Mt Sinai (28k/year COA) vs Pitt (47k/year COA)

[euioa4]

I would love people's opinions on these schools!

Desired specialties: anesthesiology, psychiatry, general surgery, maybe pathology

You can just cast a vote but any reasoning is appreciated!

Ultimately it's city (Pitt) vs curriculum (Sinai

Mt sinai
Pros:

• 75k/year aid -> this covers tuition so I just have COL which comes out to be around 112k for 4 years
• exams are online and on weekends I've heard and are NBME based -> no more weekend exams 🙁
• H/P/F clinical

Cons:

• Dorm -> no cat 🙁
• Less prestige
• Most people go to home residency programs and I never hear good things about NY residencies
• A good portion of the class is from Flexmed

Neutral:

• Idk how I feel about such a big city like NYC since I've only ever lived in the suburbs

Pittsburgh
Pros:

• More prestigious
• Fabulous clerkship experiences I've heard
• The residency rankings of the specialties I'm interested seems to be UPMC > Mt sinai
• More research opportunities? Since there's an undergrad
• Flex week
• Probably will live in a house so cat!
• Friends

Cons (basically the curriculum):

• 55k/year aid -> comes out to be 188k for 4 years -> but COL of Pittsburgh is less than NYC so I might borrow less
• Mandatory classes
• H/HP/P/F clerkship
• In-house exams

Same for both:
- Distance from home
- Comparable match list

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[TheGOOD_MD_slimreaper]

Sinai is on the same level of prestige as Pitt. I vote Sinai here.

 

[winterwonderland4958]

I also had the choice between Sinai and Pitt and had a similar mindset at first. Honestly, these schools are equivalent in prestige. Both top 20s, and Sinai has even been ranked #11 once, which has never been true for Pitt. Grading system and lack of attendance requirements will improve quality of life, and I do not believe Pitt is worth the extra $76k in loans. Do the math on how much extra that will be with 8-9% a year interest rates.

 

[Mr. Macrophage]

Mt. Sinai is definitely not less prestigious than Pitt. Most T20s are on the same level of prestige!

Strongly vote for Sinai here

 

[euioa4]

Thank you for everyone's opinion! I didn't expect Sinai to get the overwhelming support.

I think because I live near Pennsylvania I always hear about UPMC and since Sinai doesn't have an undergrad I didn't even know it existed until I applied this year. The layman's prestige (or my perception) is clouding my judgement right now. I know that the residency director ranking is no more believable than the US news ranking but the #9 next to Pitt looks so nice ya know? With the sweet sweet NIH funding that Pitt usually gets.

 

[winterwonderland4958]

Thank you for everyone's opinion! I didn't expect Sinai to get the overwhelming support.

I think because I live near Pennsylvania I always hear about UPMC and since Sinai doesn't have an undergrad I didn't even know it existed until I applied this year. The layman's prestige (or my perception) is clouding my judgement right now. I know that the residency director ranking is no more believable than the US news ranking but the #9 next to Pitt looks so nice ya know? With the sweet sweet NIH funding that Pitt usually gets.

With the funding, you have to keep in mind that pitt is a larger institution than Sinai, and Sinai gets a large amount of NIH funding (#13) as well. They have been ranked number 2-3 in terms of the amount of funding per principal investigator (ie these labs have a lot of money). Sinai's match list suggest you'll have no problems with residencies

 

[m1redsox]

Prestige is equal, distance from family is equal, pick the cheaper one.

 

[Hollow Knight]

People vastly underestimate how awful mandatory class is. I'd go to Mt Sinai for that reason alone, but the scholarship makes it a no-brainer.

And for NY residencies...... I've heard the same stuff, but I've literally never met a happy resident that wasn't FM and I'm not even in NY. Residency is probably going to be bad wherever you go unless you're psych or FM. Don't read too much into that.

 

[hydroflaskhomie]

Prestige is equivalent.

Petition the school for an ESA so you can have your cat in your dorm.

Sinai definitely self-selects for so many people to end up in NYC - I have no doubt you will be able to match anywhere fine out of Sinai.

 

[euioa4]

Prestige is equivalent.

Petition the school for an ESA so you can have your cat in your dorm.

Sinai definitely self-selects for so many people to end up in NYC - I have no doubt you will be able to match anywhere fine out of Sinai.

Haha thanks for addressing my cat issue!