Iowa, Carver vs NYMC

[Pajomas]

NYMC
Pros

• In New York, NYC accessible. I am from California and have always lived in a big city so diversity/being close to a bigger city is important for me
• Higher chance of matching in NY or CA
• Choices to rotate in different areas in NY and NJ, including Manhattan. Interesting patient population
• Really had fun with my overnight hosts, seemed like a fun group of people

Cons

• Less research funding/opportunities
• Traditional 2 year pre-clinical curriculum
• Unranked/may prevent matching into some more competitive specialties?

Carver
Pros

• Much larger university with access to much more research funding, college town vibe. Impressed with facilities more so than NYMC
• Highly ranked in primary care and research. More doors open in residency
• 1.5 year modern pre-clinical curriculum and 1 year of clerkships prior to Step 1. Potentially better board scores
  
• Administration seems very receptive and supportive to students, especially with learning communities
• Students seemed very happy

Cons

• In Iowa. I have never lived in a more rural/suburban setting and I am concerned that I would not like the setting
• Trouble matching residency back to California (ultimate goal)?
• Low student diversity

I want a career that caters to providing for the underserved and think I am most likely headed towards primary care/internal medicine. Both schools are not P/F, cost the same and seem to have relatively similar match lists. Iowa seems to have a better education, from curriculum to research opportunities and ranking, but NYMC has a much better location and I would have a higher chance ending up in NY or CA for residency.

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[Manzielf]

Honestly, I think I’d go to Iowa Carver. They are much better ranked than NYMC. A 1.5 year curriculum will allow you to get in additional away rotations which you can schedule in CA. This is pretty important especially if you change your mind and decide to pursue a competitive specialty. Matching ultimately depends on your STEP score and the rest of your CV. Carver would have more readily available research experiences which will only improve your application. Also, Valhalla is not NYC. If anything, the higher ranked school will provide you with more opportunities.


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[mariagefreres]

Any way to go back and visit Iowa to see if you could vibe there? While Iowa is a better school, I think it's important to feel comfortable in the environment. If you can tough it out, go Iowa. If you want to be closer to the city, go with NYMC.

 

[Pajomas]

Honestly, I think I’d go to Iowa Carver. They are much better ranked than NYMC. A 1.5 year curriculum will allow you to get in additional away rotations which you can schedule in CA. This is pretty important especially if you change your mind and decide to pursue a competitive specialty. Matching ultimately depends on your STEP score and the rest of your CV. Carver would have more readily available research experiences which will only improve your application. Also, Valhalla is not NYC. If anything, the higher ranked school will provide you with more opportunities.

Thanks for your input! I definitely agree that having those additional rotations for specialties will be important for more competitive specialties as well as research opportunities. I guess the question then is how important it is to weight the city you are in deciding which medical school to go to, do you have insight on this? The idea of passing up the opportunity to live in NY is hard, despite NYMC being in Valhalla which is not exactly NYC.

 

[Pajomas]

Any way to go back and visit Iowa to see if you could vibe there? While Iowa is a better school, I think it's important to feel comfortable in the environment. If you can tough it out, go Iowa. If you want to be closer to the city, go with NYMC.

When I visited Iowa I was definitely very comfortable and in fact enjoyed time afterwards in the city with some of my fellow interviewees and had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I have 3 days to figure this decision out even though I only got the news I got into Iowa yesterday so I wouldn't be able to visit 🙁

 

[Manzielf]

Thanks for your input! I definitely agree that having those additional rotations for specialties will be important for more competitive specialties as well as research opportunities. I guess the question then is how important it is to weight the city you are in deciding which medical school to go to, do you have insight on this? The idea of passing up the opportunity to live in NY is hard, despite NYMC being in Valhalla which is not exactly NYC.

