Duke vs. NYU

[dmg18]

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I was admitted to Duke on May 15 and to NYU today. I have mostly already made my decision, but I just want to get others' opinions on what school they would choose and why.

Many of my friends have told me they would choose NYU because of the location. However, I know it's absurd to think I will have much time to enjoy NYC as a full-time med student anyway. Still, my partner and I both currently live in Manhattan, and it would be a big advantage (especially for him) to not have to relocate.

I would appreciate others' thoughts.

Thanks.

 

[ryandote]

I was admitted to Duke on May 15 and to NYU today. I have mostly already made my decision, but I just want to get others' opinions on what school they would choose and why.

Many of my friends have told me they would choose NYU because of the location. However, I know it's absurd to think I will have much time to enjoy NYC as a full-time med student anyway. Still, my partner and I both currently live in Manhattan, and it would be a big advantage (especially for him) to not have to relocate.

I would appreciate others' thoughts.

Thanks.

NYU.

Rest assured that many people would be happy to take your spot at Duke.

Alas, go where you will have the least regrets.

 

[byong_soo]

what does your partner do?

 

[husky0684]

Hey,

I don't want to vote because I would not be impartial, but I have worked at NYU Med for a summer research program and I have worked at Duke for the past year so I have experienced both hospitals, both faculty, etc. NYU location is AWESOME, flat out probably one of the most fun locations in the country, but as you said as far as how much time you would have to enjoy it is debatable. Durham sucks pretty bad in terms of cultural experiences, but if you like nature/outdoors it is pretty awesome and close to the beach/mountains. Both have incredible research, but I think I would have to give the edge to Duke on that one. However, as far as facilities/teaching hospitals, NYU has that one beat. You have tisch and bellevue. So I will stop my rambling and say you can't go wrong either way. I was accepted to NYU but turned it down because I can't handle New York living for four years, but you already are there so you have a tough decision..good luck with it! 🙂

sorry forgot to add, the people at both institutions have been incredible. ok that's all, if you have questions about either one, you can PM me. Granted I have not gone to either for medical school 🙂 , but I have done research/ clinical rotations/ lived at both.

Last thing to add I promise haha is that I also have been able to interact with students from both med schools and there are definite differences. Duke students are definately a bit more shall we say "intense" but not in a cutthroat way, but it is definately a noticeable difference in demeanor between the two student bodies. That being said, I personally would choose duke for location and the research year, but that is just personal preference

 

[dmg18]

what does your partner do?

he's a waiter for now until he can go back to school, but he's status in this country does not make it easy for him to find a job. Therefore, I'm not sure how easy it will be to find something in Durham.

We've been together for 4.5 years, so his happiness is a serious consideration of mine. He has urged me NOT to consider him in this decision, to make this decision my own, but it's hard to do so when it's clear it would be easier for him if we stayed in NYC.

Still, I think we may actually be able to find something in Durham. We'll be visiting again soon and seeing for ourselves how good/difficult it can/will be.

I'm sorry for those on the waitlists at either schools. I truly feel your pain, I will be making a decision hopefully within a week.

 

[kirexhana]

Hey,

I don't want to vote because I would not be impartial, but I have worked at NYU Med for a summer research program and I have worked at Duke for the past year so I have experienced both hospitals, both faculty, etc. NYU location is AWESOME, flat out probably one of the most fun locations in the country, but as you said as far as how much time you would have to enjoy it is debatable. Durham sucks pretty bad in terms of cultural experiences, but if you like nature/outdoors it is pretty awesome and close to the beach/mountains. Both have incredible research, but I think I would have to give the edge to Duke on that one. However, as far as facilities/teaching hospitals, NYU has that one beat. You have tisch and bellevue. So I will stop my rambling and say you can't go wrong either way. I was accepted to NYU but turned it down because I can't handle New York living for four years, but you already are there so you have a tough decision..good luck with it! 🙂

sorry forgot to add, the people at both institutions have been incredible. ok that's all, if you have questions about either one, you can PM me. Granted I have not gone to either for medical school 🙂 , but I have done research/ clinical rotations/ lived at both.

