Medical schools with great locations

[BrainBuff]

The location of the school and surrounding neighborhoods are becoming more important to me as i learn about their programs, etc. Here are a few that I am familiar with. Any others?


Northwestern
Harvard
UCSF
Stanford

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[pdxjazz]

I hear UCLA and UV are in pretty nice areas.

One thing I'm doing is using Google maps and dropping into the "street view" around the campus of different medical schools. It's quite an eye-opener of how crummy the neighborhoods are around some of the schools. I aslo looked at the safety ratings like on this website: http://collegeprowler.com/rankings/health--and--safety/ and used wikipedia for more info on the cities they are located in. The universities also post crime data on their websites if you look hard enough (I think it's required).

Of course you don't hear allot about med students getting killed/mugged around the campus very often, but it would be nice to know generally how safe you are a few blocks off campus.

 

[Poliscidoc]

UNC Chapel Hill and ECU both have beautiful campuses

 

[JustCallMeDoc]

UCLA and UCSF both have great locations. Great surrounding area, near the ocean, great weather. UCLA has an undergrad campus, so that makes the atmosphere a little more interesting than a school that is only a med school.

Northwestern is a ways out of Chicago, so not really in the city, if thats what you're looking for. And it gets quite cold there, same as Harvard, so make sure you are aware of what it would be like to go to school in the North/Northeast.

 

[Slack3r]

UCLA is in a VERY nice area of LA. UCSD is right by the beach. George Washington in DC is in a nice area, so is Georgetown. Nova (DO school) is in a nice area of Ft. Lauderdale just north of Miami.

 

[mdeast]

Off the top of my head....

Good locations:
UCSF
Stanford
Mount Sinai
Cornell
Northwestern
UC-San Diego
UCLA
George Washington
Jefferson

Bad locations:
Hopkins
Columbia
Einstein

 

[mdeast]

UCLA and UCSF both have great locations. Great surrounding area, near the ocean, great weather. UCLA has an undergrad campus, so that makes the atmosphere a little more interesting than a school that is only a med school.

Northwestern is a ways out of Chicago, so not really in the city, if thats what you're looking for. And it gets quite cold there, same as Harvard, so make sure you are aware of what it would be like to go to school in the North/Northeast.

Just an FYI. Northwestern Feinberg is not on the main university campus. It's housed with the law school in downtown Chicago. So yes, the location is AWESOME! Way better than UChicago...even though Pritzker is probably a better school.

 

[WNT Signaling]

San Francisco is beautiful, but the part of the city UCSF at Parnassus is in gets very, very foggy, cold, and overcast about half of the year, and it only gets worse in the summer. It's too bad the hospital and med school aren't at Mission Bay

 

[deleted202457]

UNC Chapel Hill and ECU both have beautiful campuses

They are great.

And University of Hawai'i (duh lol)

 

[Hifey]

I'm going to put in a vote for UCI. Irvine is beautiful, wide streets, lots of green, and even though there isn't much interesting in the city, tons of stuff is 20 minutes to an hour away. Beaches, all manner of cuisine etc. It's EXTREMELY safe as well and the school district is excellent (if you're planning on bringing kids).

the only downside to UCI Med's location is that it is attached to the undergrad campus (great area) but the hospital is 20 minutes away via three freeways (on which people dont know how to drive!!!!) in an area that is average at best. However, the medical center does have housing nearby.

weather is phenomenal most of the year. It's hit 80 degrees in january at least a couple of times in my four years there. I will miss Irvine winters

 

[Poliscidoc]

Also I would like to formally vote for all the Caribbean schools for having a sweet view and climate.

 

[orthomyxo]

tufts is in the middle of chinatown, it smells like feet.

Boston u. Might as well be in the ghetto.

Harvard is in a good location. i went to high school and college basically up the street from it and i like the area a lot.

bls?

 

[MiCasaMD]

The location of the school and surrounding neighborhoods are becoming more important to me as i learn about their programs, etc. Here are a few that I am familiar with. Any others?


Northwestern
Harvard
UCSF
Stanford

Would you categorize a predominantly black neighborhood as bad? Are you looking for a school located in a rich neighborhood so that you can feel better about yourself? Why medicine? To help people who a less fortunate? or To enter a profession because it may be a way to a beach house. Hmmmm, lots of questions.

 

[lord_jeebus]

San Francisco is beautiful, but the part of the city UCSF at Parnassus is in gets very, very foggy, cold, and overcast about half of the year, and it only gets worse in the summer. It's too bad the hospital and med school aren't at Mission Bay

The coldest winter of my life was a summer I spent on away rotations at UCSF.

 

[orthomyxo]

Would you categorize a predominantly black neighborhood as bad? Are you looking for a school located in a rich neighborhood so that you can feel better about yourself? Why medicine? To help people who a less fortunate? or To enter a profession because it may be a way to a beach house. Hmmmm, lots of questions.

