Duke vs. UC Irvine

[dolphin15]

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Hi Everyone - I've narrowed it down to these two schools d/t cost. I'm interested in family medicine or OBGYN, so I'm not overly worried about prestige. My goal is to be able to match at a decent institution in CA.

Duke ($188k)
Pros

• I'm a part of Primary Care Leadership Track - faculty seem very kind and supportive!
• Lots of institutional support for research opportunities, service, and test prep materials.
• Cheaper / Lower cost of living (could take out even fewer loans)
• True 4wk summer between MS1 and MS2
• I love duke basketball 🙂

Cons

• Location - I've lived in NC for 6 years, and like it but don’t love it
• Far from family - will only be able to go home 2x/year
• Large subspecialty focus, unsure level of support for primary care fields.
• Potentially more intense peers

Pro/Con

• Accelerated preclinical year - longer MS1 year with exam every two weeks (slightly stressful, but could be nice to power through quickly)
• Very comfortable living in Durham - I won't have to relocate back to CA (low stress).

UC Irvine ($210k w/ on campus housing)

Pros

• Location - I'm from San Diego
• Close to family / friends (no flights home) / beach (favorite place)
• Weather
• (Maybe) more relaxed / less competitive students / students seem very happy there
• High chance of matching in CA (where I want to be)
• Was told that they have strong OBGYN program

Cons

• H/P/F after MS1 - nervous about this!!
• Campus / hospital separate - potential for lots of commuting
• Less structured time for research - will probably spend summer between MS1 and MS2 doing research

Summary: If you were me - trying to remove prestige from the equation, what would you choose? Money is also a huge factor - as I will be taking loans for 100%. Also I do have good friends in NC 🙂 P.S. If you know me just forget you saw this.

 

[alapeds]

Choose Irvine. You will match in California even if you choose some thing more difficult to match in than OB/GYN. And it’s a nice place with California political outlook.

 

[deleted1158770]

Irvine. Irvine is a solid school. Seems like your support system back in SoCal is important to you.

 

[deleted1161395]

Duke normally, but since you're interested in a noncomp specialty, go to the school & location you most desire (which appears to be UCI).

 

[dolphin15]

Duke normally, but since you're interested in a noncomp specialty, go to the school & location you most desire (which appears to be UCI).

Thank you! I did try to sell UCI a little because I thought people on SDN would say 100% Duke, but definitely location wise UCI wins but school wise I’m unsure.

 

[canarystones]

Your last two cons for Duke are not really cons, but it sounds like being close to family is important to you so I would choose UCI. You clearly would be happier at UCI, and for your life goals, UCI puts you in a great position. If you were aiming for something competitive I would say duke