Duke vs. Wash U vs. UW vs. Yale

[matthewkorea]

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[osckey]

I'm a little confused. Are you asking for a list of places you should apply to or for help determining which of these schools you should attend because you have an acceptance from each?

It it's the former, apply to each since you have no idea if you even have a choice until you have multiple acceptances.

 

[JustAPhD]

All are great programs, congrats on having this problem —it's one most premeds would love to have! From what you've said, it sounds like you'll be happiest at UW, but of course only you should be making the decision where to spend your next 4 years.

Edit: this is assuming you have been accepted to all four, which is what it sounds like.

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

I'm not really in a position to give you advice, but I'd like to congratulate you on those acceptances and the fact that $ is a non-issue. What a wonderful dilemma!

 

[625233]

I'd go Yale.


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[WedgeDawg]

Moving to SSD

 

[Nietzschelover]

So sorry. Your choices really suck.

Seriously, though, to comment on the two you seem least familiar with....

Duke is gorgeous and 8 miles from UNC (also gorgeous), and part of the Research Triangle area, which, while certainly not having a major city feel, is one of the hottest places to live in the United States. Raleigh is also a growing and larger than expected Southern-style city. Great weather while still having four discrete weather seasons. Durham itself isn't great, but it has improved as a ton of money has been poured into it. If you happen to be a college basketball fan you'll be in heaven (unless you want to take a gap year so you can turn down these fine schools and head to ultra-heaven in Lexington, KY). You also can probably attend Duke and mostly avoid Durham if you want, as driving to Chapel Hill is no more trouble than going into downtown Durham.

A pizza place the highlight of New Haven? I think Yale is the highlight of New Haven. I would guess that going to Yale (and you'd be going to Yale and not New Haven) is pretty cool. You'd also be @ 2.5 hours from Boston and 1.5 hours from NYC.

If you're dreaming of doing medical journalism in "remote areas of the world," you'll no doubt find any of the four locations more than acceptable.

 

[kbird]

With regard to most of the criteria you're focused on, your choices are all so excellent that it's quite the toss up. I would personally choose Duke with your interests for several reasons, though. First, in terms of flexibility to do independent projects and to do a dual degree in the most efficient way possible, virtually no program can beat Duke and it's flexible third year. You could start your dual degree, or you could do ANY project. Second, if you do decide to do law, Duke has an excellent law program. While you'd be right in countering with the fact that Yale has the very best law program in the country, that comes with selectivity that is just out of this world. Admittedly, you've gotten into all these great schools so I'm sure you're stellar, but have you taken the LSAT? It might suck to decide you want to do law at your home institution and then find out your LSAT score wouldn't be high enough to meet Yale's crazy standards. Third, while I can see why St. Louis would be a great choice to maintain your mentoring relationships (and I think this is actually a huge plus for WashU), their global health program isn't quite as robust as either Yale or Duke (I have no knowledge of UW). You might also look into who has the best program for some of your other interests. It doesn't seem like any of these schools has much in the way of journalism, but Duke seems to be the best among them? No idea.

Good luck!

 

[Willy38]

Go to Yale ! Or at least come to second look. It's going to be a lot of fun. PM me if you have specific questions. I was choosing between a couple on that list last year and went with Yale. I also love new haven though so I can talk day to day life if you want the deets on what it's like here. Congrats on some awesome choices!

 

[eteshoe]

It sounds like you'd enjoy your time at UW. Then if you need another change in scenery, you could take off after 4 yrs and do your residency elsewhere.

 

[MaxPlancker]

Personally, Duke because of the 1 year curriculum. Yale would be a gamble if you are not a self-motivated person who keeps on top of things.

 

[Willy38]

Personally, Duke because of the 1 year curriculum. Yale would be a gamble if you are not a self-motivated person who keeps on top of things.

This is true. Yale is great but definitely not for everyone. There are measures in place to make sure you don't fall behind but it is definitely not for you if you aren't intrinsically motivated to learn.

 

[occams_razor]

I gotta disagree with the statement that New Haven doesnt have much going on. I live in NY and visited New Haven for a week to stay with a friend who goes to yale. We had a lot of fun! went to 2 museums, hit up east rock park which has an amazing view. I really liked all the restaurants and bars we went to. barcelona wine bar was amazing! there was also this Mediterranean restaurant, olea, that was sooo good. Personally I would have no issues living in New Haven.

 

[Nymphicus]

I also want to defer a year from starting medical school to travel, teach (to make money), read, do a global health policy or public health internship, and do healthcare investigative journalism in remote areas of the world.

Have you contacted the schools with your request to defer?

