Emory and Vandy

[Leejwwc]

Assuming cost is comparable, which would you choose? I can list of a ton of reasons I like each but can't really seem to pinpoint any negatives. There are a lot of old threads comparing these schools but I kind of wanted to get the opinions of current applicants and students. Thanks

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[Retsage]

Emory!

 

[pinkblue]

I'd choose Emory, but since youre looking for pros/cons

Emory-
Negative: The hospitals are so far away and spread out. not very convenient during 3rd and 4th year; Atlanta is expensive
Positive: amazing building, I like the curriculum and the people

 

[flaahless]

Vandy. The IT is 2nd to none, HCA is nearby... BUT Emory has the CDC so it really depends on your personal interests.

I'd choose Vandy though. If it were a major city (Bmore, Boston, LA, NY, SF) I think it would be top 10 EASY. But that's just my highly biased opinion.

 

[skiqueen]

Emory! The people there are soooo nice. I felt the administration really cares about the med students and their happiness and success. Seems like you would get great clinical training at Grady. Also, I was going to say a pro is that Atlanta is cheap! Guess it depends on where you're coming from...

 

[229141]

Vandy

 

[Leejwwc]

A couple things that I have been thinking about:

Clinical at Vandy is pretty much all at VUMC, which is an awesome academic hospital with major referral and cachment. At Emory, its a mix between Emory Hospital (academic), Crawford Long (community), and Grady (county) so you will probably see less referral and more acute/general care. I'm interested in academic medicine and getting involved with epi/clinical studies (I'm currently in grad school for epi) so its an interesting question as to what kind of training environment is better - maybe a trade-off between seeing a broader diversity of cases and more studies going on?

On the topic of research, the other thing I've given thought to is how much research is incorporated into the curricula. Vandy allots MS1, MS2, and summer between them for your Emphasis project. Emory has a 5-month Discovery Phase during MS3, I believe. I'm not sure how much time one gets to devote to research during these times, especially considering there is so much else going on in med school. Clinical trials are longitudinal so the long-term nature of Emphasis might be better. But then again, the CDC is right next door at Emory and a lot of epi opportunities await.

Yea, haha. It's gonna be a hard choice, hopefully $ will make the decision for me.

But, I'd definitely like to hear more input, thanks everybody!

 

[ChubbyChaser]

Vandy just because Nashville>>>>>Atlanta and Titans>>>>>Falcons.

 

[19nbj58]

Vandy just because Nashville>>>>>Atlanta and Titans>>>>>Falcons.

I hope you are joking. Emory.

 

[waytooez]

A couple things that I have been thinking about:

Clinical at Vandy is pretty much all at VUMC, which is an awesome academic hospital with major referral and cachment. At Emory, its a mix between Emory Hospital (academic), Crawford Long (community), and Grady (county) so you will probably see less referral and more acute/general care. I'm interested in academic medicine and getting involved with epi/clinical studies (I'm currently in grad school for epi) so its an interesting question as to what kind of training environment is better - maybe a trade-off between seeing a broader diversity of cases and more studies going on?

On the topic of research, the other thing I've given thought to is how much research is incorporated into the curricula. Vandy allots MS1, MS2, and summer between them for your Emphasis project. Emory has a 5-month Discovery Phase during MS3, I believe. I'm not sure how much time one gets to devote to research during these times, especially considering there is so much else going on in med school. Clinical trials are longitudinal so the long-term nature of Emphasis might be better. But then again, the CDC is right next door at Emory and a lot of epi opportunities await.

Yea, haha. It's gonna be a hard choice, hopefully $ will make the decision for me.

But, I'd definitely like to hear more input, thanks everybody!

saying that the cdc is right next door is like saying i can see russia from my house. the truth is there is not much if any structured opportunities to do research at emory med, and any suggestions otherwise is anecdotal. vandy definitely has a better name, where emory is known mostly in the south and new jersy and new york. also, the 3rd and 4th year at emory is at grady, so if you get a place to live thats near the actual school, you will end up driving 30-40 min a day to and from school (atlanta traffic sucks). also, i got the feeling that emory is very superficial and that most of the things they do are for show (ie: new building, nicey designed white coats, erica black).

