Finch w/ scholarship or GTown

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moo

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I was wondering what you guys thought if you had a decision between Finch with a scholarship that'll cut tuition basically in half (to about 17k) versus paying full to GTown. I know someone in this dilemna and she said she'd go to GTown. What do youguys think?

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Let's see... a choice between downtown DC, or the middle of nowhere...
I think that you would have to have a sincere devotion to the hobby of cow-tipping to chose Finch over GTown. :wink:

Honestly, you go where you feel most comfortable, and some people (country-bumpkins, mostly) would go to Finch, while others will pay the extra cash for the prestige of Georgetown and to live in a city.
 
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in the middle of nowhere????

I don't think Chicago is in the middle of nowhere!
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by Vdawg:
•in the middle of nowhere????

I don't think Chicago is in the middle of nowhere!•••••Yeah, but unfortunately Chicago Med is not in chicago! An hour drive can really put you out in the boondocks.
 
Yeah what's this about the middle of nowhere... 30 minutes from the middle of the 3rd largest city in the US... I dont think that thats the middle of nowhere.
 
I vote for G'town. Easy decision for me. I loved DC. Really depends on what you want for your med school EXPERIENCE. Keep in mind that it is the whole experience. If you are interested in policy and reform, being at the pulse of America, etc. Then I say that it would be worth the extra cash in the long run to go to G'town. You will just be that much closer to those kinds of experiences and oppty's. Check out the Howard/GWU/G'town thread. There'll be a whole lot of partying going on in DC!
 
I would choose Finch (no I'm not biased :wink: )

If your friend is interested in primary care, going to the less reputable school won't make a difference and he/she will save mucho dinero. But by the way, if you have seen Finch's latest match list, you know that it was very good. :D

Finch is NOT in the middle of nowhere, and please realize that for 3rd and 4th years, you live IN Chicago. Now, for two years living 40 miles away from a huge city, if someone gave me that scholarship I would take it!
 
Finch is in the middle of nowhere. pretty far from the city of chicago (atleast one hour from anything exciting). It is very expensive and not regarded as a good medical school. I'm surprised finch even has scholarships. A very good matchlist...?
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by rajneel1:
•Finch is in the middle of nowhere. pretty far from the city of chicago (atleast one hour from anything exciting). It is very expensive and not regarded as a good medical school. I'm surprised finch even has scholarships. A very good matchlist...?•••••Sorry that it can't be as "good" as the places that you have gotten in. But hell, who knew there was a difference in glycolysis, depending on which school you were at. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" />
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by rajneel1:
•Finch is in the middle of nowhere. pretty far from the city of chicago (atleast one hour from anything exciting). It is very expensive and not regarded as a good medical school. I'm surprised finch even has scholarships. A very good matchlist...?•••••OK, now I'm getting a little upset. I'm not sure what competitive residencies are, so I'll try-please bare with me if some of the specialties listed below are not competitive. I have the 2001 match list right in front of me. And by the way, 95% of the students got into one of their top three choices. Well maybe they all chose primary care, you ask? Well then that means they have good advisors to have such a high %age.

Specialty/#
anesthesiology / 5
dermatology / 3
medicine-physical medicine and rehabilitation / 1
physical medicine and rehabilitation / 4
neurology / 2
neurosurgery / 2
opthamology / 8
orthopaedic surgery / 6
radiology-diagnostic / 5
radiation oncology / 1
surgery (well it used to be competitive) / 13
surgery (prelim) / 5
otolaryngology / 1

so, this shows that if you are a good student you can get a competitive specialty

I'm interested in primary so I could care less. Any US med school is fine with me! :p :D

I'm not in any way trying to say Finch is better than GTown, since we all know GTown has a fantastic reputation, but I just wanted to say that Finch may not suck as much as many of you seem to think. :D
 
Yeah...I have to agree with Michelle. I interviewed and was accepted to Finch. Having seen the facilities, I am going to withdraw from 2 schools in favor of it. I don't know why people like to put down CMS. The students there do well..faculty are nice and supportive. Granted, its not LA or NYC, but many of the schools aren't in "happening" cities. No..its not Stanford, Harvard, Yale or any of the top schools...but it is a good school and I have seen worse, in terms of facilities, but they are in a busy/lively city..so most people will consider them better.

Anyway...those who are going to or thinking of attending...don't let others make you feel inferior or inadequate because you didn't get into a "ranked" school. You'll do well where ever you go..if you just work hard.
 
