Name & Fame | Name & Shame | Reviews of Schools 2019-2020

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
TheDataKing

TheDataKing

Full Member
5+ Year Member
Joined
May 16, 2018
Messages
1,840
Reaction score
4,679
Hey ya'll. I'm the neurotic human who made way too many spreadsheets this year. With that information and my personal experiences, I thought I'd throw together some reviews of schools for which I attended interviews and let everyone else name & shame or name & fame schools 🙂 edit: if you'd like to submit a review of a school but want to stay anonymous, you can DM me & I will post it

  1. Albany || Albany
  2. Albert Einstein | Albert Einstein
  3. Arizona - Phoenix
  4. Boonshoft (Wright State)
  5. Boston U
  6. Brody ECU
  7. Brown || Brown
  8. Cali Northstate
  9. California University of Science and Medicine
  10. Case Western || CWRU
  11. Charles R Drew UCLA
  12. Cleveland Clinic Lerner (CCLCM)
  13. Cornell
  14. Columbia
  15. Creighton
  16. Dartmouth || Dartmouth || Dartmouth
  17. Drexel
  18. Duke || Duke
  19. EVMS
  20. Emory
  21. Florida
  22. Geisinger
  23. Georgetown
  24. George Washington University
  25. Hackensack- Seton Hall
  26. Harvard
  27. Hofstra || Hofstra || Hofstra | Hofstra
  28. Indiana
  29. Jefferson || Jefferson
  30. JHU | JHU
  31. Kaiser
  32. Kansas
  33. Loma Linda
  34. Louisville
  35. Loyola Stritch
  36. Maryland | Maryland
  37. Mayo || Mayo
  38. Mayo - Arizona
  39. Medical College of Georgia (MCG)
  40. MCW || MCW || MCW
  41. Mercer
  42. Miami || Miami
  43. Michigan
  44. Morehouse
  45. Mt Sinai || Mt. Sinai
  46. NYMC | NYMC
  47. NYU || NYU || NYU
  48. NYU-Long Island
  49. Northwestern Feinberg || Feinberg
  50. Ohio State || OSU
  51. OHSU (Oregon)
  52. OUWB
  53. Penn State
  54. Pittsburgh || Pitt || Pitt
  55. Quinnipiac
  56. Rochester
  57. Rosalind Franklin
  58. Rutgers NJMS
  59. Rutgers RWJMS || RWJMS
  60. SUNY Downstate | SUNY Downstate
  61. SLU || SLU
  62. Stanford
  63. Stony Brook
  64. Texas A&M
  65. TCU-UNTHSC
  66. Temple
  67. Temple/St. Luke's
  68. Tennessee
  69. Toledo
  70. Tufts || Tufts
  71. Tulane
  72. UCF (Central Florida) || UCF
  73. UChicago || UChicago
  74. UC Davis
  75. UCI
  76. UC Riverside
  77. UCSD
  78. UCSF
  79. UCLA || UCLA || UCLA
  80. UNC Chapel Hill
  81. UMass
  82. UPenn
  83. USC Keck
  84. USF Morsani
  85. UTMB
  86. UVA || UVA
  87. Utah
  88. Vanderbilt
  89. Vermont
  90. VCU | VCU
  91. VTech Carilion
  92. Wake || Wake Forest
  93. WashU
  94. WSU Elson
  95. Wayne State
  96. WMich Stryker
  97. West Virginia
  98. Wisconsin
  99. Yale

University of Toledo:
Location: sub-optimal. You're 50 minutes from Detroit and in a large town/small city. They now have a Whole Foods but no Trader Joes :arghh: I was told there is one or two good places for each thing you can think of (bars, diff cuisines, etc).
Cost of Living: Insanely cheap
Transportation: You need a car
Clinical Rotations: all completed at Toledo/Promedica except for 8 weeks of AHEC (rural medicine)
Positive Impressions: The students and faculty were friendly and said they were happy there. There are underground tunnels to connect all of buildings so you don't have to go outside. Their simulation center is incredible. If you're out of state, you can get in-state tuition for years 2-4 (woo). The preclinical curriculum is 18 months and is P/F (does NOT count toward AOA, does count toward ranking for MSPE). They match into competitive specialties every year and seem to have adequate research available. The admin really tries to put student wellness on the forefront and has added wellness days after some exams/blocks and students like to go out together.
Negative Impressions: I showed up up to the MD interview as was what I received via email invite and found out I was actually interviewing for MD/PhD. This was my first interview and I had zero warning ahead of time. They seem disorganized with admissions and don't answer their phones. You have to pay for parking. It gets really cold here if you're not from the midwest

Geisinger:
Location: no
doggolul.png

Cost of Living: reasonable
Transportation: you absolutely need a car
Clinical Rotations: you're thrown around the state by a lottery system for MS3/MS4
Positive Impressions: The med school building is new and nice. You can choose when to take shelf exams MS3 because of the longitudinal integrated clerkships which I think are pretty cool bc you get a lot of one on one time with the same attending for 6 months. COL is relatively cheap. Preclinical is P/F (but matters for you rank for the MSPE). Lecture attendance isn't mandatory for the most part.
Negative Impression: I got very very very weird vibes here. My interviewer asked inappropriate questions. Longitudinal integrated clerkships sound like they could get messy quickly and be a lot of bouncing around/confusion. Two year preclinical is not ideal for me. Their exams are all in-house which means it's harder to use boards material to study. The location is abysmal - there is not much going on in Scranton and you're two hours away from big cities (Philly, NYC). You're going to have to move between MS2 and MS3 most likely.

