Iowa, Carver vs. Cincinnati

[throwthrowthrowaway]

Things I like: good matching and good weather lol

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[deleted962973]

Cincinnati!

 

[throwthrowthrowaway]

Cincinnati!

Thanks for the comment! Any particular reason?

 

[ChicagoBear]

Wait a minute! Iowa is higher ranked by USNWR: 32 vs 44. Iowa has a higher Residency Director score: 3.6 vs 3.2. Cincinnati has a highly regarded Peds program, but Iowa has highly regarded programs in Optha, Ortho and ENT. Where did this better national reputation come from?

As far as weather, Cincinnati is warmer than Iowa City in the winter, but they do get winter weather. Unfortunately, instead of a couple inches of snow every time there is precipitation, they are more likely to get freezing rain and sleet. A family member went to Miami of Ohio, about 30 miles north of Cincinnati, and he told me his school was closed several times due to the sleet.

Cincinnati is a decent sized city, but no one will confuse it with New York, Chicago or Los Angeles. However, cities of all sizes come with pluses and minuses. Iowa City is a Big 10 college town - an oasis in a sea of corn. College towns come with their own set of pluses and minuses. People will tend to prefer one or the other.

When I was going through the process, I was fortunate to have multiple acceptances. Hold on to them and take advantage of second look days. With an acceptance in-hand, the pressure is off and you can truly evaluate each school for proper fit - then make your decision. To me, Iowa and Cincinnati are in the same general "class" - upper middle tier public medical schools. Go the school that best fits you - if its a tie, go to the cheaper option.

 

[Pharaoh95]

Hah, funny enough I got rejected by both today within hours of each other

 

[CarpeDiem1993]

Yea, initially you might think Cincinnati would have a better overall reputation. But Iowa actually has a randomly high ranking in several fields and probably receives a lot of state support which propels their research ranking. I think I would be hard pressed not to choose Iowa!

 

[deleted962973]

Wait a minute! Iowa is higher ranked by USNWR: 32 vs 44. Iowa has a higher Residency Director score: 3.6 vs 3.2. Cincinnati has a highly regarded Peds program, but Iowa has highly regarded programs in Optha, Ortho and ENT. Where did this better national reputation come from?

As far as weather, Cincinnati is warmer than Iowa City in the winter, but they do get winter weather. Unfortunately, instead of a couple inches of snow every time there is precipitation, they are more likely to get freezing rain and sleet. A family member went to Miami of Ohio, about 30 miles north of Cincinnati, and he told me his school was closed several times due to the sleet.

Cincinnati is a decent sized city, but no one will confuse it with New York, Chicago or Los Angeles. However, cities of all sizes come with pluses and minuses. Iowa City is a Big 10 college town - an oasis in a sea of corn. College towns come with their own set of pluses and minuses. People will tend to prefer one or the other.

When I was going through the process, I was fortunate to have multiple acceptances. Hold on to them and take advantage of second look days. With an acceptance in-hand, the pressure is off and you can truly evaluate each school for proper fit - then make your decision. To me, Iowa and Cincinnati are in the same general "class" - upper middle tier public medical schools. Go the school that best fits you - if its a tie, go to the cheaper option.

Idk man, I’ve been told not to put stock in the residency director ranking because of poor participation. 32 v 44 is also basically the same tier in terms of USNWR ranking, but I live in Ohio so I may be biased about Cincinnati’s reputation. My main experience comes from friends who applied to both and felt that Cinci’s program was stronger on the basis of STEP scores and research available. But you make great points, and if OP doesnt care for peds or primary care in general, then she might not get the most out of Cinci compared to someone who does.

 

[CarpeDiem1993]

Idk man, I’ve been told not to put stock in the residency director ranking because of poor participation. 32 v 44 is also basically the same tier in terms of USNWR ranking, but I live in Ohio so I may be biased about Cincinnati’s reputation. My main experience comes from friends who applied to both and felt that Cinci’s program was stronger on the basis of STEP scores and research available. But you make great points, and if OP doesnt care for peds or primary care in general, then she might not get the most out of Cinci compared to someone who does.

See it goes a little further than just that though. Iowa's hospital system ranks highly in a number of specialties/surgical fields. That IS important for a person who is more interested in matching into those specialized fields (since your own home institution has a name in several of them). But...at the end of the day, if you crush step and get the research ya need...you really can match into any specialty from anywhere (MD that is)!

 

[throwthrowthrowaway]

Thanks everyone for the insightful feedback! I've been giving it a lot of thought and here's what I've come up with. Iowa is *slightly* higher ranked, does have good programs for those specialties mentioned above, and a higher residency PD score. But having some extended family in Cincy (born and raised in CA), being roughly on the same tier as Iowa, and getting IS tuition starting my 2nd year outweighs the ranking/prestige of Iowa IMO. If I want a competitive specialty, the program can only do so much to get me there. The rest is on me and I believe my work ethic/perseverance will make up for the differences between the 2 schools (hopefully!).

 

[deleted962973]

Thanks everyone for the insightful feedback! I've been giving it a lot of thought and here's what I've come up with. Iowa is *slightly* higher ranked, does have good programs for those specialties mentioned above, and a higher residency PD score. But having some extended family in Cincy (born and raised in CA), being roughly on the same tier as Iowa, and getting IS tuition starting my 2nd year outweighs the ranking/prestige of Iowa IMO. If I want a competitive specialty, the program can only do so much to get me there. The rest is on me and I believe my work ethic/perseverance will make up for the differences between the 2 schools (hopefully!).

I don't think either school will be a significant benefit/detriment to your residency app. For all intents and purposes they are the same. Good luck with next year!

 

[deleted915325]

I was at UPMC for a while, so I’m probably biased as well in terms of regional bias, but cinci has a great reputation. A lot of UPMC docs consider on an almost equal footing as Pitt in terms of quality, although the UPMC system is a lot bigger. Just to add a little more perspective! Can’t say much about Iowa though because of lack of exposure

 

[away_from_omelas]

I'm not sure about Iowa's residency rules, but don't discount the fact that you can get in-state tuition at Cinci after the first year!

 

[foxm1]

You can get IS tuition immediately if you decide to live in KY. Just a little-known secret 😉

I am a current student at UCCOM so feel free to ask me any questions!