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- Jul 12, 2014
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Hey gang, any input you have to go along with your vote is appreciated.
I'm slightly non-traditional, I have a wife and a baby, and the financial aid packages from both schools are about even (+/- $40,000). My wife is a musician and will be staying at home with our kid for the most part. But, she might start working if she misses music after a bit of a break--which I kind of expect.
While this is almost guaranteed to change, the fields I am most interested in are neurosurgery and anything within the field of oncology. I'm not sure if there's a difference between Penn and Duke with regard to neurosurgery, but I know that both Penn and Duke have some groundbreaking stuff happening with regard to cancer--Carl June's T-cell immunotherapy treatment at Penn and the Poliovirus trials at Duke (of course a lowly medical student probably wouldn't be able to get involved in either of these, but it's good to know that the institutions are pushing the limits in one field of my interest).
While this is also subject to change, I'm pretty sure that I would love to do residency at Duke--or a place with a similar community. This is because it seems like the place where I would like my kid to start school and has the community feel that I am looking for when I think about where I want my family to be while I'm absorbed in one of the most consuming parts of my career. Obviously it's easier for me to do residency at Duke if I do medical school at Duke. But, I believe that there's some good in having diversity in the locations where one receives her or his education--thus, in that regard, I lean towards Penn for med school.
Here are some Pros (+) and Cons (-) for each program:
Penn
+ Lots of Team Learning--I've had classes that involve this in undergrad and loved them.
+ Need to get somewhere in Philly? All you need are two legs or, if you're lazy, $5 for an Uber.
+ Philly has a better music scene that my wife could get involved in when she wants to hop back into her career. Plus the professors and teachers from her graduate degree have multiple connections inside the Philly music scene.
+ Philly has better opportunities to work with Latin populations--something I want to continue doing because I love the culture and want to maintain my Spanish as pristine as possible.
+ Students at Penn appear to be very strong academically which, I predict, will help raise me up to their level and give me the drive I need to be a good medical student.
+ In the case that I opt out of surgery, I have had some entrepreneurial and management experience and have a growing interest in an MD/MBA--Thus Wharton's MBA in Healthcare Management trumps Fuqua at Duke.
- Philly gets cold in the winter, which sucks when you have a kid and go crazy if you spend all day in the same 800 sq. ft.
+ or - Philly would be a completely new environment for my family. My hypothesis is that this change could either provide great opportunities for growth (there is no comfort in growth and no growth in comfort) OR it could increase the stress level within my relationships during the tough-ish years of medical school. So, I'm not sure if this is a Pro or a Con, it depends.
Duke
+ Grad Student Basketball Pass--I like college sports more than professional sports. Thus, I like the idea of Duke basketball more than becoming a fan of the professional sports teams in Philly (Since the Quakers suck).
+ There seems to be a higher concentration of people that play and watch sports--some of my favorite things--among the Duke student body. Of course this is found at Penn as well, just not as high of a concentration.
+ I like the weather in Durham better. I can spend way more months of the year outside playing with my family.
+ While I saw more families in Philly during Penn Preview than I assumed would be there, Durham and the triangle area take the cake for highest concentration of families. This would provide more friendship opportunities for my wife and kid so that they have more to do during the times where I am gone constantly (the wards and Step 1 prep).
+ At Duke, you get into the wards even sooner than at Penn.
+ We would have a way more spacious apartment if we went to Duke. And, it would likely have a pool and grill area etc.
+ After attending both second looks, I feel like I would make stronger friendships at Duke because the "fit" seems to be with their student body. While I feel like I fit in better at Duke, it's not a significantly better fit than at Penn.
+ or - Durham is a lot more like the community I am coming from. While this allows us to have accurate assumptions as to what life will be like--and thus lower stress levels, it wouldn't put us in as much of a different environment as would Penn in Philadelphia--thus the potential for growth by being outside of our comfort zone would be mitigated.
Well, after writing all of that, it appears that I don't find many negatives with either program--which makes the decision harder, there's no wrong choice. I know that I'll be happy with either place (Heck! who wouldn't!), but I appreciate any and all feedback from all y'all--I even appreciate criticism towards me, the OP, as that has been shown to happen in some of these threads (that was a reference to MathGirl25's decision thread, poor gal).
