I visited both Northwestern and Pitt.
I must say that I really loved Northwestern. Though USNews technically places it a few spots below Pitt, in my mind a number of factors raise it perhaps a few spots above. First and foremost: the location. The school is right smack dab in the middle of the Magnificent Mile between Michigan Avenue and the lake. I do believe this is perhaps the best medical school location in the entire country--New York schools included--if you, like me, prefer a cosmopolitan setting. The cultural amenities and restaurants within a short walk of the school are world class. Also, for those who like some physical activity beyond walking up the stairs to the el, the school has partnered with a très chic health club a few blocks away that students can join for 1/10 of the normal price. I realize these are "just" quality of life issues...but hey, what's life without quality?
At the same time, Pittsburgh clearly is not Chicago. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice town. But it lacks that sense of upward mobility and of youth and vigor that Chicago possesses in spades. Allegheny County is the oldest county in the entire country, and one of my interviewers at Pitt said that without UPMC, the city would be utterly economically dead. Make of that what you will, but I don't know if I would want to spend eight years in a city whose sustenance relies on its citizens falling ill. Western Pennsylvania in general has been hemmorhaging people for a long time now, and it just smacks of a sense of general decline. To be fair, Pittsburgh has made tremendous strides over the past few years in cleaning itself up, literally and image-wise. The orchestra apparently is fantastic, and there are a disproportionate amount of good restaurants considering its population. However, there is not the sense of budding exuberance that one gets in Chicago. On the plus side, though, Pittsburgh is a lot more affordable place to live! Also, western PA is very scenically beautiful, with great rafting only an hour away plus great hiking opportunities in the Kittatinies. So what Chicago has in its gymnasia, Pittsburgh has naturally 🙂!
Northwestern also impressed me as making a really major effort to bolster quality of research. They are building like crazy on the Chicago campus--they have just opened two brand new clinical/research skyscrapers that are absolutely gorgeous. (Not to mention the facilities at the Chicago campus are otherwise absolutely fabulous--even if they're not brand new, they're pristinely kept and quite aesthetically pleasing 🙂.) They are making a big push toward clinical and translational medicine (who isn't?), but they are pumping the money in to do it right...not just repackaging their existing research apparatus as "translational." I do research on metabolism, and there are very few schools that place a major emphasis on disorders of metabolism...so the fact that Northwestern actually had /more/ researchers doing work in this area than I had room to request was certainly a refreshing anomaly for me personally! But on the whole they seem really to be much stronger in all areas of research than their ranking would suggest a priori. The researchers with whom I interviewed at Northwestern all brandished /multiple/ Science and Nature publications--recently, moreover--and regarding truly innovative projects (how circadian rhythms affect the development of diabetes...how cool is that!). Furthermore, the fact that they really, really push their students--and in fact require for graduation--to publish at least 2-3 first-author articles in high impact journals really shows their killer instinct research-wise. In fact, out of 75 grantees nationwide of NIH F30 awards (I think that was the one...) a full 12 were from Northwestern! Craziness!!
I cannot fault Pittsburgh, obviously, on quality of research generally. The new BST is absolutely amazing, and from what they tell me, the new Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh will give my beloved Children's Hospital of Philadelphia a run for its money. I think my concerns with Pittsburgh's research are more specific to me--they are not as strong as others, particularly Penn and Northwestern, in their diabetes and metabolism research. I was not able to interview with any diabetes researchers while I was there, as really the only fellow who does focus primarily on diabetes was away. Also, from what I heard, he already had a glut of students in his lab so I may not even be able to gain a spot there. Nevertheless, the investigators with whom I did meet were brilliant and innovative in their own respective fields. If you're big into neuroscience, Pitt is outstanding...and probably better than Northwestern. Same goes for immunology--as I've mentioned the new BST, which houses its ID and immuno research divisions, is really something to behold...plus it's a Class III biohazard facility. Obviously with two schools as fantastic as Northwestern and Pittsburgh, the distinctions come down to individuals' research preferences and nothing more! You really can't go wrong at either.
In spite of this seemingly competitive atmosphere research-wise at Northwestern, I can definitely say it does not translate to interpersonal relationships or take a toll on the students. The Northwestern MS trainees were some of the most fun, down-to-earth people I have met in all of my travels on the MSTP circuit. Yes, they were utterly brilliant--many turn down Yale, Stanford, even Penn to attend--but they knew just as much about opera, politics, and world history. (And no, this is not the case that I found everywhere I visited!) Northwestern indeed seems to put a premium on developing a well-rounded class, not one dominated by socially inept science geeks like me. At Pittsburgh I also really enjoyed the students. My host was gracious and helpful, to say nothing of his impressive CV, and his girlfriend even baked me muffins 😀. The students were definitely different than at Northwestern...and I don't mean they were any better or worse. The students at Pittsburgh had much more school spirit than those at Northwestern...undoubtedly aided by the fact that Pitt's sports teams are kicking serious arse this year. They spoke at length of how they love to go to the games, etc., which for me as a non-sports person sounded nice but not really my speed. They also seemed far more outdoorsy than those at Northwestern--again probably a reflection of their choice to go to school in topographically diverse southwestern PA rather than flat old northeastern IL. Nevertheless, the Pitt students were likewise congenial, helpful, and not at all pretentious. Plus the "yinzers" (Pittsburghers say "yinz" for plural "you" 😀) really are Pennsylvania Nice!
The only complaint I had at Northwestern was that Northwestern Memorial Hospital, located on the ritzy Magnificent Mile, does not see a particularly diverse crowd of patients (the med students actually complained more than once of this). They tend to be affluent Gold Coasters by and large, and it also seemed to be similar at Evanston Hospital (not that their healthcare needs are any less important, but of course seeing a diverse patient population makes one a better physician, right?). Nevertheless, the hospital facilities were new and lovely, and they're actually making a big effort at consolidating their hospitals right on campus (the children's hospital, currently located three miles away in Lincoln Park, is moving down to campus, in addition to building new ones). Apparently the school offers free clinics in some of the poorer neighborhoods, so perhaps that suffices for the relative dearth of lower-SES patient contact at NMH and Evanston. On the other hand, UPMC sees everything and everyone. As I mentioned, Allegheny is the oldest and heaviest county in the country (and hence I'm surprised there's not more diabetes research going on there...) as well as the most culturally diverse in Pennsylvania second only to Philadelphia County. UPMC really does run the gamut from the rich socialites of Squirrel Hill and Shadyside to poor coal miners from nearby northern West Virginia to struggling Mexican immigrants. The hospital complex is staggeringly large--seemed vaster than the Northwestern complex to me, but that's only anecdotal--and they're making a lot of improvements to the facilities on a continuing basis.
Anyway, just my feelings! Make of this what you will, but I highly recommend visiting Northwestern.