West Virginia University:
Location: lol
3296_fastpepe.gif

Cost of Living: cheap
Transportation: You need a car to get around for clinical stuff
Clinical Rotations: They have a robust hospital system and you can stay in the area for MS3 and MS4
Positive Impressions: Students seemed genuinely happy. They have recorded non-mandatory lectures. Facilities are nice and there are a lot of windows. The area is actually really pretty but it's just not for me. Exams are given on Fridays so that students have "free weekends." You're "given" a MacBook. Their sim center was actually pretty impressive too and they have a really great ultrasound curriculum that seemed like it would be beneficial in the long run.
Negative Impression: H/P/F for pre-clinical - no thanks. You cannot get in-state tuition if you qualify as out of state when you apply & tuition is expensive. They interview way too many people (14% OOS post-II A rate??) They use in-house exams mainly with NBMEs at the end of MS2 thrown at you. They are currently 2 year preclinical but are switching to 1.5 years apparently. You're stuck in Morgantown. Students mentioned there wasn't much to do in the area and the university is larger in population than the city of Morgantown..

University of Louisville:
Location: I kinda liked it but there isn't a ton to do and the immediate area surrounding the school isn't super safe.
weintrouble.png

Cost of Living: Cheap
Transportation: You need a car
Clinical Rotations: all completed at UofL
Positive Impressions: The students and admin were pretty nice and it seemed like a collaborative environment. Preclinical is now P/F instead of H/P/F. Apple technology is integrated throughout their school so you use your macbook and apple tv for a lot of things. Lecture is recorded and for the most part not mandatory. Anatomy practicals and written exams are purposefully on separate days so that students don't have to do them back to back. They seem to match pretty well, even into competitive specialties. I still don't know if Louisville is in the midwest or the south 😕
Negative Impressions: My interviewers were just strange and seemed like they didn't read my application. I was told there was no time for research (when they have a research track available for students) during an interview and that was awkward. The out of state tuition is high and you cannot get instate tuition. All of their courses run a semester long instead of in blocks. Their sim lab was disappointing. Students are ranked M1-M3 so it's not a true P/F system. They have in-house exams and they fall on Mondays/Tuesdays often which doesn't give you free weekends. There is a glaring lack of diversity at Louisville though my guess is this stems from the fact that it's in Kentucky.


Wake Forest:
Location: WS is cute and has a breweries and such. If you get bored, you can easily go to Charlotte or Raleigh
pepeyes.png

Cost of Living: Relatively cheap
Transportation: car needed
Clinical Rotations: at WFBMC
Positive Impressions: I got great vibes here from the moment I walked in. The building is incredible and the faculty, staff, admin, and students were incredibly friendly and went out of their way to help me. Wake has an 18 month pre-clinical curriculum and does everything in systems blocks which I find ideal. Their remediation policy is incredibly lax. They have a lot of opportunities for students to get therapy if needed and advocate for students to do certificate programs in things like "Active Resilience Training." They knew that step 1 was likely going P/F when I interviewed and they have the name recognition and connections to help students get to where they want to go. You get a lot of time MS4 to customize your education. They have a paid summer research program in between MS1 and MS2 if students are interested. UWorld, Sketchy, Pathoma, and First Aid are given to you for free (jk they're in the expensive tuition) and parking and printing are free of charge. THEY DON'T RANK STUDENTS IN THE MSPE
feelsengrailed.png
making their P/F preclinical system almost completely a true P/F system - the caveat is that it counts towards AOA. The cadaver lab and building in general has a ton of windows but the cadaver lab has its own HVAC system which helps keep things smelling... not as gross. Almost every single exam is on a Friday (except one or two).
Negative Impressions: They use PCs and I'd prefer MacBooks 🙄


EVMS:
Location: you're close to Virginia Beach which is nice. The area around the school is cute until you get to the dangerous parts lol
Cost of Living: kinda expensive?
Transportation: You need a car
Clinical Rotations: pretty sure you can complete them all at EVMS
Positive Impressions: The interview day was so disorganized which makes me wonder if they're disorganized at a higher level? That said, the students were very friendly and spoke highly of the program. The preclinical years are P/F and students aren't ranked. They provide you with UWorld which helps with cost a lil bit. All of their exams are NBME sto students mentioned literally just studying board material and this is reflected in their relatively high step scores in comparison to other schools in their tier. They hold their own and match well. They integrate ultrasound well and really focus on it!
Negative Impressions: The dean started the day off with a weird talk and just seemed narcissistic? I don't know that was weird. The preclinical curriculum is two years - not my favorite. The out of state tuition is high and when I asked if you could qualify for in-state tuition, they told me, "only if you marry someone in the military" Aightttttt.


love you.png
Stars of the Show:
Wake Forest & Toledo

_(ツ)_:¯.png
(eh):
EVMS, Louisville, WVU

9197_Pepe_YIKES.png
(no thanks)
Drexel, OUWB, Geisinger
(my OUWB & Drexel review -> moved to the comments)
Members don't see this ad.
 