 

[aebvd97]

Atlanta is the most disgusting example of urban sprawl. Hence, I decided to withdraw. The idea of having to commute in that town makes me want to vomit. But, take my opinion with a grain of salt..I LOVED Vandy.

 

[ButImLETired]

Well, I think that with the new curriculum, there will definitely be much more of a focus on research and opportunities for it now that it's required for every single student to do so. Also, I think Emory is fantastic for any study abroad you might want to do, and once you're admitted to the med school you're also automatically admitted to their MPH, so if you're thinking of getting one at all, it might come in handy.

When I visited Emory, I really felt that the administration is very close to the students, I had a very positive experience meeting my host and all her friends, and in general had the impression that they tend to pick a very cohesive group of students who'd fit in well together. I think the clinical experience you get there is absolutely second to none, and their students get to do a lot more during their clinicals than they would anywhere else. Grady is the second largest hospital in the country, and it's very much an inner city, county hospital, so if you want to work with underserved populations it's basically unbeatable.

Of course, Vandy has all these things as well. I think Emory presented itself better on interview day by showing Grady off in detail. Vandy showed off the children's hospital, but not the main hospital where students would do clinicals, so they're hard to compare. Vanderbilt also was better in my opinion as far as the neighborhood it's in- in the sense that it felt a little more "central" and close to the downtown of the city, while Emory's surroundings really felt suburban and it sounds like the downtown might be kind of a long drive away. I'd ideally like to walk to class in the morning, and I don't think that would be an option at Emory, but it would be at Vandy. Vandy also wins for their awesome med-student-only library and the cushiest anatomy lab I've ever seen, fwiw. Emory has better lecture halls.

What may be most important to you, however, is that Vanderbilt is much more well-renowned in academic circles. I do clinical research, and the doctors I work with here were much more excited and impressed when I told them I'd interviewed at Vandy than when I told them about Emory. They're in the top 10 for NIH money and I think a lot of really good research comes from there, which is particularly impressive if you think that Nashville is really a pretty small city so one wouldnt really expect a school like Vandy to be on the national map. However, it seems like a much more friendly and warm atmosphere than you'd get at a lot of other major academic institutions, and they really facilitate and encourage each med student to be mentored by one of their faculty, which is pretty awesome. In general, for a future in academia, I'd go to Vandy. The CDC is definitely pretty awesome, but you don't know how often you'd get to actually work there and what kind of projects they'd actually let you do there, so I don't think it should be the deciding factor.

 

[Leejwwc]

Thanks LET, that's some good perspective. If I remember, you are also considering Vandy right?

Also, I asked in the c/o 2013 thread but anyhoo, is Emory not hosting a Second Look this year?

 

[ButImLETired]

Thanks LET, that's some good perspective. If I remember, you are also considering Vandy right?

Also, I asked in the c/o 2013 thread but anyhoo, is Emory not hosting a Second Look this year?

Yeah, I actually haven't gotten into Emory (I was supposed to hear from them 12/23 and, er, didn't) but I am probably going to Vandy. I actually don't know if Emory has a second look- I think they have a housing weekend but at the interview they didn't mention anything about a formal second look.

 

[guestdoc]

Vandy!!

 

[waytooez]

Yeah, I actually haven't gotten into Emory (I was supposed to hear from them 12/23 and, er, didn't) but I am probably going to Vandy. I actually don't know if Emory has a second look- I think they have a housing weekend but at the interview they didn't mention anything about a formal second look.

emory's second look is very poorly organized (similar to their curriculum), they just have events going on and you can chose to attend or not (such as going to a bar in buckhead)

 

[scrubs386]

Ok, as a previous undergraduate of Emory and now a current M1, I want to clear up multiple incorrect things that have been said, particularly by waytooez.

