Hello all,
I was all set to attend Einstein, and I notified Hackensack to withdraw my acceptance when they offered me a full tuition scholarship renewable for four years. I saw there were some similar posts, but I was hoping to get some advice regarding my interests. Here's some of my pros and cons:
Einstein:
Pros:
- In my interview it seemed like I would have lots of access to amazing mentors
- community housing where everyone lives in 3 apartment buildings seems to foster great collaboration/ community (also rent is only 500/mo)
-every student/ alumn I spoke to said they "would not have gone anywhere else" regardless of the money
- they have a lot of research in areas I'm interested in / passionate about
- amazing match lists
- I am interested in teaching and working on clinical trials at some point in my career and the experiences/reputation here would probably help.
- The community seemed like a good fit for me
- I would be working with under-served populations
- I liked the location
Cons:
- I would need to pay full COA, which I think would add to stress. I would feel guilty knowing I had the option to go to med school w/o debt. I've been doing a lot of reading, and it seems like any differences in medical school prestige even out after 10 years, so the extra $180,000+ in debt might not be worth it.
Hackensack:
Pros:
- I would not incur any debt during medical school
- I have the option to finish after 3 years with a guaranteed residency in their health system (however, they don't offer some competitive specialties and some specialties have a limited number of spots) There's some unknowns here.
- Reduced stress of attending med school between guaranteed residency and no debt
- If I work hard here, do a 4th year, and get a good residency, I could probably accomplish the same things in the long run
Cons:
- They don't really have anyone doing research in areas of interest to me. I would have to hypothetically get someone to agree to set something up just for me...
- not fully accredited yet, no established reputation, no match lists
- I don't think I would be as motivated to challenge myself here (I think the environment of Einstein would encourage more intellectual curiosity/drive)
- I might be closing doors for certain competitive specialties or academic medicine (although I am not currently interested in derm/plastics/ENT)
- Step 1 switched to pass/fail, which makes the reputation of the school matter more for residencies. However, this might not matter if I decide to go into their health system after my third year
- No community housing
- I did not feel like the community was as good a fit here
I was all set to attend Einstein, and I notified Hackensack to withdraw my acceptance when they offered me a full tuition scholarship renewable for four years. I saw there were some similar posts, but I was hoping to get some advice regarding my interests. Here's some of my pros and cons:
Einstein:
Pros:
- In my interview it seemed like I would have lots of access to amazing mentors
- community housing where everyone lives in 3 apartment buildings seems to foster great collaboration/ community (also rent is only 500/mo)
-every student/ alumn I spoke to said they "would not have gone anywhere else" regardless of the money
- they have a lot of research in areas I'm interested in / passionate about
- amazing match lists
- I am interested in teaching and working on clinical trials at some point in my career and the experiences/reputation here would probably help.
- The community seemed like a good fit for me
- I would be working with under-served populations
- I liked the location
Cons:
- I would need to pay full COA, which I think would add to stress. I would feel guilty knowing I had the option to go to med school w/o debt. I've been doing a lot of reading, and it seems like any differences in medical school prestige even out after 10 years, so the extra $180,000+ in debt might not be worth it.
Hackensack:
Pros:
- I would not incur any debt during medical school
- I have the option to finish after 3 years with a guaranteed residency in their health system (however, they don't offer some competitive specialties and some specialties have a limited number of spots) There's some unknowns here.
- Reduced stress of attending med school between guaranteed residency and no debt
- If I work hard here, do a 4th year, and get a good residency, I could probably accomplish the same things in the long run
Cons:
- They don't really have anyone doing research in areas of interest to me. I would have to hypothetically get someone to agree to set something up just for me...
- not fully accredited yet, no established reputation, no match lists
- I don't think I would be as motivated to challenge myself here (I think the environment of Einstein would encourage more intellectual curiosity/drive)
- I might be closing doors for certain competitive specialties or academic medicine (although I am not currently interested in derm/plastics/ENT)
- Step 1 switched to pass/fail, which makes the reputation of the school matter more for residencies. However, this might not matter if I decide to go into their health system after my third year
- No community housing
- I did not feel like the community was as good a fit here
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