Last edited:
Members don't see this ad :)
School name: Wayne State
Positive Impressions:
Downtown Detroit is beautiful and underrated
Negative Impression:
First of all, they had the audacity to serve sandwiches with COLESLAW in them for lunch.


Second of all, our interviews ended 1 hr 30 min later than the scheduled end time. No apologies and thankfully I didnt have a flight to catch, but I would've been pissed if that were the case.


Third of all, I did not learn a single thing about the school. I learned about the city of Detroit and I learned about some of the things that med students do, but I learned absolutely nothing about the curriculum, rotations, or anything of that nature. Also the tour was just a bunch of hallways.


And last but not least, the only interaction we had with someone from admissions (besides the interview) was at the very end of the day for about 5 minutes. The medical students who led us throughout the day were nice, but it was extremely unorganized, and the dude from admissions gave a quick 5 minute shpeal. That was it. Just never seen such a hands off admissions committee.
 
hailbate said:
School name: Wayne State
Positive Impressions:
Downtown Detroit is beautiful and underrated
Negative Impression:
First of all, they had the audacity to serve sandwiches with COLESLAW in them for lunch.


Second of all, our interviews ended 1 hr 30 min later than the scheduled end time. No apologies and thankfully I didnt have a flight to catch, but I would've been pissed if that were the case.


Third of all, I did not learn a single thing about the school. I learned about the city of Detroit and I learned about some of the things that med students do, but I learned absolutely nothing about the curriculum, rotations, or anything of that nature. Also the tour was just a bunch of hallways.


And last but not least, the only interaction we had with someone from admissions (besides the interview) was at the very end of the day for about 5 minutes. The medical students who led us throughout the day were nice, but it was extremely unorganized, and the dude from admissions gave a quick 5 minute shpeal. That was it. Just never seen such a hands off admissions committee.
Click to expand...

I love everything about this including the gif integration. Well done 🤣
 
I’ll play along!

School name: University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Location: Memphis, TN

Cost of Living: Cheaper if you’re fine with living further out in the ‘burbs or renting a house with other people. Expensive if you’re living in/near the medical district. Edit: tuition is pretty cheap at $36K if you’re IS (about $55K with COL.) If you’re OOS, then it’s at a pretty penny with $67K. With COL, you’ll be spending about $90K/year.

Transportation: You’ll need a car if you aren’t living near the school. Also, parking is hella expensive here

Clinical Rotations: Amazing. Every opportunity afforded to you. Primarily done in Memphis but the school works with you to go around the state. Emphasis on rural areas (duh, it’s a state school.)

Positive Impressions: The program is incredible. The website gives such little information that the interview kinda blows you away with everything they offer. They genuinely care about you as a student. I felt the students were really happy with choosing this school. Another thing to note is the school is ON TOP of ensuring your education is as great as it can be. If a lecturer is teaching about his/her research only, they nip that in the bud. Also, they’re really starting to utilize TBL more than the traditional lecture/learning style. Lastly, 8 weeks for dedicated

Negative Impressions: There’s a GPA system, which at the time was a strong negative with me. But now that step I is P/F, it may have some positives lol. Also, many of the buildings are pretty old. Don’t get me wrong, they have many new buildings that are awesome, but the lecture hall and cadaver labs were from like the 70s or so and you can tell. Lastly, apparently, even though the school is on top of ensuring lecturers are doing well, they’re still kinda behind the curve with utilizing new teaching styles. It takes the school a few years to implement new ideas that PLENTY of schools are adopting. I’m not talking about unique stuff like UVM or Harvard, but stuff like PBL, TBL, etc.

Overall I love the school and so happy to attend the program this fall.
 
Last edited:
Ohio State:
Location: good for Ohio - in a college town

Cost of Living: reasonable

Transportation: you need a car to get around

Clinical Rotations: these are all completed at OSU hospitals + Nationwide Children's

Positive Impressions: For context, I went to a school in a collegetown, so I absolutely loved OSU's vibe and school spirit. Columbus is also a really nice city (bigger than Cleveland now, which I found surprising!). Students seemed really happy and everyone was extremely kind. Very diverse class. Really cheap housing, especially considering the size of the city. For OOS students, you can claim in-state tuition after M1 year. Good match list.

Negative Impressions: Pretty big class. 2 year pre-clinical curriculum. It seemed like a pretty decent chunk of the class went to OSU for undergrad, which is fine but seemed a little cliquey. (edit: might be 1.5 year preclinical?


Dartmouth
Location: Desolate, cold, wilderness. Exactly what you’d expect when you think of Hanover, New Hampshire. I had to fly in to Boston and drive an hour to get to my AirBnB which was in a town that was about 15 minutes from the school.

Cost of Living: Tuition is insane, ~$67k per year, no merit aid, no negotiations. Not the cheapest cost of living in NH in general. So $$$
****kkkk.png


Transportation: You will 110% need a car to get around.