Last thing to add I promise haha is that I also have been able to interact with students from both med schools and there are definite differences. Duke students are definately a bit more shall we say "intense" but not in a cutthroat way, but it is definately a noticeable difference in demeanor between the two student bodies. That being said, I personally would choose duke for location and the research year, but that is just personal preference

hey now! if by intense you mean adorable and lovely then you've the nail on the head 😉

 

[epr1]

hola, I'm a fellow manhattanite, and my vote oviously goes to NYU. I'm sure you'll have time to enjoy yourself in med school, I mean what's life without some fun right? but also as I'm sure you know nyc is a special place for medicine... I mean within the east side alone you have more hospitals and medical facilities than you know what to do with (esp. in NYU-town).

btw, when will you be starting school? fall 08??

 

[EBI831]

for some reason IMO its a duke no brainer. this is from someone who was gonna apply to both but dropped each for different reasons/biases so i'm equally biased. i just see a lot more happening medical wise in duke (please refrain all from bringing up the clinical experience in ny argument i didn't mean that) and since you say u won't enjoy the city why not save a crapload on rent/ cost of living and go to an awesome school with an insane b-ball team? my bro's personal experience however taught me that although chapel hill/durham is rather insular???/ i don't know if this is the right word, you can easily grow to love it.

 

[Critical Mass]

Gotta go with curriculum, cost of living, and climate.

Go Blue Devils.

I just have one concern, and don't flame me because I am trying to be politically correct on this one. Is the Duke environment accepting of people with diverse lifestyle choices? I live in a red state right now, and there are some folks who face discrimination, so I'm just throwing that out there.

 

[FemalesCANTDriv]

I just wanna say that I love the first three ppl that responded on this thread 😍 ... and that yall freakin rock... KEEP FIGHTIN THE GOOD FIGHT!

 

[Dookter]

I'd say go wherever you want to live. For me personally, I could never live in NYC unless I was totally loaded. I like my Southern luxuries waaaaaaay too much....like my big @$$ car, my dog, my two bedroom/two bathroom apartment that costs probably 60% of a complete craphole in NYC. But for you, NYC might be heaven on earth. So just go wherever you'll be happy.

 

[Doctor~Detroit]

but also as I'm sure you know nyc is a special place for medicine... I mean within the east side alone you have more hospitals and medical facilities than you know what to do with (esp. in NYU-town).

. . . which is actually a strike against it, when your training hospital is competing with others for complex cases.

but on the demand side, nyc does have plenty of pts to go around.

 

[da Vinci]

Something to consider...

NYU students do their clinical rotations at Tisch, Bellevue, and the VA - however, there is the possibility (having spoken to physicians and students at NYU) of being spent to a smaller hospital on Long Island for some rotations (not likely, but it happens, though I believe medicine & surgery must be at one of the 3 primary sites). In addition, my father, who was formerly a physician at NYU, said the VA hospital is not the best environment for medical students.

 

[dmg18]

hola, I'm a fellow manhattanite, and my vote oviously goes to NYU. I'm sure you'll have time to enjoy yourself in med school, I mean what's life without some fun right? but also as I'm sure you know nyc is a special place for medicine... I mean within the east side alone you have more hospitals and medical facilities than you know what to do with (esp. in NYU-town).

btw, when will you be starting school? fall 08??

No, this fall. 2007 (or, actually, July if it's Duke).

 

[dmg18]

😀

sorry if u don't want to see this thread anymore, just a couple more days...

 

[diosa428]

😀

sorry if u don't want to see this thread anymore, just a couple more days...

Duke is beating NYU with over twice as many votes. I don't think your results are going to change significantly in the next couple of days. If you're looking at that and hoping that somehow everyone will start picking NYU, then your gut is obviously telling you NYU is better for you.

