dream medschools

[PakFistInYoMouf]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

I want to live in Vermont or NewHampshire. I've always been outdoors oriented...living next to a lake allowed me to fish and swim during my highschool summers. After spending 4 years in a somewhat urban collegetown, I occasionally catch myself daydreaming of living in a place full of lakes and white slopes for snowboarding. Sometimes I wish I didn't even know about schools like Dartmouth or University of Vermont...I feel as if I don't get into either of those two schools i'll be unhappy for the next 4 years of my life...

Anyone strongly polarized regarding their environment/where they want to study? When choosing my undergrad, I was all about living in Philadelphia. Now it seems im really a country boy at heart.

 

[musiclink213]

i am the opposite of you. i've lived in the city all my life, and going undergrad, i wanted out. i wanted to live the smalll town life, so to speak, where i could sit and actually see stars, and everybody was nice and polite. So i went to a school out in long island. and now i realize that what i really want is the city. the loudness, car honking, bright light nights of the city, that to most people seem like hte "city that never sleeps" but to me is actually quite peaceful.

WHen the time comes for me to go to med school, i'd love to stay in the city, or go to another big city like chicago, but because of financial reasons, i'm probably going to go to a SUNY, and the only SUNY in the city is Downstate (which is in Brooklyn), but if i had to pick the SUNY school to go to, it would probably be stonybrook because of their facilities, and reputation as a great school.

 

[PakFistInYoMouf]

Dear musiclink213:
So funny how people thrive in different environments!

"the loudness, car honking, bright light nights of the city, that to most people seem like the "city that never sleeps" but to me is actually quite peaceful"

really sounds like what I want to get away from. And I've always wanted a motorcycle....prolly more likely to get one if I live in a less urban area. The only benefit I see to living in a city is the greater degree of enculturation.

I remember in Philadelphia a man sitting and reading the newspaper in a cafe...it seemed like he didn't have a care in the world, worrying about a lawn to mow, maintaining/repairing his house or anything. Still...the absense of trees and greenery really gets to me after about two weeks.

 

[DrBodacious]

I grew up in the Upper Penninsula of MI. Really remote, clean air, tons of stars in the sky. My folks had 40 acres of fields, forrest and a pond w/ fish in it. Now I'm at a state school in a medium sized city and I'm planning on going to med school in a big city. My dream schools are Penn, Northwestern, UofC, Pitt, all in big cities(Chi, Phil, Pitt) but I'm really gonna miss my hometown. Even moreso since my folks moved from MI to PA 3 years ago. Sold the house my dad built and lived in for 18yrs and all of our land for a better job. I can't wait till I become financially well off enough to buy a vacation home somewhere remote, but for med-school and even for practicing medicine, it seems like you get the best experience in big cities. I'll have to tough it out and rely on vactions.

 

[PwnerOfAll]

I like this region and want to be near my family:

UNC med 🙂

 

[Tezzie]

I would prefer to be in an urban area. Although i would love to return to New York, i am not sure how my wallet could handle that. Places like Baltimore and St. Louis are great for me because they have all the good things of major metropolitan areas yet i won't need to pay 10$ for a gallon of milk.

 

[jlee9531]

UCSF....tho am i rejected from there haha...

its still my dreamschool.....

great location.

berkeley is nearby.

people rule.

bay area is nice.

great rep.

 

[quideam]

1. Yale
2. U Penn
3. U Pitt


Although (2) and (3) may be interchangable....

- Quid!

 

[Ebola]

1. University of Tijuana

 

[Pinkertinkle]

I'd like to go to UCSF, I used to live a few blocks away from it, walked passed it on my way to school, did elementary school research reports using UCSF library encyclopedias, ahh it'd be like old times.

 

[DrJ2B]

1) UPenn
2) Cornell/Duke/JHU/Harvard
3) Yale

 

[DrJ2B]

I love UPenn so much. I applied early decision but got deferred to regular decision. I am trying to improve my application and maybe they will let me in regular decision. 1 😍 UPenn!

 

[aqs200]

Originally posted by Tezzie
I would prefer to be in an urban area. Although i would love to return to New York, i am not sure how my wallet could handle that. Places like Baltimore and St. Louis are great for me because they have all the good things of major metropolitan areas yet i won't need to pay 10$ for a gallon of milk.

I live in NYC and a gallon of milk only costs around 2 bucks.

