Has Anyone chosen Tufts over UMass?

[SummerR]

Hi! I recently got into both Tufts and UMass and it seems most people end up choosing UMass over Tufts (because of the money). I am wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation and chose Tufts over UMass. Basically, money and location aside, which school is a better choice?

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[aSagacious]

Moving to the school-specific discussions forum.

 

[BarcaBest23]

anyone making this decision probably does not belong in medical school

 

[RedSox10]

Hi! I recently got into both Tufts and UMass and it seems most people end up choosing UMass over Tufts (because of the money). I am wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation and chose Tufts over UMass. Basically, money and location aside, which school is a better choice?

I'm sure people have chosen Tufts over Umass. Are you asking this because money is of no object to you? If that's the case, then choose whichever school you think you'd be happier at. Both are great schools.

 

[octupus]

anyone making this decision probably does not belong in medical school

this.

UMass has a lot of very qualified students who are smart enough to make the decision to choose the school with the lowest cost! From what I've heard, they do provide a great medical education. Though, I would admit, I would much rather be living in Boston than Worcester by 138759487597 times, so I suppose if I had all that excess money, I would choose Tufts.

 

[lat3ralus65]

Definitely Tufts.

(One more spot for me)

 

[Cooperd0g]

I also think you should choose Tufts. Boston is so much better than Worcester. Quality of life my friend.

 

[SummerR]

Do you think as far as how residency programs view both schools, Tufts and UMass are equal? I know in MA programs see both schools to be approximately of the same caliber, but what about residencies out of state?

 

[tantacles]

Do you think as far as how residency programs view both schools, Tufts and UMass are equal? I know in MA programs see both schools to be approximately of the same caliber, but what about residencies out of state?

Why wouldn't they? The schools are literally right next to each other in terms of research ranking, and considering that a professor from UMass won the Nobel Prize a few years ago (haven't heard anything from Tufts on THAT front), why would you be taken any less seriously?

 

[SummerR]

I came across a program director's score where residency program directors score med schools on a scale of 1 to 5 on how they prefer them. On this scale, Tufts scored significantly higher than UMass. So I'm wondering if outside of MA, if UMass is thought less of?

 

[Brachyury]

It's worth point out that UMass has more than three times as much NIH fudning as Tufts. What's the cost difference? If I remember correctly, UMass is fairly inexpensive while Tufts, obviously, is not

 

[drimpossible]

I'm a current Tufts student (and although I was born in MA, did not qualify for UMass consideration). I will say that I know multiple people in my class who chose Tufts over UMass for various reasons. I'm sure UMass has students who chose differently. Both are great schools.

I chose Tufts over a cheaper state school because I thought I would be most happy there, and I estimated that the ~80K total price difference was not something that I would be sweating over a lifetime of medical practice. Also, because Tufts is private and has a significant amount of OOS students (and thus has graduates going to residencies all over the US), it's reputation may have a larger geographical radius than UMass'. If you anticipate that you'll want to stay in Mass for the duration of your training/practice this may be less of an issue.

So far, I feel like I made the best decision for me. Ultimately, you gotta make the call for yourself.

 

[BarcaBest23]

I'm a current Tufts student (and although I was born in MA, did not qualify for UMass consideration). I will say that I know multiple people in my class who chose Tufts over UMass for various reasons. I'm sure UMass has students who chose differently. Both are great schools.

I chose Tufts over a cheaper state school because I thought I would be most happy there, and I estimated that the ~80K total price difference was not something that I would be sweating over a lifetime of medical practice. Also, because Tufts is private and has a significant amount of OOS students (and thus has graduates going to residencies all over the US), it's reputation may have a larger geographical radius than UMass'. If you anticipate that you'll want to stay in Mass for the duration of your training/practice this may be less of an issue.

So far, I feel like I made the best decision for me. Ultimately, you gotta make the call for yourself.

No way the price difference is only 80k when accounting for tuition difference, cost of living difference (boston vs worcester), inflation, interest on loans. In fact, looking up the Cost of attendance for both school's websites (2011) shows that its around 82,000 for tufts vs. 42,000 for umass. So again, how is the difference 80k instead of 160k (yep thats double your estimate)?

For the premed hopefuls who mentioned "quality of life", a library is a library and this is where you will spend most of your time if you want to land a residency that is competitive so spare the whole boston>worcester crap.

Worcester is a rougher area than boston and thus the hospital will most likely allow you to do more and be more independent when it comes to rotations, whereas the yuppy patients at tufts will probably shiver at the site of a medical student in the same room as them.

Finally, pretty sure UMASS is ranked higher than tufts and has better research. The only thing that I would give tufts over UMASS is the name, yes more people recognize it, but then again more people recognize georgetown over university of washing st. louis, does that mean you should pick gtown over a top 5 school??