Emory's new curriculum is quite organized and easy to understand. For the first five months, you have scheduled lecture every morning and then free time in the afternoon to study/go to clinic/whatever you want to do. With a quiz every Friday, I do not know how much more structured you can get. If you don't believe me, go to http://www.med.emory.edu/students/ and look at our schedules posted online.

The urban sprawl is not a great aspect of Atlanta (which by the way is certainly a major city in the US), but the Emory area is in a more suburban area and allows for students to live close to campus and minimize their drive. Additionally, there are multiple apartment complexes that are close enough to campus that a student could walk to class (I've done it before so don't tell me you can't). Furthermore, in our third and fourth years we are primarily at Grady, which is downtown, and many students opt to move farther away from campus to be closer to the hospital and, in turn, shorten commutes.

Saying that there are no structured research opportunities with the CDC is not true, especially considering that quite a number of our faculty hold joint positions in both Emory and the CDC. The new curriculum is only in its second year and as a result, no class has entered the Discovery phase yet. While I can't provide proof of what will come from the first experiences with the Discovery phase, I can assure you that Emory and the CDC are quite interconnected (two current students are there on a year-long fellowship as I write this). Public health opportunities are abundant here through both the School of Medicine and the Rollins School of Public Health.

Finally, Emory's second look weekend has not been announced because there has been discussion about the cost in light of the current economy. Emory's second look previously was an extremely structured day of tours, talks, meals, and social time to allow the newly accepted students to mingle and meet. The highlight of the event was the Apollo Kaufee Haus, a student-run talent show (not going to a bar, as was previously mentioned). By not being able to fund flights for students to Atlanta, Emory felt that it was unfair to ask them to come again for a revisit. If you are unsure about where you would like to attend medical school, contact Erica in the admissions office and I am sure she could arrange something.

Finally, my closing point is just in response to a comment that Erica Black is part of the "superficial" appearance of Emory on interview day. If you took more than three seconds to talk to her, you would realize how much she loves her job and all the applicants that she meets. The students here are happier than anywhere else I went and Emory really is a great medical school.

Hope to see everyone next year.

 

[pntgrd]

Vanderbilt is better.

 

[waytooez]

Vanderbilt is better.

qft

 

[Darkshooter326]

First of all, let me say that I think both schools are good, but Emory's rise is quicker and more promising than Vandy's.

Emory has risen like 8 spots in the US News rankings in the past 2-3 years. If you think their notoriety is in doubt, in the near future it won't be (Sanjay Gupta-emory Doc, being Surgeon general doesn't hurt PR) Vandy has been on the upswing as well, but I think Emory's ceiling is higher due to the new building, new curric, and broader clinical/research opportunities.

Atlanta is growing way faster than Nashville ever will, and there is more to do there than go to fake greek exhibits

the truth is there is not much if any structured opportunities to do research at emory med, and any suggestions otherwise is anecdotal.

Other than giving you about 6 months to do research, what other structure do you need? In medical school, things aren't spoon-fed to you anymore, you need to grow up and be independent. Figure out what you want to do, and go do it. On any major research campus, there are hundreds of PIs looking for help. If you want to do a research proj at CDC, make some cold calls, and ask around.

 

[waytooez]

First of all, let me say that I think both schools are good, but Emory's rise is quicker and more promising than Vandy's.

Emory has risen like 8 spots in the US News rankings in the past 2-3 years. If you think their notoriety is in doubt, in the near future it won't be (Sanjay Gupta-emory Doc, being Surgeon general doesn't hurt PR) Vandy has been on the upswing as well, but I think Emory's ceiling is higher due to the new building, new curric, and broader clinical/research opportunities.