Best of luck to everyone else making tough decisions!
I'm slightly non-traditional, I have a wife and a baby, and the financial aid packages from both schools are about even (+/- $40,000). My wife is a musician and will be staying at home with our kid for the most part. But, she might start working if she misses music after a bit of a break--which I kind of expect.
While this is almost guaranteed to change, the fields I am most interested in are neurosurgery and anything within the field of oncology. I'm not sure if there's a difference between Penn and Duke with regard to neurosurgery, but I know that both Penn and Duke have some groundbreaking stuff happening with regard to cancer--Carl June's T-cell immunotherapy treatment at Penn and the Poliovirus trials at Duke (of course a lowly medical student probably wouldn't be able to get involved in either of these, but it's good to know that the institutions are pushing the limits in one field of my interest).
While this is also subject to change, I'm pretty sure that I would love to do residency at Duke--or a place with a similar community. This is because it seems like the place where I would like my kid to start school and has the community feel that I am looking for when I think about where I want my family to be while I'm absorbed in one of the most consuming parts of my career. Obviously it's easier for me to do residency at Duke if I do medical school at Duke. But, I believe that there's some good in having diversity in the locations where one receives her or his education--thus, in that regard, I lean towards Penn for med school.
Here are some Pros (+) and Cons (-) for each program:
Penn
+ Lots of Team Learning--I've had classes that involve this in undergrad and loved them.
+ Need to get somewhere in Philly? All you need are two legs or, if you're lazy, $5 for an Uber.
+ Philly has a better music scene that my wife could get involved in when she wants to hop back into her career. Plus the professors and teachers from her graduate degree have multiple connections inside the Philly music scene.
+ Philly has better opportunities to work with Latin populations--something I want to continue doing because I love the culture and want to maintain my Spanish as pristine as possible.
+ Students at Penn appear to be very strong academically which, I predict, will help raise me up to their level and give me the drive I need to be a good medical student.
+ In the case that I opt out of surgery, I have had some entrepreneurial and management experience and have a growing interest in an MD/MBA--Thus Wharton's MBA in Healthcare Management trumps Fuqua at Duke.
- Philly gets cold in the winter, which sucks when you have a kid and go crazy if you spend all day in the same 800 sq. ft.
+ or - Philly would be a completely new environment for my family. My hypothesis is that this change could either provide great opportunities for growth (there is no comfort in growth and no growth in comfort) OR it could increase the stress level within my relationships during the tough-ish years of medical school. So, I'm not sure if this is a Pro or a Con, it depends.
Duke
+ Grad Student Basketball Pass--I like college sports more than professional sports. Thus, I like the idea of Duke basketball more than becoming a fan of the professional sports teams in Philly (Since the Quakers suck).
+ There seems to be a higher concentration of people that play and watch sports--some of my favorite things--among the Duke student body. Of course this is found at Penn as well, just not as high of a concentration.
+ I like the weather in Durham better. I can spend way more months of the year outside playing with my family.
+ While I saw more families in Philly during Penn Preview than I assumed would be there, Durham and the triangle area take the cake for highest concentration of families. This would provide more friendship opportunities for my wife and kid so that they have more to do during the times where I am gone constantly (the wards and Step 1 prep).
+ At Duke, you get into the wards even sooner than at Penn.
+ We would have a way more spacious apartment if we went to Duke. And, it would likely have a pool and grill area etc.
+ After attending both second looks, I feel like I would make stronger friendships at Duke because the "fit" seems to be with their student body. While I feel like I fit in better at Duke, it's not a significantly better fit than at Penn.
+ or - Durham is a lot more like the community I am coming from. While this allows us to have accurate assumptions as to what life will be like--and thus lower stress levels, it wouldn't put us in as much of a different environment as would Penn in Philadelphia--thus the potential for growth by being outside of our comfort zone would be mitigated.
Well, after writing all of that, it appears that I don't find many negatives with either program--which makes the decision harder, there's no wrong choice. I know that I'll be happy with either place (Heck! who wouldn't!), but I appreciate any and all feedback from all y'all--I even appreciate criticism towards me, the OP, as that has been shown to happen in some of these threads (that was a reference to MathGirl25's decision thread, poor gal).
Best of luck to everyone else making tough decisions!