Positive Impressions: The school seemed really people-focused and generous to its community. They take this same level of compassion to the global scale, are well-known for their work in the global arena. Located on the same campus as Dartmouth College, which will provide access to all their grad student resources (and a nice social outlet). Both of my interviewers were super kind and VERY well-read on my app

Negative Impressions: Honestly the biggest downside to me was cost. Considering what you’re getting from this school (location, prestige, competitiveness for residency), that price tag was simply not worth it to me.
 
Last edited:
Hofstra
Location: Meh. 30 minutes east of NYC, but the city Hofstra is in seemed kinda dead

Cost of Living: Decent Transportation: I didn't get a good sense of this, but the vibe I got was that you probably need one?

Clinical Rotations: Northwell Health, which is all over NY, mainly in NYC.

Positive Impressions: Honestly one of the most underrated medical schools in my opinion. Really great match list, really high Step 1 + 2 scores, great merit/need-based financial aid. Small class size, and it seemed like from the students I've talked to that they were really happy there.

Negative Impression: Location was meh (but being close to NYC makes it fine). 2 year pre-clinical curriculum.
 
Brown
Location: Providence, RI was actually very pretty. It’s not a bustling city like Boston (which is only about 45 minutes away) or NYC, but it has the bare minimum of what a city life offers.

Cost of Living: Tuition is expensive at ~$63k, but they are known to be generous with need-based aid and matching other aid offers. I’ve gotten word that they’re willing to match merit aid offers in some instances.
ohbaby.png


Transportation: You won’t need a car for the first two years, but it might be nice if you wanna get out of RI and maybe visit Boston. You will need one for rotations that are off-campus.

Positive Impressions: I think this school had one of the happiest classes. Everyone that I interacted with, both on- and off-script. I’ve even kept in touch with a few students after committing to another medical school and their vibes have not changed. I dunno what Brown does, but they know how to cultivate and maintain a happy, positive class culture. In addition, the ivy name, network, and match list reflect the level of prestige that you’d expect from a top 10.

Negative Impressions: If you’d prefer the urban life, this might not be the place for you. They have a lower than normal average Step 1 score, but this could be due to the disproportionate # of students pursuing less competitive specialities….also P/F step.
 
Last edited:
Members don't see this ad :)
Mayo (MN)
Location: Honestly if was married and had kids, seemed like a great place to be. Unfortunately I am neither, so not really ideal. It do be cold
brrr.gif


Cost of Living: Cheap

Transportation: Definitely seemed like having a car is ideal

Clinical Rotations: At Mayo

Positive Impressions: Definitely a surreal experience walking through the hospital. You can see why it's so highly regarded. Students all seemed very impressive and happy to be at Mayo. Gym was TOP TIER. They have a really high Faculty-Student ratio. Obviously top-tier match list (with a lot staying at Mayo). Selectives seem awesome.

Negative Impressions: In the middle of nowhere (an hour and a half away from Minneapolis - which is a great city to be fair). Tiny class size - I like small classes but having only 50 people in the class makes it kind of risky in terms of finding your people. They accidentally accepted 300+ too many people this year and then took hours to tell them they were WL. That's shady for a school that prides themselves on professionalism
feelsthinkingman.png
 
Last edited:
NYU
Location: Top tier (Lower Manhattan)

Cost of Living: Expensive (they have subsidized housing, which makes it not that bad) Transportation: No car necessary. Subsidized housing is 5 minutes walk away from all the hospitals.

Clinical Rotations: At NYU

Positive Impressions:
Free tuition
woweee.png
Great match list. For being in NYC, pretty cheap housing (still expensive though). 1.5 year preclinical curriculum. Option for 3 year MD Program. Dean Rivera is great. Small class size.

Negative Impressions: Every med student and every interviewee (except one other) I met was from some elite private school, which I don't know if that's the reason why, but I didn't really vibe with them.
 
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Location: One of my favorite destinations along the interview trail. Other than the cold, the community here is BEAUTIFUL. My AirBnB host prepared coffee, dark chocolate for me on the morning of my interview. She also left me some cheese curds that I found on my bed the afternoon before I checked out. This sentiment was mirrored at coffee shops and local stores that I visited in the area. It’s also a bigger city, so you get that aspect as well!

Cost of Living: On the cheaper end, especially if you’re instate. They are also generous with merit aid. Their tuition sits at around ~$55k.

Transportation: A car is not necessary but is nice.

Positive Impressions: The city. The people. The community. In addition, this school is a research powerhouse and will provide you with unlimited access to their resources (pubs for residency if that’s what you want). The medical school is HUGE and new and on the cutting edge. The faculty are also very involved with the students and care a lot about the students’ goals after medschool.

Negative Impressions:
The grading system was a little suspect, and I never really got a straight answer when I asked. But it’s not true P/F, and some ranking is reported. Correct me if I’m wrong! Bigger class, students seemed pretty stressed out for some reason (grading system/competition?).
9096_thinkingpepe.png
 
Indiana University School of Medicine
Location: Indiana University is interesting in that the answer to this question will vary widely (I think you can get 9 different answers actually due to their 9 different satellite campuses). I interviewed at Muncie, which was pretty cold and empty. Would not prefer to live here for 4 years.
NINE CAMPUSES
ExcuseMeWtf.gif


Cost of Living: ~$60k OOS tuition. CoL of in Indiana though is much cheaper.

