Hopkins or UCLA?

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smileforme

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Guys..

I really need your inputs... I'm very torn between Hopkins and UCLA...... One one hand, I love UCLA because it's always sunny, and I know a lot of people there, so I feel very biased toward it because of that.. I don't know very much about Hopkins or know anyone that go there.. so I feel like I can't make an educated decision about that. I tried looking up the web, but hopkins has a very confusing website that doesn't answer any of the questions that I have. Do you think one could regret giving up Hopkins?

Thanks so much for your help!

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UCLA sounds good to me.
 
Originally posted by smileforme
Guys..

I really need your inputs... I'm very torn between Hopkins and UCLA...... One one hand, I love UCLA because it's always sunny, and I know a lot of people there, so I feel very biased toward it because of that.. I don't know very much about Hopkins or know anyone that go there.. so I feel like I can't make an educated decision about that. I tried looking up the web, but hopkins has a very confusing website that doesn't answer any of the questions that I have. Do you think one could regret giving up Hopkins?

Thanks so much for your help!
Go there... however, contrary to popular belief, it actually rains in southern California. Seriously, whenever there is a major decision in life one can always regret the choice they made. What would you rather regret: missing your friends and sunny weather or a school you don't know very much about? I'm sure you'll make the right choice...remember either way you'll make someone on a waitlist VERY happy! Congratulations on the acceptances!
 
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Which one has the better FA package?
 
my quote should have stopped at ..Hopkins or know anyone that go there.. sorry:( :(
 
Hopkins is second to none. Are you going to regret missing out on going to the top medical school in the country? If not then UCLA is an awesome place.
 
THIS IS A NO BRAINER. GO TO HOPKINS!!!

UCLA IS GREAT but I've seen how the med school is. It is not comparable to HOPKINS. I would regret not going to HOPKINS but that's just me.
 
Can't go wrong either way...
where's your family?
where's the money ?(i.e. financial aid)
residency concerns are pretty much moot when you're considering two top 10 schools... but you knew that already;)
 
depends on what you want.

If you want to go to the best medical school in the world, bar none, then choose Hopkins.

If you dont care that much about going to the best school, then choose UCLA
 
Thank you guys so much for your inputs.. I really appreciate it..

I definitely understand that Hopkins is top 1 or 2.. and that the pedigree is second to none.. but do you think the lifestyle of the two places are too dramatically different to outweigh the reputation factor?

Is spending 4 years in baltimore necessarily gloomy, especially at Hopkins with the grading system (is it ABCD or HH, H, P, F)?

Can anyone kindly comment on the social and academic atmosphere there?

Thanks again for your help!
 
UCLA is a great place, but they have no money. Their primary teaching hospital is poor, has no funds to build and expand and is sorely understaffed. It may be frustrating to train there, unless you plan to work in a rural or inner city hospital with those kinds of money issues anyways.
 
I spent my last summer at Hopkins and I absolutely hated it. The atmosphere is horrible, but maybe I disliked it so much because I'm from the Midwest. I'd pick UCLA in a minute over Hopkins, and if you're paying instate tuition at UCLA, there shouldn't really be a question. Hopkins is second to none for residency training, do your residency there and stay in med school at UCLA!
 
Originally posted by Ekaltadeta
UCLA is a great place, but they have no money. Their primary teaching hospital is poor, has no funds to build and expand and is sorely understaffed. It may be frustrating to train there, unless you plan to work in a rural or inner city hospital with those kinds of money issues anyways.
UCLA just got $200 million from David Geffen, hence the name change to David Geffen school of medicine. $100 million now, for new hospital and medical school facilities slated to open in 2004, I think. And the other $100 million over some set period of time.
 
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They also have 100 million from the Ronald Reagon foundation which is being used to build the most advanced hospital in the country and maybe the world. It's due to be completed in 2004.
 
I don't think you ought to base your decision on tradition. Of course, Johns Hopkins has the prestige and recognition, but UCLA is getting new technology due to the massive Geffen donation like the other guy said. Plus, Kobe and Shaq and their getting GP and the Mailman. 4 Future Hall of Famers baby! You can't go wrong with that! Showtime! :)
 
Originally posted by ForceField
Hopkins is second to none for residency training, do your residency there and stay in med school at UCLA!

You make it sound like thats an easy thing to accomplish.

If a Hopkins residency is your goal, then going to Hopkins Med is a far, far better choice than UCLA.