I see a banhammer in your future.

 

[DirtyJustice]

Would you categorize a predominantly black neighborhood as bad? Are you looking for a school located in a rich neighborhood so that you can feel better about yourself? Why medicine? To help people who a less fortunate? or To enter a profession because it may be a way to a beach house. Hmmmm, lots of questions.

Well now, someone is a little bit bitter. Who cares what motives someone has for going into medicine, does it alone make them worse at being a doctor?

 

[JasonE]

UCLA and UCSF both have great locations. Great surrounding area, near the ocean, great weather. UCLA has an undergrad campus, so that makes the atmosphere a little more interesting than a school that is only a med school.

Northwestern is a ways out of Chicago, so not really in the city, if thats what you're looking for. And it gets quite cold there, same as Harvard, so make sure you are aware of what it would be like to go to school in the North/Northeast.

i think you're referring to the undergrad campus for northwestern. the med school is in a pretty rich area of the city

 

[pdxjazz]

Just an FYI. Northwestern Feinberg is not on the main university campus. It's housed with the law school in downtown Chicago. So yes, the location is AWESOME! Way better than UChicago...even though Pritzker is probably a better school.

Heard the same thing from a family friend that lives in Chicago. Here is what he said about the Chicago area med schools:

University of Chicago- So-so neighborhood. OK close to campus, iffy otherwise.
​

Northwestern University- Good neighborhood, very urban setting.
​

Loyola University- Scary neighborhood...
​

Rosalind Franklin University- Good neighborhood, suburban setting.
​

Rush Medical College- So-so neighborhood. OK close to campus, iffy otherwise.
​

University of Illinois- Adjacent to Rush Medical. Urbana-Champaign is quite different than the others on this list. Good neighborhoods surround the campus, but the town has a much different atmosphere... small town/city.
​

 

[AlexB]

;

 

[morning]

I dunno about anywhere not in Michigan, but:

University of Michigan: The actual University's in a really great, safe area with very little parking. The medical area is on the north campus, slightly away from the rest of the university. It's even more spread out there, better parking, still safe, but less nightlife. I walk there late at night all the time, even by myself.

Michigan State University: Very safe, like U of M, a concentrated college atmosphere full of undergrads...so you get the same problems as any undergrad area, petty crime, some drunken lunatics, but that's all.

Wayne State University: It's in Detroit. Don't believe anyone who says it's safer than the rest of Detroit, because that's not saying much and you still have to drive through it to get there. Downtown Detroit DOES surprise people with how un-crappy it looks, but it is an isolated haven in a sea of crime and crackhouses.

Oakland University: Far northern Detroit suburbs, very safe/wealthy as long as you don't stray into Pontiac, go any further north at all and you're in cornfields.

 

[WNT Signaling]

UCI's medical center is in Orange, which is kind of a **** hole.

X 1,000,000

 

[boaz]

Cornell is in a nice place (upper east side of Manhattan). Nice neighborhood, lots of cultural attractions nearby, etc.

 

[somepremedkid]

Emory, of course

 

[anfleisch]

BU medical campus is really nice though, as in aesthetically. But I never saw harvard or tufts.

 

[CougarMD]

UCI's medical center is in Orange, which is kind of a **** hole.



You're an idiot.



Are you sure about Jefferson? I thought it wasn't in the nicest of areas in Philly.

Favorite post of the day.
My ex boyfriend lives across the street.....

 

[Nessy]

UVA, of course. Wake. Duke.

 

[pdxjazz]

Tufts is in the middle of Chinatown, it smells like feet.

No question this is my favorite.

 

[mdbound1987]

Tufts is in the middle of Chinatown, it smells like feet.

Boston U. might as well be in the ghetto.

Harvard is in a good location. I went to high school and college basically up the street from it and I like the area a lot.

I interviewed at Tufts and it is in a great location. Chinatown smells like feet? It does in NYC, not in Boston. Great location, nice aesthetically, and great facilities. I've never seen BU or Harvard though.

 

[ButImLETired]

As far as NICE NEIGHBORHOODS are concerned (not necessarily the most hoppin cities or most beautiful campuses):

Sinai
Cornell
Vandy
Emory
Harvard
UCSD
Stanford
NYMC


As other pointed out, UCSF is actually in a really cold, dark, dreary neighborhood. SF has really bizarre micro-climates.

UCSD is in an awesome location but the campus is hideous.

Emory is in a beautiful area but you have to drive to go...anywhere. And Grady (the main teaching hospital) is in super downtown Atl which is way less nice and you'll either have a decently long commute or have to move. That was a HUGE turnoff for me.