 

[MrBurns10]

I just have one concern, and don't flame me because I am trying to be politically correct on this one. Is the Duke environment accepting of people with diverse lifestyle choices? I live in a red state right now, and there are some folks who face discrimination, so I'm just throwing that out there.

I'm a first year at Duke and I have three classmates who have "alternate lifestyles", if that's what you want to call it. I honestly haven't seen them treated any differently by the rest of our classmates, professors, or upperclassmen, but obviously only they would be able to tell you. (Perhaps a certain someone would like to respond here?) But the Duke medical center, as most research institutions are, is pretty politically liberal.

 

[dmg18]

Duke is beating NYU with over twice as many votes. I don't think your results are going to change significantly in the next couple of days. If you're looking at that and hoping that somehow everyone will start picking NYU, then your gut is obviously telling you NYU is better for you.

No, that's not the case at all. I just know for instance that sometimes I have voted and not really read through the thread first. I have just seen a place I think is better (for whatever flawed or biased reason), and vote, without really thinking through other relevant factors or reading through the thread.

I just want to give people a couple of days to see what factors they would weight, as well as factors I would weight, and make a more informed decision...so that I can have a more informed decision.

You are right though, if I don't see it changing any time soon then this is it...

 

[FemalesCANTDriv]

Duke is beating NYU with over twice as many votes. I don't think your results are going to change significantly in the next couple of days. If you're looking at that and hoping that somehow everyone will start picking NYU, then your gut is obviously telling you NYU is better for you.

Ya... I second this sentiment. I would love to see you as a classmate next year, but usually when people start these types of threads, it seems to me that they want to know that they are not a complete ***** for wanting to go to NYU over Duke or Vandy over UCSF or whatever the case my be... I am here to tell you that it is your choice and both are great schools. Do what you gotta do. Also, someone once told me that lots of times in life, you have more than one right decision in front of you. It is only a matter of which is more right for you. Good luck!

 

[EndSong]

Both are great schools. You can't go wrong either way. ANd if you went to NYU for your partner, you certainly wouldn't be the first to choose a "lesser ranked" school to be close to the one you love.

 

[dmg18]

I'm a first year at Duke and I have three classmates who have "alternate lifestyles", if that's what you want to call it. I honestly haven't seen them treated any differently by the rest of our classmates, professors, or upperclassmen, but obviously only they would be able to tell you. (Perhaps a certain someone would like to respond here?) But the Duke medical center, as most research institutions are, is pretty politically liberal.

I'm actually hoping that more of these "certain someones" would respond and give their view of life in Duke (and Durham/Chapell Hill/Raleigh).

Although I plan on visiting again, there's only so much I can gather from a few days of exploring, so I'd like to get more feedback from people who live there now or have lived in both NYC and Durham (if these exist).

My gut is actually telling me Duke, not NYU, if just for the fact that RW is DA BOMB! and for many of the reasons stated by others in this thread: curriculum, third year opportunities, funding/finances, reputation, weather (i guess in that order). Although NYC would be better for my partner, I'm sure, there would be nothing holding us here if he actually found a job in Durham. So, I've decided to just focus on where we'd be more happy (assuming the employment opportunity will present itself).

After having taken courses at NYU med school I know for a fact that I would love it there if I went, but I can't be that certain about Durham. Therefore, I'm just trying to make sure I would not be signing myself up to go to a social wasteland if I decided on Duke.

 

[kirexhana]

I'm a first year at Duke and I have three classmates who have "alternate lifestyles", if that's what you want to call it. I honestly haven't seen them treated any differently by the rest of our classmates, professors, or upperclassmen, but obviously only they would be able to tell you. (Perhaps a certain someone would like to respond here?) But the Duke medical center, as most research institutions are, is pretty politically liberal.

already have. 🙂

 

[dmg18]

already have. 🙂

Thank you Kirex, I really appreciate you contacting me about this.