Originally posted by Street Philosopher
They also have 100 million from the Ronald Reagon foundation which is being used to build the most advanced hospital in the country and maybe the world. It's due to be completed in 2004.

Hopkins already has the best hospital in the world. I dont see UCLA changing that.
 
This is an internal JHMI e-mail to all JHMI employees.

_________________________________________________

*SECURITY ALERT
Assault and Attempted Robbery
(Off-Campus)*

*WHERE:* 600 Block of N. Central Avenue (between Monument and Orleans Streets)

*WHEN:* Wednesday, July 9, 2003; approximately 4:30 P.M.

*HOW:* Employee was walking, off campus, to her personal vehicle when approached by a suspect, who demanded money and the bag the employee was carrying. The suspect told the employee not to scream as he reached into his waistband for a possible handgun. The employee screamed and the suspect fled the area on foot without taking any property or harming the
employee.

*WANTED:* Black male (dark complexion), mid 20's, 5'5", yellow plaid shirt, dark baseball cap and dark jeans.

If you have any information regarding this incident you are asked to contact Corporate Security at 5-5585 or Baltimore City Police.
___________________________________________________
 
C'mon! You're telling me there's no crime in LA? Moral of the story is to park in the parking garages at Hopkins -- after all, it's free to medical students.

Retro - be sure to post Monday's "internal memo" when Hopkins is named the top hospital in the US for the 13th year running.

This is a no-brainer to me -- go for Hopkins!

I'm a new 4th year at Hopkins, and I love it. Medical education here is second to none. Baltimore may not be as glamorous as Beverly Hills, but as a med student, it means you'll be seeing plenty of patients with backgrounds very different than your own. Unless you have compelling reasons to be in LA, I'd choose Hopkins in a heartbeat.

Feel free to PM/e-mail me with any questions you might have. Hopkins is a fantastic place, and virtually everyone is delighted to be here... just look at how many of us end up staying for residency and coming back as faculty. Drop me a line - I'm more than happy to field your questions.

Cheers,

doepug
MS IV, Johns Hopkins
 
Go to Hopkins...free up some space for us on the WL at UCLA!!

J/K...like everyone has commented on, where is the money and the family?
 
Ok, Doepug:

1) Did I say that "there is no crime in LA"?

2) Did I say that I don't know that Hopkins is voted the best hospital in 13th year (everyday I receive this JHMI SPAM didactically telling me that the hospital is the greatest in the world). The original poster knows that Hopkins is voted the best hospital and he knows that Hopkins is second to Harvard. So you don't have to shove that down everybody's throat again.

The original poster is also asking about the living environment of the Baltimore City, which in deference to his question, I attached the recent internal e-mail informing him of that environment. The fact is Baltimore is NOT Beverly Hills! Everywhere you see, there are signs of "Believe", which means "believe" in Baltimore even though the city is hopeless. Yes, that is my opinion!

You loved Hopkins, and that is your opinion!
 
Both of these schools are great schools. Hopkins has the edge reputation wise, but UCLA is innovating and building like crazy with their new hospital and new curriculum. I guess you have to ask yourself whether you are likely to want to enter into a crazy competitive field and want to get the "best" residency spot in that field. Do you want to go into plastics, derm, ortho, etc. and have the most prestigious residency? then go to Hopkins. Provided you do well at UCLA, you will be competitive in all residency spots and will also likely have an edge in obtaining LA residency positions if that is important to you. When I was choosing schools, I contacted the PD's of some big name surgery programs (MGH, Hopkins, UCSF, Brigham) to ask them about their thoughts on the training at UCLA Med and other schools. They universally said that you can be a competitive applicant from many of the top schools provided you do well and specifically that UCLA has a better reputation than some of the top ten schools. granted this is surgery so it may not apply directly to your situation. good luck and remember that you can't make a wrong choice here. cheers.

Pitt Med 2007
 
Originally posted by MacGyver
You make it sound like thats an easy thing to accomplish.

If a Hopkins residency is your goal, then going to Hopkins Med is a far, far better choice than UCLA.

Hopkins already has the best hospital in the world. I dont see UCLA changing that.
Just most advanced in terms of technology. Of course Hopkins is the best :)
 
congratulations! what a great choice to have to make. It would be hard for me to turn down JHU. The reputation of UCLA is great, but hard to compare to JHU, one of the very best med schools and the best public health school in the US and maybe the world.