Atlanta is growing way faster than Nashville ever will, and there is more to do there than go to fake greek exhibits



Other than giving you about 6 months to do research, what other structure do you need? In medical school, things aren't spoon-fed to you anymore, you need to grow up and be independent. Figure out what you want to do, and go do it. On any major research campus, there are hundreds of PIs looking for help. If you want to do a research proj at CDC, make some cold calls, and ask around.

you may not know this but emory med was ranked in the teens about 6 years ago... so i'd say it is rather stagnant

 

[officedepot]

With emory (the school I will attend) I was extremely impressed with the new buildings and the faculty. I knew several of the students and they were all really cool. The new students I met were approachable and willing to talk if you wanted. Personally, I didn't really have questions so didn't go out of my way to talk to people I'll probably never know but they were still cool. All in all it was a much better experience than the other interviews I went on. But in the end it's up to you.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

but I think Emory's ceiling is higher due to the new building, new curric, and broader clinical/research opportunities.

Atlanta is growing way faster than Nashville ever will, and there is more to do there than go to fake greek exhibits

New building: Its laughable to say the building is important. Do Emory students have to sleep in the new building too?

New curric: Vandy has a new curric too (started the same year Emory started theirs...) so that point is rather laughable as well.

"Broader research?": I don't know how you are quantifying it, but Vandy gets more NIH funding. As a student, you will find many opportunities at either institution.

As for Atl growing faster, would you want the city to grow more? Its a pain to get around the city when there's no traffic, much less rush hour and you need to get to the hospital across town.

Premeds focus too much on pissing contest issues. Nashville is a much easier town to live in than Atlanta, and the Vandy area is a very safe area to live. You can laugh at our full-scale replica of the Parthenon but I'm having a great time living in this city.

 

[waytooez]

New building: Its laughable to say the building is important. Do Emory students have to sleep in the new building too?

New curric: Vandy has a new curric too (started the same year Emory started theirs...) so that point is rather laughable as well.

"Broader research?": I don't know how you are quantifying it, but Vandy gets more NIH funding. As a student, you will find many opportunities at either institution.

As for Atl growing faster, would you want the city to grow more? Its a pain to get around the city when there's no traffic, much less rush hour and you need to get to the hospital across town.

Premeds focus too much on pissing contest issues. Nashville is a much easier town to live in than Atlanta, and the Vandy area is a very safe area to live. You can laugh at our full-scale replica of the Parthenon but I'm having a great time living in this city.

i absolutely agree with you. additionally, according to officedepot, it appears that emory accepts ppl who cant even get into mcg. i guess a class full of mcg rejects will definitely bring emory to that quick rise in rankings. has anyone heard of a student going to emory over a school ranked higher than it (eg. vandy, duke, stanford, etc)? it seems like it is just a fallback for people who couldnt get into those types of schools. when you interview there, ask the m1 class what other schools they got into. when i asked, most of them started telling me stories of how schools like washu didn't even send them a rejection letter or how duke's secondary is too long. would you really want to be at a school where people are there because its basically the best they can do? when i was at stanford i talked to lots of people there who CHOOSE to go there over harvard.

 

[tessa108]

Personally, I really enjoyed Emory and I'm considering going there, but I disliked Vanderbilt and withdrew right after my interview. Obviously, some on here feel the opposite (although some of the Emory bashing seems a bit over the top; thanks to scrubs for clearing up some of the misinformation), and I wouldn't want to tell you that you should feel the same way as I do. Those of us with a strong opinion either way probably aren't the best to give you pointers, since you are still considering both schools and obviously really liked them both - unlike us. Whichever school ends up being a better fit (or cheaper!) will probably work out great; both are very good options. Good luck with your decision!

 

[ButImLETired]

i absolutely agree with you. additionally, according to officedepot, it appears that emory accepts ppl who cant even get into mcg. i guess a class full of mcg rejects will definitely bring emory to that quick rise in rankings. has anyone heard of a student going to emory over a school ranked higher than it (eg. vandy, duke, stanford, etc)? it seems like it is just a fallback for people who couldnt get into those types of schools. when you interview there, ask the m1 class what other schools they got into. when i asked, most of them started telling me stories of how schools like washu didn't even send them a rejection letter or how duke's secondary is too long. would you really want to be at a school where people are there because its basically the best they can do? when i was at stanford i talked to lots of people there who CHOOSE to go there over harvard.