Tufts is in, yes, Chinatown, which is indeed very sketchy and does smell like feet. However, you walk two blocks and you're smack-dab in downtown Boston in the theater district which is absolutely gorgeous, safe, and very chic. The area where Harvard is is safer and nicer than Chinatown, but definitely more far removed from downtown Boston- although of course the subway goes through there.

 

[tr0gd0r]

UVA, of course. Wake. Duke.

I'll second UVA, though Durham (Duke) isn't the nicest area ever. Charlottesville is nice and there are a lot of good going-out spots (i.e. places not swarmed by undergrads...) if you know where to find them, but it does lack some staples, like Verizon and Apple stores (as of a year ago, anyway), Trader Joe's, and decent clothing stores.

 

[45408]

Loyola University-Scary neighborhood...

I went there for a residency interview, and I didn't think it was that scary. It's in Maywood, a ways out of downtown (20 minutes with no traffic), which is a drag. Chicago traffic is no joke.

 

[Ilovewater]

Are you sure about Jefferson? I thought it wasn't in the nicest of areas in Philly.

Jefferson is in a pretty good neighborhood. The scariest one, from what I've seen, is the neighborhood that Temple is in....

 

[Moonglow]

Uhhhh, Duke people! Right in the middle of a park:

 

[pdxjazz]

Emory is in a beautiful area but you have to drive to go...anywhere. And Grady (the main teaching hospital) is in super downtown Atl which is way less nice and you'll either have a decently long commute or have to move. That was a HUGE turnoff for me.

How long a commute are you talking about? And is there some kind of shuttle service for medical students???

 

[YouNeverKnow22]

west: UCSF, Stanford

east: UVA,UNC, Harvard, Duke

 

[BrainBuff]

Would you categorize a predominantly black neighborhood as bad? Are you looking for a school located in a rich neighborhood so that you can feel better about yourself? Why medicine? To help people who a less fortunate? or To enter a profession because it may be a way to a beach house. Hmmmm, lots of questions.

Chill. If that is what you interpreted from my question, then I bet that your MCAT VR score is very, very, very poor.

 

[YouNeverKnow22]

UNC Chapel Hill and ECU both have beautiful campuses

I definitely agree with UNC but ECU not so much greenville is a **** hole but the campus is nice

 

[BrainBuff]

Agree with most posts, i wanted to add that

Duke - very familiar with campus but Durham is really a dump!! Not very safe either. (some of those pics are of the undergrad campus also).

U- Chicago - Not very safe, and not a very nice part of town either, ( I lived in Chicago and know area well well ) which is a shame.

Loyola - Not scary neighborhood, but rather boring.

Tuffts - the area was the middle of the notorious Red Light District. It got pretty cleaned up in the nineties, but remains somewhat sketchy.

 

[BrainBuff]

Anyone knows about U Penn??

 

[MiCasaMD]

Chill. If that is what you interpreted from my question, then I bet that your MCAT VR score is very, very, very poor.

You got that right my brother. My VR score was extremely low. So, you got me. My score was 14/12/14. I do suck! Good luck!

 

[chrisoc13]

Heard the same thing from a family friend that lives in Chicago. Here is what he said about the Chicago area med schools:

University of Chicago- So-so neighborhood. OK close to campus, iffy otherwise.
​

Northwestern University- Good neighborhood, very urban setting.
​

Loyola University- Scary neighborhood...
​

Rosalind Franklin University- Good neighborhood, suburban setting.
​

Rush Medical College- So-so neighborhood. OK close to campus, iffy otherwise.
​

University of Illinois- Adjacent to Rush Medical. Urbana-Champaign is quite different than the others on this list. Good neighborhoods surround the campus, but the town has a much different atmosphere... small town/city.
​

Having lived in Chicago for a few years I can say Rosalind Franklin is in North Chicago which is a ghetto suburb. It is close to Gurnee and Buffalo Grove which are very nice but North Chicago itself is not the nicest setting. University of Chicago is as close to the loop (which is amazing) as Rosalind Franklin is to the nice suburbs.

 

[pdxjazz]

Having lived in Chicago for a few years I can say Rosalind Franklin is in North Chicago which is a ghetto suburb. It is close to Gurnee and Buffalo Grove which are very nice but North Chicago itself is not the nicest setting. University of Chicago is as close to the loop (which is amazing) as Rosalind Franklin is to the nice suburbs.

Yeah, I looked around Rosalind Franklin on Google and it was not my idea of a "good neighborhood" as well. Not sure why the guy was down on Loyola as it seems to be viewed here better than his perception. Although if you follow my link above to collegeprowler, in the students comments section they don't sound like they are too thrilled with the area.

 

[shiftingmirage]

Yeah, I looked around Rosalind Franklin on Google and it was not my idea of a "good neighborhood" as well. Not sure why the guy was down on Loyola as it seems to be viewed here better than his perception. Although if you follow my link above to collegeprowler, in the students comments section they don't sound like they are too thrilled with the area.

