treebeard1212
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2021
- Messages
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Hi all, looking for more perspectives on this decision. Thank you!
I'm open to a range of specialties, although two areas I want to at least explore are IM-palliative and optho. I took a few years off between undergrad and med, working in the business part of healthcare. I'm interested in continuing to combine the worlds of business and medicine. This could be through research on costs of care, getting involved in med startups, or really anything, I'm not yet sure how it will eventually play out. At the end of the day, I want to be a clinician but would love to combine that with more systems-level work in healthcare.
Duke
Pros:
- 3rd year open for research - I'm especially interested in pursuing projects and research focused on health technology and healthcare delivery systems. Considering a dual degree, but not yet 100% sold on the idea. Having a year to work on a project with one of Duke's health innovation groups seems like a fit for my interests.
- "prestige"/rank for whatever that is worth. I'm not 100% convinced about the prestige game, although maybe that's just me being ignorant?
- warmer weather
- chance to live somewhere new and grow
- P/F with no AOA, so no more worrying about grades
- 1 year preclinical seems like a fit for me - don't want to spend any more time in the books than I have to
- students seemed to be like me in that they had interests in more non-traditional healthcare projects
- the Research Triangle seems to have a pretty solid tech game, so maybe this could help provide opportunities to work on these kinds of projects?
Cons:
- Cost - about 100k more than MN. Could be lower if my needs-based grants are maintained over 4 years, but there's no guarantee as you reapply for aid each year. Students have told me there are grants for the third year that can help lower costs, but you need to compete for them.
- far from family - I'm from the Midwest and know no one in NC
- smaller city - Durham feels nice and livable but I might find myself growing out of it
- smaller school - while I like the smaller med school class size, going to a smaller institution overall might begin to feel suffocating?
- potentially the culture? I don't come from an "upper-class" family, so I might not fit in a more prestigious/wealthy environment. After some interview day and second look interactions, I could see it being a little hard to fit in with the class.
MN
Pros:
- Cost - in state tuition, with locked in price for 4 years
- FlexMD program - I can apply to take up to two years "off" to pursue a research project or dual degree. Sounds like a small number of students have used this time to focus on more business/tech projects, so perhaps I could also do that. No extra tuition or fees to do this.
- Close to family. 20 minutes away from half of my relatives. Wouldn't have to miss birthdays, weddings etc (although some space might be nice?)
- the only med school in the Twin Cities, so get to rotate in a number of settings/hospitals
- Big 10 school - would be fun to be in that atmosphere
- The city - Twin Cities beats Durham in terms of size and I have existing connections in the area
Cons:
- 2 year preclinicals - really not looking forward to spending an extra year in the books, especially now with P/F Step 1.
- P/F preclinicals but your test grades factor into AOA, so would still need to compete
- much bigger med school class size - maybe this would make research and other projects more competitive to join?
- it feels like the safe/comfortable option, so I wonder if I won't grow as much
- cold winters- I'm from MN so I can handle it, but each year my soul dies a little bit from Nov-Mar
I'm open to a range of specialties, although two areas I want to at least explore are IM-palliative and optho. I took a few years off between undergrad and med, working in the business part of healthcare. I'm interested in continuing to combine the worlds of business and medicine. This could be through research on costs of care, getting involved in med startups, or really anything, I'm not yet sure how it will eventually play out. At the end of the day, I want to be a clinician but would love to combine that with more systems-level work in healthcare.
Duke
Pros:
- 3rd year open for research - I'm especially interested in pursuing projects and research focused on health technology and healthcare delivery systems. Considering a dual degree, but not yet 100% sold on the idea. Having a year to work on a project with one of Duke's health innovation groups seems like a fit for my interests.
- "prestige"/rank for whatever that is worth. I'm not 100% convinced about the prestige game, although maybe that's just me being ignorant?
- warmer weather
- chance to live somewhere new and grow
- P/F with no AOA, so no more worrying about grades
- 1 year preclinical seems like a fit for me - don't want to spend any more time in the books than I have to
- students seemed to be like me in that they had interests in more non-traditional healthcare projects
- the Research Triangle seems to have a pretty solid tech game, so maybe this could help provide opportunities to work on these kinds of projects?
Cons:
- Cost - about 100k more than MN. Could be lower if my needs-based grants are maintained over 4 years, but there's no guarantee as you reapply for aid each year. Students have told me there are grants for the third year that can help lower costs, but you need to compete for them.
- far from family - I'm from the Midwest and know no one in NC
- smaller city - Durham feels nice and livable but I might find myself growing out of it
- smaller school - while I like the smaller med school class size, going to a smaller institution overall might begin to feel suffocating?
- potentially the culture? I don't come from an "upper-class" family, so I might not fit in a more prestigious/wealthy environment. After some interview day and second look interactions, I could see it being a little hard to fit in with the class.
MN
Pros:
- Cost - in state tuition, with locked in price for 4 years
- FlexMD program - I can apply to take up to two years "off" to pursue a research project or dual degree. Sounds like a small number of students have used this time to focus on more business/tech projects, so perhaps I could also do that. No extra tuition or fees to do this.
- Close to family. 20 minutes away from half of my relatives. Wouldn't have to miss birthdays, weddings etc (although some space might be nice?)
- the only med school in the Twin Cities, so get to rotate in a number of settings/hospitals
- Big 10 school - would be fun to be in that atmosphere
- The city - Twin Cities beats Durham in terms of size and I have existing connections in the area
Cons:
- 2 year preclinicals - really not looking forward to spending an extra year in the books, especially now with P/F Step 1.
- P/F preclinicals but your test grades factor into AOA, so would still need to compete
- much bigger med school class size - maybe this would make research and other projects more competitive to join?
- it feels like the safe/comfortable option, so I wonder if I won't grow as much
- cold winters- I'm from MN so I can handle it, but each year my soul dies a little bit from Nov-Mar