Well that's just silly. I happen to know someone who picked Emory over Stanford, one who picked it over Duke and one who picked it over Wash U. I'm probably going to be at Vandy next year, I absolutely loved the school, but if I'd gotten into Emory as well I would have had one hell of a tough time deciding between the two.

What I felt were really strong parts of the Emory experiences were:

1) yes, Vandy has emphasis, but they expect you to do the bulk of it over the summer. I know you're also supposed to work on it during the year, but I can't imagine that you really have all that much time to focus on your research then. Emory carves out 6 months from your regular curriculum- time you're spending in the classroom at Vandy. You start clinicals a semester early. That's pretty cool.

2) While Vandy definitely has opportunities to do a lot of great things internationally, Emory's opportunities, as far as I could tell, are simply better and broader. I may be wrong by the way, and it may be just that Emory presented them better on interview day, but that's the impression I got.

3) I really think the clinical experience you get at Grady is second to none. Nashville is not as diverse a city as Atlanta, and Vandy hospital is not nearly as large as Grady. Yes, getting there is a hassle, but people can move a bit farther from campus and closer to the hospital.

Now of course there are plenty of things that I loved about Vandy and preferred over Emory but I'm not going to include them since this thread is so anti-Emory. I just think people are really underestimating the school.

 

[Leejwwc]

Finally, Emory's second look weekend has not been announced because there has been discussion about the cost in light of the current economy. Emory's second look previously was an extremely structured day of tours, talks, meals, and social time to allow the newly accepted students to mingle and meet. The highlight of the event was the Apollo Kaufee Haus, a student-run talent show (not going to a bar, as was previously mentioned). By not being able to fund flights for students to Atlanta, Emory felt that it was unfair to ask them to come again for a revisit. If you are unsure about where you would like to attend medical school, contact Erica in the admissions office and I am sure she could arrange something.

Thanks scrubs, I was a little bit confused b/c the packet we got from interview day mentioned a second look while the packet we got with the acceptance papers did not.

 

[Retsage]

i absolutely agree with you. additionally, according to officedepot, it appears that emory accepts ppl who cant even get into mcg. i guess a class full of mcg rejects will definitely bring emory to that quick rise in rankings. has anyone heard of a student going to emory over a school ranked higher than it (eg. vandy, duke, stanford, etc)? it seems like it is just a fallback for people who couldnt get into those types of schools. when you interview there, ask the m1 class what other schools they got into. when i asked, most of them started telling me stories of how schools like washu didn't even send them a rejection letter or how duke's secondary is too long. would you really want to be at a school where people are there because its basically the best they can do? when i was at stanford i talked to lots of people there who CHOOSE to go there over harvard.

You're a bit of a dip****, aren't you?

 

[MREdoc]

I am a student at Emory as well. Obviously I cannot speak for Vanderbilt, but I can answer any questions you might have about Emory. I also had to make the decision between Emory and Vanderbilt when it came down to it as did many people from my class. I'm sure Vanderbilt also has many people who went there over Emory. The students at both school are so similar and both classes seemed very happy at the schools. My decision was based on a few different things. I wanted to be in a larger city, we have new facilities, we start rotations after a year and a half of classes (end of Feb our second year), the training at Grady is excellent, and we really do interact with our deans and administration daily.

For those who think Emory plays up its facilities too much, I did too on my interview day. I barely studied in college and partied my way through. I thought there was no way I would ever spend more than class time in a building and laughed at the fact that some people did. Now that I am here, I understand. We really are here from about 7:30 am until around 10-11pm almost every day. I would much rather spend my time somewhere that is beautiful and always has access to study rooms. From what I hear about other schools, it becomes extremely frustrating when students have to spend 30 min just to find a room to study in.

