FIU HWCOM VS GWU

[taco_chronicles]

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Any advice/comments are appreciated......I went to undergrad in the northeast and have been living here since and I'm getting a little tired of the weather (SoCal native). I'm on a waitlist for a CA school [top choice] but I have to narrow down choices by Friday. Ideally as of right now I want research opportunities/work with latino population/eventually pursue academic medicine. My partner will be moving with me and we are really hoping to rent a 2 bedroom so we can have an office, as he will be finishing up grad school himself.

FIU HWCOM
Pros

• Large latino population
• Seems like lots of research opportunities
• Pretty competitive match list w/ competitive residencies in UCs
• Higher Staffordshire loan amount because the school operates on a calendar year vs academic
• More similar to SoCal weather
• Lower COL (greater Miami, rent is much lower)
• Student opportunities like STEM saturdays and program specifically addressing health disparities in latino women/breast cancer (personal interest of mine)

Cons

• Newer program so not that highly ranked/PD ranking, although seems to be climbing quickly
• P/F curriculum with internal rankings

GWU
Pros

• Scholarly concentration program/specific research track, ability to work @ NIH
• True P/F pre-clinical years, and 1.5 year for preclinical?
• Higher PD ranking

Cons

• Tired of "east coast city" living
• Higher COL
• No loan information right now
• Personally not super public policy motivated, but I would take advantage of the opportunities presented
• Would have to live in Virginia/commute in

Summary: I'm pretty torn, on one hand I feel like the only thing holding me back from choosing FIU is the fact that it is lower ranked and I'm not sure if this could affect my ability to work in academic medicine in oncology in the future.......on the other hand I feel like I'm not able to find/get as much information about GWU as I am about FIU which puts me off a little. Any additional information about GWU would be great, I know it's a great program. I've also gotten a great vibe from FIU and feel like they care about and value their students whereas GWU I'm not so sure. I'm not really factoring in cost of attendance because they are relatively similar IMO.

 

[floridaheatkills]

Hi! Our medical interests are so similar. I also want to end up in academic medicine and hem/onc or surgical onc.

Just wanted to clarify one thing, although FIU internally ranks, they mentioned only quartiles are reported to residency programs.

I agree they're on the rise rank-wise, and I feel as though their supportive admin, faculty, and staff seem to be indicative of what the four years there are like. Plus, I've heard that although FIU itself may not have a plethora of research opportunities, the new dean wants to push more research initiatives. UMiami is right there and that's a research powerhouse. I doubt it would be that hard to get connected and do research there.

Although I know nothing about GW, I recommend reaching out to M3/4s to gauge their interest and thoughts on support networks etc especially in pre-clinical and gearing up for residency years. I think opportunities in DC may be better than FIU's, though.

Best of luck either way! Seems like you're leaning FIU but hope you get off that waitlist!

 

[taco_chronicles]

Hi! Our medical interests are so similar. I also want to end up in academic medicine and hem/onc or surgical onc.

Just wanted to clarify one thing, although FIU internally ranks, they mentioned only quartiles are reported to residency programs.

I agree they're on the rise rank-wise, and I feel as though their supportive admin, faculty, and staff seem to be indicative of what the four years there are like. Plus, I've heard that although FIU itself may not have a plethora of research opportunities, the new dean wants to push more research initiatives. UMiami is right there and that's a research powerhouse. I doubt it would be that hard to get connected and do research there.

Although I know nothing about GW, I recommend reaching out to M3/4s to gauge their interest and thoughts on support networks etc especially in pre-clinical and gearing up for residency years. I think opportunities in DC may be better than FIU's, though.

Best of luck either way! Seems like you're leaning FIU but hope you get off that waitlist!

Thank you so much for this! I think I am leaning FIU but I think I'm just worried that I am biased against GWU just because I have more information about FIU. If that makes sense!

 

[taco_chronicles]

bump added VCU