 

[ForensicPath]

I really like living in and around cities, so any school in NYC or philly would be good for me.

Although I wouldn't mind going to Stony Brook since I am very familiar with LI and like it.

But then again a school near ski areas, like Dartmouth would be great too.

I guess I am pretty flexible and don't really have a dream school.

 

[Tezzie]

Aqs it was a figure of speech. I lived in NYC all my life before moving for college. There are HUGE differences in the cost of life between NYC and other cities around the US. I know very well that New York has great restaurants, theatres etc but the fact of the matter is that i couldn't afford it while in med school. So why bother 😛

 

[Farrah]

My dream school is any med school that accepts me.

 

[EMPOWERurSELF!]

University of Rochester. Hands Down.

oooh I'm drooling just thinking about it....😀

 

[musiclink213]

Aqs it was a figure of speech. I lived in NYC all my life before moving for college. There are HUGE differences in the cost of life between NYC and other cities around the US. I know very well that New York has great restaurants, theatres etc but the fact of the matter is that i couldn't afford it while in med school. So why bother

even so, i could never leave. I know i'm gonna probably be broke for a while, but there are amazing discounts in the city if you know where to look. With a student ID, you can see many broadway shows for only $20, and this is front row. for me, the game is either stay in ny, be broke, but love it, or go somewhere else, be miserable, and be semi-broke. i'd rtather enjoy my life in the cities of the world.

 

[quideam]

I know exactly what you guys mean about locations. After my interview at Cornell, I realized that I would be pretty unhappy going there. It's obviously an incredible school, but the idea of living in a little apartment in Manhattan for four years just sounds miserable to me. I loved U Pitt because although the school is in an urban area, the students live in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, which are nicer, greener, and yes, cheaper.

Yale = New Haven, which is fine by me... U Penn = Philly which I guess would be alright, but not much better than NYC.

- Quid (tree hugger extraordinare!)

 

[Wardens]

Hey Quid,
Great list! Same top 3 for me.

 

[quideam]

Sweet, Wardens!

Have you interviewed at them yet? I just got back from my Pitt interview; I have U Penn on the 7th and Yale on the 21st... will I see you anywhere?

- Quid

 

[DW]

Originally posted by musiclink213
even so, i could never leave. I know i'm gonna probably be broke for a while, but there are amazing discounts in the city if you know where to look. With a student ID, you can see many broadway shows for only $20, and this is front row. for me, the game is either stay in ny, be broke, but love it, or go somewhere else, be miserable, and be semi-broke. i'd rtather enjoy my life in the cities of the world.

nyc is suprisingly affordable as a med student i've found.

you need neither a car nor car insurance. public transit is great and taxis are much cheaper than any place i've been too.

all the ny med schools have super cheap deals for housing (<500 a month here!!! 😱 first year housing kinda sucks but the upper class apts are an awesome deal)

student discounts galore, shows, movies, sports, etc....plus the student govt at your med school will surely arrange for reduced covers and drink specials at nyc bars.

you're not going to be going out every night....it IS med school afterall😉

and you learn the tricks....your cheap hole in the wall places to eat, the cheap ways to get groceries (freshdirect is a GODSEND), et cetera.

had i stayed in atlanta for med school, between rent, utilities, paying to fuel, maintain, and insure my vehicle, i might have been paying more to live on a month to month basis.

trust me, i wouldnt let the cost of nyc deter you from attending the amazing institutions within its borders. i was worried about the exact same thing, but I find it very manageable 🙂

 

[kwanny]

i torn between the east and west coast schools... on one hand, i would love to stay near my girlfriend (east coast) for med school... but on the other hand, east coast weather is just terrible, and i would like to stay close to my family (west coast--cali)... cuz i go to an undergrad in the east coast, and it's a major pain in the butt to travel to cali everytime... *sigh*...

My east coast dream schools:
1. UPenn (I absolutely love this school)
2. Cornell

My west coast dream schools:
1. Stanford
2. UCSF
3. UCLA (very, very close to my home... prolly less than 10 min drive... 😀 )

Damn... hopefully, i wouldn't get into all those schools. Ideally, if I could get into one and only one school outta those schools.... dilemma SOLVED~ 😉

kwanny

 

[Wardens]

I haven't heard from Yale, but I've been to pitt and penn and really loved both. Penn would be amazing for so many reasons, but I would really be extremely happy at either . . . and yale's curriculum is just too cool to not be in my top 3. Good luck at the interviews!