Transportation: Need a car

Positive Impressions: The faculty was super hype about the directions the school was taking, shows that they care and are invested in their program. Students were CHILLIN. I couldn’t find a hint of worry or stress in the Muncie students.

Negative Impressions: Nothing really stood out to me at this school. Research opportunities are scarce, depending on what campus you get assigned to (which is essentially random). They say you have access to the other satellites, but let’s be real, nobody is about to drive 45 min - 1.5 hours to run a western blot.
 
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Location: Cleveland, OH is not as bad as the world makes it out to be. But if you’re expecting the perfect city, this is not the move. You’ll be confined to campus for the most part anyway.

Cost of Living: Tuition is ~$65k with cost of living at around ~$20k.

Transportation: You will probably need a car

Positive Impressions: Situated close-ish to the undergrad campus, right next to the Cleveland Clinic. You can get a nice mix of the bread and butter community medicine but also the rare cases at the Cleveland Clinic. Tons of great research opportunities. Brand spanking new building….that is also shared with other health affiliate training programs.

Negative Impressions: My interviewer was not very kind. She was winging her understanding of my application, which I could easily see that she had only read it minutes before shaking my hand. That whole experience was almost enough to make me withdraw shortly thereafter. I didn’t like being crammed with all the other health affiliates, especially considering how big the class size is.
pepereee.png

 
University of Arizona-Phoenix College of Medicine
Location: Phoenix, AZ is HOT. But there is plenty to do, ~beautiful~ city, very attractive people on both ends of the spectrum.

Cost of Living: Around $86K for OOS

Transportation: You will need a car unless you’re trying to stay stranded on campus.

Positive Impressions: I liked the city a lot, despite the weather and my sweaty suit. The students also seemed relatively happy, and the faculty were all very involved in the school (by virtue of it being brand new). New building and new equipment, right next to the nursing buildings and research facilities.

Negative Impressions: It’s new, and that comes with a lot of problems. In addition, the school didn’t provide average step 1 scores. The score itself was not my concern, but their lack of transparency was.
madpatrick.png

 
Hofstra
Location: Long Island, NY…Not the NY you’d expect. It’s a bit out in left field, and getting to and fro (from NYC) will be a hassle (and a 45min drive) if that’s your goal. Not a city.

Cost of Living: ~$83k, a lot cheaper than what you’d pay going to medical school in NYC, but that makes sense.

Transportation: You will probably need a car here…weird right?

Positive Impressions: Only medical school in the area with full access to their healthcare system (Northwell Health). So tons of resources are invested in their med students. Supposedly strong in surgery too.

Negative Impressions: Their reputations as a new school is questionable, and their dean was quite odd. Also not a fan of written tests and did not feel that getting an EMT certification during med school was a good selling point.
_(ツ)_:¯.png
 
Hofstra:
Location: Hofstra is suburban but a quick 25 min train ride to Manhattan.

COL: Seems pretty affordable, especially compared to NYC.

Transportation: need a car...

Positive Impression: I appreciated that I could drive here and staff and students were very friendly. The med school is relatively new and is aesthetically pleasing. MMIs generally went well, although there was one stress scenario. Lunch was great. The biggest draw for me was definitely the Northwell system, proximity to home, and the fact that they seem to give pretty good aid.

Negative Impression:The 14 minute interviews were kind of awkward. I didn't get a strong mission from them, though. 1st tier WL.

Rochester:
Location: Rochester is a decent sized city, 2 hours from Toronto, 1 and a half from Buffalo. Has a true inner city, surrounded by suburbs, and then surrounded by rural farms.

COL: Very affordable.

Transportation: need a car

Positive Impression: A long interview day. Dr. Nobay is an amazing advocate for her school, and was the same in person as she was on the Case podcast. They seem to carefully pick who they interview and were really focused on hearing from us "Why Rochester?" I felt a strong sense of community and it seems like the type of place people come to for the school. Cool optional pathways (I'm interested in meded and bioethics/medical humanities and seems to really emphasize both research and service. Very into the biopsychosocial approach. Accepted and received an over half tuition need based scholarship. Will most likely be attending.

Negative Impressions: My med student interviewer was a little intense and asked a lot of difficult and personal questions.


UMass:
Location:midsized city, not the best - people claim it's "up and coming" but it isn't
pepewtf.png


COL: affordable

Transportation: car needed

Positive Impression: My state school, also an alum of the UMass system. Beautiful med school, students seem very happy, and a short drive from home. I liked their house system

Negative Impression: Worcester is not my favorite city in Massachusetts. Strong primary care focus - about half the class matches in primary care.. Hardest MMI of mine by far. Tour guide was nice but a little weird. I know a lot of students here


SLU:
Location: St Louis is a good sized city but seems very segregated

COL: very affordable

Transportation: ya need a car

Negative Impression: My least favorite interview day by far. I didn't really jive with the school and felt out of place. The financial aid presentation was abysmal (they told us to ask our friends, family, and church for money). Tour guide would not shut up about Step 1. Strong service focus. WL, will likely withdraw.
no.png



Wake:
Location:in WS, see above review

COL: affordable for the most part.

