MCW vs Belmont

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ClashRoyaleKing

ClashRoyaleKing

MD Class of 2029
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Hello everyone. I'm grateful to have received two acceptances thus far and to have put my reapplication behind me once and for all. So far, I have been accepted to MCW and Belmont (Frist College of Medicine), am waitlisted by Davis, and have decisions pending for Pittsburgh (January 31st, LOL JK I GOT REJECTED) and VCU. Of my two current acceptances, I am leaning towards MCW because it is established, P/F preclinical, and has established clinical rotations. However, Belmont's small class size and potential for better scholarships make it viable as well.

I do not plan on entering a competitive specialty; I think my top 3 specialties are psychiatry (I love inpatient psychiatry, where I have worked for the past 3.5 years), internal medicine (endocrinology fascinates me), and pathology.

Side note: I am WL at Wayne, but I do not think I will be considering them based on 1) lack of financial aid 2) cost of attendance 3) large class size.

Medical College of Wisconsin

Pros:
* Established school.
* High NIH funding and easy-to-obtain research positions.
* Lots of fun clubs and extracurriculars to be a part of.
* Low(ish) cost of living.
* P/F preclinical.

Cons:
* The total cost of living is 396k before scholarships and financial aid considerations.
* Frigid weather. I would need to get a new car.
* They have in-house exams

Frist College of Medicine (Belmont)

Pros:
* 50 student class. Easier to get to know faculty and get LOR's/build relationships.
* Nashville seems like a fun place to live. Plenty of fun things to do.
* Ability to influence the school's curriculum and culture as it develops.
* NBME exams (no in-house exams).
* The weather is neutral. Warm summers and cool winters with some snow.
* Potential for scholarships: inaugurate class got about 18k per year, apparently.

Cons:
* Not fully accredited.
* I would be a part of their second class, so I would not know their rotations and matching.
* The total cost of living is 405k(ish) before scholarships and any financial aid considerations.
* In preclinical, you receive letter grades.
* Higher COL area.

UC Davis:

Pros:
  • Highly ranked/prestigious/UC.
  • It is easy to join research projections through their internal system.
  • It is local, and in the region I grew up. I would be familiar with the area and have strong social support.
  • The total cost of attendance is 320k (tuition + COL + other fees + loan origination fee) before any scholarships or financial aid consideration. It’s probably even cheaper due to help from family.
  • Could keep same insurance and doctors.
  • Mostly NBME exams. A few courses have in-house exams (Anatomy was one they mentioned).
  • Community engagement in Northern CA.
  • P/F for both preclinical and clerkships.
  • Strong match for my desired specialty right now (psych).
Cons:
* Very hot. It is 120 degrees F this summer a few times.

Virginia Commonwealth University SOM

Pros:
* Local connection to an undergrad.
* Potential for 3-year MD.
* Moderate weather - not too warm, not too cold.
* I wouldn't need to buy a new car.
* Cheaper cost of living in Richmond. The apparents my fiance and I have looked at in Wauwatosa (MCW) are almost twice as expensive!
* Good home hospital system.
* Pass/Fail in preclinical.

Neutral/not something I care too much about:
* Internal rank
* AOA

Cons:
* Could be more expensive as an OOS student, if I don't get good scholarships. The average award per student is about 10k/year.
* In-house exams, although it looks like I'll have this no matter where I go (outside of Davis/Belmont).



In summary, if I get into Davis, then I’ll go there. If not, I will go to MCW or VCU. If I get enough scholarships at VCU, I might go there and attempt to do the 3-year MD.
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Does the three year MD guarantee a match into psych? If it does, and you are ABSOLUTELY SURE you want psych, I’d do it. M4 is really just one long job interview, it won’t be too horribly stressful. What makes med school stressful these days is trying to match competitive specialties, and psych is competitive (not derm, but it’s getting more competitive than it was).

If it doesn’t lead you to be in their residency, I’d stay away from the three year. I would also avoid Belmont. Who knows if they’ll even be accredited? Plus as someone who went to a med school that was making big changes for my class….. that’s stressful. I would want to be somewhere more predictable.
 