 

[PakFistInYoMouf]

Its good to know we all don't have the same top choices, which at least marginally increases our chances of getting into the schools of our highest preference. In addition, I figure that if we all have different criteria regarding selection of school(inferred by the different top choices), medschool adcoms have got to have different characteristics they are looking for regarding applicants. This string of thought makes me feel (universal appeal of high stats aside) that we may all have something unique about ourselves which at least some medical school adcom in the country is looking for. I don't know when I became so idealistic in this thought process...maybe its this cold medication. Maybe this will all change to a more bitter/cynical voice if i recieve a rejection letter...

 

[Gleevec]

There is definitely a regional, personality, and applicant bias when you visit certain schools.

At each of my interviews, while staying with students, they can pretty much tell you the most common types of individuals accepted (people from this state, people from certain undergrads, non-trads, URMs, researchers, surgeons, FP, etc)

So dont be too offended by rejections, it probably has as much to do with you not being a good "fit" for the class they which to design.

There are so many factors involved on our end of the app (MCAT, GPA, ECs, LOR, PS), its sorta weird to have to worry that these factors might not matter that much because of the types of people med schools try to attract.

 

[calebho501]

For me, right now it's:

1. Johns Hopkins (Strong MD/MPH program, great clinical training)
2. Columbia (You can't beat NYC!)
3. Stanford (a bit traditional but good reputation)
4. Emory (Extraordinary school with flexible MD/MPH)
5. UCLA, U of Chicago, Northwestern (All good schools)
6. Vanderbilt (Accepted!), U Penn, Yale

 

[Tezzie]

After having done all of my interviews with the exception of the west coast schools and NYU i have to say :

1. Hopkins/WashU
2. Harvard/Yale (i want a Yale MBA 😛)
3. Chicago/Cornell/Columbia/Penn
4. Duke/Vandy/Michigan
5. Dartmouth/Emory

I absolutely loved Dartmouth when i visited. It is an awesome school.
The more i think about Yale the more i want to be there.
Vandy is a bit too traditional for me and i wasn't impressed diversity-wise.

As far as NYC goes. I miss it terribly. I absolutely love New York. If i don't go to New York for med school i do see myself returning there to live and work 🙂

 

[josehernandez94]

I absolutely love this school--and I got the acceptance call yesterday!

 

[quideam]

Congrats, Jose!!! I've heard that Roch is an awesome school... plus the undergrad has a hockey rink 🙂

- Quid!!!

 

[skypilot]

Originally posted by PakFistInYoMouf

And I've always wanted a motorcycle....prolly more likely to get one if I live in a less urban area.

I used to have a motorcycle when I spent my summers in New Hampshire. You could ride for hours on rural winding roads without seeing more than a few cars. It was great!

 

[josehernandez94]

hey quideam-
thanks for the congrats! that's quite a list of schools you've got there, so best of luck with acceptances to them!

i'm not much of a hockey fan, but maybe i can learn to be. there sure is enough snow/ice/cold weather to allow for plenty of practice.

 

[PakFistInYoMouf]

Originally posted by skypilot
I used to have a motorcycle when I spent my summers in New Hampshire. You could ride for hours on rural winding roads without seeing more than a few cars. It was great!

ah yes. another reason why going to Dartmouth would rule. When my dad was around the same age as me, he really pressed his family for a motorcycle, and eventually bought one against their wishes. And this was in Pakistan, where traffic is riduculous. Think of Boston, and add complicating factors like narrower streets, erratic rickshaw drivers and the occasional stray goat. I think i'll use this as a bargaining chip to get my own...provided I get into DMS so I can ride it🙂

 

[quideam]

Guys, i totally hear you... I DESPERATELY want a motorcycle!! I figure b/c of $$ it will have to wait till residency, but I know what you're all saying....

My dream residency, actually, would be in Denver... work in the big city ED, and then live half hour outside in the boonies 🙂... perfect for riding a crotch rocket to work.... If about five years from now, you see a chick with a long blonde braid riding into the DHS parking lot on a Ninja, that'll be me 😉

- Quid

 

[skypilot]

They call them Donorcycles. Be careful out there!

 

[quideam]

Originally posted by skypilot
They call them Donorcycles. Be careful out there!

Haha... that's pretty good! Hope my mother never heard the term... 🙁

- Quid 😉