training at Jackson Memorial
  • Better weather imo
  • Lots of diversity/culture w/ largely Spanish speaking population (I've been learning Spanish and want to continue to do so through school)
  • I believe I would enjoy living in Miami over Denver
  • Better ranked than CU?
Cons
  • More expensive COA and COL unless I am able to successfully negotiate (big negative)
  • Ranked quartiles w/ ~20% preclinical & ~70% clinical (this sucks too)
Summary: Basically I'm wondering which school might be better for me under the condition that the cost is similar and wanted to see if anyone knew more about either school to help me make a decision if such circumstances are met. I'm meeting with the director of financial aid tomorrow and am going to try to negotiate Miami's aid to something more reasonable by using my scholarship from Colorado as well as other scholarships I had previously obtained throughout the cycle (all similarly ranked institutions and aid offers). If I am unable to succeed, I'm sticking with Colorado because that price differential is no joke, but if Miami were to offer me more, I would have to then decide if I'm attending within the hour which is a more difficult choice than the former. I know negotiating is by no means guaranteed (especially more than 100k), I just want to be prepared just in case.

Their match lists seem fairly equal to me although difficult to conclude cause of subjectivity. Also. I'm from CA and am currently interested in Plastics, ENT, Psych, or EM if that makes a difference. Hoping to match in the west coast/northeast. Thanks to anyone that helps!!!
 
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Colorado. Its an incredible program, cheaper, and farrrrr away from hurricanes. Also weather-wise, Florida in the summer might be one of the worst things ive ever experienced. Youll probably get the same # of months of nice weather at both — just two ends of the bad weather spectrum
 
Colorado. You would match fine at either school, but you would probably be happier being a bit closer to home rather than across the country, especially in the case that you ultimately want to potentially match/practice closer to home. Think about all the hours you’d be saving every time you’d fly home during school or for if you do an away rotation etc. and connections matter a lot in medicine, so Colorado may be overall better for your end goals. Obviously you have your own values, but imo weather is negligible compared to the hundreds thousands of dollars you’d be saving and no stress of having internal rankings, which a miller student i am friends with told me that it creates some competitiveness sometimes.

If the difference is not significant (75k) after negotiation tomorrow, I would say Colorado would be the better choice BY FAR given also the COL difference too (my friend pays 2000 for his portion of a 2B2B)
 
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Given prices were equal i would personally go Colorado. Regional bias is real, so I think colorado would give you the best shot at matching west coast. For northeast basically equal. CU also has a really good reputation, and tbh being in medicine in FL is not the best idea rn💀.
 
If you are interested at all in optho and want to experience a big city with amazing night time/things to do, Miami is the place to be. UMiami is definitely more prestigious and well-respected, and if they are able to offer you half tuition or something similar at UMiami, I would take it. Please do not pay attention to these other users citing politics in Florida or hurricanes. If that is what they would use to decide a medical school, I really don't think you should take their perspectives seriously. Powerful hurricanes hitting South Florida are not incredibly common and the infrastructure is well built to handle it, and I don't see you are interested in ob/gyn so again, ignore the politics. It means nothing to your experience as a student. You're there to study and match into residency. Florida is an amazing state and also the place where I grew up! Better hospitals, a Spanish-speaking population, better clinical opportunities, etc. Hopefully UMiami doubles the current aid they have given you! Best of luck with this decision!
 
Surprised so many said Colorado on this one. The only place Colorado is the better school is USnews. Be careful heavily weighing the opinions of posters who are still actively in this cycle as well. At least one is on the waitlist/was on the waitlist as of 2 weeks ago at Miami. I didn’t know Colorado was a good school until I saw it high on that list. Maybe it’s just personal preference but Florida has been a great place to do medical school for me, and I’d be depressed almost anywhere else, lol. If the cost ends up fairly similar I’d go to Miami.
 
YodaPineapple said:
Surprised so many said Colorado on this one. The only place Colorado is the better school is USnews. Be careful heavily weighing the opinions of posters who are still actively in this cycle as well. At least one is on the waitlist/was on the waitlist as of 2 weeks ago at Miami. I didn’t know Colorado was a good school until I saw it high on that list. Maybe it’s just personal preference but Florida has been a great place to do medical school for me, and I’d be depressed almost anywhere else, lol. If the cost ends up fairly similar I’d go to Miami.
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Yeah, UMiami is much more well-known than Colorado and Jackson Memorial is truly an amazing clinical training site. Again @LivinLike-Larry, my cycle is over, and I have no conflict of interest, unlike some of these posters who are way too political. Miami is through and through the better school and a better experience, one I would take over living in Denver. Cost should be the only thing that turns you away. You can't beat the Florida sunshine haha. The cost of living, also, is fairly high in Denver too, which a lot of people have not mentioned.
 
