Emory or Wake Forest?

[icecubes]

I am curious what people think of these two schools. Any insight into the personality/location/curriculum/etc of either school would be wonderful! Also, Emory is more highly ranked (#20 vs. 44), but I'm not sure how important that is for medical schools. Will Emory's higher rank be looked upon more favorably by residencies, especially if I intend to move out of the south? I liked both schools a lot and am grateful to have choices. Thanks, and good luck to everyone!

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[sundancekid]

I'm headed to Wake so I'm certainly not impartial. I've spent some time convincing another friend on Wake and there plenty of selling points. I wouldn't put too much stock in rankings they're usually only good for ballpark estimates--although it's worth a look to check out hospital rankings as well as medical school rankings if you haven't already.

1. The match list is impressive. If you're really interested I can email it. Let me know.
2. They grow organs--center for regenerative medicine.
3. Perform well on Step 1, very well on Step 2.
4. Very tech savy school
5. The second year effectively ends somewhere in February to allow adequate preparation for step 1.

In a head to head comparison with Emory I know little about Emory med. I do know that Wake is a far more visited hospital...Emory had about 30k visits to the ER in 2007, while Wake had about 90k. Similar statistics for other areas. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. Emory, I think, has some affiliated hospitals that students can go to as well. I don't know about those.

Hope this helps. Take care.

 

[Steeler7588]

Wake Forest seemed like a very solid place in terms of becoming a good physician, but Emory straight up wowed me. Beautiful new medical school, amazing 1.5 pre-clinical curriculum, training at Grady, more research opportunities, etc. You're also going to have a lot more fun in Atlanta than Winston-Salem. That was a pretty frequent complaint among WFU students.

 

[obiwan]

Emory will generally give you more of a heads up from residency program directors

 

[Suenya]

Atlanta isn't horrible, but I've heard Winston-Salem is really really nice in terms of living expenses.

 

[medat101]

I am curious what people think of these two schools. Any insight into the personality/location/curriculum/etc of either school would be wonderful! Also, Emory is more highly ranked (#20 vs. 44), but I'm not sure how important that is for medical schools. Will Emory's higher rank be looked upon more favorably by residencies, especially if I intend to move out of the south? I liked both schools a lot and am grateful to have choices. Thanks, and good luck to everyone!

Emory is an amazing medical school. THey have new facilities and highly regarded and respected in the entire south. Also, if you are interested in a dual degree program, Emory has great graduate schools (public health, business, etc.) and they are really supportive about their students pursuing a dual degree. As for the hospitals, they have a HUGE emory healthcare system and provide staffing for Grady (Level 1 Trauma center) so you can work with a diversity of patients (insured, uninsured, minorities, immunocompromised, etc.). If you are interested in public health and health policy, they have essential connections with the CDC, Carter Center, etc. And did I mention Atlanta is AWESOME for young adults and the cost of living is minimal compared to other big cities?! I would LOVE to choose Emory over Wake Forest.. hands down... no competition.

 

[ontheroad86]

Yeah I'm with everyone else on this...no real competition here, unless cost is an issue. Go to Emory!

 

[icecubes]

Thanks for the input, everyone. I'm surprised how much more desirable Emory appears to be than Wake! I'd love to hear more opinions/reasoning/views - in either direction - if anyone else feels like sharing.

 

[ncmed2014]

I've decided on attending Wake Forest and I truly believe the school is dedicated to its students. I thought the atmosphere was amazing, I've heard faculty are very nice, helpful and Wake Forest students match very well! But go where you truly believe you'll be the happiest--for me that place was WF.

 

[icecubes]

I agree - everyone at Wake Forest seemed happy, relaxed, and remarkably down-to-earth. Slightly surprising, since Wake Forest is honors/pass/fail (whereas Emory is pass/fail)... I have been told that pass/fail is much more conducive to a cooperative/relaxed environment in general. Also, what do people think of Grady Hospital? At Emory, do you have to do most of your rotations there, or can you elect to do them at other hospitals?

Any more thoughts on Wake vs. Emory?

 

[WTF is Juice]

I was at Emory for undergrad, so I can't talk much about their med school, but I will say that Grady hospital is where it's at. People come from ALL OVER to go there bc it's the best of the best. If you drive around Atlanta you'll see plenty of bumper stickers that read "If I'm in an accident, take me to Grady."

I'm currently into Wake and trying to decide on it or Rochester, so I'm on the fence about it as well. It seemed like a really nice place with a wonderful atmosphere. Coming from Emory undergrad I'd warn you to make sure the students there are not crazy competitive and overall weird as hell (that's the way the undergrad was).