Hey everyone, I'm excited to be in this position choosing between two really great schools! I'm not entirely sure what speciality I'll end up in but have an interest in oncology, peds, and gen-surg. I'm in-state for AZ and was initially planning on attending UofA but then Dartmouth threw a $30k/year scholarship at me that lowered the COA quite significantly.
Dartmouth (COA: $280k)
Pros:
UofA - Tucson (COA: $250k)
Pros:
Dartmouth (COA: $280k)
Pros:
- More prestigious/higher ranked (Ivy League)
- More research opportunities available to students with individualized attention
- Some clinical rotations are in California which they painted as a positive(?) Not sure how great I’d feel uprooting from home again to basically live in a dorm with another med student and do my rotations in a new city
- Isolated and snowy. Wasn’t a fan of how rural it was. I’ve spent my life growing up in a large city in AZ so idk what my adjustment is gonna be like
- Higher cost of living than Tucson
- Further from friends, family. Will be difficult for them to visit and for myself to visit as often as I’d like
- Dartmouth-Hitchcock serves a very homogenous population. I want to be able to treat a diverse set of patients in my actual career so this might be a setback.
- Mandatory attendance for most classes
UofA - Tucson (COA: $250k)
Pros:
- Closer to home/family
- Respected within AZ which is where I ultimately want to practice
- Tucson >> Rural NH
- Nicer facilities and more research funding
- Opportunities to learn Spanish
- Not as prestigious
- Class size of 120
- Don’t have access to their match list. Have tried emailing the admissions office for it but they don’t give it out