People acting like UColorado and UMiami have substantial prestige/opportunity differences is silly IMO. Both are highly regarded and will serve you well. If cost is not a factor then go where you will be happiest. I personally would choose Colorado for proximity to family and politics but neither option would be “wrong”
 
The UMiami network is just better for competitive specialities (optho, ns, ortho, ENT). It will afford you more opportunities if you want to go down that route, and at the end of the day, you want to form relationships with mentors working at Jackson Memorial and other top-tier clinical facilities. It's also a bigger city! Colorado's residency programs are sub-par compared to UMiami, even though rankings for the medical school itself may say differently. Please ignore @ecobio's mention of politics. I'm sick of people dismissing a wonderful state and a wonderful school for something that has no bearing on the medical student experience. I do wish people in medicine were less political and more accepting of different viewpoints, but I'll save that convo for another time. Let us know about the financial aid, as I think that's the most important consideration. UMiami is worth, at most 50K over UColorado, but not that much more.
 
Oh damn lots of viewpoints in here lol. Thank you everyone for all the responses! I just finished meeting with the director and they informed me of some additional funds they had not included in the initial package but it was still more expensive than CU (~282k COA Miami vs ~260k COA CU). I know it's a small difference but I already justified picking CU over a cheaper similarly ranked school previously and I just don't want to double down on that because more debt = scary.

I still mentioned negotiating and sent some of my other offers from other institutions. They extended my deadline by 24 hours and said they will review my request and reach back out to me later today. Still a tough choice between the two schools, I'm really struggling with it. Especially weighing the internal quartile rankings with location etc. Thanks again guys.
 
Good luck either way! I was on the Miami waitlist but withdrew very recently bc of another CTE date. Would’ve been in a similar situation too because I have similar priorities of location/family, p/f curriculum, and I realistically don’t think Miami would match my other financial offer.

Both are great choices!
 
Agreed 🙂 20k COA is negligible, at this point its whatever you think would be a better fit for your goals and general happiness. Congrats future doc
 
YodaPineapple said:
Surprised so many said Colorado on this one. The only place Colorado is the better school is USnews. Be careful heavily weighing the opinions of posters who are still actively in this cycle as well. At least one is on the waitlist/was on the waitlist as of 2 weeks ago at Miami. I didn’t know Colorado was a good school until I saw it high on that list. Maybe it’s just personal preference but Florida has been a great place to do medical school for me, and I’d be depressed almost anywhere else, lol. If the cost ends up fairly similar I’d go to Miami.
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This is a great point. Miami is the way to go. Colorado just has the prestige because of ranking. Otherwise, Miami I think is better in almost every regard. Got rejected from both so don’t think I have bias. surprised a lot of people here are saying Colorado. also op just said it will be cheaper then Colorado so I’d absolutely take Miami even more in this situation.
 
Iron Man23 said:
This is a great point. Miami is the way to go. Colorado just has the prestige because of ranking. Otherwise, Miami I think is better in almost every regard. Got rejected from both so don’t think I have bias. surprised a lot of people here are saying Colorado. also op just said it will be cheaper then Colorado so I’d absolutely take Miami even more in this situation.
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Yes but again, factor in not just prestige but happiness, support systems, etc
 
Congrats on two amazing options. You literally can’t go wrong with either choice, and both will set you up for your future and competitive specialties. I will say though that UMiami does have biweekly Monday exams (I’m not sure what Colorado’s is) so that is something to consider as a personal preference
 
I would probably pick Colorado if cost were the same. It’s a great school with a great name and I don’t see it holding you back from anything you wanna do.

I spent a large part of my life in Fl. I wouldn’t spend another second there personally. that being said it’s important to look at other factors like family and connections. Which school do you think you’ll be most prepared to succeed and maintain a healthy work life?
 
Basalganglia4life said:
I would probably pick Colorado if cost were the same. It’s a great school with a great name and I don’t see it holding you back from anything you wanna do.

I spent a large part of my life in Fl. I wouldn’t spend another second there personally. that being said it’s important to look at other factors like family and connections. Which school do you think you’ll be most prepared to succeed and maintain a healthy work life?
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I don't know what Florida did to you, but that state gave me the best childhood I could have ever asked for. Super diverse community, amazing food and places (Key West, Everglades, the beach), and just the best weather anywhere in the US. Also no state income tax, and Colorado has a state income tax of 4.25%. Florida is just a much better place to live and work. UMiami is also the best medical school in Florida, and UColorado is just in the middle of nowhere, although Boulder has come into the news lately for all the wrong reasons. In any case, best of luck with your decision, although I feel it's obvious in this case haha.
 
