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A little about me, I am a non-traditional/older incoming student. I currently want to do IM and a competitive sub-specialty and am strongly considering academics, but I am open to exploring everything, including competitive surgical specialties.
I have not visited UMich for Second Look yet, but I was able to attend FSMs and get a feel for the program. TLDR with regard to finances—UMich has generously offered a full tuition scholarship with an additional grant, and I have not heard anything from FSM about what my financial aid package looks like. I am using this pro-con list to help me decide whether to accept a similar offer from FSM (if that occurs), though time is seriously winding down.
Both of these schools are similar, but there are plenty of appreciable differences, and I realize my list is a little granular at times. I think it really boils down to 1) cost, 2) location/proximity to support, 3) what kind of future classmates I want/school vibe, and 4) curriculum/quality of clinical training.
Thanks so much for your time if you're reading this and willing to chime in! 🙂
Both:
Pros:
Pros:
I have not visited UMich for Second Look yet, but I was able to attend FSMs and get a feel for the program. TLDR with regard to finances—UMich has generously offered a full tuition scholarship with an additional grant, and I have not heard anything from FSM about what my financial aid package looks like. I am using this pro-con list to help me decide whether to accept a similar offer from FSM (if that occurs), though time is seriously winding down.
Both of these schools are similar, but there are plenty of appreciable differences, and I realize my list is a little granular at times. I think it really boils down to 1) cost, 2) location/proximity to support, 3) what kind of future classmates I want/school vibe, and 4) curriculum/quality of clinical training.
Thanks so much for your time if you're reading this and willing to chime in! 🙂
Both:
- P/F pre-clinical grading
- Graded clerkships
- AOA (although through the grapevine, apparently, FSM is going away with this soon, though no timeline was given to me)
- No internal ranking
- In-house exams, but both schools have strong USMLE scores. Likely will be using 3rd party anyway
- Optional lectures w/ some required in-person during the week
- Weather is similar in both, and I am from the Midwest, so it's a non-issue for me
- Strong match lists; I don’t think this will be too different between the two options
- Strong community/student culture
- Lots of student orgs and interests to explore
- Flexibility during pre-clinical years. Students from both schools highlighted this in different ways
- Have non-med friends in both places/could see myself thriving socially and pursuing my hobbies without skipping a beat
- Generally, both are similar in caliber/reputation
Pros:
- **Full tuition scholarship with grant (estimated COA will be $22k per year, which will allow me to avoid any loans)
- Maybe ever-so-slightly better reputation than FSM in terms of caliber, research opportunities, and robust student resources. Although this is probably minimal/inconsequential
- 1 yr pre-clinical curriculum, more time for research/my interests in 3rd/4th year
- Clerkships are criterion-reference graded, meaning you are graded against yourself and not other students
- Student body: I get the sense that more are non-trad/have unique life experiences. Would be much easier to relate to my classmates
- Current students are super passionate/vocal about the program
- Students match well and seem to be really well-supported with competitive specialties. I think I saw a PD survey that consistently ranked UMich grads very highly (this survey seems like low-quality evidence, though)
- COL is slightly cheaper (but still above the national average)
- Admin seems really supportive/transparent, and I feel valued already d/t the scholarship
- Strong college sports culture
- Location: have never been to AA, not sure how I feel about the suburban/college-town vibe. From what I hear, many people like it. Having more accessible nature than FSM is a pro OTOH
- Farther from home (5+ hrs)
- Pre-clinical speed/intensity may be stressful, though most students I have talked to liked it. Worry that I won’t have the same fund of clinical knowledge
- Full dissection anatomy lab? (Lots of time spent, don’t have much interest in this)
Pros:
- Location, big fan of the city, and have always wanted to end up here
- On a personal note, I have idolized Northwestern for a long time for a variety of reasons, so this has always been a dream school for me. Though I am trying to use my brain and not my heart here
- Closer to family/support
- Really impressive/newer hospitals + world-class facilities (haven’t visited UMich yet, but assuming they are also similar quality)
- Clinical training is strongly emphasized in the curriculum, including very early involvement in patient care with their ECMH. Being the most clinically sound is very important to me. Not sure how different UMich is in this regard
- Current students at Second Look were really passionate about the program/school, seemed to enjoy their experience, and were honest about the good/bad
- Curriculum is structured around a few longitudinal projects that seem cool (both community-based and scholarly)
- Anatomy lab is prosection (time saver)
- **have not received my financial aid package yet and thus am not currently able to negotiate. If there is no match, then I do feel like the decision is clear. Not sure how much debt I would be comfortable taking on/turning down UMich for
- Noticeably younger average age of the incoming class. I found it pretty easy to talk to most people, and many were very chill, but there wasn't much relatability to people fresh out of college
- 2 yr pre-clinical. Students at FSM said it functions more like 1.5 yrs in reality and did not seem to mind. I think it wouldn’t be that big of a dealbreaker
- Chicago is expensive, though I will likely adjust my lifestyle to ameliorate this
- Maybe slightly fewer resources for students than at UMich, which is more of a comment on how many opportunities there are at UMich than a knock on FSM
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