Kaiser (Full CoA) vs Upitt

[Passionseeking]

Very happy to have such a hard choice to make.

A bit about me and my priorities- at this point in time I see myself doing family medicine in the future through the DPC model, if for some reason I couldn't practice FM this way, I think it would be very possible for me to change my intended specialty during medical school.

Not only that but I have an enormous interest in entrepreneurship in the form of something like starting a medical device company, this goes hand in hand with my interest in engineering/python so I would love to be the type of physician/medical student that does something like that in addition to clinical medicine.


KAISER

Pros-
+ FREE- tuition is waived, and they offer nearly 40k per year to cover living expenses. I would graduate debt free which is such an ENORMOUS pro. I know that medical debt is very stressful, especially while being burned out in medical school, so the ability to not have to worry about any debt is the biggest pro of both schools
+ LOCATION- I've lived in NY for all my life and I am TIRED of the winters, being able to live in LA and explore California would be such an amazing change of pace for not only the weather but I think I would love living in California, which would be much more exciting imo than living in Pitt
+ PERKS- free ubers to all clinical locations, free BnB, free UPlanet, free any third party material honestly, free tablet, air pods, iPhone, MacBook, etc you name it. And with being one of the first few classes, the school will go above and beyond to help you succeed, so there are definitely things I am unaware of
+ NOVELTY- being part of the first few classes seems like such a cool experience, with other like-minded individuals who most likely turned down other great institutions to come here, I feel like taking the leap of faith with my future classmates is an experience that most medical students don't get
+ UNIQUE- not a regular new school, with Kaiser already being an established hospital/insurance system, I believe (could very well be wrong) that they have some sort of recognition compared to some other random new school, I'm not from the Cali region so if anyone knows more about this please lmk

Cons-
- PRESTIGE- Kaiser SOM is still new in terms of medical schools, it's still a new unheard school at not as prestigious in medicine as Upitt
-UNKNOWN OPPORTUNITIES- there are things that Upitt offers that I'll cover in the pros list that directly line up with my interests. I don't think Kaiser would offer something similar, and on that note, I am not even entirely sure what Kaiser has to offer. Being a new school I feel like a lot of really interesting programs would be implemented as the school developed, long after I graduated
-RISK- rn I am leaning towards family medicine, but what if during my third year I randomly fall in love with ENT or plastic surgery? not saying that it would be impossible to match from Kaiser, but as a Upitt student I know it would be easier all else being equal


Upitt

Pros-
+ PRESTIGE- Upitt is a very established school in medicine and is a top 15 school in the nation. I feel like this isn't something I should give up, especially with my goals as a future physician
+ BBI AOC- Upitt has a bioengineering, biotechnology, and innovation area of concentration. As someone who wants to be an entrepreneurial doctor, the fact that Upitt has programs like "concept to commercialization" and an Innovation Institute makes Upitt extremely appealing. I also have an interest in engineering and programming, which this AOC covers, so it would be hard for me to give up this AOC that is basically made for me, when after researching through Kaiser's website, not finding anything similar to it at all
+RESIDENCY- if I were to want to pursue a competitive specialty in medical school, it would be easier for me to match as a Upitt student compared to a Kaiser student
+ CONNECTIONS IN AND OUTSIDE OF MEDICINE? - this pro I could be wrong about but I know that a lot of connections can be made at top 20 schools, and that Upitt has an alumni network while Kaiser has none. Lets say that I want to start a medical device startup as a new grad. I feel like a Upitt MD might seem prestigious to even people who aren't super into medicine, and that the alumni network could connect me to people that could significantly help me. I'm not sure if this rings true for Kaiser, or if this even rings true at all.

Cons-
- COST- I haven't received my estimated CoA, but I know it will most likely spell hundreds of thousands in student loans
- LOCATION- LA>>>Pitt for many reasons

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[deleted1119806]

Cost and location are extremely important, which seem to favor Kaiser for you

But professionally, everything else leans to Pitt

Hundreds of thousands in loans isn’t a joke, but Pitt med isn’t something to pass up, imo

 

[qxrt]

I am many years out of med school, but knowing what I know now, I have always been served well by prioritizing location and lifestyle over perceived intangible perceived benefits of one program over another. I ranked my residency based on the location I wanted to live, and now I am an attending in the same location I trained.

I did not have the choice of location when applying to med school (I only had one acceptance). But if I were in your shoes and knew that I wanted to live in LA, I would choose Kaiser 100%.

One of my closest friends (he is also many years out now, too) also had to decide between UPitt and a lower-ranked California medical school. He had no interest in living in Pittsburgh so chose California and has no regrets about his decision.

 

[jtesch]

Pittsburgh is a dreary, awful city. It is constantly overcast.

 

[Passionseeking]

I appreciate what everyone has said so far, currently leaning towards Kaiser for those reasons.

 

[TheOtherAlien]

To play devil's advocate, I think there are a number of reasons Pitt might be the better choice. We don't really know how Kaiser will be seen/match long-term. If you are interested in a particularly competitive specialty, then the advantages Pitt offers may be very significant. It may be worth significant loan burden for you to have a much better chance at matching into a program you like (or at all) in your desired specialty. This is especially true if you think you may be interested in academic medicine in the future, vs private practice.

To speak to the location; I've really enjoyed Pittsburgh whenever I've visited (this is coming from a Californian), and know a number of people who live/have lived there who love it a lot! It's not LA by any means with regard to extent of food options, extent of cultural options, size, etc. However, I would say it's very far from being a "dreary, awful city."