As for the comment about people not getting into MCG, your facts are false my friend. First off, MCG is a great school and should in no way be knocked. Emory is an urban school and MCG tends to draw people from smaller rural areas who wish to stay in Georgia. We have two completely different demographics. MCG is well aware of the fact that many of the people they interview are also interviewing and get accepted to Emory. For many of us, the decision to come to Emory over MCG was easy to make. But this isn't a discussion about MCG.

Please don't spend your time on personal attacks on people. Especially our admissions director. She has great spirit and does an amazing job. All you are there to see is an interview day. She does so much extra outside work that has nothing to do woth admissions and is such a gem. If you are going into a field to help others and learn to be compassionate, then why would you publically speak negatively about someone you met for a couple of hours? To me, that seems very immature.

Now onto our exact location. Emory is situated in a more suburban neighborhood. It does not take 30 minutes to get to school like the ill-informed have tried to tell you. It takes me 10 min to get from my apartment door to my seat in the classroom. 5 min to drive and 5 min to walk from the parking deck. We are about a 5 minute drive to Virginia Highlands one way and a 5 minute drive to Decatur the other. These are both areas with great shopping, coffee shops, restaraunts, housing, bars, and music venues. The typical "downtown" is about 15 minutes from school. Plenty of people from class live there as well and they hit almost no traffic because they are going against the flow of rush hour. You don't get to see all of these things when you are here, and maybe didn't think to ask anyone.

Of course, Emory won't be the right fit for everyone. Just keep things tactful if you are speaking negatively, because you wont see any of the medical students from Emory or Vanderbilt speaking ill of one another. We will all end up working together one day, so keep those things in mind when you feel the need to talk down about people who don't go to Harvard. If you think Harvard is the best school, then by all means go there. Go to a school that you love and want to be a part of. For those of you that came to Emory and loved it, hope to see you next year!

 

[229141]

Emory has no football team...

 

[searun]

Emory has no football team...

Apparently, Alabama does not have a football team either.

 

[229141]

Apparently, Alabama does not have a football team either.

yep thats what Utah said LOL!!

 

[searun]

yep thats what Utah said LOL!!

Yes, that was a sweet win by Utah! What can you say about a program like Alabama, where 100,000 fans of the Crimson Tide show up to watch the Spring game, intrasquad scrimmage. No joke, 100,000 people tailgating like there is no tomorrow for the Spring scrimmage. There is no joy in Mudville now. Nick Satan, er, I mean Nick Saban must be in a really bad mood this week!

 

[officedepot]

i absolutely agree with you. additionally, according to officedepot, it appears that emory accepts ppl who cant even get into mcg. i guess a class full of mcg rejects will definitely bring emory to that quick rise in rankings. has anyone heard of a student going to emory over a school ranked higher than it (eg. vandy, duke, stanford, etc)? it seems like it is just a fallback for people who couldnt get into those types of schools. when you interview there, ask the m1 class what other schools they got into. when i asked, most of them started telling me stories of how schools like washu didn't even send them a rejection letter or how duke's secondary is too long. would you really want to be at a school where people are there because its basically the best they can do? when i was at stanford i talked to lots of people there who CHOOSE to go there over harvard.

wow... I mean you probably don't know anything about MCG and weren't even at the interview (so you don't know what it was like). MCG probably just wants a LOI or something but I want to go to Emory. And yes, I have an interview at washu but will choose emory because I like it better. But I know you're just trying to use me to make jabs at Emory. I'm not really sure why you care so much.

but I'm not really sure why I even bother to respond to elitists such as yourself.

oh and I think you should look at what MREdoc had to say.

 

[Leejwwc]

Just keep things tactful if you are speaking negatively, because you wont see any of the medical students from Emory or Vanderbilt speaking ill of one another.

Thanks, please keep this civil everybody. I posted this thread initially to get constructive feedback b/c I will be making a sincere decision between the two at some point. I did not anticipate a bashing thread to ensue.

