Hopkins vs. Columbia

[airman23]

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I am in the extremely fortunate position of choosing between Hopkins or Columbia at this point and wanted to get some thoughts on choosing between the two. For background, I attended undergrad in NYC, have worked in NYC for my gap year, and grew up in the New York area as well. I am undecided on specialties though I am interested in Ortho, Optho, or Anesthesiology.

Hopkins (50K/year)
Hopkins Pros

• Fantastic clinical training, have definitely heard much about its lore
• Having been in NYC my entire life, I am torn about whether this would be a good time to venture outside of NYC and explore a new city and medical center or stick with a city I already know very well + have a support system
• Slight prestige bump, which may help with my academic pursuits in the future and building a new network
• Extremely strong departments across the board no matter what specialty
• Slightly better advising structure than Columbia, fosters more peer-connections as well

Hopkins Cons

• With a lot of medical school going pass/fail (P/F preclinicals and Step 1), it seems like Step 2 CK, clinical grades, and research output are becoming the major factors to dictate residency competitiveness. Hopkins does not have as much dedicated scholarly concentration time as Columbia and most of your work is expected to be done during your preclinical time and during the summer between M1 and M2, when you are less likely to have decided on a specialty and have less time to dedicate to a project. It seems like taking a research year is very common (which I will do if I have to, but I do not want to go in expecting to do one), especially for competitive specialties
• Baltimore, while a new place, is not as exciting as NYC, Philly, and Boston in the Northeast
• Have heard rumors about how the school is a little bit more gunner-y than other places - though every Hopkins student I have spoken to denies this

Columbia (35k/year)
Columbia Pros

• Seems to be a slightly better academic fit because they provide more non-medical curricular threads like Narrative Medicine, Healthcare systems, and Biotech which I am interested in
• Their research curriculum gives dedicated 4 months after clinicals in addition to the summer between M1 and M2. Fewer number of people who take research years, but even if you do you can get an MS in Biomedical Sciences basically for free.
• I have done a lot of research at Columbia over the past 5 years and have many connections with PIs that would allow me to hit the ground running sooner and shadow earlier than I would at Hopkins
• The clinical year has exposure to more specialties than any other school in the country
• Would be close to family, friends, and most of my support network
• Seems like the students are more chill/well-rounded, especially in light of the strength of the P&S Club
• Would be ~15k cheaper per year

Columbia Cons

• Have spent a lot of my life in the Washington Heights area and know it very well, might be time for a change. While interviewing, I found myself envisioning myself in places other than NY, though I have been cautioned by my mentors that I should leave for residency and not med school
• Slightly less prestigious than Hopkins for medical school, which could be a factor for residencies
• I feel like I might be passing up a chance to attend one of those mythical opportunities at Hopkins in favor of settling for the "safe" option

Both schools match relatively similarly to top residencies and any differences might have to do more with the students than the program itself. This is a really tough decision for me, so would love to hear your perspectives!

 

[strappysandals]

Seems like you want to go to Columbia.

Prestige for the purposes of residency match is negligible here. Try to push that "mythical feeling" of Hopkins to the back of your mind - Hopkins faces the same issues that just about any other medical school has. And after all, all it really is...is a feeling. What you have listed under Columbia are much more concrete, tangible reasons for you would be happy there - Mentors you know and enjoy working with, Curricular Threads, Family and friends close by, More research time, P&S Club.

However, if you really think you need something new... I'd say that is worth a lot.

 

[nymedschoolfan]

Columbia.. when I went to Baltimore and Hopkins I immediately knew I didn't want to be there.

 

[Pluto98]

Columbia.. when I went to Baltimore and Hopkins I immediately knew I didn't want to be there.

Can you elaborate further

 

[bmorefun]

Hey! You have great choices and surely won't go wrong with either! I do want to offer my two cents that Baltimore tends to get a bad rap from media and through Internet chatter, and although everyone is entitled to their own opinions I just think you need to be sure to find people who can really talk about it from experience. Have you had the chance to connect with students at the school to hear what they think about it?

 

[airman23]

Have you had the chance to connect with students at the school to hear what they think about it?

So many of the students that I have spoken with have said they love the city and the school. While they do acknowledge it may not be like other cities nearby, all of those places are popular weekend trips. My biggest concern is that on the interview day, the entire area seemed pretty quiet, which was surprising considering that it is a major medical center

 

[Klyx]

Hopkins is not so much more prestigious than Columbia that you should pay an additional $60k and move to Baltimore for it. Admittedly, I haven't lived in Baltimore, but friends who have done aways there and lived right near the hospital have said they've heard shootings down the street. Regarding residency applications, research is a big deal, so I would heavily weigh the pros you've listed for Columbia.

 

[bmorefun]

I’m glad you got the chance to chat with some of us!

Your point about the area surrounding the hospital being quite in an astute one—the JHH campus is relatively far from the downtown core and from the areas where most people congregate socially (Fell’s Point, Mount Vernon, etc). The quietness is further influenced by the fact that a) Baltimore is a small city overall (600 K last I checked) and b) the area surrounding JHH has been vastly impacted by Baltimore’s history of redlining and by overall disinvestment in JHH’s surrounding communities. A lot of our neighboring cities—DC, Philly, NYC—are a lot more attractive to newcomers and also more touristy due to the lesser impact that those two factors have had on them, I don’t want to deny that. It’s also true that a ton of us take trips almost every weekend to visit these cities and the train infrastructure is surprisingly good to allow us to do that! I think a big thing to think about in your case is whether you'd be okay living in a city that is probably magnitudes quieter than a city like NYC.

Violence does have an impact on the communities living in Baltimore. However, I do want to point out that this impact is almost entirely focused on communities that have experienced generations of inequality. Coming to Baltimore as a medical student means that we all have the privilege to be able to live in areas not impacted by the violence and to not be the main target of violent acts. I do think there is a dichotomy in Baltimore that people will either a) rush to defend it (perhaps the reason for my response here) and brush past real issues or b) exaggerate certain issues for the chance to have a story to tell. Be sure to find a good range of sources so you can get all sides of the story!

Feel free to PM me if you want to chat more. There are a lot of different factors to consider—location, cost, research, etc—and I’m glad you’re giving it all a lot of thought

 

[Grapesurgery]

Columbia. These are both very prestigious schools. Nyc is where your heart is, not many cities can emulate it, I believe Baltimore (although may very well have its own perks) is not one of them.

 

[lovely_equine]

I have been cautioned by my mentors that I should leave for residency and not med school

Interesting, could you explain why they said this?

 

[airman23]

Interesting, could you explain why they said this?

They described that clinical training in medical school is relatively basic (patient history, routine physical, simple procedures) and uniform across the board because of the strict accreditation process. Since residency is when you gain most of your clinical skills, they recommended pursuing the best possible program regardless of location in residency rather than in med school

 

[airman23]

Update for those who read this later - ended up choosing Columbia! Was the best fit and very happy to be in NYC. I wish you all the best!

 

[Engrailed]

Congrats!