For me, coming from SoCal, I would also want to maximize my chances of matching back (assuming that's what I want in 4 years). If the schools were similarly ranked, I'd go for the one were I got along better with the students/ the more interesting city/ Better weather, etc. However, that is not the case for these two schools. I would prioritize going to a higher ranked school because it would provide more opportunities for research and the 1.5 year curriculum allows for earlier away rotations (help with matching in a particular region if you perform well and get a LOR). The location wouldn't be a deal breaker.

Ultimately, you'll have to prioritize if being near NYC is important to you or not.

 

[tiramisucheese]

I think you're probably overestimating just how often you would be able to actually take advantage of NYC. It will really be a hike to get there from school, especially if you don't have a car. I would vote Carver. Much better school and opportunities. I often hear that people really like the town and vibe there.

 

[RockMcat520]

NYMC is actually far from NYC.

 

[hebrewBAMmer]

In Iowa. I have never lived in a more rural/suburban setting and I am concerned that I would not like the setting

Iowa City is more of a traditional college town. Honestly, it's a really fun place. I'm also from CA and loved Iowa City. If you truly needed to get to a city for a weekend, it's like a 3 hour drive to Chicago.

 

[Bryant088]

Carver for sure.

 

[ChicagoBear]

Why do you think you would not be able to match back to CA from Carver? This year there are 16 matches in CA including UCSF, and multiple matches to UCLA, UC Davis and UC San Diego. That is more than 10% of the class. When you consider that 2/3rds of the class are Iowa residents and much more likely to want to stay Iowa/Midwest, it is even more impressive. I would say Iowa for sure.

 

[marieskiier]

Where is your family and support system? That should be weighted heavily.

 

[Pajomas]

Iowa City is more of a traditional college town. Honestly, it's a really fun place. I'm also from CA and loved Iowa City. If you truly needed to get to a city for a weekend, it's like a 3 hour drive to Chicago.

Yeah most definitely, that's the feel I got when I was there too as a fun college town in culture. Also true that Chicago is very closeby which would be nice since I have family there and it's not too much further than valhalla to nyc. Thank you for your input!

 

[Pajomas]

Why do you think you would not be able to match back to CA from Carver? This year there are 16 matches in CA including UCSF, and multiple matches to UCLA, UC Davis and UC San Diego. That is more than 10% of the class. When you consider that 2/3rds of the class are Iowa residents and much more likely to want to stay Iowa/Midwest, it is even more impressive. I would say Iowa for sure.

Yeah damn that is definitely true, most students don't have a problem at all matching back to CA. My view of match list was definitely skewed more by thinking people get matches in midwest but it is more that those students prefer to stay there/close to home in that area. If it is my ultimate goal to come back to CA being able to match back is an important thing to weigh.

 

[Pajomas]

I think you're probably overestimating just how often you would be able to actually take advantage of NYC. It will really be a hike to get there from school, especially if you don't have a car. I would vote Carver. Much better school and opportunities. I often here that people really like the town and vibe there.

Yeah it seems people in this thread and others are echoing this idea. Thank you for your advice!

 

[Pajomas]

Where is your family and support system? That should be weighted heavily.

Yeah I thought about this too. Most of my family lives in CA and I have some more distant family members in Chicago and NY so both are close, but no immediate family/support system in Iowa or near nymc so I wasn't considering this as much. I have more family members in Chicago than NY so I think for if I want to have more family nearby Iowa would be a better option. Thank you for helping me consider this!

 

[Entadus]

As a Californian who went to the midwest for med school (where I had no connections/support system) and matched back in CA, I would vote for Carver. It has a great reputation and you will be in the library most of the time anyway.

Brace yourself for some crazy winters haha

 

[Pajomas]

As a Californian who went to the midwest for med school (where I had no connections/support system) and matched back in CA, I would vote for Carver. It has a great reputation and you will be in the library most of the time anyway.

Brace yourself for some crazy winters haha

Yeah it was freezing when I went to interview but I guess at some point you'll have to leave California and actually experience seasons haha. But it is very encouraging to hear that you were able to return and definitely studying will be the priority. I'm glad things worked out how you wanted it to, thank you for sharing your experience 🙂