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Short Version
I am a Michigan undergrad deciding between Michigan and Duke. Michigan has in-state tuition, is closer to home and family, and has a better campus environment. Duke has better weather and great people (haven't met Michigan med school people yet), and a Duke degree is probably slightly better for my career. Where would you go?
Long version
(I wrote this mostly for myself at the airport, but I figured someone out there might get something out of reading it)
Some wise man once said that you should base the important decisions of your life, like who to marry and what occupation to pursue, on what your gut says. Problem is, my gastric system is not very clear sometimes. I am faced with a very big decision right now deciding between Duke and University of Michigan medical schools and I am torn between the two. Maybe trying to write down what I am thinking with as much honesty as I can will help me interpret what my gut is telling me.
Ill admit that this is a nice dilemma to have. The other day, I was reading some joke in The Onion about some guy deciding between Princeton and Yale, and the gist of the joke was cry us a river, you ****. I realize that my situation could be a lot worse than what I have right now, and I dont intend to come across as a pretentious bastard as I write this.
I just got done with Dukes second look weekend. I have to say, I really like it there. Everything is so pristine. The hospital and the medical school building are beautiful, and the undergraduate campus is like a vacation spot. The weather is sunny, the buildings are beautiful, and the breeze always feels nice.
The campus is much different that Michigans big state-school small-city environment. Duke has like, less than 10,000 students overall it feels so much smaller than Michigans like 40,000. Streets dont cut into campus, and the campus seems kind of isolated from the rest of the world. There is no concept of street parking. It may be prettier in places than Michigan, but it doesnt have the charm that Michigans campus has on a sunny day.
I get a vague sense of regret and nostalgia every time I think about leaving Ann Arbor. One of my favorite places to be is in the diag in the middle of April, when the sun is out and everyone is relaxing and mingling. I enjoy chilling in Café Ambrosia and walking past NYPD and working out at the CCRB. It will be sad to come to a point in my life where I wont have access to that anymore. Duke doesnt have anything to really match the feel of Michigan that I have grown accustomed to.
However, Michigan is only nice and pleasant like that like 4 to 8 weeks out of the school year, if that. The rest of the time there, it is miserably cold and dark. Only forsaken souls venture outside during those times, shivering in their jackets trying to conserve body heat as they get from one building to another, running from packs of crows that play out games of fecal Pearl Harbor from up above. In Durham, the weather is nice year-round. Right now, as I type, it is sunny, seventy degrees, with a pleasant breeze and birds chirping. This is perfect weather for anything.
The undergrad student body at Duke seems to be a little less than diverse. I got the impression that they are mostly privileged kids with popped collars. Michigan has such a good mix of all kinds of people its nice to consistently run into people who look like you and duke undergrad, well, not so much.
Im not sure how much of a difference the lack of undergraduate diversity is going to make in med school. The medical school student body at Duke is very diverse and fantastic in general, I got along well with everyone I met, and they will be the people I will be spending most of my time with. Besides, when I am spending sixteen hours a day in rotations, the ethnic make-up of the undergrad student body wont really matter that much. Really, to be honest, Im not really sure how much of a difference Michigans diversity makes right now, while Im an undergrad here. I can connect with most people just fine, and ethnic background is usually a tertiary issue in most of my friendships.
What does matter is having some kind of social support network. I will have a ton of family and friends around in the Michigan area: my sister and her husbands family, a couple of cousins, my parents, and a bunch of friends that I have made over the years will be around. I dont know anyone in Durham besides my classmates who I just met. Again, I would meet people outside of the med school over time, and I dont really need a massive group of friends outside of med school to survive but ditching a great group of friends and family and starting from scratch is a depressing thought.
Dukes curriculum is great. Only one year of basic sciences. That is huge. Sure, that year may be a bit harder than first year at Michigan but it is only one year. My student host said that he couldnt stand the thought of being in basic sciences for another year, and he is really glad that he only has 3 more months of it, while his colleagues around the country have 15 months. The second year is clinics, after which, the hard part of med school will be done. I will probably get some kind of second degree during the third year maybe an MPH, maybe an MBA or maybe Ill do research. Who knows? But it will be nice to have that year to do whatever I want.
I was comparing residency match lists of Duke and Michigan. Michigan grads match okay there are a fair number of students who get top notch residencies in schools like Harvard, Hopkins, UCSF, etc. However, there are also a fair number of students who match at lesser known hospitals. For Duke, however, matching at schools like Stanford, Harvard, UCSF, etc. seems to be the rule. Almost every single person from last years class went to a residency in some obscene institution like the ones listed above. I am really getting the impression that the Duke name is more prestigious in the medical community than Michigan, and it will probably be better for my career if I go there.
If it seems like I am infatuated with Duke I am. However, the thought of leaving Ann Arbor really bothers me. Even as little as a month ago, I did not anticipate leaving it behind. I didnt honestly believe that I would get accepted into Duke, and I had pretty much mentally prepared myself to go to Michigan. I even signed a lease on an apartment in Ann Arbor for next year, which I have since cancelled. I have a lot of emotional investment in this university and city, and it really makes me sad to think about leaving it.
Thats what it comes down to. I really like Duke, but I would be sad to leave Ann Arbor. Resistance to change and fear of something unknown are powerful motivators... but I have found that change is never quite as bad as you imagine it to be. I think Im just resistant to the idea of having to move on in life. I dont want to be in Michigan this December, miserable and cold, wishing I was in North Carolina. On the other hand, I dont want to be in Durham in December, missing everything about my family and Ann Arbor and Michigan football. I may just have to mentally prepare myself for the idea that my time in Ann Arbor is coming to an end, and I am about to begin a new chapter in my life.
Go Blue [Devils]!
