LM: 77 - Narrow School List Down

[freedoctor17]

1. Mayo Clinic (both campuses)
2. Harvard
3. Johns Hopkins
4. Yale
5. Stanford

Want to Choose 10 of these

1. Boston University
2. Perelman
3. University of Pittsburgh
4. Pritzker
5. Northwestern
6. University of Michigan
7. Duke
8. Vanderbilt
9. Washington (St. Louis)
10. NYU
11. Columbia University
12. Cornell
13. Icahn Mt. Sinai
14. Hofstra
15. Einstein
16. Rochester
17. Emory
18. Dartmouth
19. UCSF
20. UCLA
21. Keck
22. UVA

The three bolded ones are mainly there because they're within a 4 hour drive from home so would be nice to be close to family. Rest I honestly have no clue which to choose from. They're all great schools and really at this point just need some input to help me cut some out for whatever reasons like price, low yield, location (though I don't think any can be as bad as Ohio where I'm at already considering how much hate it gets on SDN haha), curriculum...

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[Goro]

I suggest

-University of Cincinnati
-OSU
-University of Toledo
-CWRU (maybe Lerner as well)
-Wright State University
-NEOMED

-Boston University
-Columbia University
-
-Duke
-Harvard
-Johns Hopkins
-Mayo Clinic

-Northwestern
-Perelman
-
-Stanford
-
-Pritzker
-University of Michigan
-University of Pittsburgh
-Vanderbilt
-Yale
-Washington (st. louis)
ADD
The Manhattan Titans
UCSF
UCLA
Emory
Keck
Hofstra
Einstein
Dartmouth
U VA
U IA

 

[freedoctor17]

Thanks! I'll checkout the ones you've added on there.

Edit: new question

 

[freedoctor17]

.

 

[freedoctor17]

Bump: I've got my 7 state schools and the top 5 schools besides those that I'm most interested in but need some help eliminating schools from the rest of the list!

I really only wanna apply to around 22 so I'd like to choose 10 more. I updated the OP with everything. Any suggestions on which to get rid of @Faha @Goro @LizzyM @WedgeDawg and anyone else who knows a lot about the different programs?

Being close to Ohio is a plus but not a deal breaker and cost of attendance/living is super important as well though I won't worry about that until I actually (hopefully) have acceptances I can choose from.

 

[Goro]

You're making it hard OP, so I'll massage the list; you pick.

1. Dartmouth OR Boston University
2. Perelman OR Washington (St. Louis)
3. University of Pittsburgh
4. U Chicago
5. University of Michigan
6. Duke OR Emory
7. NYU OR Icahn Mt. Sinai OR Northwestern
8. Columbia University OR Cornell
9. Hofstra OR Einstein
10. Rochester

 

[LizzyM]

You've got to do your own homework with the MSAR. Do you like big cities? Would not having a car be a plus or a minus? Would you mind living in a dorm and/or high rise or do you need more space? Would you prefer a furnished living situation managed by the university so that you need to only add your linens and clothing or do you need/want to use your own furnishing and/or find housing on your own? Do you know the cost of attendance and average debt of each school and can you factor that in? (it's available online at the school websites and throughthe MSAR, I think). Does grades/no grades matter to you? Does mandatory lecture attendance matter to you? Does the presence of an adjacent children's hospital matter to you? I'd suggest a spread sheet where you enter the data so you can see it and evaluate every school qualitatively and quantitatively until you narrow your choices to a reasonable number (I'd suggest 20 as a cap -- after that, the secondaries become exhausing and if you are very lucky with early interview invites, it can be very expensive during the early weeks of the interview cycle (or until you have at least one offer).

