Hi there! First of all, congrats on your admissions to these amazing schools! As a soon-to-be WMed grad who also interviewed with both WMed and IU for residency (I matched at my top choice last week!), I definitely have a little bit of a unique perspective! I'll only really discuss WMed since that's where most of my medical experience has been accrued.
WMed Pros:
-Family Feel. Everyone has friends here. Class size of 84 is amazing. You will find your people here. It's also low-key amazing to have all clinical rotations in one place. The two hospitals have their own flavors, but I love Bronson and Borgess is fine. Just nice to not have to travel M3 year. Also, very importantly, people are not cutthroat here. There are gunners, just like anywhere, but they generally share their Anki decks and just kinda do their own thing. It's a competitive culture, but not a toxic one. Also; we score really well on the board exams. Before our class took our boards (and we did quite well), I had seen reports that we were better than at least 1-2 Ivy-league med schools in terms of performance and definitely above the national average.
-Mentorship. It's not hard to find a mentor in a specialty of interest, with the possible exception of a few of the most competitive (still possible though - we matched every specialty after 5 class cycles as far as I'm aware; my cohort was the 6th). Tons of extracurriculars exist to help you connect with a passion and burnish your resume.
-Ease. Med school is tough, but WMed's requirements are pretty standard, bare-bones, and fair. Preclinical (M1-M2) exams are a little challenging but definitely fair. There was no point at which I felt like I was completely overworked. If you were to do almost zero research or extracurriculars, this is a pretty easy place to fly low and just get your MD and match.
-Match. This may seem counterintuitive, since WMed is a newer school (more on that) and Indiana has been around forever and has a great reputation. But most of my friends matched their first or second choice last week in a wide variety of specialties. Some of the matches on the match 2023 website look non-prestigious, but sometimes, that's because students wanted to go home or travel with a loved one to somewhere new or go somewhere good for their partner's job. Most of the matches you see on that site are high on the students' lists, and it wasn't like they didn't get most of the interviews they wanted. People matched well.
-Pathology. This is a strength here. The Path department is amazing, with quirky but wonderful personalities. There are always case reports to be done. There's an in-house Forensic Pathology fellowship. Our Path students match wherever they want, basically. Tons of Ivy-League and other great destinations. If you're truly interested, there are few better places to be.
WMed Cons:
-New School Probz. Indiana's prestige is waaaaaayyy higher. I can't emphasize that enough. Matching into a top-10 residency program in any specialty other than FM, Peds, or maybe Pathology is going to be a tall order for anyone who comes here. To do so, you will have to strive to be AOA, to get research experience, and to attend conferences or meetings in your specialty. It's possible, and it has been done (we have matched UMich Neurosurgery, Emory Urology, academic ENT, etc.), but you will have to grind a little harder. A few people here did not get the specialty of their choice and had to fall to a backup specialty or even SOAP. The 99% match rate they report is kinda BS, since something like 10% of my class either didn't get their top-choice specialty or had to SOAP.
-Curriculum. I loved the curriculum for my class ('23), but things have changed. Now, the structure of clinical rotations is very strange. They basically broke it into three long chunks - Inpatient, Outpatient, and Surgical specialties. The one benefit of this is that it will give you better opportunity to discern Anesthesia and Radiology, since those appear to be baked into the clinical curriculum now. This also carves out some time at the end of second year to do a "scholarly project" for something like 1-2 months, but it's not really enough time to do something substantive that will make you stand out on residency apps unless you plan it perfectly. Overall, I think this change will be a negative one, but it's a matter of opinion, I suppose. The M1-M2 curriculum should be staying mostly the same, as far as I'm aware, and it was solid. Systems-based is the way to go.
-Kalamazoo. This is a matter of opinion. I am from a different part of Michigan, and I do love the state. Kalamazoo is about 80,000 people large, and downtown does have some nice places to eat and walk, but I wish the city had more to do. There are parks, traffic is never terrible, and occasionally, you'll get a good show at the State Theater, but it's not going to have the number of restaurants and entertainment venues that Indy will. Chicago and Detroit are both close, and GR is even closer, but you won't have a total abundance of free time. School system is solid, and the Kalamazoo Promise is worth looking up if you're looking to maybe stay for a long time. Kalamazoo has charm, and it's mostly safe, but it has its warts, too. Nearby suburbs are pretty nice for families. I'm a city kid at heart, so it wasn't always easy for me to enjoy life here, but some people love it. And Michigan is an amazing place broadly-speaking.
-Cost. You already know this. The school does give scholarships from time to time, but not to the extent that it would help you that much.
Overall, I have no regrets. I am now about to graduate with lots of debt, but also a dozen or so lifelong friends, a similar number of great mentors and teachers, and my #1 choice in a moderately-competitive residency. I worked hard, but not to the bone, for all of this. I also met a wonderful partner here and am super happy with my personal life. I feel strong in my medical knowledge, and I definitely feel as though I was given lots of opportunities for mentorship, extracurriculars, etc. I'd definitely do it all again.
Recommendation: If you really did like the vibe here as much as you seem to be articulating, then come here, as long as you're not dead-set on a very competitive specialty. If you're not so sure, or you think you might want to do Uro/Ortho/Interventional Rads/Plastics/ENT, you could still come here, but be ready to potentially do a research year to brush up your resume to make up for our new (but improving) reputation. IU is amazing; I loved my residency interview there and have had friends/acquaintances go through their training and do very very well. But don't go somewhere you don't feel like you fit in; fit matters! I'd also be stressed about not knowing where they'd be placing me!
Ultimately, your on-paper success will be predicated on how active you are in med school activities and how well you do on Step 2; your off-paper success will be based on your ability to find your calling and really lean into it with friends, mentors, and loved ones. Best of luck - I'm sure you'll do great things!
