MSTP Programs: UCSF vs. Columbia

[LastMinuteCall]

Hi!

I recently was accepted into UCSF's MSTP off of their waitlist, and only have a few more hours to let them know of my decision. I was all set to go to Columbia's MSTP, but am now struggling to decide.

Any advice? I know they're both great programs, but was wondering if there's any advantages career-wise in choosing one school over the other, in such things as residency match, becoming faculty, etc.

Any extra info relating to the two schools and programs will be helpful!

Thanks

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[Rzarecta]

Hi!


Any advice? I know they're both great programs, but was wondering if there's any advantages career-wise in choosing one school over the other, in such things as residency match, becoming faculty, etc.

In short probably not. Both schools are of such caliber that neither is going to confer significant career advantages over the other. I think the biggest thing will be how you feel about the schools and in what part of the country you want to spend the next eight years of your life.

If you want my own opinion, UCSF is one of those schools that people reject Harvard for. Granted these are Cali people who would gladly give up limbs to go to med school in Cali, but still.

 

[sleepy425]

Hi!

I recently was accepted into UCSF's MSTP off of their waitlist, and only have a few more hours to let them know of my decision. I was all set to go to Columbia's MSTP, but am now struggling to decide.

Any advice? I know they're both great programs, but was wondering if there's any advantages career-wise in choosing one school over the other, in such things as residency match, becoming faculty, etc.

Any extra info relating to the two schools and programs will be helpful!

Thanks

Look, for MSTP, especially at schools like UCSF or Columbia, you can pretty much stop worrying about residency matching and things like that. Your medical education, including residency, is pretty much taken care of assuming you do pretty well on Step I.

You need to consider things like the availability of faculty in the area of research you're interested in. Don't limit yourself too much in your research scope, but there were a couple of schools I turned down because I simply couldn't find more than 1 person I might want to work for. Another thing to consider is the MSTP program itself. You might like the director of one program better than another, or the administrative director (the "mom" of the program). Some MSTPs have special courses offered for just MSTPs during their med school years to give some conceptual learning to the endless stream of memorization that you get in med school.

There are lots of other things too. A big factor for me was that Penn, the school I'm going to, does preclinical work in 1.5 years, so you have 6 months of clinical work before you start your PhD. That is a big deal, because otherwise you don't get any clinical exposure until about 6 years after you matriculate, instead of after 1.5 years. If one of the schools you're considering has something like that, it's something to think about. My point is that each school has little things like that which make the school unique. Make your decision based on where you want to spend the next 7-9 years of your life and where you feel you'd enjoy yourself the most. At this caliber, any move you make will be good for your career. Good luck with your choice! You can't go wrong!