 

[eagle34]

I agree that the cost of tuition is way more than 80K, probably anywhere from 120-160k depending on how much you take out for living expenses.
From 2011 rankings, Tufts is #51 and #53 in terms of research.
I went to Tufts undergrad and so know a bunch of med students at Tufts med, more than a few who chose Tufts over UMass.
I think you're way underestimating importance of Boston>Worcester. Don't make it seem like all med students do is study in the library for 7 days a week without ever having any time to go out and have fun. We had time to go out during third year clerkships, so all this stuff about medical students having no life is absolutely not true. Plus Tufts has a really nice newly renovated library if you do intend to spend your whole medical student life there.
Worcester is the biggest hospital around that area so you may see a good diversity of patients. Tufts is in Chinatown and a large proportion of the population it serves is Asian. These "yuppy" patients that you're talking about go to the Partners hospital system (Harvard hospitals).
Finally, in terms of recognition, both seem to have pretty good match lists. But I have little doubt that residency directors recognize Tufts name more than Umass - and that's where recognition name matters, not for your mommy's friends.
PS: I chose BU over UMass, and after being here for 4 years, I have no regrets.

No way the price difference is only 80k when accounting for tuition difference, cost of living difference (boston vs worcester), inflation, interest on loans. In fact, looking up the Cost of attendance for both school's websites (2011) shows that its around 82,000 for tufts vs. 42,000 for umass. So again, how is the difference 80k instead of 160k (yep thats double your estimate)?

For the premed hopefuls who mentioned "quality of life", a library is a library and this is where you will spend most of your time if you want to land a residency that is competitive so spare the whole boston>worcester crap.

Worcester is a rougher area than boston and thus the hospital will most likely allow you to do more and be more independent when it comes to rotations, whereas the yuppy patients at tufts will probably shiver at the site of a medical student in the same room as them.

Finally, pretty sure UMASS is ranked higher than tufts and has better research. The only thing that I would give tufts over UMASS is the name, yes more people recognize it, but then again more people recognize georgetown over university of washing st. louis, does that mean you should pick gtown over a top 5 school??

 

[drimpossible]

No way the price difference is only 80k when accounting for tuition difference, cost of living difference (boston vs worcester), inflation, interest on loans. In fact, looking up the Cost of attendance for both school's websites (2011) shows that its around 82,000 for tufts vs. 42,000 for umass. So again, how is the difference 80k instead of 160k (yep thats double your estimate)?

For the premed hopefuls who mentioned "quality of life", a library is a library and this is where you will spend most of your time if you want to land a residency that is competitive so spare the whole boston>worcester crap.

Worcester is a rougher area than boston and thus the hospital will most likely allow you to do more and be more independent when it comes to rotations, whereas the yuppy patients at tufts will probably shiver at the site of a medical student in the same room as them.

Finally, pretty sure UMASS is ranked higher than tufts and has better research. The only thing that I would give tufts over UMASS is the name, yes more people recognize it, but then again more people recognize georgetown over university of washing st. louis, does that mean you should pick gtown over a top 5 school??

I was not comparing the price of Tufts to UMass. The price difference of schools that I was deciding between amounted to ~80K (before interest) over four years, and I chose Tufts. This was my choice, and one size does not fit all.

 

[Cooperd0g]

I want more people to choose Tufts and BU over UMass.

 

[RedSox10]

i want more people to choose tufts and bu over umass.

+1

 

[drizzt3117]

Every premed assumes you don't have time to go out and idk why; we have a lot of time to go out throughout med school, even during the clinical years.

I agree that the cost of tuition is way more than 80K, probably anywhere from 120-160k depending on how much you take out for living expenses.
From 2011 rankings, Tufts is #51 and #53 in terms of research.
I went to Tufts undergrad and so know a bunch of med students at Tufts med, more than a few who chose Tufts over UMass.
I think you're way underestimating importance of Boston>Worcester. Don't make it seem like all med students do is study in the library for 7 days a week without ever having any time to go out and have fun. We had time to go out during third year clerkships, so all this stuff about medical students having no life is absolutely not true. Plus Tufts has a really nice newly renovated library if you do intend to spend your whole medical student life there.
Worcester is the biggest hospital around that area so you may see a good diversity of patients. Tufts is in Chinatown and a large proportion of the population it serves is Asian. These "yuppy" patients thE at you're talking about go to the Partners hospital system (Harvard hospitals).
Finally, in terms of recognition, both seem to have pretty good match lists. But I have little doubt that residency directors recognize Tufts name more than Umass - and that's where recognition name matters, not for your mommy's friends.
PS: I chose BU over UMass, and after being here for 4 years, I have no regrets.

 

[BarcaBest23]

I'm not premed, and yes there is time go out, but much less compared to undergrad or one who is a young professional working in the city.

I agreed from the get-go Tufts had a better name so no problems there.

I just still can't wrap my head around why anyone would choose 100K+ debt over small differences between medical schools. That is a nice car, downpayment on a house, tuition for you children's college, are we all just being that nearsighted or perhaps money has just never been an issue for you all?

Either way OP do what you want, 100K+ extra debt vs. "a cooler bar scene" that shuts down at 2am anyways.