If I were you I would not even consider Belmont if I had an acceptance to an accredited medical school, especially if Belmont is going to be that expensive and have letter grades. As a current student, NBME exams make a HUGE difference in my quality of life. They prepare you for Step 1 and allow you to use whatever 3rd party resources your heart desires. I cannot imagine the misery that would come with studying minutia for in-house exams (with no 3rd party resources to help you), only to be playing catchup over Step 1 dedicated.

I go to a school with less than 200 students but I do not think the size of my class has at all impacted my day-to-day life. Building relationships with faculty and other students is 100% on you.

I'm really not in a position to comment on VCU's 3 year program, but it sounds like there are a lot of gambles: will you get in, will you get in the top quartile, will you get IS tuition, will you still be interested in psych, and are you okay with spending the next 7 years of your life in Richmond.

I agree with your summary that for right now MCW is it. Find locals to help you embrace the cold and select good winter weather attire.
 
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Thank you for your input. I will keep looking into the VCU 3-year program since it does lead to their residency. Hopefully, they offer some scholarships to offset the possibility of not getting into the 3-year MD. MCW looks really nice, with a lot of walkable apartments. I can always figure out the cold, too (Pittsburgh is also cold!).
 
ClashRoyaleKing said:
Thank you for your input. I will keep looking into the VCU 3-year program since it does lead to their residency. Hopefully, they offer some scholarships to offset the possibility of not getting into the 3-year MD. MCW looks really nice, with a lot of walkable apartments. I can always figure out the cold, too (Pittsburgh is also cold!).
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Oh dang do you not find out if you get the three-year before you commit to them?

In that case I’d go with MCW. If you do the right things (Anki, Uworld, get some pubs, got a decent step 2, don’t be an a$&hat) you’ll match psych no problem. It’s not crazy competitive, but I’m an FM guy so I can match even if I’m brain dead. Psych isn’t that chill anymore
 
Received a post-II rejection from Pitt so I’ve removed that from here. I guess the silver lining is I’ll have a better picture of where I’m attending sooner and I’ll be better able to plan. I think Pitt would have been great but I wasn’t the best fit for their program.
 
Sorry to hear about Pitt. Davis would be a great option, especially with its proximity to your family. I agree with the above that MCW > Belmont for now -- I personally would be hesitant to attend a school that hasn't graduated a class yet. VCU sounds like a cool opportunity, i think the stipulations of the 3 year program sound reasonable to achieve, but is it worth the gamble?

Hope to see you at MCW next year.
 
I recently had the opportunity to tour the Frist College of Medicine and was highly impressed by their medical school campus! My fiance and I loved the city and the area surrounding the school, and I could definitely see myself living in Nashville and attending school there. I will see what financial aid/scholarships they offer to draw me to their school, since MCW feels more compelling given their longstanding history. MCW does not offer many scholarships or aid (5- 10k max per year in scholarships, IF you get them).

FCOM COA: About 400k- 410k.
MCW COA: About 390k- 400k.

Both COA above were incorrect due to using old MSAR data. Costs are increasing folks.
 
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Hi- just confirming MCW does indeed have in-house exams! While Milwaukee has a lower cost of living than many other places, please know that if you want to live in a nice apartment building within walking distance they are still fairly expensive for the most part!
 
bonequeen said:
As a current student, NBME exams make a HUGE difference in my quality of life. They prepare you for Step 1 and allow you to use whatever 3rd party resources your heart desires. I cannot imagine the misery that would come with studying minutia for in-house exams (with no 3rd party resources to help you), only to be playing catchup over Step 1 dedicated.
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NBME exams are also important to me, as I choose a medical school. Belmont, Davis (WL), Wayne State (WL), and Drexel (maybe? I'm not entirely sure. I haven't interviewed yet) are the medical schools I have interviewed at that have NBME exams. I learned that MCW has in-house exams, which might not be too big of a deal (I'm in the process of learning more about them), but it does make me hesitant about it.

But, MCW has a pass-fail curriculum, a good home hospital nearby/on campus and a low(er) cost of living. Does that all make up for in-house exams?
 
ClashRoyaleKing said:
NBME exams are also important to me, as I choose a medical school. Belmont, Davis (WL), Wayne State (WL), and Drexel (maybe? I'm not entirely sure. I haven't interviewed yet) are the medical schools I have interviewed at that have NBME exams. I learned that MCW has in-house exams, which might not be too big of a deal (I'm in the process of learning more about them), but it does make me hesitant about it.

