- Joined
- Oct 1, 2013
- Messages
- 42
- Reaction score
- 44
Hi all,
Just wanted to post my situation on here to hear some opinions. FWIW, I've already made my decision about which program to matriculate into (I PM'ed some of the frequent posters on this site with details- apologies if any of you re-read this!), but wanted to share my experience and the dilemma I was facing over the past few weeks/months.
Long story short, I am a Texas resident, was between a school ranked in the 40-50 range (US News, Research) OOS, and one of the "lower-tier" Texas medical schools (not UTSW or Baylor). The Texas school was 2-3x cheaper to attend (scholarships, in-state tuition, and low cost of living around the school), and will end up saving me about $150-160k in loans, principle alone (not including interest during 4 years of med + however many years of residency).
Socially, the city that the OOS school was in was a better fit for me, and I think I would have enjoyed myself a little more had I chosen that route. However, after speaking with several contacts (attendings/residency directors/current med students/etc), I ended up choosing the lower ranked, cheaper school. The general consensus was that outside of the top 20/25, rank stops mattering, and that the 150k more in loans w/o interest would not be worth the "name advantage". Just wanted to know what thoughts were on this type of situation (I'm sure I'm not the only person making the call between cheaper vs. higher ranked). It seemed like there was no clear/easy choice.
On a more systemic/macro note, this experience has me a little jaded on the attention paid to HC reform, but not to HC educational reform (at least the financing of HC education). Seems like interest rates for student loans have only gone up over the past decade, and tuition has largely stagnated (or increased). PSLF/IBR seem a little too fickle to rely on, but seem to be some of the better options out there...some of these loans appear to be crippling in terms of flexibility for young physicians (and more fuel to the fire of a specialty heavy system).
Just wanted to post my situation on here to hear some opinions. FWIW, I've already made my decision about which program to matriculate into (I PM'ed some of the frequent posters on this site with details- apologies if any of you re-read this!), but wanted to share my experience and the dilemma I was facing over the past few weeks/months.
Long story short, I am a Texas resident, was between a school ranked in the 40-50 range (US News, Research) OOS, and one of the "lower-tier" Texas medical schools (not UTSW or Baylor). The Texas school was 2-3x cheaper to attend (scholarships, in-state tuition, and low cost of living around the school), and will end up saving me about $150-160k in loans, principle alone (not including interest during 4 years of med + however many years of residency).
Socially, the city that the OOS school was in was a better fit for me, and I think I would have enjoyed myself a little more had I chosen that route. However, after speaking with several contacts (attendings/residency directors/current med students/etc), I ended up choosing the lower ranked, cheaper school. The general consensus was that outside of the top 20/25, rank stops mattering, and that the 150k more in loans w/o interest would not be worth the "name advantage". Just wanted to know what thoughts were on this type of situation (I'm sure I'm not the only person making the call between cheaper vs. higher ranked). It seemed like there was no clear/easy choice.
On a more systemic/macro note, this experience has me a little jaded on the attention paid to HC reform, but not to HC educational reform (at least the financing of HC education). Seems like interest rates for student loans have only gone up over the past decade, and tuition has largely stagnated (or increased). PSLF/IBR seem a little too fickle to rely on, but seem to be some of the better options out there...some of these loans appear to be crippling in terms of flexibility for young physicians (and more fuel to the fire of a specialty heavy system).