 

[dragonfly99]

Both of those med schools have very good reputations and one could do well coming from both of those places.

I have worked at Vanderbilt and observed that they treat their medical students extremely well and the teaching seems very good compared w/other medical schools I've been associated with. The Emphasis program appears to be well run and it's definitely a resume-booster for their students when it comes time for them to do residency.

Clinically, the Vanderbilt students really seem to know what they are doing and they benefit from having many doctors personally teach them how to do exams, etc. at the patients' bedsides. This is rare in medical education today. I think either school has more than good enough/large enough hospitals and plenty of diversity in the patient population. Vanderbilt has an 875 bed university hospital, plus an adjacent VA, so there is quite a bit of racial/ethnic/socioeconomic diversity of patients. Probably there will be quite a few more non English speaking patients at Emory vs. Vanderbilt hospitals.

I think if one wants an MPH, Emory has the edge. Perhaps that would be true for any type of public health/epidemiology research as well. For other reseach, I'd definitely give Vanderbilt the edge in most areas.

I think both are good schools...consider the costs/financial ramifications if you get accepted to both. I don't know if there is a significant difference but if there is I'd choose the cheaper alternative, since both are good schools.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

i absolutely agree with you. additionally, according to officedepot, it appears that emory accepts ppl who cant even get into mcg. i guess a class full of mcg rejects will definitely bring emory to that quick rise in rankings. has anyone heard of a student going to emory over a school ranked higher than it (eg. vandy, duke, stanford, etc)? it seems like it is just a fallback for people who couldnt get into those types of schools. when you interview there, ask the m1 class what other schools they got into. when i asked, most of them started telling me stories of how schools like washu didn't even send them a rejection letter or how duke's secondary is too long. would you really want to be at a school where people are there because its basically the best they can do? when i was at stanford i talked to lots of people there who CHOOSE to go there over harvard.

I really don't know why you are making such assertions, but you have to admit that what you wrote is extremely ridiculous. People choose schools for a variety of reasons, not just rank and prestige. Money, location, and other considerations are more important for most people.

1) yes, Vandy has emphasis, but they expect you to do the bulk of it over the summer. I know you're also supposed to work on it during the year, but I can't imagine that you really have all that much time to focus on your research then. Emory carves out 6 months from your regular curriculum- time you're spending in the classroom at Vandy. You start clinicals a semester early. That's pretty cool.

There's pros and cons for Emphasis being done by the end of 2nd year. If things go well, you can have a publication before you graduate (it takes FOREVER to get a paper in a journal). My project sucked, but actually its given me the opportunity to do things in the field I think I'm going to end up in, which turned out to be a positive thing, and had I started on my Emphasis project at this point I would've wasted alot more time. It really depends on what you do and how much you like it.

For those who think Emory plays up its facilities too much, I did too on my interview day. I barely studied in college and partied my way through. I thought there was no way I would ever spend more than class time in a building and laughed at the fact that some people did. Now that I am here, I understand. We really are here from about 7:30 am until around 10-11pm almost every day. I would much rather spend my time somewhere that is beautiful and always has access to study rooms. From what I hear about other schools, it becomes extremely frustrating when students have to spend 30 min just to find a room to study in.

I became nauseous when I read that you spend up to 15 hours at school per day regularly. That's completely insane, you gotta enjoy life a little bit even in med school!

Light Hall here at Vandy isn't the newest building (not as 'beautiful' as Emory's building), but it ain't ancient either and there is alot of places to study. The biomedical library is a gorgeous building next door, and to be honest I guess I don't appreciate the building's beauty as much as I should. I've never struggled to find a place to study here, and part of it is due to the fact that we only have 104 students each year (smaller than most schools). I've been to Emory as well, and both of these schools have pretty nice facilities (Emory has a more beautiful campus than Vanderbilt, but Vandy is nice if you like trees over unique architecture, neither is a good reason to choose one school over the other though).

