Indiana vs. Medical College of Wisconsin: Help me decide!!!

[miamiheatfan]

Hey SDN! Super happy to have options, and I have narrowed it down to Indiana and Medical College of Wisconsin. I'm OOS from the South for both. I’m pretty much open to any specialty right now, but if I had a top 4 in no particular order it would be PM&R, Internal, Family, and Ortho with plans to pursue a fellowship afterwards. Haven’t thought too far ahead, but I’m open to doing residency anywhere that prepares me well for my future.

Indiana:
~US News rank: #45
~More expensive: Predicted 4-year cost of attendance around $335,134
~Additional required clerkships in Emergency Medicine and Radiology during 4th year (which is totally cool).
~Have campus placements for the first two then last two years, may not have choice of where to go for clinical rotations. I'm supposed to get placements really soon, but lets assume I get Indy.

MCW:
~US News rank: #54
~Extremely cold but will deal with it.
~Cheaper: Predicted 4-year cost of attendance around $265,134. MCW is about $70,000 cheaper over 4 years.
~Discovery curriculum, required scholarly pathway project due the end of 3rd year.

Both schools:
~Non-P/F systems (Basically the same grading system).
~Cold and in the Midwest.
~”Fell in love” with both on interview day.
~Large amount of students (>200).
~I can’t read match lists but I’m sure both schools have their students match well so I’m not worried about that.
~Good amount of research funding- (IU- $83,566,693) (MCW- $91,269,497).
~Good hospital affiliations-
IU- (Eskenazi Health, Roudebush VA Medical Center, Riley Hospital for Children and outpatient center at Indiana University Health, and Indiana University Health University Hospital.)
MCW- (Froedtert Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, and the Zablocki VA Medical Center, Froedtert and the Children's Hospital Clinics.)

If you were me, what would you choose and why?

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[drahovzal]

MCW bc it's cheaper, the rest seems comparable, and you love both. 70k is a lot of money.

 

[AspiringERMD]

MCW. Not having a clue where you're going to be M3/M4 is ridiculous given how different the Indiana campus options are.

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

Pick the school with the better basketball team! jk

I'd go with MCW. It's cheaper and I like the required scholarly pathway.

 

[mik30102]

Mcw, easy choice. Scholary project is great for residency, also cheaper.

 

[Australopithekus]

Emcee W.

 

[WingedOx]

IU is a good school, but isn't there a possibility you get sent to the Gary or South Bend campus? ewww?

 

[RogueUnicorn]

MCW by FAR. cheaper and more importantly, certainty over m3/m4, which are the only years that matter

also, required clerkships in 4th year is not cool. trust me.

 

[ridethecliche]

Yeah. Mcw.

You liked both schools, so cheaper is better here. The two places are comparable in rank and reputation.

 

[No Limits]

Definitely MCW.

Also, as a Miami heat fan you should know how we feel about Indiana 😛

 

[tiedyeddog]

MCW by FAR. cheaper and more importantly, certainty over m3/m4, which are the only years that matter

also, required clerkships in 4th year is not cool. trust me.

Totally agree with the requires clerkship a thing. You want as much flexibility as possible as a fourth year. Requiring radiology seems kind of stupid if you ask me. I think many schools require EM as an MS4 (mine does).

 

[miamiheatfan]

Thank all of you for the responses!!! 🙂

 

[breakintheroof]

Congrats @miamiheatfan!

I'm wondering, can you make the case for Indiana, if only for argument's sake? It seems unanimous that MCW is the better choice among those reading your pros and cons.

I'll also throw in that Dwyane Wade went to college in Milwaukee. Maybe you'll see him around if you go to MCW.

 

[miamiheatfan]

@breakintheroof Thank you! Yes for sure!

Indiana is a top 5 residency for Emergency Medicine. (I didn't mention that because EM is probably in the middle bunch of all the specialties when I think about what I want to do, and I just don't think I'll do EM so it doesn't apply to me).

For the first two years, if you're placed at Indianapolis there are endless amounts of research opportunities there. If you're placed at a regional campus and you like extremely small class sizes (15-45 depending on the campus), it gives you a chance to really get to know your classmates and get more attention from professors if it's needed.

The Indy campus is really nice in my opinion, and there are the Pacers (ewww haha) and Colts, as well as all of the college teams if you're into sports.

Indiana is nationally known and most people will generally know the school, so pretty good recognizability factor.

Slightly warmer compared to Wisconsin haha!

