Harvard vs Einstein

[mtnstomnhtn]

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I feel so incredibly lucky to be choosing between 2 amazing places. I’m feeling so torn and have gotten mixed advice. I am pretty set on an academic career (most likely psych). location is really important to me, as I’ve had a bit of a hard time feeling isolated in the suburb I’m in for my gap year. I’d really appreciate any thoughts or advice you’re willing to share!

Harvard ($305k)
Pros

• Better network/connections which would give an edge (even if it’s slight) for an academic career. my current PI has already offered to connect me with some amazing psych researchers here.
• I have close friends from college nearby, really want to have some non-classmate friends around
• Would get to live in a more central location in Boston/be more connected with the rest of the city; feels like itd be much easier to have the social life I want. I love Boston and can definitely see myself there.
• I really enjoyed the visit, left loving the school.
• i like getting to see classmates in person every day for flipped class; the curriculum style seems better suited to my learning preferences

Cons

• Cost (!!). Part of me would feel so dumb for turning down free tuition. Loans would be $50k private , $40k institutional, and $200k federal. Still, with PSLF, the difference in debt I actually pay back (institutional/private) would be less at ~$90k + interest. I would take a private loan with deferment during residency, which makes it sting less.
• less patient diversity

Einstein ($140k)
Pros

• Free tuition!
• social justice focus & diverse patient population
• proximity to manhattan/brooklyn - I love New York and have great friends and family ~1.5 hrs from campus.

Cons

• immediate location in the Bronx. This is a big one for me. Especially coming from suburbia, i want to be close to lots of other young people and nightlife. It’s also important to me to have some friends outside of med school, and i realistically I don’t see myself making the trip from morris park to where my existing nyc friends live often. Overall, I don’t think I’d have the social life i really want for myself at Einstein, being in a primarily residential area in what felt like the outskirts of the Bronx. If anyone knows the area better than me and I’m wrong about this please lmk!
• i don’t think I’d like doing a bulk of learning largely thru attendance-optional lectures.
• I didn’t love the tour in general and had a hard time seeing myself at einstein while visiting. I’m trying not to weigh this too heavily because it is likely more a symptom of seeing a school through a 2-hr tour in comparison to a big 2-day event than anything else, but the gut feeling is hard to shake.

At the end of the day, cost aside, Harvard is definitely my preference. But I’m having a lot of trouble deciding if that preference for the reasons above justifies the higher cost. Any advice or thoughts would be much appreciated! Thank you for reading 🙂

 

[YellowSalamander]

If you are dead set on a career in academic medicine, I think you can justify spending 150k more to attend Harvard. It will open many doors that Albert Einstein simply would not open in academia. The fact that you didn't really get a great vibe from Einstein (had the same experience during my cycle) and loved HMS is a clue that I would personally not ignore.

Don't overestimate the proximity to Manhattan and Brooklyn at Einstein. It's still a good hour by subway/train.

 

[riv_jordan]

I'm going to push back a little against YellowSalamander and say that unless you have very specific ivory tower goals within academic medicine, the Harvard price tag is hard to justify here. I won't deny that Harvard will offer opportunities in academia that will be less accessible at Einstein. But you can absolutely carve out a career in academic medicine from a school like Einstein. Einstein students match to top academic hospitals every year. Based on this post alone, none of your career goals would be meaningfully hampered by going to Einstein instead of Harvard.

The Bronx is not manhattan but it's certainly not the suburbs. I've heard that students there are happy to mobilize into Manhattan on a regular basis. As for your other cons, I've heard from accepted students that Einstein's "second look" did not impress which is unfortunate but it's wise to keep in mind the difference between a 2-hour tour and a 2-day event. If you're able, I'd recommend connecting with current students to try to learn more about student life, but anecdotally, I've heard mostly positive things.

Your reasons for preferring Harvard are clear and reasonable, but I'd just ask yourself if those reasons are worth 160k+interest in additional debt, including private loans. For most people, I'd say probably not.

 

[eyeeye_captain]

Eh, you’re both sorta right. TL;DR Harvard but only if you have a concrete plan on handling the debt load.

Harvard is Harvard and has a huge footprint. They have 2 different residency programs bigger than Einstein’s. The resources and connections for an academic career can be useful for sure, but it looks like Einstein still has a T30 department so they’re not a slouch.

That said, the money is no joke. There was a post in the Psych forum the other day (link) saying “the range for academic base salary here is ~$230-$275k,” meaning the NE. WCI (link) doesn’t love that debt ratio, especially in a high cost of living region (the site isn’t perfect tbf, but it is practical). The only way it really makes sense is if you do PSLF (another link) which should be possible/pretty easy in academics, assuming it doesn’t get blown up in the next few years.

Side note: dang NYC’s transit system is overrated if takes an hour+ to go maybe 12 miles.