Hello all,
I'm very fortunate to be choosing between two great schools right now, but I would like some help to make sure that I'm making the right decision. I was accepted to UVA back in November, and I just got off the CU waitlist last week. I have a few days to decide.
A little bit about me: I'm a nontrad, who has been living in CO for the past four years. I do not live in the Denver area though. Ultimately I've enjoyed my time here and have met many great people. At this point, I have no idea what I want to go into. I've considered everything from EM to neuro to general surgery to neurosurgery to critical care to DR/IR to FM etc. I could pursue something competitive, but I might not also. I'm seriously not sure. I also see myself practicing either in the West somewhere (large area I know), or the Northeast. I can't really see myself ending up in the southeast.
Note: The prices aren't the same, but I want to pretend like they are for the comparison. Also I hate to focus so much on ranking and prestige, but with all of the changes happening (step 1 p/f) I want to make sure that I am not closing any potential doors.
Colorado:
Pros
Virginia:
Pros
TLDR: I never imagined myself falling in love with UVA like I did, but I guess at the end of the day I am leaning towards Colorado. The plusses of colorado seem to outweigh my concerns. However, I don't want to make a mistake here. If I decide that I want to pursue pediatric aerospace neurosurgery, I don't want to be limited. It doesn't seem like I would be by CU, but I just want to make super sure. Thank you for reading.
I'm very fortunate to be choosing between two great schools right now, but I would like some help to make sure that I'm making the right decision. I was accepted to UVA back in November, and I just got off the CU waitlist last week. I have a few days to decide.
A little bit about me: I'm a nontrad, who has been living in CO for the past four years. I do not live in the Denver area though. Ultimately I've enjoyed my time here and have met many great people. At this point, I have no idea what I want to go into. I've considered everything from EM to neuro to general surgery to neurosurgery to critical care to DR/IR to FM etc. I could pursue something competitive, but I might not also. I'm seriously not sure. I also see myself practicing either in the West somewhere (large area I know), or the Northeast. I can't really see myself ending up in the southeast.
Note: The prices aren't the same, but I want to pretend like they are for the comparison. Also I hate to focus so much on ranking and prestige, but with all of the changes happening (step 1 p/f) I want to make sure that I am not closing any potential doors.
Colorado:
Pros
- Don't have to drive a moving truck through Nebraska. Slightly kidding, but there is definitely a huge convenience of only moving two hours away.
- Denver is a big city. I've spent all of my life in either college towns, or rural environments. I was really looking to be in a city for medical school and Denver fits the bill for this (I think).
- Large variable patient population and only academic MD program in state. Since CU is the only MD school in the state, that leads to a lot of opportunities I would assume. The CU system also cares for a lot of people in a huge area. You have the Denver metro area, but I'm assuming you also have people from the rest of the state, Wyoming, Western Kansas/Nebraska, Northern New Mexico, etc. You can see everything from an urban underserved population to rural farmers and everything in between.
- Outdoor activities. Charlottesville also has a number of activities from what I understand, but the proximity to the mountains is a plus here. I'm pretty into the outdoors (spent two years as a pro-full-time ski patroller among other things), and being somewhat close to the mountains are a plus.
- Denver music scene. I'm also big into music (have a degree in it) and I think that Denver has one of the best music scenes in the country. Nearly every touring band, whether big or small, will stop through Denver. I know I'll be super busy, but it would be nice to be able to see my favorite bands when they come through (which they will). I'd have to travel to DC for the same experience at UVA.
- Dating scene. I'm a single non-trad and I am incredibly tired of casual dating. I would prefer not to be a single intern in my 30s, so I'm really looking to date seriously during school. I know Denver doesn't get the best rep, but I don't think it can be THAT bad with how many people are in the area. It has to be better than a college town of 50,000.
- Lots of friends in the area.
- Seems to be a strongly regarded program. I didn't necessarily realize this going in, but everywhere I look it is ranked very highly. I often see it beating out UVA? Is Colorado really a T30 (maybe T25)? Is it really on par with UVA?
- Some of my specialty interests would be great to experience in a city (EM, trauma surgery, etc.) I could still explore these at UVA, but I would have to go elsewhere to get that full city experience I think.
- Good (great?) match list? I'm having trouble comparing CU's and UVA's.
- Will have lots of time for research, to explore other specialties, etc with the new curriculum.
- I do get a big wellness vibe from the school and their presentations. It seems like they care.
- Will be moving to a new curriculum with my class as the first (little bit of risk?). The new curriculum will be 1-year preclinical, 1-year longitudinal integrated clerkships, four months advanced sciences, and then lots of time for electives and other things.
- 1 year preclinical could be intense.
- I'm not sure about longitudinal integrated clerkships. I think I would prefer to do a traditional block style, but does this really matter in the end?
- Seems to have lots of required activities. There was an infamous Reddit thread about this, but it seems like CU will have lots of required in-person sessions. It sounds like I'll be at the medical school 8-5 fourish days a week.
- Maybe not as strong/prestigious as UVA? I'm not sure if this is the case, but I'm worried that UVA may open more doors going forward.
Virginia:
Pros
- Virginia seems to really care about its students. I'm certain Colorado does as well, but my biggest example of this is the fact that I was interviewed on a Thursday and the admission committee got back to me the next day. Instead of pulling interviewees through the wringer, they get back to them by the end of the week. That left a massive impression on me to be honest.
- Less required time and flexible exam scheduling. UVA seems to have classes from 8-12 most days and then the rest of your day is free. You can also take exams at any point from Friday at noon to Sunday at noon.
- 18 month preclinical. May be slightly more relaxed than Colorado's 1 year preclinical, while still giving enough time to pursue other things like research, explore specialties, etc later on.
- Charlottesville is beautiful with a good amount of outdoor activities. CO and VA are obviously different, but I find both of them to be gorgeous in their own ways.
- Higher prestige? Again I'm not sure if this is true, but UVA is a very prestigious institution for certain things like law, business, etc. I'm guessing some of this institutional prestige may carry over to its med program? Does this make a difference? I know @Goro has said great things about UVA's program and reputation.
- Good (great?) match list, with people matching all over the country.
- Charlottesville is small. With only ~50,000 it's a MUCH smaller place than Denver. There will be less to do that is certain. There is a chance that I will be counting down the days till I can go elsewhere. I don't think I'll have that problem in Denver.
- Far away. Would have to drive a moving truck about 1600 miles. I've done it before, but it's rough.
- No friends. I'm sure I could make some no problem, but still.
- Limited dating opportunities. Might be weird to focus on, but it's important to me. I've seen many posts online about how Charlottesville is pretty bad for dating in your late 20s. It seems to be the main con that people talk about really and again I really don't want to be a single intern in his 30's.
- Have to travel far for some rotations.
- Likely a less diverse patient population in Charlottesville. I know they serve a wide area, there's a local refugee population, etc. but I don't think it can compare to the 19th biggest metro area in the US. I could do some rotations in Northern VA though.
TLDR: I never imagined myself falling in love with UVA like I did, but I guess at the end of the day I am leaning towards Colorado. The plusses of colorado seem to outweigh my concerns. However, I don't want to make a mistake here. If I decide that I want to pursue pediatric aerospace neurosurgery, I don't want to be limited. It doesn't seem like I would be by CU, but I just want to make super sure. Thank you for reading.
