Emory vs. Northwestern vs. Duke (WL)

[Marr97]

(Please don't quote)
Hello all! I have been VERY fortunate this cycle to have been accepted to several wonderful schools, but I have narrowed my choices down to Emory and Northwestern, with the possibility of being accepted off Duke’s waitlist. I'm not counting on a whole lot of movement there, but I wanted to include them just in case. I would really appreciate any advice on how to choose between them, especially now that all Second Looks have been canceled or made virtual.
Some quick notes:
-Financial aid packages are not yet released for either school, but for now I am assuming I will be paying full COA for all schools, as I don't expect much beyond loans.
-I’m very interested in research and academic medicine. The specialties I’m most drawn to are neurology, infectious disease, and psychiatry, but I’m definitely keeping an open mind. I am considering an MD/MPH but have not committed myself to it yet.
-I think I would like to match somewhere on the east coast, but this isn’t definite yet.

Emory
Tuition: $51,000
COA: ~$85,000/yr (realistically will be lower)​

Pros:

• 1.5 years preclinical
• True P/F preclinical
• Recorded/non-mandatory lectures
• Strong 5-year MD/MPH program
• Diverse patient population, opportunities for underserved patient outreach
• 5 month Discovery period as reserved time for research or international experiences
• Great weather and lovely campus
• Research opportunities with the CDC, public and global health opportunities
• Excellent hospital network, especially Grady (safety net hospital)
• Most affordable tuition; COA will likely be lower than listed for me due to already being established in Atlanta
• Medium sized class (~130)
• My entire support network of immediate family and friends live right here in Atlanta- I seriously can’t overstate how much I love these people. If it comes down to having to leave them, it’ll definitely be hard.
• Atlanta is a fun, affordable city and I love it here. Despite living here all my life, I still feel like there’s plenty more to see.
• Could keep my car and use it to get around.

Cons:

• Less “prestigious” than Northwestern- I’m worried that this may limit my opportunities somewhat if I want to go into academic medicine, especially after the Step 1 P/F meteor. It may sound silly, but I always hear Northwestern thrown out as being among schools like Michigan, Yale, and Vanderbilt, but I don't often hear Emory included in that group.
• AOA and letter graded clinicals
• Not super keen on PBL and small-group learning
• Seems like more emphasis on primary care than research, just from my impressions of the school
• Could be good to get out of my comfort zone by leaving Atlanta. I don't want this choice that will decide my future to be motivated by fear about not having a support network. Emory feels like the “safer” option to me.

Northwestern
Tuition: $52,000 (w/ scholarship)
COA: ~$82,000/yr​

Pros:

• True “Pass/Pass” preclinical
• Recorded/non-mandatory lectures
• Great 4-year MD/MPH program
• Known as a research powerhouse
• Impressive facilities and hospital network
• Travel grants available for global health initiatives; a big portion of the class does international work
• Chicago is a big, fabulous city with plenty to do. Lots of arts/food/culture and excellent public transport. It would be an exciting new environment for me.
• Beautiful campus in the middle of the nicest part of Chicago
• Large class size (~160)
• I really appreciate the emphasis on self-care and student wellness
• My favorite interview day. I felt like I fit in well with the students there, and the culture seemed really supportive and not cutthroat. This may sound trivial, but all my communications with the school left me with the feeling that they really "wanted" me there, maybe more so than Emory or Duke.

Cons:

• Full 2-year preclinical
• AOA and letter graded clinicals
• Emphasis on problem-based and team-based learning, prefer traditional lecture-based style
• Chicago is far pricier than Atlanta, and it’s a 12-hour drive or a 1.5 hour flight away from home. I don't know a soul there, and I could be really lonely without a support system.
• More expensive tuition
• I’ve never experienced a real northern winter, let alone Chicago’s winter.
• Would have to sell my car, as all the students there told me I’d be better off without it in Chicago.

Duke (waitlisted)
Tuition: $59,100
COA: ~$90,000/yr​

Pros:

• 1 year preclinical, favorite curriculum overall
• True P/F preclinicals, no rankings
• Recorded/non-mandatory lectures
• Most “prestigious” of the 3
• 4-year MD/MPH degree that uses the reserved 3rd year for the MPH
• Huge research powerhouse
• Beautiful campus and climate, similar to Atlanta
• Impressive facilities
• Amazing match list
• 3rd year completely reserved for research, could come back to Atlanta to research here if I miss it, potential to extend research beyond that year
• Medium sized class (~130)
• Cheap COL in Durham
• Could keep my car
• Sort of a happy medium distance-wise; not literally at home but not a flight away

Cons:

• H/HP/P/F for clinical years
• Durham is pretty small, and the students didn’t have much to say about it. I could see myself possibly getting bored there.
• Still a 6.5 hour drive away from home; I wouldn’t be able to just go home whenever I felt like it
• Weeeeeird vibes on interview day. I don't want to get into specifics, but if a current student or fellow interviewee wanted to PM me, I'm very curious about if my experience was common or just a fluke.
• 1 year preclinical could be stressful

Any feedback would be appreciated, especially considering if I get off the waitlist at Duke. Thank you in advance for your advice; I've truly learned so much from my time here on SDN, and I'm so grateful to everyone who has helped me out along the way!

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[FatherTime-PhD]

Emory.

If you're worried about prestige, check this out by our very own @TheDataKing :

They're virtually on equal footing.

Also, I don't know much about Emory, but with the CDC around, I doubt research isn't a strong emphasis here.