 

[freedoctor17]

You've got to do your own homework with the MSAR. Do you like big cities? Would not having a car be a plus or a minus? Would you mind living in a dorm and/or high rise or do you need more space? Would you prefer a furnished living situation managed by the university so that you need to only add your linens and clothing or do you need/want to use your own furnishing and/or find housing on your own? Do you know the cost of attendance and average debt of each school and can you factor that in? (it's available online at the school websites and throughthe MSAR, I think). Does grades/no grades matter to you? Does mandatory lecture attendance matter to you? Does the presence of an adjacent children's hospital matter to you? I'd suggest a spread sheet where you enter the data so you can see it and evaluate every school qualitatively and quantitatively until you narrow your choices to a reasonable number (I'd suggest 20 as a cap -- after that, the secondaries become exhausing and if you are very lucky with early interview invites, it can be very expensive during the early weeks of the interview cycle (or until you have at least one offer).

Wow thanks for all that. Yeah I've been looking through the MSAR and it's just been all blending together in my head. I'll make a spreadsheet like you suggested and answer these specific questions for myself beforehand.

 

[WedgeDawg]

1. Boston University
2. Perelman
3. University of Pittsburgh
4. Pritzker
5. Northwestern
6. University of Michigan
7. Duke
8. Vanderbilt
9. Washington (St. Louis)
10. NYU
11. Columbia University
12. Cornell
13. Icahn Mt. Sinai
14. Hofstra
15. Einstein
16. Rochester
17. Emory
18. Dartmouth
19. UCSF
20. UCLA
21. Keck
22. UVA

So assuming you're applying to Pitt, Michigan, and Rochester, that leaves 7 more schools to add. Things that seem important to you include relatively high yield for your app, decent cost/cost of living, and some sort of emphasis on primary care or pediatrics.

BU: high cost of living (boston), somewhat expensive school, relatively low yield (many applicants)
Penn: manageable cost of living, philly is cool, expensive but gives good aid, affiliated with CHOP +++
Pritzker & Northwestern: high cost of living, chicago is cool and probably relatively close (compared to your other options), Pritzker gives good aid, I think Northwestern may too
Duke: low cost of living, but Durham isn't a big city, and it's not close to many other big cities, also far from Ohio; gives good aid
Vanderbilt: similar to Duke in these respects
WashU: low cost of living, St. Louis isn't an enormous city, but it's a city; still midwest
NYU/Cornell/Sinai: expensive tuition, high cost of living, none are super primary care focused or affiliated with big children's hospitals
Columbia: expensive and high cost of living, but just got like literally a billion dollars to have students graduate debt free, affiliated with Children's Hospital of NY (very big high acuity quarternary children's hospital, the best between Boston Children's and CHOP), but not as primary care focused as perhaps you'd like
Hofstra: somewhat high yield for you, still expensive with relatively high cost of living
Emory: probably similar-ish to Duke and Vandy
Dartmouth: high cost of living for where it is, isolated, but strong primary care and peds; will be hard to travel to Ohio (you'll have to fly out of boston)
UCSF: great primary care but high cost of living and far from Ohio
UCLA: high cost of living, far from Ohio, I think relatively strong primary care? Not sure actually - I don't know too much about UCLA
USC-Keck: similar to USC, except does have CHLA attached to it (one of the best children's hospitals), and while expensive, does give merit aid
UVA: similar to Duke and friends
Iowa: no clue, sorry

Sorry for any inaccuracies/overgeneralizations; I'm a little out of the game here

So to put everything together, I think you should absolutely apply to Penn, UCSF, and USC-Keck. I think that you should then consider some of Duke, Vanderbilt, WashU, Columbia, Emory, or Dartmouth or maybe UCLA. I wouldn't apply to the other NYC schools given your interests and criteria, same with the Chicago schools. I don't think it would be really worthwhile for you to apply to BU, Hofstra, or UVA.

 

[freedoctor17]

You're making it hard OP, so I'll massage the list; you pick.