But, MCW has a pass-fail curriculum, a good home hospital nearby/on campus and a low(er) cost of living. Does that all make up for in-house exams?
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Drexel does in-house exams but I (Drexel M2) haven't really been affected by that. Our curriculum overlaps like 98% with whats on Step, so just study as if you're studying for Step (3rd party resources, UWorld, etc) and skim the in house content before exams. Did me well.

They get us ScholarRx in M2 year with our tuition, so thats more Step style questions to practice with.
 
ClashRoyaleKing said:
NBME exams are also important to me, as I choose a medical school. Belmont, Davis (WL), Wayne State (WL), and Drexel (maybe? I'm not entirely sure. I haven't interviewed yet) are the medical schools I have interviewed at that have NBME exams. I learned that MCW has in-house exams, which might not be too big of a deal (I'm in the process of learning more about them), but it does make me hesitant about it.

But, MCW has a pass-fail curriculum, a good home hospital nearby/on campus and a low(er) cost of living. Does that all make up for in-house exams?
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In my opinion, NBME exams would not outweigh a big difference in tuition or strong geographic preferences. In your particular situation I do not think NBME exams at Belmont outweighs the fact that it is not accredited. Moreover, each school's in-house exams are going to be different and I have no clue how helpful or not helpful MCW students find their exams for preparing for Step 1. Maybe their in-house exams are great. MCW is established, and accredited while being roughly the same price as Belmont, if not a little bit cheaper. Taken together, MCW would be a safe and logical choice for you. Belmont may not be the wrong choice, but it is a risk if there are kinks in the curriculum and/or accreditation issues.
 
JAK2-STAT3 said:
In my opinion, NBME exams would not outweigh a big difference in tuition or strong geographic preferences. In your particular situation I do not think NBME exams at Belmont outweighs the fact that it is not accredited. Moreover, each school's in-house exams are going to be different and I have no clue how helpful or not helpful MCW students find their exams for preparing for Step 1. Maybe their in-house exams are great. MCW is established, and accredited while being roughly the same price as Belmont, if not a little bit cheaper. Taken together, MCW would be a safe and logical choice for you. Belmont may not be the wrong choice, but it is a risk if there are kinks in the curriculum and/or accreditation issues.
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Thanks! This was essentially my reasoning. After touring MCW recently, I can now firsthand see what having a home hospital + establishment in the community does for a school. Thanks for your insight!
 
I sadly did not receive any aid from Belmont this week. My fiancé and I really love the area and think it would be a great place to be for while I’m in medical school, but the cost of attendance (109k MS1 and 115k MS2, including insurance), just is too expensive. For comparison, MS1 and 2 at MCW are both around 106-107k.
 
I think the <10k/year price differences are quite negligible, but Belmont seems to be super expensive given that it's such a new program. I would personally pick MCW over Belmont because it's more established, has good research opportunities, and preclinical P/F (I heard this makes crazy differences in sanity).
 
Sosayitditto said:
I think the <10k/year price differences are quite negligible, but Belmont seems to be super expensive given that it's such a new program. I would personally pick MCW over Belmont because it's more established, has good research opportunities, and preclinical P/F (I heard this makes crazy differences in sanity).
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Exactly where I’m at. I think a lot of people in our chat were expecting *some* sort of aid. I’m prepping for an MCW matriculation rn.
 
ClashRoyaleKing said:
I sadly did not receive any aid from Belmont this week. My fiancé and I really love the area and think it would be a great place to be for while I’m in medical school, but the cost of attendance (109k MS1 and 115k MS2, including insurance), just is too expensive. For comparison, MS1 and 2 at MCW are both around 106-107k.
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Apparently, there are some scholarships still being passed around due to others not accepting, including free first-year tuition (67k) and half off of first-year tuition (33.5k). I think the only way I even consider Belmont right now if I get a full first-year tuition scholarship. If I do get that scholarship, the cost of attendances for each school update to:

Belmont: 361k
MCW: 410k + the cost of getting a new car, probably 15-25k.
 
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