 

[miamiheatfan]

^ Actually wondering, would what I said above about IU change anyone's opinions?

 

[Rainbow Zebra]

@breakintheroof Thank you! Yes for sure!

Indiana is a top 5 residency for Emergency Medicine. (I didn't mention that because EM is probably in the middle bunch of all the specialties when I think about what I want to do, and I just don't think I'll do EM so it doesn't apply to me).

For the first two years, if you're placed at Indianapolis there are endless amounts of research opportunities there. If you're placed at a regional campus and you like extremely small class sizes (15-45 depending on the campus), it gives you a chance to really get to know your classmates and get more attention from professors if it's needed.

The Indy campus is really nice in my opinion, and there are the Pacers (ewww haha) and Colts, as well as all of the college teams if you're into sports.

Indiana is nationally known and most people will generally know the school, so pretty good recognizability factor.

Slightly warmer compared to Wisconsin haha!

Question, as I'm applying to both of these schools next cycle, I'm concerned that you would need to make a decision before the campus assignment for Indiana. I would only be interested in Indy, and definitely NOT South Bend or Gary. Do they give you your placement before April 30?? Trying to decide if I even want to try Indiana if I would not be able to attend Indy. Thanks in advance. RZ

 

[miamiheatfan]

Question, as I'm applying to both of these schools next cycle, I'm concerned that you would need to make a decision before the campus assignment for Indiana. I would only be interested in Indy, and definitely NOT South Bend or Gary. Do they give you your placement before April 30?? Trying to decide if I even want to try Indiana if I would not be able to attend Indy. Thanks in advance. RZ

So second look was on April 10th and they said that they'd give us our placements after second look, so I'm guessing it'll come any day now. They have only given campus placements to those who received merit scholarships. You should go for IU regardless and worry about the other stuff later, it is a great school!

 

[Ace Khalifa]

^ Actually wondering, would what I said above about IU change anyone's opinions?

Nope. You should still go to MCW.

 

[LoveIR]

Actually a pretty tough decision as they seem very similar. Unless your gut is really telling you Indiana, $70K is a significant amount of money and I would go with MCW.

 

[miszfifi820]

hey @miamiheatfan Im happy you were able to narrow it down to two!

I think you should mention - IU allows you to claim In state residency after 1 year which will make a dramatic difference to the cost. Idk is MCW allows you to do that.

 

[raiderette]

Why all the hate for South Bend? You get to use all the Notre Dame resources, the graduate student housing is wonderful and that campus has block schedule. Gary is mainly PBL, but there are very nice towns around The Region and Chicago is 20 minutes away. Now hate on Terre Haute all you want.

 

[caprafan]

hey @miamiheatfan Im happy you were able to narrow it down to two!

I think you should mention - IU allows you to claim In state residency after 1 year which will make a dramatic difference to the cost. Idk is MCW allows you to do that.

I've spoken to the financial aid office, and they say that if you apply as a non-resident, you will be considered a non-resident while you are an IUSM student. I'm moving to Indiana, so I will attempt to see if there's any way to be reclassified after one year, but I don't think one can categorically say Indiana allows you to become in-state.

 

[miamiheatfan]

hey @miamiheatfan Im happy you were able to narrow it down to two!

I think you should mention - IU allows you to claim In state residency after 1 year which will make a dramatic difference to the cost. Idk is MCW allows you to do that.

I've spoken to the financial aid office, and they say that if you apply as a non-resident, you will be considered a non-resident while you are an IUSM student. I'm moving to Indiana, so I will attempt to see if there's any way to be reclassified after one year, but I don't think one can categorically say Indiana allows you to become in-state.

At the interview, I remember them specifically saying that they do not allow us to qualify for in-state tuition after the first year 2-3 different times. :/

 

[LilEngineThatCould]

I've spoken to the financial aid office, and they say that if you apply as a non-resident, you will be considered a non-resident while you are an IUSM student. I'm moving to Indiana, so I will attempt to see if there's any way to be reclassified after one year, but I don't think one can categorically say Indiana allows you to become in-state.

I interviewed at University of Missouri-Columbia and they claim to be the only school to let you apply for in-state tuition after 1 year and working 1 summer (which allows you to apply for in-state residency). I'd never heard this about any other school, but I feel they would have mentioned this to students that interviewed because it's a BIG selling point for out-of-state students. But let us know what you find out, I'm interested to see if any other schools do actually do this.