Positive Impressions: Beautiful new med school. People were generally friendly and this was by far the easiest MMI for me. Seems like they will make you a good doctor. Appreciated their focus on wellness and that parking, UWorld, Sketchy, therapy, etc. is free.
partyblob.gif


Negative Impressions: Winston-Salem is cute, although a little small for my taste. Far from home. Region feels a little more conservative than what I am used to. I didn't get a strong sense of mission from them.


Dartmouth:
Location:desolate but SKIING
skiingyoshi.gif

COL: affordable but most people rent houses with others

Positive Impression: Unfortunately my interview was via zoom so I have a limited view of the school. Everyone was incredibly friendly. It does seem like a lovely place and they have an excellent match list. Also within driving distance of home

Negative Impression: Rural NH is not really my jam so I don't think I'd end up here even if they accept me.. Still waiting on a decision. They failed to give financial aid info at the interview so that might end up causing me some trouble.
 
Temple/St. Luke's Bethlehem
Location: Bethlehem, in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania. It's hit or miss, but I really like it. Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton all have fun things to do, good restaurants, etc. but it's not a big city. You're pretty close to Philly and NYC, but it's not the same as being there.

Cost of Living: It's a pretty cheap place to live.

Transportation: You'll need a car to get around the Lehigh Valley. That said, except rush hour, you can get from one end of the Valley to the other (I went to college there), so doing core rotations won't force you to pick up and move somewhere else.

Clinical Rotations: Mostly done through the St. Luke's health system, which is nice because they're right there for you. You also have access to Temple's hospital and clinical affiliates, which makes getting aways for the specialties that need them pretty easy.

Positive Impressions: The students were the happiest I saw throughout all my interviews. I like the small class size (40 people), and apparently there's easy access to advising and mentorship. Pretty good sim facilities considering how small the program is. Tons of available clinical research in a lot of fields, which I appreciated. Guaranteed $10k a year scholarship. Still definitely not cheap, but it's not nothing.

Negative Impression: The preclinical building isn't exactly impressive, if that's something you care about. You have access to a lot of Temple's resources, but it IS a branch campus, so I'm not sure you're as integrated with the main campus as they said, and the St. Luke's health system isn't exactly a full academic health system, so they don't have home programs in most specialties. They also emphasized how they were not an inferior program to the main campus to a slightly suspicious degree. It's also tough to get a feel for how well the school does in the match with such a small class size.
 
SLU
Location: St. Louis is a nice midwestern city. Plenty of things to do.

Cost of Living: Relatively affordable depending on what area of the city you choose.
Transportation: Need a car.
Clinical Rotations: Good hospital system and strong urban clinical training. Brand new hospital opening in the fall.
Positive Impressions: There is an optional dinner the night before the interview and the school pays for your food, super good food and free. The students all seemed really happy. Lots of service opportunities. WashU is nearby for additional research opportunities.
Negative Impression: Larger class size. The facilities are on the older side, with the exception of the new hospital. The area surrounding the school is not the safest (someone from my hometown was shot and killed as a SLU undergrad).


Medical College of Wisconsin
Location: Milwaukee is a really nice city with plenty of things to do. Close to Chicago. The school itself is in Wauwatosa right outside of the city.

Cost of Living: Affordable
Transportation: Car seems necessary
Clinical Rotations: Froedtert hospital has a very strong reputation in Wisconsin.
Positive Impressions: Facilities are amazing. New med school building, very modern finishes, anatomy lab was one of the best I've ever seen (upstairs and has windows). The school is attached/on the same campus as the hospital. Students seemed really happy. Cool 'Scholarly Concentrations' curriculum component. Tuition is not bad for OOS.
Negative Impression: Large class size (200 or more at Milwaukee).



Creighton
Location: Omaha is not bad. It's in the middle of nowhere but is an up-and-coming city with plenty of restaurants/bars/things to do. There's an airport right by the school so traveling is easy. You can also do your clinical years in Phoenix which makes up for 2 years in Nebraska. They are also in the process of opening a 4-year campus in Phoenix starting in 2021.

Cost of Living: CHEAP. Luxury 1-bedrooms are easily under $1000.
Transportation: Definitely need a car.
Clinical Rotations: Both Omaha and Phoenix have decently strong clinical training and Creighton has its own hospital affiliation. Being able to do clinical years in Phoenix is a huge perk for people from CA/who hope to match out west. Phoenix people also get to rotate at Barrow, apparently a highly regarded neuro institute.
Positive Impressions: Cost of living is as good as it gets. Phoenix track is an amazing opportunity. Recently moved the med school into a new building in and renovated the anatomy lab. Students seemed really happy with support, admin, and faculty. Service is the pride of the school, 100% of students volunteer in some capacity. Good match list.
Negative Impression: Hefty private school tuition with limited scholarship opportunities. Campus gym is not the newest, but it's big and has everything you need. Not a research powerhouse.



