Hi everyone,
I just want to start off by saying, I apologize if this thread annoys you.
Please don't flame me. (BTW - I'm posting this in allo in hopes of getting the perspectives of people with a little more experience)
I am trying to make this decision here, and my perspective is:
1) SF is a better place to live than Baltimore (I have more friends there too).
2) SF is somewhat cheaper (~$30k-$50k total savings after living expenses and future UC tuition hike -- I am not eligible for grants b/c my parents make too much money, but they won't be paying for medschool)
3) Hopkins has a slightly better name.
4) The budget crisis might continue to negatively impact UCSF
I'm most interested to hear people's perspectives on #3 and #4. With regard to #3, I don't care that much about prestige in the layman's eyes, or about the "wow" factor. I want to find out how it might affect my actual opportunities. I took a look at matchlists and I had difficulty figuring out how much of an advantage Hopkins had over UCSF.
http://www.bme.jhu.edu/~schownin/2003 Hopkins matchlist.htm
http://medschool.ucsf.edu/medstudents/resources/match/index.asp
It seems like more people at UCSF ended up in random places for residency, but that might just be because so many people from Hopkins stayed at Hopkins. At this moment, I can see myself going into ENT, optho, IM, maybe plastics or nsurg (kind of all over the place I know ... there is some method to my madness but I'd rather not go into that now) Anyway, I'm really interested in hearing what people have to say about that.
There is a 50% chance that I will want to stay in academic medicine.
There is also a 50% chance that I will be involved in international work (I have been told that the Hopkins name is much more widely recognized internationally than UCSF).
In either of those cases, how much of an advantage is the Hopkins name going to give me? Does anyone really know? Especially weighed against having a somewhat more enjoyable med school experience at SF and emerging with a little less debt. I guess no one but me can really weigh all those factors together, but I would love to hear people's opinions.
Also, if anyone has any thoughts on how the budget crisis will affect education, the reputation of UCSF, etc. would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks for reading,
kokonut
I just want to start off by saying, I apologize if this thread annoys you.
Please don't flame me. (BTW - I'm posting this in allo in hopes of getting the perspectives of people with a little more experience)I am trying to make this decision here, and my perspective is:
1) SF is a better place to live than Baltimore (I have more friends there too).
2) SF is somewhat cheaper (~$30k-$50k total savings after living expenses and future UC tuition hike -- I am not eligible for grants b/c my parents make too much money, but they won't be paying for medschool)
3) Hopkins has a slightly better name.
4) The budget crisis might continue to negatively impact UCSF
I'm most interested to hear people's perspectives on #3 and #4. With regard to #3, I don't care that much about prestige in the layman's eyes, or about the "wow" factor. I want to find out how it might affect my actual opportunities. I took a look at matchlists and I had difficulty figuring out how much of an advantage Hopkins had over UCSF.
http://www.bme.jhu.edu/~schownin/2003 Hopkins matchlist.htm
http://medschool.ucsf.edu/medstudents/resources/match/index.asp
It seems like more people at UCSF ended up in random places for residency, but that might just be because so many people from Hopkins stayed at Hopkins. At this moment, I can see myself going into ENT, optho, IM, maybe plastics or nsurg (kind of all over the place I know ... there is some method to my madness but I'd rather not go into that now)
Anyway, I'm really interested in hearing what people have to say about that. There is a 50% chance that I will want to stay in academic medicine.
There is also a 50% chance that I will be involved in international work (I have been told that the Hopkins name is much more widely recognized internationally than UCSF).
In either of those cases, how much of an advantage is the Hopkins name going to give me? Does anyone really know? Especially weighed against having a somewhat more enjoyable med school experience at SF and emerging with a little less debt. I guess no one but me can really weigh all those factors together, but I would love to hear people's opinions.
Also, if anyone has any thoughts on how the budget crisis will affect education, the reputation of UCSF, etc. would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks for reading,
kokonut