A JHU student and resident wrote about her experiences in a funny book. I forget the title but it's by Sayantani Dasgupta I believe. A quick read with short anecdotes.
 
To be honest, what is most important in terms of the future, would be where you go for your residency... I think graduating from UCLA or Hopkins will give you a great shot anywhere...
Because once you're attending a top 5 school, does it matter that much whether its number 1 or number 3???
Also, isn't UCLA 1/3 of the price of Hopkins???
I know a med school graduate who is drowning in loans right now... With THE CRAZY LITTLE MONEY YOU MAKE putting in the CRAZY HOURS you do, you only have a few months before you start paying off your loans, and with loans, its financially difficult...
To those who say that geography is secondary, I would have to disagree... The Hopkins med school campus is right next to the ghetto and Baltimore as a city is just bleak and depressing...
I personally think geography adds a lot to quality of life, at least in the few hours a week you have to have fun...
So if I were you, I would choose UCLA without a second thought... But HEY! I'm not lucky enough to be YOU!!!

Good luck with your decision!!!
 
Originally posted by kgal16
To be honest, what is most important in terms of the future, would be where you go for your residency... I think graduating from UCLA or Hopkins will give you a great shot anywhere...

The matchlist at Hopkins is infinitely better than the matchlist for UCLA

If you want to do residency in LA, then UCLA is better. Otherwise, Hopkins blows UCLA away in terms of residency opportunities.

Because once you're attending a top 5 school, does it matter that much whether its number 1 or number 3???

Uhh.. UCLA is barely top 15. Its certainly not #3.


Also, isn't UCLA 1/3 of the price of Hopkins???

Yes, if you are a Cali resident, UCLA beats out Hopkins in terms of cost


I know a med school graduate who is drowning in loans right now... With THE CRAZY LITTLE MONEY YOU MAKE putting in the CRAZY HOURS you do, you only have a few months before you start paying off your loans, and with loans, its financially difficult...

Its really not that difficult to pay off med school debt. Lets say you start making 120k as a doc--you could easily pay off a 150k debt in 4 years.


To those who say that geography is secondary, I would have to disagree... The Hopkins med school campus is right next to the ghetto and Baltimore as a city is just bleak and depressing...

I agree. Baltimore absolutely sucks and thats the primary reason I would never consider Hopkins. However, location is in fact secondary to the school itself. In terms of the med school directly, Hopkins is awesome. UCLA is good, but its not at the level of Hopkins.
 
I would be miserable at Hopkins because I don't like Baltimore at all.

By the same token, I would be miserable at UCLA too. I'm an east coast girl, and I wouldn't like to be that far away from my family.

I can't give advice on which school I would choose, but I think in this case, reputation isn't really a factor. Decide what factors would contribute to your happiness at a school, and go where you think you would be most content. Whichever way you decide, you can't go wrong, really.
 
some of you would die if this world had no rankings.
 
it's impossible pretty much to get into UCLA without being CALI resident... so i say that UCLA is cheaper by tens of thousands a year...

yes u could pay off debt in 4 years
but don't you want to buy a house? a car?
with those payments plus LOANS, you won't be living as luxuriously as people think

plus, the years after med school as a resident won't help you much financially, as you only make the 120,000 dollar salary after years of residency

my bad - UCLA is top 15 - but i think that UCLA is much harder to get into than Hopkins, hence i view UCLA med students on the same level as Hopkins med students
a cali resident pre med applicant (with stellar grades, etc) would have an easier shot at hopkins than UCLA
 
Originally posted by kgal16
it's impossible pretty much to get into UCLA without being CALI resident... so i say that UCLA is cheaper by tens of thousands a year...

yes u could pay off debt in 4 years
but don't you want to buy a house? a car?
with those payments plus LOANS, you won't be living as luxuriously as people think

plus, the years after med school as a resident won't help you much financially, as you only make the 120,000 dollar salary after years of residency

my bad - UCLA is top 15 - but i think that UCLA is much harder to get into than Hopkins, hence i view UCLA med students on the same level as Hopkins med students
a cali resident pre med applicant (with stellar grades, etc) would have an easier shot at hopkins than UCLA

Sorry, but...nope. UCLA actually does not discriminate between non-Cali and Cali residents. I am a Nevada resident and got accepted outright to UCLA, and that didn't come as a surprise at all. I only mention this to prove my point, but: my faculty interviewer told me outright she wanted me to come to UCLA, and spoke positively of only one other medical school to which I had applied (which included several top ten schools): Hopkins. That's a pretty powerful endorsement.