Temple
Location: North Philadelphia is not the safest area. The school definitely looked like an oasis among a rougher neighborhood, but it makes the clinical training unique.

Cost of Living: Not as pricey as other East Coast cities, but still pretty expensive as most students live in Center City.
Transportation: No car necessary, reliable subway transportation throughout the city
Clinical Rotations: Strong urban clinical training. Temple has its own hospitals. The school was pretty proud that they see the most penetration wounds of any other hospital, which is great if you're into emergency stuff.
Positive Impressions: Super nice med school building with a huge library, sim center, and upstairs anatomy lab with windows. Cafeteria/lobby area where students hang out at school was really nice. Probably some of the strongest urban clinical training you can find at any medical school.
Negative Impression: Larger class size. Having to worry about safety near campus is not ideal. Having to commute to campus is a pain. May get sent outside of Philly during rotations.



UCF (Central Florida)
Location: The school is in Lake Nona, which is a community within Orlando. It's a bit isolated and about 20-30 mins from downtown Orlando, but is developing quickly and there is enough to do nearby.

Cost of Living: Medium
Transportation: Definitely need a car.
Clinical Rotations: Recently cut ties with AdventHealth which is a big blow to what was a very strong clinical program. There is still a VA and a highly regarded children's hospital next to the school. Also the UCF Medical Center is currently in the works and will open to patients in 2020 or 2021.
Positive Impressions: The dean has big dreams and wants students who share a similar vision. Med school building is an architectural feat with probably the nicest anatomy lab of any school. The building has napping pods and treadmill desks for all students to use. Admissions office is the most transparent of any medical school. If you get waitlisted, they tell you where you are on the WL and your chances of being admitted based on historical data. Extremely strong match list for a newer school. Students hang out at Disney World.
Negative Impression: Not connected to the undergrad campus (20-30 min drive). It feels kind of isolated at the medical school, they're working on moving other professional schools to the same campus but as it stands you're all alone in a small community. They give you a PC.



Rosalind Franklin
Location: North Chicago is an hour or more outside Chicago. Not a nice area in itself but surrounded by more affluent suburbs so there is enough to do.

Cost of Living: Cheap if living near the school, but many students live in Chicago and commute after first year which raises the cost significantly.
Transportation: A car is ideal but if you live in the city there is public transportation that takes you right to the school.
Clinical Rotations: Depends on where you end up since RFU does not have its own hospital. Believe it is a lottery system and certain sites are better than others.
Positive Impressions: Strong match list that was as good or better than higher ranked Chicago medical schools. Students seemed really happy. NBME style curriculum very in line for STEP.
Negative Impression: The school environment gave off an almost high school vibe. The building is in the middle of nowhere and then all contained within one building. The school is not actually in Chicago which is misleading to OOS students. Traffic in or out of the area is a pain. No hospital affiliation.
 
Last edited:
I'll just do the schools I don't see above since I don't have much to add about Drexel or Wake (except I guess that I didn't have a terrible experience at Drexel. Their on-site gym was kind of cool, but the facilities in general were pretty old. It is worth mentioning that they are building a new med school which is on their undergrad campus so it will be a bit closer to Philly. Supposedly it will be done in 2022. Huge con for me was the location of clinical sites. Very few of them are in Philly, and some are in Pittsburgh and even Northern California.
I also had an amazing experience with Wake).

University of Utah:
Location: Salt Lake City is chill. It has a city feel. The school is right against the mountains, so it has a killer view. Within a half hour of world-class ski resorts (where they held the 2002 Olympics). Students said that probably half of their class had the Ikon Pass (for skiing).
Cost of Living: Cost of living is not bad at all. Obviously if you want to live close to the school, it is a little more expensive since it is in the city, but a lot of students said they lived 15-20 minutes away where it was cheaper.
Transportation: I actually don't think a car would be super necessary. They have a pretty good public bus/train system that can get you anywhere, and one student said she just rides her bike since parking is scarce. Parking definitely sucks. I literally got a parking ticket while I was there.
Clinical Rotations: All at the University of Utah or very close-by. Salt Lake Valley has tons of hospitals and the U basically has a monopoly over all of them since they are the only med school around.
Positive Impressions: Awesome school, I would go just for the skiing. Facilities were world class. People were pretty happy/friendly. There is a strong religious (Mormon) culture there- which was cool for me because I'm married, and my wife prefers a safe/nice/well-kept area. The view from the top floor can't be beat, and their clinical rotations are awesome. P/F pre-clinical grading, H/HP/P/F clinical grading. Great match list. Awesome step scores.
Negative Impressions: Applying to this school was honestly the worst experience. Their secondary basically just had you re-write your entire primary application's 15 experiences with estimated hours and everything, which seemed like a total waste of time (although not having to write any essays was nice). Then you had to do a video interview and timed essay. THEN you had to do a situational judgement test. THEN you had 8 MMIs. And FINALLY, even if you interview in September (like me), you most likely won't hear back until March 15th. So stupid.
In terms of actually attending the school, parking really sucked, and that's prettymuch it. Overall, it is a really awesome place to go once you get past the interview process and are accepted haha.

