Creighton (A) vs. Saint Louis (WL) vs. Ohio State (WL)

[charactercomic2]

Hi all! I am slowly counting the days until the WL movement starts as May 1st approaches. I am accepted to Creighton and waitlisted at the other two. If accepted to all three, I am leaning more heavily toward Ohio State, but am excited to attend Creighton if I don't get off the waitlist(s).

Creighton (accepted):
Pros

• CHI Health System has a strong presence in Omaha
• Brand new and state-of-the-art Werner Center for Health Sciences Building for the start of fall 2023
• The VERY collaborative student environment
• H/P/F with no (that I know of) rankings that still give the incentive to excel in pre-clinical
• Cheap housing with a LOT of amenities at the Atlas, walking distance to M1/M2 classes
• Smaller class size of 130
• Decent match, I want to stay in the Midwest which is reflected in where students matched
• Provided Pathoma and Mac Book
• Friday exams leave weekends free, regular low-stakes quizzes to stay on top of the content
• Omaha seems like it has a lot to do as a mid-sized city
• Non-mandatory pre-clinical with a lot of pre-recorded lectures

Cons

• CoA for 4 years is expensive at around $400,000 before any interest (told M3/M4 students to receive aid)
• Far from family and have zero connections so starting fresh
• Hospitals are nice but aren't at the same level as other schools listed
• The student body and faculty are not super diverse
• Not huge into religion (I still love the service aspect though)
• Research is not as readily available (low funding compared to other schools)
• 2 year pre-clinical

Saint Louis (waitlisted):
Pros

• P/F pre-clinical with no rankings with a 1.5-year pre-clinical
• Facilities in Saint Louis are top-notch (brand new SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital)
• The super diverse patient population in and around Saint Louis
• Saint Louis has a lot to do outside of medicine as a nice mid-sized city
• Cheap housing with a lot of options close to the main campus
• Big into service of underserved communities within the Saint Louis Area
• Lots of strong home programs in a variety of specialties
• Non-mandatory pre-clinical with a lot of pre-recorded lectures
• The school provides free AMBOSS, trying to integrate more NBME-styled exams
• 2 hours from some family

Cons

• CoA is high at around $360,000 before interest
• Research isn't as readily available (low funding compared to other schools)
• Was on probation a few years ago
• Student body more diverse than Creighton, less so than Ohio State
• Saint Louis isn't the safest city
• I'm not huge into religion (but seemed more service and less religious than Creighton)
• Students liked to keep mentioning "We aren't WashU"
• Didn't seem as collaborative of a student body
• Larger class size of 180

Ohio State (waitlisted):
Pros

• CoA can be around $280,000 after qualifying for in-state tuition
• SUPER diverse student body and faculty
• Highly ranked and LOTS of research funding; students said that research is super easy to get into
• Columbus as a city has a lot to do outside of medicine
• 1.5 Year pre-clinical with lots of pre-recorded and non-mandatory lectures; provided iPad
• Quizzes throughout blocks to test knowledge
• Mentorship is strong since all of Columbus is Ohio State-affiliated
• World-class facilities, with new hospital finishing construction
• Cheap rent
• 10% of the class matched back into my home state; matches into strong programs in all specialties
• STRONG home programs in every specialty
• High Step 2 average of 253
• Integrated ultra-sound training

Cons

• Large class size of over 200 students
• Far from family and support system
• In-house written exams from professors
• Not as focused on service, more so research-focused and ranking focused
• Drinking water (is this a real concern given the Palestine derailment?)
• Internal rankings into quintiles, students not as collaborative as other schools

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[theoceanman]

Ohio State > St. Louis > Creighton in my own take. Hopefully you get off the Ohio State WL soon, best of luck!

 

[threepwood]

Drinking water is not a concern in Columbus fyi haha

 

[charactercomic2]

Ohio State > St. Louis > Creighton in my own take. Hopefully you get off the Ohio State WL soon, best of luck!

This is what I was thinking. Do my you have any more insight or thoughts that went into your ranking of the three?

 

[theoceanman]

This is what I was thinking. Do my you have any more insight or thoughts that went into your ranking of the three?

Practically everything you put on your pros along with the home residency programs that you could pursue at Ohio State. It was the only school that I see where the cons will not impact your academic endeavors at all, such as mentorship, diversity, research, and facilities, along with the fact that you are in a city that has things to do outside of medicine.

Your cons for St. Louis made it appear less favorable than Ohio State where it was formerly on probation and has less research opportunities, which may provide you some difficult when trying to match somewhere top-tier or even competitive if you wish to do so.Your CoA is really high compared to the endeavors you want to undertake therefore it did not seem as favorable as Ohio State. Creighton having no support system, low research opportunities, and being the highest CoA makes it very unfavorable relative to the other schools. Overall, those three are not bad schools at all, they're all great schools, but if you had the choice, Ohio State should be your priority.

 

[charactercomic2]

Practically everything you put on your pros along with the home residency programs that you could pursue at Ohio State. It was the only school that I see where the cons will not impact your academic endeavors at all, such as mentorship, diversity, research, and facilities, along with the fact that you are in a city that has things to do outside of medicine.

Your cons for St. Louis made it appear less favorable than Ohio State where it was formerly on probation and has less research opportunities, which may provide you some difficult when trying to match somewhere top-tier or even competitive if you wish to do so.Your CoA is really high compared to the endeavors you want to undertake therefore it did not seem as favorable as Ohio State. Creighton having no support system, low research opportunities, and being the highest CoA makes it very unfavorable relative to the other schools. Overall, those three are not bad schools at all, they're all great schools, but if you had the choice, Ohio State should be your priority.

Do you think a letter of intent to Ohio State would be warranted given I would attend over all others?

 

[theoceanman]

Do you think a letter of intent to Ohio State would be warranted given I would attend over all others?

If you have not sent them an LOI yet, you definitely should with it being your number one choice!

 

[charactercomic2]

Update: Accepted off the waitlist at SLU and will likely be choosing it over Creighton. Thanks, everyone for the advice!

 

[theoceanman]

Update: Accepted off the waitlist at SLU and will likely be choosing it over Creighton. Thanks, everyone for the advice!

Congrats, good luck future doctor!