Emory also seems to be the cheaper ... and with the family support closest at Emory, the choice, to me, is a lot clearer

 

[TheDataKing]

Emory seems like your best bet to me as well, especially since it's cheaper. The research is STRONG there and they have a period of time where you're literally supposed to do research (a few months) which is amazing!! Since step is likely going pass/fail for our year, an accelerated preclinical curriculum is advantageous as you have more time to "individualize" your experience and do away rotations, research, etc. I agree with @The-Medical-Mamba, Emory and NW are going to be viewed very similarly in prestige. They're both well known powerhouses.

 

[Marr97]

Thank you both so much for your responses! It did actually make me feel a lot better to see Northwestern and Emory tied like that- part of why I'm having difficulty with this decision is that these schools really are very comparable. You've both made great points (especially about the condensed preclinicals and Step 1) and I'll definitely be taking them into consideration.

 

[diasterdream]

With the support system, Emory sounds like your best bet. Medical school is stressful enough, and if you know the transition will be hard, then don't do it

 

[Marr97]

UPDATE: I've been offered a scholarship at Northwestern that would make tuition basically equivalent to Emory's. I've updated the info above to reflect that.

 

[humanbean2016]

Hi, I'm at Emory and love it. The PBL small group time commitment is very minimal and we spend more time in the clinics seeing patients with our preceptors for OPEX (integrated into currciculum). I'm also home with my mom slightly outside Atlanta during this online/quarantine portion which I so greatly appreciate. I interviewed at a Chicago school last January and that was enough of a Chicago winter for me. I also have family in Chicago that I've visited through my childhood, often around winter holidays and found it to be miserable but that's just me. I hate snow.

Went to Duke for undergrad and Durham is a cool place but it is DEFINITELY a bubble that can be hard to escape.

 

[idiotreinventor]

Hi, I'm at Emory and love it. The PBL small group time commitment is very minimal and we spend more time in the clinics seeing patients with our preceptors for OPEX (integrated into currciculum). I'm also home with my mom slightly outside Atlanta during this online/quarantine portion which I so greatly appreciate. I interviewed at a Chicago school last January and that was enough of a Chicago winter for me. I also have family in Chicago that I've visited through my childhood, often around winter holidays and found it to be miserable but that's just me. I hate snow.

Went to Duke for undergrad and Durham is a cool place but it is DEFINITELY a bubble that can be hard to escape.

Mind if i PM you about emory?

 

[Engrailed]

Northwestern! ChicaGO!

 

[Marr97]

Hi, I'm at Emory and love it. The PBL small group time commitment is very minimal and we spend more time in the clinics seeing patients with our preceptors for OPEX (integrated into currciculum). I'm also home with my mom slightly outside Atlanta during this online/quarantine portion which I so greatly appreciate. I interviewed at a Chicago school last January and that was enough of a Chicago winter for me. I also have family in Chicago that I've visited through my childhood, often around winter holidays and found it to be miserable but that's just me. I hate snow.

Went to Duke for undergrad and Durham is a cool place but it is DEFINITELY a bubble that can be hard to escape.

Thanks so much for your input! Could I actually PM you as well?

 

[humanbean2016]

Thanks so much for your input! Could I actually PM you as well?

Mind if i PM you about emory?

Go for it

 

[alh123456]

Go for it

Could I also PM you?

 

[idiotreinventor]

Go for it

for some reason it won't let me PM you, do you mind PM'ing me?

 

[Marr97]

Bumping this one last time to make sure there isn't anything I've overlooked- at the moment I'm leaning toward Emory.

 

[unoriginal_name]

If you're still considering Northwestern, I've got to say myself that growing up around Chicago but not being there now I definitely miss it. Great culture and big city feel but not with the price tag of places like NYC if that's your vibe. I've got a bunch of friends at med schools in the area (Rush, UChicago, UICOM) and they all seem really happy! Also, although there might be slight/negligible differences in prestige (with NW having the slight edge), I think I saw somewhere in another thread that Emory tends to match more in the South? If you're interested in East Coast residencies, maybe Northwestern would be better in that regard, but that's something you could look into/others can chime in on. Lastly, I guess it looks like your support network is super important to you. If you foresee yourself really relying on that support network, going home often, and needing that physical closeness, then definitely I'd say go to Emory. But if you're willing to step a bit out of your comfort zone and experience something new, I think you'll definitely get some invaluable life experiences and find yourself at right at home at Northwestern! Again, a little biased here but wherever you go, I don't think there's a wrong choice. Congrats!

Edit: Also was a Duke undergrad. Definitely a bubble like some have said, but not entirely inescapable. Also have talked to lots of students there about 3rd year and it's very chill, you just have to load all the hard work upfront in the first two years. Cheap cost of living, very prestigious, close-ish to home for you, great basketball , definitely another good choice if you get off the WL.

 

[Marr97]

UPDATE: My hands are legit shaking as I type this, but I just got accepted off the waitlist at Duke!

 

[babypotato]

Hi, I'm at Emory and love it. The PBL small group time commitment is very minimal and we spend more time in the clinics seeing patients with our preceptors for OPEX (integrated into currciculum). I'm also home with my mom slightly outside Atlanta during this online/quarantine portion which I so greatly appreciate. I interviewed at a Chicago school last January and that was enough of a Chicago winter for me. I also have family in Chicago that I've visited through my childhood, often around winter holidays and found it to be miserable but that's just me. I hate snow.

Went to Duke for undergrad and Durham is a cool place but it is DEFINITELY a bubble that can be hard to escape.

@humanbean2016 could you message me? I'd like to ask you a question about Emory! I tried messaging you but am unable to.

 

[oioeoelgd154]

Emory still seems like the best bet for you depending on what your weird vibes on interview day were. I would talk with current students about that. For infectious disease/research at CDC/close to support system, Emory sounds like a great fit.

 

[Marr97]

Thanks so much to everyone for their feedback! I ended up being offered a substantial scholarship at Duke, so I'll be going there! I couldn't be happier with how things turned out!