You have to admit that the physical spaces get played up too much. The anatomy lab here is very nice, but you only use it for part of first year and now its just a part of the past I will never relive. Similarly at Emory, you only get to use that nice new building during the first year and a half. After that, you do research and clinicals. As I said before, the facilities at both schools are very nice and shouldn't be a make-or-break factor.

I think both are good schools...consider the costs/financial ramifications if you get accepted to both. I don't know if there is a significant difference but if there is I'd choose the cheaper alternative, since both are good schools.

Great point.

 

[Leejwwc]

Hey scrubs and mredoc, what's the grading like with the new curric, is it P/F, or modified P/F?

 

[MREdoc]

We are completely P/F for the basic science years and then are graded for clinicals. What I don't know is if that is an A-F scale or a HP/P/F type scale. Regardless, it is a scale of some sort but right now we are strictly P/F, which pretty much means P/P

 

[ButImLETired]

I think this is debatable - you may be called on to do a lot of scutwork at Grady, and I'd argue the actual teaching of students is lacking - it's very much a sink or swim environment and it's easy for students to get lost.

And on the flipside, Vanderbilt has a huge tertiary referral net, and is one of the best trauma centers in the southeast - I've gotten the impression they see a ton of diversity both in terms of patient population and case diversity.

Hmmm this is a good point, I hadn't considered the fact that students are probably a bit lost in the shuffle. Well, I'm even more excited about Vandy now!!

 

[searun]

Guys, please, this thread is getting off point. Can we get back to SEC football, now, please. Oh wait, Big Game Bob! I love that guy, especially the day after Armegeddon. Hello there, loser.

 

[Darkshooter326]

New building: Its laughable to say the building is important. Do Emory students have to sleep in the new building too?.

Having a new building is indicative of a few things. Growth, MONEY, and a good outlook for the future. It also gives you more flexibility in classes and teaching opportunities, as well as room for innovations in the future. You can't retrofit a med school for the new teaching methodologies available. (sim labs, study rooms, etc.)

"Broader research?": I don't know how you are quantifying it, but Vandy gets more NIH funding. As a student, you will find many opportunities at either institution.

I never slammed Vandy, I just qualified Emory's opportunities for research. The funding that many Emory university professors receive doing public health projects comes from the CDC and HHS, which beefs up its total research dollars. Now, that isn't NIH funding, but it is publicly funded research. As for NIH funding, I think Emory has been gaining ground rapidly of late.

As for Atl growing faster, would you want the city to grow more? Its a pain to get around the city when there's no traffic, much less rush hour and you need to get to the hospital across town.

You would be an idiot to say you want to go to a dying town (yes, the extreme, but it proves a point). Going to a growing city means that there is something good about it, jobs, opportunity, resources, etc. Ask how many new doctors are going to New Orleans, or Detroit? And no, I'm not saying Nashville is dying, lest you put words in my mouth again.[/QUOTE]

Seeing as how you clearly are a totally insecure Vandy med student who needs to diss other institutions to make you feel better about your own, I am sorry that you have probably given some people here a negative impression about the student body at Vandy. I would have wanted to go there, but not any longer.

 

[BeardedRunner]

I went to Emory Undergrad and the med school is basically on the undergrad campus. So I can tell you about the type of people that you will encounter at Emory.

A lot of snobby and jappy rich kids from the NY, CT, and MA, South Florida, and Cali. I'm from Long Island, so I felt right at home at Emory and had a great time. I had native-Atlanta roommates my freshman year who constantly complained about the jappiness of their fellow classmates.

I've never been to Vandy, but I heard that there are more snobby, old money, Southern kids. There are still some jappy northerners, but the Southerners prevail, unlike Emory which has NO southern vibe at all.

 

[Monica Lewinsky]

Both schools suck!

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

Both schools suck!

Hahahaha...some of us saw your unedited post. Did someone just get caught using a second handle? tsk tsk.