gabaminergic
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2025
- Messages
- 3
- Reaction score
- 0
Any help would be so appreciated!
Duke:
BIGGEST DRAW: Curricular structure (12 months in classes without break but then full year for Research)
Sinai:
BIGGEST DRAW: Support system & the city
Both:
COA is roughly the same and will be taking out loans and PRAYING for PSLF regardless
Duke:
BIGGEST DRAW: Curricular structure (12 months in classes without break but then full year for Research)
- Don't have to find summer jobs while studying during pre-clerkship (because will be in school during summer)
- With applying to residency getting so competitive, where more and more medical students are taking gap years DURING medical school, having that built-in time at Duke sounds amazing.
- If needed, I would also hope to make at least some income during this time (rather than pay for living costs for a research "gap year").
- As someone always anxious and thinking about the next step, having a year off during medical school to do that research would be very beneficial.
- BUT the first year might also be too fast for me…I’m kind of slow sometimes, so maybe I wouldn’t do so well.
Sinai:
BIGGEST DRAW: Support system & the city
- Even if some of my friends who are there now move away, there’s always someone in NYC who I would like to hang out with (I have good friends at Sinai too).
- My boyfriend also lives there, and I don't want to do another 4 years of long distance (it's already been 1 year).
- BUT even with friends in New York, I think it would be difficult because the people I know in New York are very well off with nice corporate jobs and plenty of vacation, which is something I just can't engage in with 450k in loans HAH. However, there's nothing that says that Duke won't be the same or even worse. I just don't know people at the school yet.
- Only 3 hours on train from my family back home.
- Don't need a car or ubers all the time to see people (public transit!!)
- With this, there's just so much to do all the time and I think that's also reflected in diversity of experiences of patients.
Both:
COA is roughly the same and will be taking out loans and PRAYING for PSLF regardless
- Duke is 110k per year while Sinai's is 100k (both NUTS).
- Duke includes 2 more months for the first year in that COA (12 months versus 10).
- Duke budgeted for 1500 for rent per month, which in Durham gets you a decently nice solo apartment (that allows cats!).
- At Sinai, the COA is much stricter to their dorms, and although you can increase it to add more loans if you want to move off campus, theres no point.
- I'd be taking out loans for the full amount, so I don't think the COA is so different in the end
- BUT, I would have to lease a car at Duke (though I have found cheap apartments so could use housing budget to help with this)
Last edited: