MCW vs. Penn State vs. SLU vs. Temple (pending)

[Bidew97]

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I'm having a hard time deciding which school to attend. I enjoyed my interview days at each school and got a great vibe everywhere. I'm from California and intend on matching back home in NorCal. I don't plan on specializing in some competitive surgical subspecialty, but that could change. Currently have some interest in EM and Anesthesiology. Any input is appreciated!

MCW
Pros:

• Medical plaza was really nice
• PD ranking a 3.3 and they get a lot of NIH funding
• Scholarly pathways
• there's a basketball scene (so i potentially watch my home team play once a year)
• They seem to match well and last year 7 people matched back to my hometown University for both competitive specialties and the specialties I'm interested in
• Cost of living seems cheap
• They switched to P/F
• could take my SO to Chicago

Cons:

• it's cold

Penn State
Pros:

• The medical plaza was really nice
• A lot of research opportunities
• Close enough to Philadelphia and New York for short trips whenever SO comes to visit
• Low cost of living
• P/F
• Also seem to match well
• Could see some cool cases because people travel to hospital from surrounding areas

Cons:

• The area is rural
• would be hard/expensive to get a direct flight whenever I fly home
• take step 1 after m3(idk if this should be a pro or con but it seems stressful studying for it during m3)

SLU
Pros:

• New hospital opening before i start rotations
• P/F
• also affordable cost of living
• Match list also shows people matching back to hometown for specialty of interest
• first school I fell in love with and first acceptance

Cons:

• a lot of people here said on their interview days the people they interacted with at slu kept comparing themselves to wash u (my interview day was early so i don't remember too much)
• research opportunities are there but not as easy to get involved with

Temple (waiting for post-II decision)
Pros:

• love the clinical education here and the patient population they serve
• The facilities were really nice
• big sports scene
• P/F
• I think its pretty easy to get involved with research?
• would enjoy living in philly
• could visit NYC with SO when she visits

Cons:

• Cost of living the highest out of these schools

Overall I am extremely grateful that I have multiple schools to choose from and can see myself happy at each school. I believe each of these schools would help me match back home which only makes the decision harder

 

[758437]

I'm from Milwaukee and have a few friends at MCW. They all really enjoy it as a medical school. They're only major annoyance was grading. It's very affordable (~500 per month for an apartment) and nice around campus. Milwaukee is definitely up and coming as a city. From your post, it had the most pros and and least cons. Are the finances significantly different between your options?

 

[Bidew97]

I'm from Milwaukee and have a few friends at MCW. They all really enjoy it as a medical school. They're only major annoyance was grading. It's very affordable (~500 per month for an apartment) and nice around campus. Milwaukee is definitely up and coming as a city. From your post, it had the most pros and and least cons. Are the finances significantly different between your options?

They're switching to P/F now, not sure if internally ranked tho. Tuition should be similar for all these schools, unless I get a scholarship