I just received my financial aid package from NYU. They are offering me about $10K more in scholarship per year than Duke is, and I would therefore be required to take out about $10K less in loans at NYU.

I expect to have to take out more in loans at NYU anyway, since I think the room & board is seriously underestimated in their budget.

Still, this is VERY tempting.

I'm thinking about contacting the Duke financial aid office about this. I did this a couple of weeks ago when Brown was offering me $12,500 more in scholarship money than Duke. Duke said it could not change the award and that what they awarded me in scholarship money was the most they could offer.

But since the extra Brown money was just for the first year, and since I would hope to get scholarship money for third year at Duke anyway, I chose Duke.

Now, I'm wondering if I should contact Duke again?...

any thoughts?

 

[byong_soo]

Thank you Kirex, I really appreciate you contacting me about this.

I just received my financial aid package from NYU. They are offering me about $10K more in scholarship per year than Duke is, and I would therefore be required to take out about $10K less in loans at NYU.

I expect to have to take out more in loans at NYU anyway, since I think the room & board is seriously underestimated in their budget.

Still, this is VERY tempting.

I'm thinking about contacting the Duke financial aid office about this. I did this a couple of weeks ago when Brown was offering me $12,500 more in scholarship money than Duke. Duke said it could not change the award and that what they awarded me in scholarship money was the most they could offer.

But since the extra Brown money was just for the first year, and since I would hope to get scholarship money for third year at Duke anyway, I chose Duke.

Now, I'm wondering if I should contact Duke again?...

any thoughts?

happy choices happy choices
congrats

 

[FemalesCANTDriv]

Now, I'm wondering if I should contact Duke again?...

any thoughts?

It wouldn't hurt to contact them again right???

 

[epr1]

Thank you Kirex, I really appreciate you contacting me about this.

I just received my financial aid package from NYU. They are offering me about $10K more in scholarship per year than Duke is, and I would therefore be required to take out about $10K less in loans at NYU.

I expect to have to take out more in loans at NYU anyway, since I think the room & board is seriously underestimated in their budget.

Still, this is VERY tempting.

I'm thinking about contacting the Duke financial aid office about this. I did this a couple of weeks ago when Brown was offering me $12,500 more in scholarship money than Duke. Duke said it could not change the award and that what they awarded me in scholarship money was the most they could offer.

But since the extra Brown money was just for the first year, and since I would hope to get scholarship money for third year at Duke anyway, I chose Duke.

Now, I'm wondering if I should contact Duke again?...

any thoughts?

damn, what are your credentials?

 

[dmg18]

It wouldn't hurt to contact them again right???

I don't know, I don't want to piss them off though cuz i'm afriad they'll be like, "ok, well, now you're getting nothing, HA!"

then it wouldn't be such a happy decision...

I mean, I honestly feel very very blessed by this. I think this has almost NOTHING to do with my credentials (although I was told it "partially" does), but probably much more so to do with the fact that my family is DIRT PO!

 

[diosa428]

I don't know, I don't want to piss them off though cuz i'm afriad they'll be like, "ok, well, now you're getting nothing, HA!"

then it wouldn't be such a happy decision...

I mean, I honestly feel very very blessed by this. I think this has almost NOTHING to do with my credentials (although I was told it "partially" does), but probably much more so to do with the fact that my family is DIRT PO!

You do have the opportunity to get a grant third year, which can be as much as $20-30k. So if you could get one of those grants, the difference in the price of the schools would be fairly minimal.

 

[byong_soo]

diosa! that was your 1234th post!!!!
🙂

 

[abeytt03]

Hey OP, so what is your final decision?

 

[jjmack]

don't forget if you love the skin nyu has one of the top derm programs. they have like 7-8 residents a year. Most schools have 3-4.

 

[dmg18]

Hey OP, so what is your final decision?

DUKE!