wmc seems convinced that Jeff is for him/her, so there's not a whole lot that defending Gtown will do at this point. But as a possible future hoya, I gotta step up with some opinions.
Facilities seeming old shouldn't affect one's decision. Sure, they influence the general impression that you have of the school, but whether a lecture hall or lab looks old or new doesn't change the quality of education / student life. If you're pursuing a double degree in interior design, however, we could have a different conversation...
On second look day I heard almost unanimously that the class was cooperative/chill/noncompetitive. Sure, there were gunners, but the grading system didn't seem to affect student behavior in the way that everyone on SDN expects. I met a guy who sings in a band and a heard about a student who's writing a novel (or something.) Certainly not the 24/7 studiers that mdeast described.
Georgetown area. mdeast is completely wrong. No one (save for the extremely rich) lives in Georgetown. Most live in cheaper neighborhoods (Rosslyn, for example, where I imagine it's not much more expensive than life in Philly.)
And as for the connection to the main campus (or "lack thereof") I have no idea why mdeast considers it isolated. It's part of a unified campus, and about 5 minutes from undergrad territory. I work at Harvard Medical School and have to take a 25 minute bus ride to get to main campus... and I don't even consider it inconvenient.
So... I kinda felt the need to counter the bias here on SDN. Georgetown is an incredible place. I've spoken to multiple physicians about it, and almost every one has said something to the effect of "Georgetown doctors really standing out for their humanism." My dad (who's a doctor) says "you can spot a Georgetown physician a mile away" (in a good way.)
If I were you, wmc, I'd think hard on this...
I'm glad you gave counter arguments. This is good! Everyone has different impressions coming out of interview day. Those are yes, my impressions and you're welcome to disagree. I'm gonna comment on a few of your points in a constructive (and, admittedly biased) way.
(1) Facilities. In the end, facilities don't matter too much. You'll learn the same in a basement as you will in a multi-million dollar lecture room. Jeff's facilities though, to me, function as an example of how much the administration loves it's medical students. They try and pour $$$ and great resources at them, and I didn't get this sense at G-town.
(2) Gtown is definitely more competitive than Jeff. This is a comparison. G-town openly admits there is sometimes a gunner attitude there. Jeff openly tries to convince you of how it's P/F/Honors system (not on a curve) creates collaboration. On interview day, the Deans talked about the student effort to change to P/F. There clearly wouldn't be this move by students if they weren't somewhat dissatisfied with the current system and the environment it creates. I know you don't think about this now, but when you're an MS1, taking your first exam with a bunch of people you've known for 3 weeks, you're going to start to get competitive if you get a Pass on an exam and all your friends get a High Pass or Honors. That's why I am a firm believer in P/F for the first two years...gives you a chance to get to know everyone well and form a team environment without having to worry about distinctions.
(3) Housing- I got a different sense on interview day. Most of the students I talked to lived in single family homes (rented in groups of 4) near campus. Maybe it was the select group of student I met, but I got the sense most lived nearby the first two years and potentially branched out later. Rent was about $1200/month, and I was told this was about standard for areas farther away as well.
Philly rent is significantly cheaper. I live in an awesome house in Center City right now and pay $650 living with friends. I'm not in a psuedo suburb of a city. I'm right near Rittenhouse, 15 minute bike ride from Jeff. My point was that housing was cheaper in Philly. There's also little need for a car, as you can walk most places, or bike if you live slightly farther. Although, I admit I still like having mine her (and you can in Philly! this isn't NYC).
(4) I meant academic isolation more so than physical. I work at Penn Med where there's all sorts of interdisciplinary stuff going on between the different graduate schools. There seemed like there were programs like that at Georgetown too, but I didn't get the sense the med students were really integrated into the larger university culture. Jeff has the same problem, albeit different because it's just a stand-alone medical school and has no other non-medical students (save grad students and nursing students). Philly has a neat situation because of it's high concentration of medical students (PCOM, Jeff, Temple, Drexel, Penn). Between them there's something like...1100 new MS1s in the city every year. They hold inter-university events, mixers, etc. so you get to meet other people that way. In DC, GW and Gtown are the only players, so there's less of a larger community to fit into.
I'm also NOT enrolling at either places and I've withdrawn my acceptances from both Gtown and Jeff. So, my opinions come from a real biased based on perceptions rather than any bias based on which of the two schools I chose to attend. I will admit that I have an overall Philly >>> DC perceptions which skews slightly these ideas. But, I still attest Philly superiority is a real thing
🙂 Especially if you're a young med student.
