Gtown vs. UConn vs. UCinn

[oreobigmac9]

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if you were accepted to all three programs, which would you pick and why?

 

[Daedalus]

U Cincinnati - small SMP class size, appears to be good linkage to their med school (sounds like a lot of their SMPers have already gotten into the med school class for next year), Ohio residency after the SMP year, etc.

 

[DrMidlife]

U Cincinnati - small SMP class size, appears to be good linkage to their med school (sounds like a lot of their SMPers have already gotten into the med school class for next year), Ohio residency after the SMP year, etc.

+1, also Cincinnati is one of the least expensive programs.

I personally would choose Georgetown, however, because 50% same-year acceptance means about 90 Gtown physios go straight into med school. Cincinnati at most sends 20 students straight through. Plus I wouldn't survive for a week in Ohio. There are lots of subjective intangibles...

Oreo, what UConn program are you looking at? Got a link?

 

[oreobigmac9]

sure! here's the link:
http://medicine.uchc.edu/prospective/postbac/index.html

i'm more concerned about the quality of the program and the success rate of both programs...would your answers still be the same if money wasn't an issue?

 

[DrJD]

Cincinnati has a GREAT program but it is a very new program... I think this is the second or third year?

Anyway, so far the class seems to be doing fairly well at getting into medical school from Cincinnati... There are other benefits to Cincinnati as mentioned above: Class size, Ohio residency, etc.

G-town has been getting 85% of their graduates into medical school for many, many years.

Between the two honest, you can't go wrong. I'd visit and see which you like better. If I had to do it all over again, I'd probably pick Cincinnati. Unfortunately I didnt' hear about them until after their deadline had passed.

 

[AL24]

Cincinnati has a GREAT program but it is a very new program... I think this is the second or third year?

Anyway, so far the class seems to be doing fairly well at getting into medical school from Cincinnati... There are other benefits to Cincinnati as mentioned above: Class size, Ohio residency, etc.

G-town has been getting 85% of their graduates into medical school for many, many years.

Between the two honest, you can't go wrong. I'd visit and see which you like better. If I had to do it all over again, I'd probably pick Cincinnati. Unfortunately I didnt' hear about them until after their deadline had passed.

Dr JD - I've been following your posts and your blog with interest for quite some time now! - just out of curiosity, why would you pick Cincinnati if you had to do it all over again?

 

[FLDoc]

UCinn was the best decision I could have made (aside from working harder in undergrad). Cost, small class size, and a great track record with UC med school is hard to beat. We are certainly reaping the rewards of the hard work and dedication of those accepted from the first two classes ('07 and '08) with 14 interviews, 6 acceptances, 0 waitlisted/rejected (fingers crossed) from the current class of 22 (not all of which applied).

 

[traveler925]

Oreo, you've gotten into some impressive programs my friend! I am a senior at uconn now and basically you've gotten into all the programs that I hope to apply to next year. But do you mind telling us what your stats were. GPA, Sci GPA, MCAT, and whatever else you think is important. If you dont feel comfortable posting it then could you PM me. Thanks. And btw, If i were you id pick UCinn just becasue The program is smaller, the success rate is high, and you will be getting a masters out of it. The Uconn program is very good but the problem is that 1) no masters!, 2) you might just be re taking some undergrad courses. I talked to Dr. Sanford, the director of the program he basically said that most of the students take classes like, Cell bio, Develomental bio, bio chem, bio ethics, medical antropology, and some form of anatomy course (its a 2 part sequence course at uconn). So, if youve done some of the above courses, then it might not be an effective use of your time. But a lot of the people that get into the program are accepted into uconn med the following year, which i think is higher ranked than cinn med school. So, its up to you, but i say again, i think UCinn is the best pick. And if you red the forums I think youll find that people tend to agree with me. Also, I've heard some bad things about Gtown, i think the jist was that class size is big and its cutthroat.

 

[mnbv4184]

Georgetown. Its all about the connections one can make to get into residency, and i don't think University of Cincinnati, while you get a good education, can provide that as well as the other two.

 

[Ohio SMP]

While I agree that Gtown's SMP is one of the best, do not assume that getting into Gtown's SMP will get the person into their medical school. In fact only about 20-29 get in each year out of 180 students that are in the program and 90 interviewed.

Therefore, which program this student attends will not affect their residency placement as this is not deciding between which medical school to attend as this is not preallo. this is a postbac forum for deciding which SMP programs or Post Bac programs will help.

Also, a lot of people would choose a school like UCincy over Gtown because they can get into the same good residencies without paying an arm and a leg to the same extent that you pay at Gtown. Plus not everyone wants to go far from home.

But that said, I wonder what the OP decided to do. i think as far as postbacs go Gtown's is the best but a lot of people prefer Ucincy since its cheaper and has a greater linkage with its own medical school though you can go to other medical schools coming out of their SMP as well.

Truth be told, it really, really comes down to how strong of an applicant you are and how hard you're willing to work while in an SMP program. If you're undergrad GPA and MCAT are competitive, you'll do well regardless of which SMP you choose. If you have low MCAT and GPA, then you'll struggle during the application cycle.

That being said, I would definitely rank Gtown and Cincy higher than UConn. As someone else mentioned, these two programs have a proven track record of getting people into medical school and both are well known in the medical school admissions circle. Between the two schools, it really comes down to personal preferences: Do you prefer living in a big city and being among a more diverse group of applicants? Are you looking to apply broadly to private schools around the country? Don't mind bigger classes or greater expenses? Choose Gtown. Are you on a tight budget? Do you prefer smaller classes and an intimate setting? Are you looking to stay in OH after the SMP program? Cincinnati is a better option in that case.

Ultimately, it's up to you which one you decide on. Regardless, I don't think there's much difference in terms of difficulty or workload. You'll have to work hard in both programs and you'll probably be taking similar classes.