Duke v. Brown v. Northwestern

[hopefuldoc75]

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Hi! I've been fortunate to have several schools to choose from, but am having trouble deciding.

I'm interested in some competitive specialties (surgical) and will be moving with my partner, who works in the restaurant/events industry. I'm also a non-trad student, so going to a school that's not as 'young' would be nice.

Duke ($17,000/yr - 75% tuition scholarship)
Pros:

• P/F preclinical and clinical
• Starting a longitudinal integrated clerkship that sounds cool
• M3 entirely for research
• T10 prestige
• The weather and access to outdoor activities (hiking, etc.) is easier
• NC is diverse (I'm URM)

Cons:

• Exams every other Monday - I'm afraid the pace might be too fast
• I don't love Durham
• Would need to buy a car
• URM students seem close-knit but I'm not sure how supportive the school is

Northwestern ($33,000/yr - 50% tuition scholarship)
Pros:

• Definitely my favorite second look and I vibed well with most of the students
• I really liked Chicago (but my partner found it overwhelming)
• I like the early clinical exposure and exams every 4-6 weeks
• T20 prestige
• Diversity in Chicago & great URM support at Northwestern
• Could use public transportation

Cons:

• I've never lived anywhere that cold
• Harder to get to outdoor activities that aren't running on Lake Michigan
• AOA and internal rankings
• Higher cost of living

Brown ($3,000/yr - almost full-tuition scholarship)
Pros:

• Would be in the PC-PM program (masters degree, longitudinal integrated clerkship, & summer research internship)
• Students and faculty seem really supportive
• I really like how social-justice-oriented the school/curriculum is
• Close to the beach and outdoor activities

Cons:

• Also gets very cold
• Would need to buy a car
• Research is primarily done in the summer
• Can't imagine myself living in Providence
• Partner would probably have to work in Boston (~2hr total commute each day)
• If I do the masters, I would have extra classes to take (but would be able to easily access research)
• Younger class since 1/3 of students are from PLME

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Duke is worth 60k more than brown so I would go Duke

 

[brown_skin_girl]

Congrats on your options. One thing I picked up on is that Brown’s PC-PM is primarily geared towards those in primary care and population medicine. You mentioned surgical specialties. Do you think that you would thrive in the curriculum?

It sounds like you are most excited about Duke and Northwestern. I would encourage you to talk more with your partner and also see if you could negotiate higher aid.

 

[hopefuldoc75]

Congrats on your options. One thing I picked up on is that Brown’s PC-PM is primarily geared towards those in primary care and population medicine. You mentioned surgical specialties. Do you think that you would thrive in the curriculum?

It sounds like you are most excited about Duke and Northwestern. I would encourage you to talk more with your partner and also see if you could negotiate higher aid.

That's a good point about Brown. I have a public health background, so the PC-PM is interesting to me, but I'm not sure that it would fit my career interests in the long run.

I'm currently trying to negotiate with Northwestern, but waiting to see if they can match either Duke or Brown's offers.

 

[JoyFairy]

Congrats on your choices! I'm not sure which URM community you're from, but Duke SNMA was incredibly helpful for giving me honest insight about all of my concerns. I'd definitely text someone from your appropriate affinity group for a quick chat between now and May 2 to get the details about supportive admin. From my limited experience, admin seemed much more supportive than other schools; but not as far along as NW.

Also, I attended Duke for undergrad, and the Triangle Area is surprisingly fun. The car thing is annoying, but the cost of living makes it easier to explore the area. Weekend getaways to the mountains or the beach or mini-vacations to Bermuda are definitely doable! It's an unexpectedly great place to be a foodie 🙂

Lastly, I was considering both Duke and NW at one point. Although I really loved NW's commitment to anti-racism, I wasn't excited about a 2-year preclinical, AOA, and internal rankings. I've heard that the accelerated curriculum at Duke is pretty manageable, and there are quite a few options for folks interested in surgery (especially with the longitudinal curriculum and the 3rd year) and also public health (including at UNC).

I'd vote Duke, but leave no stone unturned and see if NW can match!

 

[sophop]

Wow! Congratulations! Interviewed and enjoyed all 3 (back when interviews were in person), but only got into NW so will only address your observations on that. All your PROs are right on the mark and it was by far the fav in 15 interviews and several 2nd looks). I grew up in the toasty IE of SoCal and survived the climate change, although I was acclimated a bit by attending a college on the east coast. In terms of recreation, did a lot of winter running, there is an active IM program, and another wellness perk is cheap access ($23/month) to Chicago's Fitness Formula Clubs - which are pretty awesome. Although on paper it's 2 yrs of pre-clinical, that wasn't a big deal for me since ECMH really does give you direct longitudinal patient exposure from your first month through your last. I never played the AOA game, so won't address that - although there has been a drive by students for a while to dump it. In terms of cost, it took them forever but they did bump up my FA a bit up front. They didn't quite match the other schools that were in my final consideration set but I have been pleasantly surprised to have received a couple of unsolicited and substantial scholarships since. I wish they had done that at the beginning so my decision would have been easier!