Medical College of Georgia Vs Morehouse

[Govols22]

Hi, this question is for my girlfriend rather than myself. She recently has been accepted off the waitlist from both of these schools and needs to make a decision. I am currently on the waitlist for both of these schools *crosses fingers*.

She would prefer to live in Atlanta rather than Augusta, as she is accustomed to urban lifestyle, and all of her friends and family live in Atlanta. On the other hand she is more impressed by MCG's facility and overall program and thinks it might give her better opportunities for residencies, and its not like Augusta is obscenely far from Atlanta to the point where she can never visit regularly.

She wants to know if going to Morehouse instead of MCG would would put her at any disadvantage toward residencies. She also was offered a 5k a year scholarship for Morehouse, but it would still be 10k more a year than MCG in tuition.

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[jiggs]

Congrats to your girlfriend! Two great choices.

If it was me, outside of location a big factor would be my interests. Is she set on primary care, or might she want to go into a more competitive specialty? From my understanding (interviewed at MCG, declined interview at Morehouse), the two schools definitely have different focuses.

If I was interested in primary care: Morehouse really emphasizes primary care in an urban setting, and addressing health disparities in that setting. MCG heavily emphasizes rural primary care, and addressing health disparities there. The setting that I would want to eventually practice would definitely influence my decision there.

If I was interested in more competitive specialties: I would probably lean MCG. When I visited, I got the sense that the school was broad enough to accommodate any interest, and that there were no limitations in terms of specialty research. If you look at the match lists for the two, you can see that Morehouse has a much higher representation of primary care specialties (67%) vs. MCG (48%). While MCG obviously has a much larger class size, I think it is definitely indicative that Morehouse had only 4 students match into any surgery specialty. Not sure how much of that is self-selection bias from student preference, but I feel like it definitely shows that Morehouse does not focus on the more competitive specialties

A final note: I will say that, from my visit to MCG, I was not impressed by the diversity of the school and the city. As a non-white person, diversity was incredibly important to me this cycle, and MCG definitely turned me off there. Obviously, as an HBCU in Atlanta, Morehouse is doing a lot better in that department. Personally, I would pick Morehouse just so I wouldn't be inundated by white people for four years of my life. But that's me, I recognize everyone is coming from different places.

TL;DR Morehouse is better for urban primary care, MCG is better for rural primary care and competitive specialties, Morehouse is WAY more diverse than MCG

This was longer than I intended lol, but I hope this helps. Feel free to DM me if you'd like. Good luck to you both, Georgia definitely needs y'all!

 

[Govols22]

Thank you! That was very much helpful. My girlfriend’s dream is to match into Derm, so I am assuming MCG would give her the best opportunity for that. But at the same time we have thought about the demographics as well. We are both minorities as well and are hesistant about being in a school and area with a lack of diversity.

 

[RK92_333]

Hello!
I am a minority student that was also accepted to both Morehouse and MCG. When I was interviewing, I got a better sense of community at Morehouse and also since my family lives in the suburbs of Atlanta, it was a tough decision. However, as a 4th year now finishing up at MCG, I do not regret my decision. MCG faculty and staff work very closely with students and also has a great deal of diversity in all different cultures and backgrounds. I was able to work directly with the Office of Multicultural Affairs and participate in various outreach events and activities. Yes, the population may not be as "diverse" as Morehouse but I am proud of MCG and the opportunities I have received there. That being said, I also have friends who are at Morehouse and love the small personable atmosphere as well. They are both GREAT schools and I want to wish good luck to your girlfriend. Whatever decision she goes with, she can rest assured that she will get fantastic training and will be a doctor, becoming closer to her dream.