comparing some schools: UConn vs Brown vs UVA

[ZackBot]

Hi everyone,

As it stands now, I've narrowed down my acceptances to 3 schools: University of Connecticut, Brown University, and University of Virginia.

I'm having a lot of trouble deciding between the three since all have both attractive and unattractive aspects to me. Not sure what specialty I’m interested in but I am hoping to pursue a career that includes a research component along with clinical medicine.

UConn would be the best deal financially, since I would get in state tuition and they offered me some scholarship money. Although I liked the school/students I met, I didn't like the location (Farmington Connecticut) and it didn't seem as though there were great opportunities for research.

Brown was also very nice and I think that I would love living in Providence (close to home). The match list seems very strong and I know a few physicians associated with the medical school who say it's a great place. High cost of attendance.

UVA was by the far the nicest school in terms of facilities and research opportunities, I'm just not so sure how sold I am on moving to VA. Match list also seemed very strong and the avg. step 1 is around 235 (from UVA website). OOS tuition is very high (about equal to Brown)

I feel very excited about Brown and UVA. UConn, I feel a little less excited about but I’m sure I would would be happy it if I ended up going.

I'm not sure how much published medical school rankings (US News) really matter, but UVA is ranked very highly (top 25ish), Brown about 35, and UConn around 50.

I have not received financial aid letters from all of these schools, but if the award I received from Brown is any indication, it seems I will be getting only loans. (Bummer because by parents, while wealthy, have refused to help me pay for med school). I think that the overall difference in cost between Brown/UVA and UConn will be somewhere around 20-25K per year.

I realize that Virginia is a stronger school, especially considering I am interested in academic medicine and research, but I guess I’m unsure of exactly how much better it is. Are there opportunities I would be trading up by going to UConn? Also, how does Brown stack up against UVA? My impression is that UVA is considered a bit stronger.

Not sure how much published medical school rankings (US News) really matter, but UVA is ranked very highly (top 25ish), Brown about 35, and UConn around 50.


This is not a “which school should I choose” thread. I'm more hoping to get people’s opinions on these schools so that I have more info by which to compare them.

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[justinbaily]

I don't really know much about Brown or UConn, but the residency director and (research) peer assessment numbers for the schools are located in this thread:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=720207

It looks like there's a big gap between UConn and Brown/UVA, and then UVA has an edge over Brown in the peer assessment. Is this incredibly significant?

I'm a big fan of Virginia, but all that I could do is give you the reasons why I think that it's great and why you should go there. You should decide if you're willing to spend the money to go to a school that's considered "better" than you IS school and then try to determine which one felt right to you. From what I understand, Brown is not P/F and does not have the facilities and research that UVA has. I also think that Virginia is a great state to live in, and everyone I know who lives in Charlottesville loves it.

 

[Cancer p53]

I've been told by just about everyone I've asked (medical students, other premeds, even some faculty from Uconn med and my current PI at Uconn Storrs) that if you're going into research the name absolutely matters. If not for the name, then for the research opportunities and connections available at bigger schools.

If you are interested in research you should really assess what level of involvement you want. Do you just want to practice as a normal physician yet recruit patients to studies and gather data? Do you want to be a PI with your own research program? Do you just want to practice in an academic environment and teach rather than spend 70-80% of your time on research? The more involved in research, especially research that involves more than just collecting data for a large study with many contributing physicians, the more important I would think the name of your med school becomes. Also, since you are an MD student pursuing research, your path toward a research heavy career might be different than what you expect depending on your research involvement.

If you come to Uconn, you will probably need to do a post-doc at a larger university following the rest of your medical training. I spoke with a research only MD during my MD/PhD interviews at Uconn and he said for research MDs your research training comes not really during medical school, but after your residency.

I was in exactly your shoes in terms of research interest at the start of this application cycle. I wanted only the MD, but wanted academic medicine and research. I interviewed at Uconn with those intentions and was told flat out by my first interviewer that no one at Uconn in the MD program was into research and that it would be an unwise choice for me to come here given my goals. I later got interviews for MD/PhD and feel strongly that Uconn is where I belong. There are really cool research projects going on at the health center but they are generally not clinical in nature. One of the projects I'm hoping to work on involves inducing heart attacks in rats and regenerating dead heart tissue with stem cells. If you're into that sort of thing, Uconn might be ok as long as you realize it might put you at a disadvantage or require a longer path to your eventual career goals compared to bigger name schools. Everything is what you make of it, if you work hard you'll get where you want to be no matter what. But if you come to Uconn to pursue research your path may be more difficult than at Brown or UVA.

As far as Brown vs. UVA, I'd go to UVA. Brown is great, but UVA is a larger school with more research opportunity.

Sorry for the really long reply, I hope this is helpful.

 

[Steeler7588]

I think a big plus for UVA is the 1.5 curriculum. You'd have more time freed up in the later years to do research.

 

[imorbust]

From what I understand, Brown is not P/F and does not have the facilities and research that UVA has.

Actually, Brown IS a pass/fail school and has been for years. I think it's clinical reputation is indeed stronger than it's research reputation...but that said, it's clinical reputation is incredibly strong (annually matching students at Harvard, Penn, the UCs, etc).

Whether or not Virginia is nicer than Rhode Island isn't something I'd get into...personally, I'd prefer New England over Virginia any day, but I recognize things like that is a personal preference.