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BU Medical Sciences
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Ignoring everything else, the answer is Michigan as it should be. That is not a knock on Florida but its just that Michigan is a top tier/tip of the spear type institution. In the grand scheme of things, 90K is a drop in the bucket as a plastic surgeon but its up to if you think staying in Florida is worth that 90K in your pocket right now
 
Are you sure neither of these schools are giving you any aid? For most of my schools aid hasn’t come out yet…

Either way pick mich at the current price point, especially since you’re considering plastics
 
Ok, I’ll take an opposing view. I went to Univ of Michigan Med School. Great experience. Matched into Ophthalmology from there. However, Univ of Florida, while not technically a T10-15, is an excellent school, and the best in Florida. Look at their match lists from 2021. (It’s easy to find online). It’s fantastic. Last year they matched 5 students into Derm and 6 into Ophtho. That’s mighty impressive. That’s all that counts. Maybe it isn’t worth the $90K extra for U of M.
 
Florida's research is nowhere near Michigan's, but a $90k difference is pretty big. It'd be a bit different if it were no debt vs. $90k. $340k is ~$140k more than the average med student debt. That's saying A LOT. I get that you want to leave Florida and thats totally valid, but you could absolutely do that for residency and/or fellowship. If Michigan later comes through with enough aid to close that gap, definitely go there.
 
I'mInDer! said:
Florida's research is nowhere near Michigan's, but a $90k difference is pretty big. It'd be a bit different if it were no debt vs. $90k. $340k is ~$140k more than the average med student debt. That's saying A LOT. I get that you want to leave Florida and thats totally valid, but you could absolutely do that for residency and/or fellowship. If Michigan later comes through with enough aid to close that gap, definitely go there.
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You don't know if OP will be in 340k debt. Here you're comparing the price they reported for COA (barring fin aid or parental assistance or savings) with the reported average school debt.
 
TheHoursWillShow said:
Yeah 340k is a lot of money and I am going to feel somewhat embarrassed to go a school with possibly that much in debt I will have to tolerate.

I will also feel somewhat embarrassed having to be an underdog at UF knowing I could have gotten a boost going to somewhere more prestigious and get more mileage out of the same amount of work. Controlling for test scores, research exp, research items. Cannot control for LORs though.
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Regarding your last paragraph, it’s been argued on here that with Step 1 going pass/fail, program directors have one less criteria to judge applicants, so the prestige of the med school may become even more important.
 
BritainKittenMittens said:
You don't know if OP will be in 340k debt. Here you're comparing the price they reported for COA (barring fin aid or parental assistance or savings) with the reported average school debt.
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Going based on the info I was given, and I also made a statement about financial aid at the end.
 
TheHoursWillShow said:
Yeah 340k is a lot of money and I am going to feel somewhat embarrassed to go a school with possibly that much in debt I will have to tolerate.

I will also feel somewhat embarrassed having to be an underdog at UF knowing I could have gotten a boost going to somewhere more prestigious and get more mileage out of the same amount of work. Controlling for test scores, research exp, research items. Cannot control for LORs though.
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Yeah Michigan does have a bit more general prestige, but UF is no slouch. They have a great rep in medicine, too. In reality, the work you put in is by far the biggest factor in determining your ability to match. Step 1 is P/F, but it'll almost certainly just be replaced by Step 2 in terms of importance. I doubt the weight of reputation will change much (important to note that none of us actually know for sure, though).

It is true that Michigan has better research, but this will not matter for the vast majority of medical students. Florida has more than enough research opportunities for any MD student. I'm speaking on this from the perspective of somebody who already has a PhD from an extremely well-funded R1 and has a good understanding of the type of research medical students do compared to PhD students.

You don't need top tier research to do the small projects that medical students typically do sporadically throughout the school-year and/or during summer. Now if you decide you want to take 1+ years off to do research, resources become more important. Research is really the biggest material advantage Michigan has over UF, and I personally don't feel it is big enough to justify an addition $90k unless you plan on doing a ton of research and also going into academic medicine.

Now if financial aid comes in that can offset some of this cost, I'd def recommend Michigan based on you wanting to leave Florida.
 
TheHoursWillShow said:
Will have to wait until mid-April likely to get an actual estimate. Its odd because considering in-state COA is 271k and out-of-state is 340k and their average debt according to MSAR is 140k I am honestly getting nauseated wondering what is going to happen to me financially.

Yeah that's where it gets weird. Controlling for effort will my mileage be the same? More so on me than it is on the school.

Yeah... I am not sure how much of a silver lining better research is. What I have been telling myself is that I could use the UMich curriculum and research leverage to possibly avoid a research year when matching into something competitive, but, I could do that at UF as well possibly through their research pipeline.
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Gotcha, well their average debt being $140k actually bodes well for you. I bet you'll get some decent aid. It's good that both schools have a curriculum that allows you to do a nice amount of research without a gap year, though!
 
Thanks for the update! I understand completely. As you know, I went to U-M and went into ophthalmology. I myself was somewhere in the middle of my class. And I matched without research, albeit to a low/mid tier ophtho program. (I just wasn’t a gunner in med school, and chose the field late). I think the paradigm for ophtho (and all similarly competitive specialties) is something like this;
1) Top students at U-M (and similar T15) can get into the big name powerhouse T10 ophtho residencies
2) Mid-tier students at U-M match at mid and low tier ophtho programs. Also competing here at this level are the very TOP of the class students at many if not most other med schools
3) Mid-tier students at most other medical schools don’t match.

That being said, there is the element of chance and of luck involved. I probably got lucky. But I view my chances of not having matched to have been the same as the other people in category 2 (the top students at some other med schools).

As a side note, you’ll love the 4 seasons in A2, and fall season is spectacular.
 
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One last thing. Consider studying at the Law Library in the law school quad instead of at the med school library. Awesome historical building. Sometimes I needed to get out of my apartment to have the discipline to study, and it was great to get away from the med campus and from other med students at times. Dead quiet or they’ll throw you out.
(Side note: some nearby female law students in the library will be throwing you glances after noticing your med school material. Not commonly seen there.)
 
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Kind of tangential, but with stellar stats as well as FAP/disadvantaged, how did you not have more luck in admissions this year (in terms of II and A's or scholarships)?
 
DOs and Caribbeans are surviving and doing just fine owing $400-$600k while going into FM/IM. I think OP will be fine with a 340k COA at Michigan where they can essentially pick any specialty (even ones that make paying back $340k look like cake)

If OP picks Florida and 4 years from now they don't match ophtho and match into their back up (IM) or are forced to take a gap/research year... boom there goes millions of dollars of lost potential income all to save a measly $90k in cost...

Michigan is on a whole nother level than any other school in that region. OP will essentially be able to point a finger and walk into any program they like
 
homunculusus said:
Michigan is on a whole nother level than any other school in that region. OP will essentially be able to point a finger and walk into any program they like
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Well, I wouldn’t quite say that Michigan is at a whole other level for the region. Case, Mayo and NW/Feinberg aren’t that far away. All somewhere within T25 and match well.
 
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