 

[matthewkorea]

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[RuggerMD]

For UW, I'd also consider heavily the massive curriculum shift that happened with the 2019 class. I've heard it's been a very rough go. I'd reach out to some M1s and get their opinion if things are going smoother now or not.

 

[Limbo123]

I think wherever you choose to go, you will need to learn a bit of humility in order to succeed. First of all, almost all med students in all of those schools are gonna be very motivated (that is not to say that they have a super clear vision of what they want to do in the future, but I think an argument can be made that those at higher tier schools/schools with more prestige tend to have even more ambiguous visions of their futures). Also, don't assume you'd be a big shot at UW; you'd just be an MS1, like all other MS1's. Also, why are you talking about average stats on this thread? The only purpose of stats are to determine that you are prepared enough for medical school. Once you're in, everybody is equally unprepared! Are you gonna be the type of med student to ask classmates what they got on their MCATs?

 

[zedsdead]

I think wherever you choose to go, you will need to learn a bit of humility in order to succeed. First of all, almost all med students in all of those schools are gonna be very motivated (that is not to say that they have a super clear vision of what they want to do in the future, but I think an argument can be made that those at higher tier schools/schools with more prestige tend to have even more ambiguous visions of their futures). Also, don't assume you'd be a big shot at UW; you'd just be an MS1, like all other MS1's. Also, why are you talking about average stats on this thread? The only purpose of stats are to determine that you are prepared enough for medical school. Once you're in, everybody is equally unprepared! Are you gonna be the type of med student to ask classmates what they got on their MCATs?

This is a much kinder way of putting what I was about to say.

 

[matthewkorea]

Thank you for your response.

I think wherever you choose to go, you will need to learn a bit of humility in order to succeed. First of all, almost all med students in all of those schools are gonna be very motivated (that is not to say that they have a super clear vision of what they want to do in the future, but I think an argument can be made that those at higher tier schools/schools with more prestige tend to have even more ambiguous visions of their futures). Also, don't assume you'd be a big shot at UW; you'd just be an MS1, like all other MS1's. Also, why are you talking about average stats on this thread? The only purpose of stats are to determine that you are prepared enough for medical school. Once you're in, everybody is equally unprepared! Are you gonna be the type of med student to ask classmates what they got on their MCATs?

What I meant was, at other schools, the students seemed to want to become clinicians plus, meaning they wanted to be a clinician, but also involved in other endeavors such as policy making, environmental health, etc. I have a feeling that there is less of this culture and less ambition to "become leaders and pioneers of medicine" at UW than the other schools. I don't think that it's unfair to say that the peers that you're surrounded by have a huge impact on your future and path.

 

[Nietzschelover]

This is a much kinder way of putting what I was about to say.

Yep...the whole idea of the deferral after getting these schools also smacks a bit the same way.

 

[zedsdead]

Thank you for your response.



What I meant was, at other schools, the students seemed to want to become clinicians plus, meaning they wanted to be a clinician, but also involved in other endeavors such as policy making, environmental health, etc. I have a feeling that there is less of this culture and less ambition to "become leaders and pioneers of medicine" at UW than the other schools. I don't think that it's unfair to say that the peers that you're surrounded by have a huge impact on your future and path.

This is completely fine and a very valid point! Problems only arise when you start citing GPAs and mcats to insult the "quality" of the student body. Thanks for clarifying what you meant.

 

[Limbo123]

Thank you for your response.



What I meant was, at other schools, the students seemed to want to become clinicians plus, meaning they wanted to be a clinician, but also involved in other endeavors such as policy making, environmental health, etc. I have a feeling that there is less of this culture and less ambition to "become leaders and pioneers of medicine" at UW than the other schools. I don't think that it's unfair to say that the peers that you're surrounded by have a huge impact on your future and path.

This is completely fine and a very valid point! Problems only arise when you start citing GPAs and mcats to insult the "quality" of the student body. Thanks for clarifying what you meant.

Zedsdead, I think you're letting him off a little easy. The thing that bothered me most about it was the implication that the students at these lower tier institutions are the problem. Matthewkorea, I definitely agree that some schools are better at producing these physician pluses, but I believe that has a lot more to do with resources available to the students (due to the institutions' wealth, reputation, location, and class sizes). I don't think that students at low-to-mid tier institutions are any less motivated to become physician pluses, but they may not have the same opportunities to do so. Also, the number of opportunities isn't necessarily directly related to the school ranking or prestige. For example, GW is great at health policy stuff because of its location. Schools like Yale and Duke are great at making physician scientists because of their thesis reqs. Idk if you consider a physician-scientist a physician plus, but if you do, I'd consider Duke and Yale more.