Duke Vs. Sinai

[glickmaster2000]

Hi all Was wondering if I could get some advice about choosing a school. Feeling stressed about making a decision that will impact the next decade or so of my life :000

Duke
Pros

• beautiful campus, friendly people who all seemed really happy at Duke
• no AOA, P/F pre clinicals and clinicals
• low relative COL in the area
• kick butt match list

Cons

• lack of social/night life scene
• far from family, friends, SO
• Cost - about 61K per year to attend (received 47k in aid)
• imposter syndrome lol

Sinai
Pros

• NYC is just awesome - feel like I could make any project I wanted to happen there
• changed around pre-clinicals to 1.5 years instead of 2
• subsidized cost of living through housing
• seem to really care about student wellness
• 53K scholarship (total cost of attendance would be around 40 k per year)

Cons

• at 2nd look a noticeable amount of the class was quite young (came through Flex-med program). I'm out on my third gap year and could definitely notice the difference.
• have heard rotations at NYC hospitals can be brutal
• even with subsidized housing COL in NYC is high

I have also been offered a full tuition + stipend at Geisinger Medical School, but have to commit into a primary care track + work for their hospital for four years after graduation. For that reason, I believe I am going to withdraw but part of me just feels anxious about turning down that money.

Thank you all so much <3, sending good energy to everyone making decisions right now!

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[Egg-Benedict]

The cost difference here is not stratospheric, but's definitely something to consider, so don't let people tell you that it's nothing. I also wouldn't be concerned with the match list difference between these two top schools. So, I think the biggest thing for you would be about how you value the lower cost + NYC + friends/family vs. P/F + older class.

Nobody else can really tell you how much you value those things, but I'll briefly say this: don't underestimate the impact of cost and distance from friends/family, and don't overestimate the value of P/F. Regarding P/F, I'll say that while I quite appreciated it, in talking to my friends at top schools with graded clinicals, pretty much all of them have reported that they like the opportunity to distinguish themselves and didn't seem to think the grading introduced all that much stress. Obviously, if you do really well you would love it and if you do really poorly you would hate it, but it seems like everyone I've spoken to likes the grading system that they have.

With that in mind, in your shoes, I would think the pros of Sinai outweigh the pros of Duke.

 

[BritainKittenMittens]

If you can see yourself happy in Durham, I'd go with Duke. Their 1 year pre-clinical program leaves a lot of room 3rd year to do other things, like get another degree. Also, I'm gonna continue to provide a counterpoint to what others have been saying about how overrated clinical P/F is. Current clinical grading with subjective evals absolutely sucks, adds a lot of drama, and can bring out the worse in people. Most of the people I talk to hate it, but I might be hanging out with a different crew. Google "reddit medical school why clinical evals suck" and see why. There are a lot of biases in subjective grading and if you're in the group where all the biases benefit you, and you're somewhat decent in clinical, sure you should be gunning for graded clinical.

Match list will probably be similar, Sinai has a good rep in the east coast in particular. If you ever want to do anything outside of medicine that requires prestige (entrepreneur, policy, etc.), Duke has a bigger name outside of medicine. Both have great hospital systems, but Duke residencies are generally better regarded.

 

[Bowel-Plumber]

Disclaimer: On the WL for Sinai

For starters, your Geisinger package is not a scholarship. It is free tuition in exchange for employment at their hospital in the middle of no where when you’re an attending. While it may seem free monetarily it definitely is not free from a restriction standpoint in the same sense that the military scholarships are not free either. You can give that up and not think twice about it

Between your pros and cons, you really can’t go wrong with either option. I wasn’t sure from your post where your friends and family are but if they’re in NYC then that’s a huge pro. If it’s a decent commute from either school then I’ll call that neutral.

Aside from those, I think the main factor it comes down to is which school is going to give you that balance of happiness and set you up for success. Both of these schools will leave you in very capable hands, but it seems like Duke’s pathway to success is laid out much better than Sinai’s. You have a 1 year pre-clinical which leaves dedicated time to both explore specialties and use the research year to make yourself a competitive applicant. You also have P/F which is a game changer in stress and quality of life. You won’t have any issue finding those things at Sinai either (other than P/F clinicals) since it’s filled with clinical and research opportunities. It just kind of feels like Duke’s program is built in such a way that the path is laid out whereas at Sinai you have all the pieces around you but won’t have it built into the curriculum for you.

Given that both of these programs are god tier, and most of your list seems to be more or less neutral between the two, I’d focus on where you can see yourself being happier. Will your happiness come more from proximity to friends/family and nightlife of NYC or will it come more from a nice cohort with relatively less stress in the program?

 

[eepy1]

Disclaimer: I'm biased toward Duke because I'm going there (withdrew from Sinai) and would love to have you as a classmate <3

The cost of living in Manhattan might decrease the cost difference between Duke and Sinai a bit. Also, with the pre-clinical curriculum shortening at Sinai this year, could you be rotating with some more experienced M3s during M2 year?

I was originally hyped about NYC (I'm from a big city), but ended up really liking Durham and the fact that Duke has a huge university campus+law+business schools attached. The happy students, potential to go abroad or return to another state for M3 year, the flexible and P/F curriculum, and insane match list did it for me.

 

[Dr. Sahab]

Based on your pros and cons, I would say Duke has the edge here unless cost is a significant stressor for you. the extra 21k can add up over four years with current interest rates. I think Bowel-Plumber presented it best though, where could you see yourself for four years?

 

[CRISPRi]

I'm also choosing b/w Duke and another school (pritzker). I think choose where you'll be the happiest, and to me it seems like from the pros list Sinai is better. You seem excited to be in NYC and it's ~relatively~ cheaper and closer to your family and SO. Both places will get you to where you want to go, but Duke has a prestige edge.


You obviously can't go wrong with either choice, but I would choose whichever one will make you the happiest over the next few years, that's how I'm trying to make my choice lol.

 

[ByThe+C]

I'm also choosing b/w Duke and another school (pritzker)

Please make a thread because I'm having difficulty (potentially) choosing between those same two schools.

 

[glickmaster2000]

First - to everyone who took time out of their day to reply to this thread, thank you it means a lot (@ByThe+C , @CRISPRi , @Dr. Sahab , @eepy1 , @Bowel-Plumber , @BritainKittenMittens , @Egg-Benedict ) . Over the past few days, I've been reflecting a lot on my own and with your words. I am leaning towards duke for the happiness and calmness I felt there during second look. I know p/f clinicals are debated, but with its third year entirely dedicated to research I think there will be other ways to stand out + p/f is just a nicer quality of life i think.

It is about an 80K difference over the four years. That is the only factor giving me pause. Its definitely a significant amount.

 

[ByThe+C]

First - to everyone who took time out of their day to reply to this thread, thank you it means a lot (@ByThe+C , @CRISPRi , @Dr. Sahab , @eepy1 , @Bowel-Plumber , @BritainKittenMittens , @Egg-Benedict ) . Over the past few days, I've been reflecting a lot on my own and with your words. I am leaning towards duke for the happiness and calmness I felt there during second look. I know p/f clinicals are debated, but with its third year entirely dedicated to research I think there will be other ways to stand out + p/f is just a nicer quality of life i think.

It is about an 80K difference over the four years. That is the only factor giving me pause. Its definitely a significant amount.

Can you explain the imposter syndrome con against Duke? Why would going to Duke give you imposter syndrome?