1. Dartmouth OR Boston University
2. Perelman OR Washington (St. Louis)
3. University of Pittsburgh
4. U Chicago
5. University of Michigan
6. Duke OR Emory
7. NYU OR Icahn Mt. Sinai OR Northwestern
8. Columbia University OR Cornell
9. Hofstra OR Einstein
10. Rochester

Thank you! They all seemed too similar without actually being at the school so I couldn't bring myself to decide anything. I'll do some more research with each one you put or's for!

 

[freedoctor17]

1. Boston University
2. Perelman
3. University of Pittsburgh
4. Pritzker
5. Northwestern
6. University of Michigan
7. Duke
8. Vanderbilt
9. Washington (St. Louis)
10. NYU
11. Columbia University
12. Cornell
13. Icahn Mt. Sinai
14. Hofstra
15. Einstein
16. Rochester
17. Emory
18. Dartmouth
19. UCSF
20. UCLA
21. Keck
22. UVA

So assuming you're applying to Pitt, Michigan, and Rochester, that leaves 7 more schools to add. Things that seem important to you include relatively high yield for your app, decent cost/cost of living, and some sort of emphasis on primary care or pediatrics.

BU: high cost of living (boston), somewhat expensive school, relatively low yield (many applicants)
Penn: manageable cost of living, philly is cool, expensive but gives good aid, affiliated with CHOP +++
Pritzker & Northwestern: high cost of living, chicago is cool and probably relatively close (compared to your other options), Pritzker gives good aid, I think Northwestern may too
Duke: low cost of living, but Durham isn't a big city, and it's not close to many other big cities, also far from Ohio; gives good aid
Vanderbilt: similar to Duke in these respects
WashU: low cost of living, St. Louis isn't an enormous city, but it's a city; still midwest
NYU/Cornell/Sinai: expensive tuition, high cost of living, none are super primary care focused or affiliated with big children's hospitals
Columbia: expensive and high cost of living, but just got like literally a billion dollars to have students graduate debt free, affiliated with Children's Hospital of NY (very big high acuity quarternary children's hospital, the best between Boston Children's and CHOP), but not as primary care focused as perhaps you'd like
Hofstra: somewhat high yield for you, still expensive with relatively high cost of living
Emory: probably similar-ish to Duke and Vandy
Dartmouth: high cost of living for where it is, isolated, but strong primary care and peds; will be hard to travel to Ohio (you'll have to fly out of boston)
UCSF: great primary care but high cost of living and far from Ohio
UCLA: high cost of living, far from Ohio, I think relatively strong primary care? Not sure actually - I don't know too much about UCLA
USC-Keck: similar to USC, except does have CHLA attached to it (one of the best children's hospitals), and while expensive, does give merit aid
UVA: similar to Duke and friends
Iowa: no clue, sorry

Sorry for any inaccuracies/overgeneralizations; I'm a little out of the game here

So to put everything together, I think you should absolutely apply to Penn, UCSF, and USC-Keck. I think that you should then consider some of Duke, Vanderbilt, WashU, Columbia, Emory, or Dartmouth or maybe UCLA. I wouldn't apply to the other NYC schools given your interests and criteria, same with the Chicago schools. I don't think it would be really worthwhile for you to apply to BU, Hofstra, or UVA.

Wow thanks for all the details!

Edit: also I'm not sure if I'll later want to do a subspecialty in pediatrics or even change completely later on. I've been shadowing a lot more peds though and have really liked it so far but definitely keeping an open mind.

Thanks again for all the help, this makes it much easier! I'll probably have a school list finalized by tonight.

 

[freedoctor17]

Small bump question: most of my list is pretty much set now (thanks everyone for the help) but had a quick update wanted to ask about.

So paper we submitted to be published needed some revisions. It's gonna be a while and probably won't be resubmitted until mid way through my senior year. Should I still apply to places like stanford that ask to list publications on the secondary? Would leaving that empty look pretty bad? For reference I'll still have a ton of research experience (though all of it is working under postdocs/grad students so nothing self run- I have presented about the research and will present more still though if that matters). If there's very little chance for these schools I'd rather replace them with another one and not waste money.