BigDawg101 said:
I don't know what Florida did to you, but that state gave me the best childhood I could have ever asked for. Super diverse community, amazing food and places (Key West, Everglades, the beach), and just the best weather anywhere in the US. Also no state income tax, and Colorado has a state income tax of 4.25%. Florida is just a much better place to live and work. UMiami is also the best medical school in Florida, and UColorado is just in the middle of nowhere, although Boulder has come into the news lately for all the wrong reasons. In any case, best of luck with your decision, although I feel it's obvious in this case haha.
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lol buddy, clearly you really love FL. More power to you
 
Basalganglia4life said:
I would probably pick Colorado if cost were the same. It’s a great school with a great name and I don’t see it holding you back from anything you wanna do.

I spent a large part of my life in Fl. I wouldn’t spend another second there personally. that being said it’s important to look at other factors like family and connections. Which school do you think you’ll be most prepared to succeed and maintain a healthy work life?
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Im not too sure where I would succeed best honestly, both schools seem capable in that regard. In terms of work life balance I’d find ways to utilize each city differently, Denver for outdoorsy stuff and Miami for dense city stuff (tbf the city stuff is more readily accessible than the rockies). I don't really have any support system to begin with so no anchors in that regard either.

Why didn't you like FL? I have heard a lot of good of it from @BigDawg101 but also wanna know the other side of the coin.
 
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Sorry your x v y turned into a “my state is better than yours” cluster lol

Both schools are going to get you where you want (prestige, research, and network). They match super well across the country in case you want to head back CA’s way or move somewhere new.

Not sure why boulder was brought up, the school is in Aurora (just outside of Denver). Denver is great (nightlife, every artist stops there if you like music, food is great, and overall outdoorsy, chill vibe). There is a solid spanish-speaking population in the aurora area. It is simply different than Miami, no better or less (different strokes for different folks 😉)

Based off your list, seems you’d enjoy miami more. HUGE they came in clutch on the financials for you.
 
Giving my two cents though biased as I committed to Miami

It's a wash when it comes to prestige, you can achieve great things from either institution

Miami curriculum is amazing in the 1 year pre clinical and very free/open fourth year that allows you to be home for like 3 months if you really wanted to. How many times are you going home a year in medical school anyways?

Denver is a great up and coming city. Family might be easier to visit you for per se your white coat ceremony, which might be a pull for Colorado, but again how much free time are you getting in medical school?

Personally, I see the political landscape as a sign of an area that has more NEED than other parts of the country if advocacy is your thing. People don't like encountering other viewpoints but it's an important part of having a real impact. Plus we're still students and it seems like practicing in Florida isn't your long-term goal.
 
anyonecandoctor said:
Giving my two cents though biased as I committed to Miami

It's a wash when it comes to prestige, you can achieve great things from either institution

Miami curriculum is amazing in the 1 year pre clinical and very free/open fourth year that allows you to be home for like 3 months if you really wanted to. How many times are you going home a year in medical school anyways?

Denver is a great up and coming city. Family might be easier to visit you for per se your white coat ceremony, which might be a pull for Colorado, but again how much free time are you getting in medical school?

Personally, I see the political landscape as a sign of an area that has more NEED than other parts of the country if advocacy is your thing. People don't like encountering other viewpoints but it's an important part of having a real impact. Plus we're still students and it seems like practicing in Florida isn't your long-term goal.
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Yeah that's how I see it too. Not a fan of the current political climate there and its surrounding area but hopefully that means I can make some kind of a difference later down the line. I ended up picking Miami earlier this morning so I'll be seeing you there!!! Thanks to everyone who helped me decide.
 
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The OTC said:
Sorry your x v y turned into a “my state is better than yours” cluster lol

Both schools are going to get you where you want (prestige, research, and network). They match super well across the country in case you want to head back CA’s way or move somewhere new.

Not sure why boulder was brought up, the school is in Aurora (just outside of Denver). Denver is great (nightlife, every artist stops there if you like music, food is great, and overall outdoorsy, chill vibe). There is a solid spanish-speaking population in the aurora area. It is simply different than Miami, no better or less (different strokes for different folks 😉)

Based off your list, seems you’d enjoy miami more. HUGE they came in clutch on the financials for you.
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Oops. Ignore what I said about Boulder lmao. And congrats on Miami! It's very liberal so I wouldn't worry too much. Welcome to the best state in the country! 🙂
 
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