Difficult school decision, please help

[cardzkp]

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Hi all,

I am lucky enough to have been accepted off of the Georgetown waitlist today after previously committing to SUNY Upstate. I really am not sure which would be better so I want to ask the SDN community (who have been so helpful thus far, so thanks).

I won't list the pro's and con's because I'm sure you all know by now, but I'll give some background info:

I'm from Long Island, so both schools are pretty equidistant. I am a senior in college with a small-medium amount of loans to pay off thanks to some family contribution, but neither of my parents will be helping with my graduate work, so price is obviously a factor (it totals a little over $80K more if I went to GT instead of Upstate).

I really like metro areas (I would've loved to live in NYC), but DC is a close second. Another major factor is the P/F curriculum, which I'm still confused about for GT—is it switching for the class of 2020? SUNY Upstate is P/F.

So, it really comes down to money, location, and prestige (somewhat) for me. Is the location and prestige worth 80K? I'm not sure.

Thanks in advance to everyone who replies.

 

[Thego2guy]

Gtown med prestige is not on par with undergrad, but it still has that nice laymen recognition. DC sounds like a place where you want to be. If the school is indeed P/F then I think it is worth the extra 20k per year to go to an arguably better school, with definitely a better name, and a much happier place to spend your 20's in. Less snow than Syracuse too.

 

[Mansamusa]

I vote Upstate. Syracuse isn't that badly and rent is too damn high in DC. And are you sure the difference is only 80? The SUNY include stuff like residency apps in their cost, COL is so much cheaper, and tuiton is like $20K/yr less.
Good luck with your decision!

(Gt is $58K/yr for tuition! I thought Tulane was crazy high at $60K, but at least my rent/utilities are only $6K/yr. It's getting insane out there 😡 )

 

[seeinghowitgoes]

I'd follow the money - the prestige factor doesn't really come in when comparing the school's you mentioned (that is to say, one isn't going to open significantly more doors than another by name alone), and in my calculation location is not worth 80k+interest. If Upstate is P/F and there is a question about GT, just the cherry on top of picking Upstate.

Good luck making the decision!

 

[longtimelurker2015]

Usually the advice is ALWAYS to go to P/F School over A-B-C scale. But when the A-B-C scale School has lower COA, then one would you advise you go to that one (money trumps grading scale).

In this case, Upstate is cheaper + P/F, and of equal prestige to Gtown (Gtown has greater prestige for undergrad, not for the med school).

This is a no-brainer. Pick Upstate (or, simply, wherever your gut tells you to go, but based on the factors you delineated, Upstate wins on all counts)

 

[lysozym392]

Georgetown will be adopting P/F starting with the entering class of 2016 i.e. this upcoming school year. Perhaps that will factor into your decision. Additionally, Georgetown's match list shows quite a bit more surgery matches than you'd expect. So if surg is something you think you'll want to go into, keep GU in the mix (until you're not allowed to by AAMC traffic rules). No idea what Upstate's match list is like, but i think matching should factor into your decision too.

 

[seeinghowitgoes]

No idea what Upstate's match list is like, but i think matching should factor into your decision too.

Just want to respectfully disagree - interpreting match lists is quite hard to do and usually has much, much more to do with the individuals' preferences then factors the school offers. This is supported by the little data that is out there, such as the residency directors survey that doesn't rank the school one comes from as one of the top factors for selecting candidates. I say this suggest even if GU matches more into surgery, it is probably just because more people want to go into surgery but not that the school is making the difference, and this I personally wouldn't pay 80k+interest just to be around a higher density of people trying to go into surgery.

Now if this were Harvard vs Upstate, I would say the prestige of the school is going to make a difference to residencies and might be worth the money, but you wouldn't need to look at the match list to know that.

 

[cardzkp]

Shameless self bump.

Thanks for all the responses guys, I'm just trying to get as many opinions as possible

@Goro @Jalby


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

 

[whatsupdr]

DC is expensive as is any city. Your looking at paying approx $1300 a month for rent for a decent place. I am partial to Georgetown. I did visit Upstate and did like the area. They also have that campus housing. I dont think you can go wrong at either school. If you want to save some money go Upstate! If you want more of a city life go Georgetown! What does your gut tell you?