Kaiser vs. Hopkins

[TFord67]

Kaiser (Full tuition + COA) vs. Johns Hopkins with $200,000 in loans. Any thoughts?

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[Etopn23]

What's your goal? What specialty/kind of practice are you aiming for?

 

[greymandude]

And what is important to you? Prestige? Money? Location?

Hopkins has the name, and while I think Kaiser will build a great name for itself, it doesn't have it yet. I'm committed to Kaiser and my concerns over other choices were mostly prestige and what connections I would have at those institutions. Money, lifestyle, location were all in favor of Kaiser. Prestige, low academic risk, and networking benefits were not in favor of Kaiser compared to a place like Hopkins.

If you want to go into academia or neurosurgery, Hopkins can open big doors in both those areas because of resources and connections. Kaiser, on the other hand has immense, and very impressive, resources to throw at its students, just maybe not comparable to Hopkins Neuro.

If you're in the groupme, I recommend asking some specific questions of the already committed students and see their train of thought. Speaking with Dean Schuster is also really fantastic, I'm sure he'll happily make time for you.

 

[TFord67]

I am not sure of speciality yet. I want to experience the clinic and clerkships and explore options during medical school.

 

[Pluto98]

I am not sure of speciality yet. I want to experience the clinic and clerkships and explore options during medical school.

What do you envision your eventual practice scenario will be? Are you leaning one way vs another in terms of speciality?

 

[altblue]

$200k in loans isn't terrible, and you can reasonably pay it off even in lower-paying specialties - so long as you're strategic with your lifestyle for a bit after residency. With P/F step on the horizon, I'd be hard-pressed to pass on Hopkins versus a new school, even if I wasn't interested in anything competitive yet.

 

[Pharma1811]

$200k in loans isn't terrible, and you can reasonably pay it off even in lower-paying specialties - so long as you're strategic with your lifestyle for a bit after residency. With P/F step on the horizon, I'd be hard-pressed to pass on Hopkins versus a new school, even if I wasn't interested in anything competitive yet.

Respectfully disagree. Graduating with 200k+ in loans is not something to brush off as lightly as you seem to be. It is a remarkable amount of money, and as much as JHU has the name, I sincerely doubt kaiser is going to be closing that many doors for the OP with how established their system already is. I want to take a moment to remind students on here that financial debt is a big deal and being a physician doesn't automatically negate any potential problems that arise from it. Any chance you have to not go down the aforementioned path is generally the better path, especially when 200k is involved.

Just my opinion. Please think long and hard about this @ OP

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

200K with 7% interest by after 7 years (4 years + min 3 yrs residency) is $300K. Don't expect to make any payments in residency or fellowship. If your goal is primary care or not super competitive specialities, go with Kaiser if you don't care about prestige.

 

[neuroresearchguy23]

I would emphasize clinical training over $200k personally. Hopkins is far superior. Congrats on your acceptances and enjoy that Baltimore swag.

 

[writingdoctor]

I would personally recommend Hopkins.

 

[TheHolisticOne]

Hopkins in a heartbeat. You pay off your interest every year in residency. And many job offers pay your student loans and if not, a 1-2 year salary easily pays it off. Have fun in Baltimore