Deciding between several acceptances

[CSLITO]

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To those who are lucky enough to/will have more than one acceptance, how will you make your final decision and what criteria are important to you when making that oh so important decision?

 

[kevster2001]

Curriculum
Location
Financial Aid package
Whether i know anyone also going there

no particular order

 

[BellyDancingDoc]

Curriculum
Financial Package
Ranking (please don't flame- just being honest)
Support for Independent Student Research
Grading System (unranked P/F = 😍 )
Class Vibe (chill and uncompetitive = 😍 )

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Frogs

 

[DrAverageJoe]

The gut feeling I got from the school while interviewing.

 

[maestro1625]

The gut feeling I got from the school while interviewing.

ha, did that for undergrad

...never again...

 

[Orthodoc40]

Cost
Distance from home
Hospital affiliations
What % of students got their 1st or 2nd choice residency match
How their board scores & pass rates look
Class size
Facilities
Research opportunities
Feeling you get from students there, staff, faculty, overall...
Do they have a gym
Technology
International opportunities

Do we need to do all the thinking for you?? (LOL - J/K!!)

 

[brbsb]

ha, did that for undergrad

...never again...

Ditto...I ended up at a college I hated for my first year of undergrad, then transferred to a place I love. When you visit, you have to remember that they are trying to sell their school to you...you're probably not going to get a hugely realistic view from one or two visits.

 

[Robizzle]

I know SDN repeats itself but cmon now...

and OP i'll tell you just like I told the last guy, # hot girls.

 

[dakta]

As a third year student who loves the school I'm at, I am one who went with my instincts. You know how your gut instints have served you in the past, and at this point, you can judge for yourself whether it's a good idea to go with that or not. If not, there are some good ideas in the previous posts that could help you.

That said, second look weekends can help a lot, but schools are still pulling out the good china for you. Find out what the people are like there and see if the older classes and administration are people you like. Always, ALWAYS stay with a host at these if you can. More importantly, you need to realize that class dynamics will be a huge component of your experience. You can't base what your class will be like at a give school solely on the things you see in other classes-- you need to see how you interact with your potential classmates at second look. At our school, we have three very distinct flavors among the four classes. You never know exactly what the soup will taste like until you let the pot simmer for a little while. 🙂

 

[Robizzle]

^ this guy just made me hungry.

 

[Richspiders07]

Financial Aid Package is huge for me...
I'm also digging pass/fail schools...
I'll also be swayed if my soon to be fiance gets into an engineering school in the same city!

 

[airshad8]

For some reason, when I read the title of this thread, it makes my blood boil, a tinge of pain in my heart. Gah wish I had a damn acceptance!!

 

[CSLITO]

Yo Rob, its Carlos from TPR. Congrats on the accept.

To everyone else who replied, thanks for the information. As for myself I will try to base my decision on (in no particular order):

Location
Curriculum
Finaid package
Second look weekend
Class dynamic
Proximity to significant other
Hospital facilities

Gut feeling.

Good luck to everyone out there.

 

[coralfangs]

location location location~
i sound like a realestate agent, dont i

 

[kabdollakyzy]

location location location~
i sound like a realestate agent, dont i

Interesting. This is important to me but I am curious why you are strongly supporting the location criterion. Thanks!

 

[ScottTenorman54]

Interesting. This is important to me but I am curious why you are strongly supporting the location criterion. Thanks!

I sure hope he wrote it out in his diary or something, seeing as how it was 11 years ago

 

[aalamruad]

Interesting. This is important to me but I am curious why you are strongly supporting the location criterion. Thanks!

Welcome to SDN my friend. From now on, try to make sure to check the date of the posts you're reading before you respond so that you don't bump super old threads 🙂

It is a good question though, aside from wanting to live near friends and family, I don't know why location would be such an important factor, especially in comparison to things like cost/rank/curriculum/research options/etc.

 

[stickgirl390]

Pass rate for Step 1 and solid Residencey statistics

 

[libertyyne]

Pass rate for Step 1 and solid Residencey statistics

I feel like the first one is pretty universal for most US MD schools. The second I feel i am incapable of analyzing.

 

[stickgirl390]

I feel like the first one is pretty universal for most US MD schools. The second I feel i am incapable of analyzing.

For the second one, I want to go into peds, so I'm looking for a school that matches frequently in primary care. (A very easy one to find.)

 

[libertyyne]

For the second one, I want to go into peds, so I'm looking for a school that matches frequently in primary care. (A very easy one to find.)

I don't mean to sound harsh, but isn't the default matching into primary care? That's like saying going to Harvard would prevent you from matching into primary care so one should opt for a DO school. When in reality if you go to any us MD school and pass your classes you should be able to match into primary care /peds /IM.

 

[Ampharos]

Productivity of research

Access to Underserved populations

Funding/Financial aid

Prestige

Vibe