I think like a decade ago Maywood was known for high crime. It made the news recently for it's first murder in like 4 years. Mind you the previous weekend, Chicago had 50 some odd shootings and I think 11 died.

University of Chicago is as close to the loop (which is amazing) as Rosalind Franklin is to the nice suburbs.

UIC and Rush are closer at ~2 miles west of the loop. UofC is more like 7-8 miles or so. And UIC and Rush are right off the blue and pink lines where the closest train stop for UofC is probably a mile away.

Northwestern is in a great area. Like 2 blocks to the lake front. I will say there's not a lot of green area on campus, but in 15 minutes you can be in Grant or Millennium Park.

Also I would like to formally vote for all the Caribbean schools for having a sweet view and climate.

qft

 

[Ponger]

The location of the school and surrounding neighborhoods are becoming more important to me as i learn about their programs, etc. Here are a few that I am familiar with. Any others?


Northwestern
Harvard
UCSF
Stanford

I agree with most everything everyone's said. I did my undergrad work at Emory. Gorgeous campus and local neighborhoods but driving through Atlanta traffic to get to Grady is pretty much hell on earth.

That being said I hope there's a good reason location is becoming more important to you. Going to school in a hip, young area would probably have me focusing less on school. The great thing about being at a med school in the sticks is there's nothing to do but study..... or drink.

 

[BrainBuff]

I agree with most everything everyone's said. I did my undergrad work at Emory. Gorgeous campus and local neighborhoods but driving through Atlanta traffic to get to Grady is pretty much hell on earth.

That being said I hope there's a good reason location is becoming more important to you. Going to school in a hip, young area would probably have me focusing less on school. The great thing about being at a med school in the sticks is there's nothing to do but study..... or drink.

My reasons are not the issue here. I just wanted to know about different campuses. Unlike you, I thrive living in an urban area with plenty of things to do, because to me (and now feel free to...GASP!), there is more to life than medicine and going to medical school.

I rather be in New York, than in Oklahoma. That's all.

 

[jvesco22]

USC, hands down one of the nicest neighborhoods on the West Coast!!





































The only place where you can get mugged, shot, carjacked, and hit by a car on the same night!!

 

[BrainBuff]

Yeah, I looked around Rosalind Franklin on Google and it was not my idea of a "good neighborhood" as well. Not sure why the guy was down on Loyola as it seems to be viewed here better than his perception. Although if you follow my link above to collegeprowler, in the students comments section they don't sound like they are too thrilled with the area.

Yea, there was a time where most people would argue about Chicago Med School (Rosalind Franklin), saying that it was not even in Chicago. Loyola in Maywood is pretty suburban also, and I think that safer than the area where U of C is located.

Neighborhoods do change though. The area around UM Miller used to be pretty nasty 20 years ago, from what I hear. It is much better now.

I thought that the area around Columbia was not that bad. Again, anyone knows anything about any of the other Philly schools?

 

[BrainBuff]

You got that right my brother. My VR score was extremely low. So, you got me. My score was 14/12/14. I do suck! Good luck!

Ahh! I almost feel bad about doing this, but you started by being such an **** that I think you need to be owned, my brother.

I have a feeling that you are so busy in grad school, and you do not have enough time to study so are stressing out a little bit. That's the reason why you are taking the MCAT on 8/5/2010.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=9856685#post9856685

Best of luck!

 

[PremedGunner]

I'm going to put in a vote for UCI. Irvine is beautiful, wide streets, lots of green, and even though there isn't much interesting in the city, tons of stuff is 20 minutes to an hour away. Beaches, all manner of cuisine etc. It's EXTREMELY safe as well and the school district is excellent (if you're planning on bringing kids).

the only downside to UCI Med's location is that it is attached to the undergrad campus (great area) but the hospital is 20 minutes away via three freeways (on which people dont know how to drive!!!!) in an area that is average at best. However, the medical center does have housing nearby.

weather is phenomenal most of the year. It's hit 80 degrees in january at least a couple of times in my four years there. I will miss Irvine winters

its nice to see someone praising an area that is in my neck of the woods. thank you for making me feel good about the area around where i live.

 

[Ponger]

My reasons are not the issue here. I just wanted to know about different campuses. Unlike you, I thrive living in an urban area with plenty of things to do, because to me (and now feel free to...GASP!), there is more to life than medicine and going to medical school.

I rather be in New York, than in Oklahoma. That's all.

I merely made the comment i did in the hopes that you'd understand that location doesn't mean much in med school. You don't get nearly enough time to enjoy the nice areas of the places you live.

And as for your dickhead 'unlike you, i thrive' remark bull****, I completed my undergrad and grad work in Atlanta - a very nice young, urban city. So piss off!