Duke vs Vandy vs UTSW vs Northwestern vs Penn

[DTX_1212]

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Extremely fortunate to have these caliber of options to choose from, but unsure about how to make this decision. I don't have any strong preferences about location but do have ties to Texas. Undecided about specialty interests right now. Don't see myself being a research person and can see myself favoring the clinical side/maybe ending up in private practice but haven't seen enough to fully close the door on academic medicine. Also have an interest in global health but nothing strong enough to base the decision on. After thinking about this for a while I realized that debt and costs matter a lot to me, but I might be willing to take on more costs if it meant a significantly better shot at a desired specialty or top residency spot. Still not sure on how to evaluate these places on that last point so any input on that would be appreciated.

Duke
Pros

• One year pre clinical
• Full tuition scholarship (loans for living expenses)
• Dual degree opportunities
• P/F

cons

• not super excited about Durham

Vanderbilt
Pros

• One year pre clinical
• Full tuition Scholarship(loans for living expenses)
• P/F

Cons

• Class size may be too small

UTSW
Pros

• 1.5 year pre clinical
• Full cost of attendance covered (would be $0 over 4 years)
• P/F
• Diversity in patient population/rotation sites

Cons

• class size is very large

Northwestern
Pros

• Full tuition Scholarship (Loans for living expenses)
• Location was the best of any school I went to
• P/F

Cons

• 2 year pre clinical

Penn
Pros

• 1.5 year pre clinical
• Potential for full tuition scholarship (would need loans for living expenses)
• Residency placements
• Switching to full P/F?

Cons

• higher cost of living area
• might be a more competitive environment

If a choice had to be made today I would lean towards southwestern due to not having any debt but not sure how much that should factor in given the options.

 

[878956]

If it was me, I’d go with Penn. Rumor has it, it was my first choice this application cycle.

But the logical choice would be UTSW.

However, I do believe Penn matches scholarships that you receive from other schools. You should try and use that for leverage,

 

[CyrusHabs7695]

UTSW, take the full scholarship and congrats on that

 

[A$AP ROCKY]

I'd chose UTSW unless Penn gave you that scholarship.

 

[liquidcrawler]

.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

While I think Nashville is the best place to live on your list you can't pass up a top 5 school in Penn or a full ride to UTSW. I personally would choose UTSW between those two but that is with my own personal bias and personal career goals.