I too would've chose Finch, esp. with the scholarship. I was just shocked that my friend would choose GTown over Finch w/ scholarship, that's all. But she did mention that she loved DC and not so much Chicago, so to each their own, I guess.
 
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A couple of questions to consider:
1. Is the scholarship at Finch guaranteed for all four years? Or do you have to reapply- and conceivably lose it- after the first year?
2. Is the scholarship adjusted for tuition increases, i.e., if tuition goes up 2K next year, does the scholarshop go up proportionately?
3. Most importantly- would you be happy at Finch? What did you think of the students you met there, compared to those at Georgetown? Also- a smaller factor- will it bother you to tell people you went to Finch, knowing that many consider it a lower-tier school? Will you regret not having gone to the higher-ranked school?

Myself, I turned down a top-20 private school to attend a small unranked state school- I just couldn't find a good reason to spend all the extra $$$, particularly since I knew I wanted to do primary care. Now it's a year later and I'm still happy with my decision. Of course, I'd be a liar if I said I've *never* doubted my decision- each school has a few things that get bothersome and my school is no exception. On a bad day, I've occasionally thought "Gee, if only I'd gone to the other school, I wouldn't have to deal with this." However, no school is perfect - you just have to find a place that YOU will feel comfortable with (assuming you're fortunate enough to have a choice!)
 
i'd go to Georgetown!
D.C. is cool and Georgetown seemed like a really nurturing environment to do med school in.
 
Georgetown was #43 last year, I believe. It's not ranked in the newest US News report. I heard that that may be becuase G'town doesn't participate in Stem Cell research, where alot of NIH $$$ are going to lately. Decrease in NIH funding = decrease in rank. I doubt they care, which is one of the greatest things about them.. they know who they are and no apologies. They know they do a fabulous job educating physicians and it doesn't matter the rank. Also, some schools don't participate in the US news survey. Finch may be one, Georgetown may be one also. I've seen CMS facilities, and I have to agree that they are quite nice! I think that we should all know by now that the kind of doctor you will become has much much more to do with the kind of person you are.. not where you went to school. :wink: Those who look down on other schools, IMHO, more importantly, have their own insecurity issues. :( There's no need to even pay them heed. Go where you love. Forget rankings. :clap:
 
Well, Georgetown isn't all hot-stuff either. I know that they are hurting financially and having problems recruiting faculty to boot.
 
yeah, i guess the guy I talked to didn't have any reasons or anything, just rumours, sorry
 
mrhdream, I sent you a PM apology <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />
 
UCSFreak and DraFoxy,
well i apologize if i offended you. maybe everyone i met at my finch interview and my student host lied to me.
 
i don't know much about the schools. but the city?? in washington, president has to worry about drive by shootings!!
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by maple:
•I don't know why people like to put down CMS.•••••Finch has the horrible luck of having a postbach to MD program for people with low GPAs, coupled with a lowish MCAT average for matriculants. The result is a stigma attached to their name among premeds too lazy to do any actual research into the school. Someone long ago decided that they must let anyone in, and the rumor spread from ***** to *****, much as one of the above posters is presently doing. Anyone with any intellect whatsoever will realize that there are NO "bad" medical schools. Finch has an awesome match list. This is what counts most in the end.

And to set the record straight: 30 mins from Chicago in no traffic (i.e. at night) and on weekends. And your last two years are IN Chicago. And all the cows are down south...
 
Thank you rxfudd :) You are my new favorite poster. I wish uninformed people would stop perpetuating rumors.
 
g'town in a heartbeat.

okay, let's not talk about reputation, location, or the inferiority-complex.

chicago med works its students *hard*. like workmules. people will say that yea, that gets you more prepared, but imo i'd rather go to a school that teaches in a more innovative/efficient method that gets you the same board scores without that much stress. i know this because my friend goes there.

my opinion only, please don't get too mad :)
 
actually, that one didn't make me mad :) I agree that it sucks they use letter grades at Finch and have tests every few weeks. Then again, I'm a very lazy time-wasting person, so I think I need that high-school type of atmosphere to keep me in check. :p (I'm such an optimist). I heard that Finch has a competitive atmoshpere as well, but I guess only between the people that are looking to specialize in competitive residencies.

Ah, the beauty of primary care :D I'm just gonna relax and hope my relaxed state transfers through the air to the students around me. :D Can't wait! :)
 
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