Drexel vs University of Central Florida

[Basketballislife7129]

I feel incredibly fortunate to be in this position and considering these two great schools.

Drexel

Pros:

• Broad Professional Network
• Opportunity to do research at CHOP – as of now I am interested in pediatric surgery
• Philly is a bigger City
• Pass/Fail
• Will be closer to my Significant Other (2hr train ride)

Cons:

• More expensive – around 82k a year
• Did not like the facilities at all

Not sure if this a pro or con:

• Large class size - initially seems off-putting. Might have more of a chance of finding those I really gel with, but at the same time such a large class size seems daunting
• No lecture-based classes. Lectures are recorded and uploaded, and students go at their own pace. Not sure if I would attend class if offered but still would have liked the option to. I learn best on my own and skipped most of grad school and studied on my own time because lectures were recorded.

UCF

Pros:

• Beautiful Facilities – like really, really, really nice medical campus. This is one of the things I feel I’d miss the most.
• Cheaper COA – around 55k a year
• Closeish to family (3hr drive) – Would be nice to go to Disney or Universal with them every now and then when they drive up.
• Lectures recorded
• Attendance is NOT mandatory

Cons:

• Newer school (opened in the last 10 years or so)
• Letter Grades in Pre-clinical years
• Not widely known
• As of now does not have it’s own hospital – apparently they are in the process of building it and it should be open during my clinical years.
• Closeish to family – the majority of my family has a lot of family issues being closeish (3hrs drive) might be a distraction
• Further away from significant other (3hr flight)

Both have

• Similar Rank (Drexel - 85; UCF - 86)
• similar STEP1 averages (Drexel – 233; UCF – 236)
• Kinda similar Residency Director Rating (Drexel – 2.8; UCF – 2.3)

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[Bryant088]

UCF. Doesn't make sense to pay an extra 27k/year for a school of equal rank.

 

[sss1219]

I also interviewed at UCF and quality of life sounds really good there (exam averages in the high 80s so wouldn't worry too much about letter grades, plus they have exams around once ever 2 months which supposedly the best curricular setup in the state), but personal happiness with your SO may outweigh that. Although I wonder how often you will be able to take a 2 hr train ride to visit your SO with the rigors of medical school, I would imagine it would be similar to how often you could fly there at UCF. Just something to consider.

 

[Kingsmen2018]

UCF

 

[Leumas8]

Had a similar decision. Equally ranked schools. Although Drexel is the safer, more established school, the cost should make all the difference here. Go to the cheaper school. UCF