 

[LilEngineThatCould]

At the interview, I remember them specifically saying that they do not allow us to qualify for in-state tuition after the first year 2-3 different times. :/

Damn, I replied like 2 seconds after you lol I didn't think they'd leave something like that out! Like I said, U of Missouri-Columbia I believe is the ONLY school that lets you apply for in-state tuition after the 1st year.

 

[AspiringERMD]

Damn, I replied like 2 seconds after you lol I didn't think they'd leave something like that out! Like I said, U of Missouri-Columbia I believe is the ONLY school that lets you apply for in-state tuition after the 1st year.

No they aren't. Ohio does, and I'm almost positive there are others.

 

[miszfifi820]

Wow I did not hear that once in my Indiana interview. Wow. Maybe they just left that out, even though I already withdrew my acceptance, that would have been a huge determining factor

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

Damn, I replied like 2 seconds after you lol I didn't think they'd leave something like that out! Like I said, U of Missouri-Columbia I believe is the ONLY school that lets you apply for in-state tuition after the 1st year.

I think the UCs allow this as well 🙂

 

[miszfifi820]

Connecticut allows you to. Then again they only interview like 30 OOS students

 

[PrettyIvy]

NY Schools do as well! At least that is what I heard when interviewing at U Buffalo. But yea, IU doesn't allow for the same thing which is part of the reason I'm leaning towards going to another school. It's too much of a difference in money to justify going there. Loved Indy as a city, but never really got a feel to the environment at the school (there was no tour and etc at the interview). Plus it isn't even a given that I would even place in Indy for pre-clinical/clinical years. Anyways, I say go to MCW!

 

[LilEngineThatCould]

No they aren't. Ohio does, and I'm almost positive there are others.

My bad. It was my assumption because I'd never seen it in any threads as something ppl mentioned as a plus. Ppl always talk about deciding between IS vs OOS without mention of the schools that allow you to apply for IS tuition so that was my first time hearing that anyone did that. I applied to Ohio state and didn't see anything about that. Good to know other schools do this too though! OOS tuition sucks lol

 

[miamiheatfan]

Damn, I replied like 2 seconds after you lol I didn't think they'd leave something like that out! Like I said, U of Missouri-Columbia I believe is the ONLY school that lets you apply for in-state tuition after the 1st year.

LilEngine!!! Our minds think at the same time!!😍

 

[mmmcdowe]

Moving to ssd

 

[mxmxmx]

Hey SDN! Super happy to have options, and I have narrowed it down to Indiana and Medical College of Wisconsin. I'm OOS from the South for both. I’m pretty much open to any specialty right now, but if I had a top 4 in no particular order it would be PM&R, Internal, Family, and Ortho with plans to pursue a fellowship afterwards. Haven’t thought too far ahead, but I’m open to doing residency anywhere that prepares me well for my future.

Indiana:
~US News rank: #45
~More expensive: Predicted 4-year cost of attendance around $335,134
~Additional required clerkships in Emergency Medicine and Radiology during 4th year (which is totally cool).
~Have campus placements for the first two then last two years, may not have choice of where to go for clinical rotations. I'm supposed to get placements really soon, but lets assume I get Indy.

MCW:
~US News rank: #54
~Extremely cold but will deal with it.
~Cheaper: Predicted 4-year cost of attendance around $265,134. MCW is about $70,000 cheaper over 4 years.
~Discovery curriculum, required scholarly pathway project due the end of 3rd year.

Both schools:
~Non-P/F systems (Basically the same grading system).
~Cold and in the Midwest.
~”Fell in love” with both on interview day.
~Large amount of students (>200).
~I can’t read match lists but I’m sure both schools have their students match well so I’m not worried about that.
~Good amount of research funding- (IU- $83,566,693) (MCW- $91,269,497).
~Good hospital affiliations-
IU- (Eskenazi Health, Roudebush VA Medical Center, Riley Hospital for Children and outpatient center at Indiana University Health, and Indiana University Health University Hospital.)
MCW- (Froedtert Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, and the Zablocki VA Medical Center, Froedtert and the Children's Hospital Clinics.)

If you were me, what would you choose and why?

Thanks for doing my assignment for me🙂 my list went down to these two schools too..MCW it is!

 

[Earl Simmons]

Almost **** myself when I saw Indianas price tag.

MCW and don't look back.

 

[caprafan]

Damn, I replied like 2 seconds after you lol I didn't think they'd leave something like that out! Like I said, U of Missouri-Columbia I believe is the ONLY school that lets you apply for in-state tuition after the 1st year.

Northeast Ohio Med (NEOMED) does too.