Of course, going to Hopkins just for the reputation isn't a good choice if you really want to go to UCLA. UCLA IS only a third of the price of Hopkins, in a gorgeous area of L.A. with an attached undergraduate campus, and has one of the best medical centers in the country (if you pay attention to rankings). I for one would be absolutely miserable at UCLA for my own reasons but I think if I was a California resident and interested in sticking around, it would be hard to turn down UCLA.
 
Just to defend quality of life in Baltimore: I had good friends there and visited a lot. It isn't that bad--people post as if it's the armpit of the universe. My friends have lived there for years and think the reputation is totally overblown. One of my friends lived about 5 blocks from the med center in a "bad" area, regularly walked to the med center for work and it was FINE. She knew her neighbors, people were NICE.

If that's not for you, a lot of people live away from the med center --lots of nice areas nearby--and drive in. THe cost of living is way lower in Baltimore, too--even in nice areas. Traffic can't compare to LA where rents are high and you;re likely to have to drive in anyway.

Also, the clinical experience is supposed to be outstanding.
The opportunities for research/rotations abroad are amazing, too, since JHU has lots of connections in international health.

I was impressed by opportunities to get away within easy driving distance--You can drive to DC in about an hour or less, NYC is about 4hrs. Boston, New England are reasonable weekend getaways as well.

Wait for financial aid, too. Another friend, a CA resident, had so much aid (not disadvantaged, not a genius) it was a whole lot cheaper for her to go to JHU for PH than UC Berkeley in-state tuition. The fees are not even set yet for CA schools this fall and are likely to bloat yet again with the state in financial dumps. Don;t count on a lot of free money from CA.

Also, coming from JHU, generally speaking, you'll have no problems getting back to CA for residency. UCLA is a great place, but does not carry the same weight--it may be unfair, but reputation really does count for residency.

Good luck!
 
Originally posted by kgal16
it's impossible pretty much to get into UCLA without being CALI resident... so i say that UCLA is cheaper by tens of thousands a year...

Impossible? No. Difficult? Yes.

Hopkins and UCLA accept rates are very similar--they differ only very slightly

but i think that UCLA is much harder to get into than Hopkins, hence i view UCLA med students on the same level as Hopkins med students

Witness US News rankings:

UCLA accept rate: 4.6%

Hopkins accept rate: 5.6%

A 1% difference is not very much. Hopkins draws on a wider pool of students too-its a nationwide pool whereas UCLA is much more Cali-based.

UCLA isnt even the best school in its own state (UCSF and Stanford are better), so you are totally unjustified in using accept rates to claim that student bodies at both schools are the same. There's no direct data on that one way or the other


a cali resident pre med applicant (with stellar grades, etc) would have an easier shot at hopkins than UCLA

Well, there is a 1% accept rate difference so technically speaking you are right. However, that means nothing in terms of quality.

University of Vermont has a 4.2% accept rate. Are you trying to claim that UVM is better than Hopkins or Harvard (both of which have higher accept rates)?

Thats absolutely laughable.
 
Macgyver,
Do you go to Hopkins or do they just pay you under the table for supporting their cause?
 
Originally posted by MacGyver


Well, there is a 1% accept rate difference so technically speaking you are right. However, that means nothing in terms of quality.

University of Vermont has a 4.2% accept rate. Are you trying to claim that UVM is better than Hopkins or Harvard (both of which have higher accept rates)?

Thats absolutely laughable.

well put.

students that apply to hopkins are self selective. For example, a bumbling idiot like me would never think of applying there, since I'm just throwing away the $30 AMCAS fee (even though I was a JHU undergrad), but I'm willing to apply to UCLA since I'm a resident.
 
hopkins is a unique institution. studying medicine there is quite an opportunity. with that said, neither school will close doors for you, so dont let anyone convince you that one is absolutely better/worse than the other. If after you visited hopkins on the interview day, you felt the aura of its rich history and tradition of medical greatness, then this would be an easy decision. if you were only tainted by the images of east baltimore, then that would make ucla the easy choice. sounds like you're somewhere in between and so i wish you good luck in your decision.
 
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