I am a Michigan undergrad deciding between Michigan and Duke. Michigan has in-state tuition, is closer to home and family, and has a better campus environment. Duke has better weather and great people (haven't met Michigan med school people yet), and a Duke degree is probably slightly better for my career. Where would you go?
Long version
(I wrote this mostly for myself at the airport, but I figured someone out there might get something out of reading it)
Some wise man once said that you should base the important decisions of your life, like who to marry and what occupation to pursue, on what your gut says. Problem is, my gastric system is not very clear sometimes. I am faced with a very big decision right now deciding between Duke and University of Michigan medical schools and I am torn between the two. Maybe trying to write down what I am thinking with as much honesty as I can will help me interpret what my gut is telling me.
Ill admit that this is a nice dilemma to have. The other day, I was reading some joke in The Onion about some guy deciding between Princeton and Yale, and the gist of the joke was cry us a river, you ****. I realize that my situation could be a lot worse than what I have right now, and I dont intend to come across as a pretentious bastard as I write this.
I just got done with Dukes second look weekend. I have to say, I really like it there. Everything is so pristine. The hospital and the medical school building are beautiful, and the undergraduate campus is like a vacation spot. The weather is sunny, the buildings are beautiful, and the breeze always feels nice.
The campus is much different that Michigans big state-school small-city environment. Duke has like, less than 10,000 students overall it feels so much smaller than Michigans like 40,000. Streets dont cut into campus, and the campus seems kind of isolated from the rest of the world. There is no concept of street parking. It may be prettier in places than Michigan, but it doesnt have the charm that Michigans campus has on a sunny day.
I get a vague sense of regret and nostalgia every time I think about leaving Ann Arbor. One of my favorite places to be is in the diag in the middle of April, when the sun is out and everyone is relaxing and mingling. I enjoy chilling in Café Ambrosia and walking past NYPD and working out at the CCRB. It will be sad to come to a point in my life where I wont have access to that anymore. Duke doesnt have anything to really match the feel of Michigan that I have grown accustomed to.
However, Michigan is only nice and pleasant like that like 4 to 8 weeks out of the school year, if that. The rest of the time there, it is miserably cold and dark. Only forsaken souls venture outside during those times, shivering in their jackets trying to conserve body heat as they get from one building to another, running from packs of crows that play out games of fecal Pearl Harbor from up above. In Durham, the weather is nice year-round. Right now, as I type, it is sunny, seventy degrees, with a pleasant breeze and birds chirping. This is perfect weather for anything.
The undergrad student body at Duke seems to be a little less than diverse. I got the impression that they are mostly privileged kids with popped collars. Michigan has such a good mix of all kinds of people its nice to consistently run into people who look like you and duke undergrad, well, not so much.
Im not sure how much of a difference the lack of undergraduate diversity is going to make in med school. The medical school student body at Duke is very diverse and fantastic in general, I got along well with everyone I met, and they will be the people I will be spending most of my time with. Besides, when I am spending sixteen hours a day in rotations, the ethnic make-up of the undergrad student body wont really matter that much. Really, to be honest, Im not really sure how much of a difference Michigans diversity makes right now, while Im an undergrad here. I can connect with most people just fine, and ethnic background is usually a tertiary issue in most of my friendships.
What does matter is having some kind of social support network. I will have a ton of family and friends around in the Michigan area: my sister and her husbands family, a couple of cousins, my parents, and a bunch of friends that I have made over the years will be around. I dont know anyone in Durham besides my classmates who I just met. Again, I would meet people outside of the med school over time, and I dont really need a massive group of friends outside of med school to survive but ditching a great group of friends and family and starting from scratch is a depressing thought.
Dukes curriculum is great. Only one year of basic sciences. That is huge. Sure, that year may be a bit harder than first year at Michigan but it is only one year. My student host said that he couldnt stand the thought of being in basic sciences for another year, and he is really glad that he only has 3 more months of it, while his colleagues around the country have 15 months. The second year is clinics, after which, the hard part of med school will be done. I will probably get some kind of second degree during the third year maybe an MPH, maybe an MBA or maybe Ill do research. Who knows? But it will be nice to have that year to do whatever I want.
I was comparing residency match lists of Duke and Michigan. Michigan grads match okay there are a fair number of students who get top notch residencies in schools like Harvard, Hopkins, UCSF, etc. However, there are also a fair number of students who match at lesser known hospitals. For Duke, however, matching at schools like Stanford, Harvard, UCSF, etc. seems to be the rule. Almost every single person from last years class went to a residency in some obscene institution like the ones listed above. I am really getting the impression that the Duke name is more prestigious in the medical community than Michigan, and it will probably be better for my career if I go there.
If it seems like I am infatuated with Duke I am. However, the thought of leaving Ann Arbor really bothers me. Even as little as a month ago, I did not anticipate leaving it behind. I didnt honestly believe that I would get accepted into Duke, and I had pretty much mentally prepared myself to go to Michigan. I even signed a lease on an apartment in Ann Arbor for next year, which I have since cancelled. I have a lot of emotional investment in this university and city, and it really makes me sad to think about leaving it.
Thats what it comes down to. I really like Duke, but I would be sad to leave Ann Arbor. Resistance to change and fear of something unknown are powerful motivators... but I have found that change is never quite as bad as you imagine it to be. I think Im just resistant to the idea of having to move on in life. I dont want to be in Michigan this December, miserable and cold, wishing I was in North Carolina. On the other hand, I dont want to be in Durham in December, missing everything about my family and Ann Arbor and Michigan football. I may just have to mentally prepare myself for the idea that my time in Ann Arbor is coming to an end, and I am about to begin a new chapter in my life.
Go Blue [Devils]!
Too bad that songs so old now 
