Help me decide: WashU vs Northwestern vs UNC vs Case Western vs Duke (WL) for MSTP

[MD2025-applicant]

Hi everyone,

Feeling incredibly fortunate and lucky to be in the situation that I am currently in! I'd appreciate any feedback or discussion on these MSTPs! For context, my current research interests include cardiovascular biology, immunology, metabolism, and genomics. But I also want to keep an open mind so I'm also pretty interested in cancer biology, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, and maybe BME. (lol I guess I like everything). I am aiming to go into academic medicine, and hope to match (don't roast) to a top internal medicine program and then cardiology or oncology or some other IM subspecialty fellowship. Below are my options:

WashU
Pros:
-Seems to be strong in all research areas, especially immunology. But also pretty strong in cardiovascular research.
-Faculty I interviewed with are really nice.
-Program is large and well-supported.
-Great reputation in general, pretty good in all specialties
-St. Louis would be a nice change of pace from where I am currently at.
Cons:
-New curriculum change, into its 2nd cohort I think? Though I like the changes that were made, such as the 1.5 year preclinical curriculum.
-Maybe the student community isn't as tight-knit because of the size? Not sure tbh.

Northwestern
Pros:
-Decent cardiovascular research, any other strong areas?
-Awesome location in Chicago
-Program is also decently large and well-supported
-Good reputation
-Heard the students were pretty tight knit
Cons:
-Time to graduation is kinda long I heard.
-Curriculum is pretty traditional but integrated.
-I guess Chicago living is pretty expensive.

UNC:
Pros:
-Very strong cardiovascular research
-MSTP student community is tight-knit and super nice. Definitely, the most cohesive student community I've seen on the trail so far.
-Program size is good as well
-Chapel Hill is a nice area and cheap to live.
-Seems to get a lot of NIH funding for students.
Cons:
-Not as reputable as the others

Case Western
Pros:
-Decent cardiovascular research, especially paired with the Cleveland Clinic
-Students seemed really productive coming out of the program
-Cleveland is an ok area, not bad.
Cons:
-Not as reputable as the others
-Students didn't seem as tight-knit as other places

Duke (caveat: waitlisted):
Pros:
-Decent basic science cardiovascular research, but not as strong as some of the other choices.
-Love the curriculum of 1 year pre-clinical, numerous ppl graduate in 7 years or spend 5 years in their PhD and still graduate in 8 years.
-MSTP leadership is the best out of all the ones I've interviewed at.
-Great reputation
-Durham is a nice area, affordable.
Cons:
-I'm not sure lol!! I guess waitlisted haha.

As you can see, I don't really see many cons in any of my choices. Could anyone provide insights on the strength of the research areas that I am interested in for these schools? I'm currently going off by reputation and research and I don't know much about the unique aspects of each program as I should. Any feedback and insights into student life, research, match success, academics, etc would all be welcomed and appreciated. Thank you guys so much!

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[Lucca]

WashU MSTP is head and shoulders the better program of these in terms of research, track record, program leadership and you will live very comfortably on a grad student stipend in StL.

 

[Fencer]

I have lectured/visited at all of your choices (and trained at one). In the big picture, you are splitting hairs. They are all terrific choices with sufficiently excellent track-records that the trainee outcomes will overlap prominently. It comes down to the trainee and her/his scholarly productivity >>> program reputation. Where do you see yourself thriving best...