California Northstate: I was somewhat hesitant to apply given its terrible reputation on SDN, but I went to the interview anyways since it was early in the cycle (September), and I was pleasantly surprised.
Location: Elk Grove is a suburb right outside Sacramento. It feels kind of rural, but it actually has like 200,000 people, and it is just minutes away from downtown Sac where there is plenty to do.
Cost of Living: It's California, so it will be high, but not as high as the bay area, LA, or even Sac for that matter since it is a suburb.
Transportation: Yeah, you will need a car. Parking is free though!
Clinical Rotations: No attached hospital, so most clinicals are at different hospitals in Sacramento like Kaiser and Sutter. Some are in the bay, which is kind of far. However, they are building a teaching hospital which is projected to be completed in 2022 - by the time the class of 2024 would be in 3rd year rotations.
Positive Impressions: The recent match list actually looked pretty solid (quite a few Ortho, Derm, ENT matches). It is probably on the level of some of the top D.O. schools and low-level MD schools - which isn't bad considering it was only their second match. The building was pretty new. P/F pre-clinical grading. H/HP/P/F clinical. They use the NMBE questions for every single test- which is kind of nice. They really teach towards the boards. They had all the other normal stuff like recorded lectures, a sim lab, a cadaver lab, etc. Panda Express for lunch was great. Overall, I had a really positive experience with most of the faculty and current students.
Negative Impressions: Biggest minus is obviously that it is a for-profit school, so that is kind of sketchy to most people on SDN. They do not allow their students to take out federal loans, which definitely sucks because private loans usually have higher interest rates. They are not fully accredited yet, despite having graduated 2 classes. Obviously they don't have any attached hospital or residencies, which is a huge minus, but who knows what that will look like in a few years once they finish building their hospital. The old "President" guy didn't rub me the right way. Kind of arrogant/unapproachable. Also, you share the main building with the School of Pharmacy students, which kind of sucks. Very little study space.


Would definitely be happy here: Utah, Wake Forest

Would not go if I could avoid it: Drexel, California Northstate
 
Sinai:
Location: Manhattan (bordering central park(!!!!!!)).

Cost of Living: Subsidized housing obscenely cheap (600 a month).
Transportation: Half a block from the school of medicine, tons of buses and the subway ofc.
Clinical Rotations: All over NYC and Jersey. Sinai has a very extensive healthcare system.
Positive Impressions: Beautiful buildings. Every was very shiny. Faculty and admissions staff were very nice. Students seemed incredibly happy. Big emphasis on individuality and flexibility. 24 hour facilities on the med school "campus" and in their housing buildings.
Negative Impressions: Nothing stood out as extremely different or eLiTe. Not a ton of cons. Life in the city may not be for some.


UCSD:
Location: "best weather in the country"

Cost of Living: Not terrible, housing on and off campus.
Transportation: Tons of buses but most people have cars.
Clinical Rotations: Through UCSD's health system in the san Diego area.
Positive Impressions: Location is gorgeous. Weather is good. Some of the newer buildings are very nice. Students seem reasonably happy.
Negative Impressions: Of the T20 schools I'm familiar with, they had the least to offer beyond reputation and location. Admissions staff weren't the nicest. Some of the older buildings are kinda ugly. No clear pitch or direction from interview day.


UCLA:
Location: Westwood, Los Angeles.

Cost of Living: Nice housing super close to campus.
Transportation: Everyone has a car.
Clinical Rotations: UCLA health system.
Positive Impressions: Big vision for students (medical students and ______). That whole deal. They want to be the BEST (could be a pro or a con). Beautiful buildings. LA weather. Nice admissions staff (on site). Great social events with students.
Negative Impressions: By far the worst handling of the admissions process (yes Mayo included). No transparency whatsoever. Not to mention a specific student poster on SDN (ugh). Worst post II R email by far that I've ever seen. Some students seemed a bit stressed.


UCSF:
Location: San Francisco

Cost of Living: Subsidized housing (partially). SF can be expensive tho.
Transportation: Car isn't needed. Buses and other public transportation are pretty accessible.
Clinical Rotations: All across the SF bay area.
Positive Impressions: Coolest dean of admissions ever. Nicest admissions staff. Very humble happy people. It's UCSF. Everyone is doing something different but seems well supported. Super social justice/health equity-oriented. Students go out a lot (if that's important to you). Extreme admissions transparency.
Negative Impressions: Some of the buildings are a bit old. SF is not for everyone.
 
Last edited:
Brown
Location: Providence, RI. From initial glance the city is beautiful. It looks like a movie, you are close to the water and the skies are blue, boats are sailing. The city itself seems tame though. If you like NYC, Philly or Chicago then Providence will not give you this feel. It seems to have a lot of foodie places though. Rhode Island itself is not that diverse either but it’s a pretty liberal city, nonetheless.

Cost of Living: its pricy like most private medical schools. Brown faculty and students have said that the school of medicine are very open with matching. I have personally received a decent sized scholarship as well.

Transportation: Students have said you don’t need a car for the first two years of med school. Providence has an okay amount of density, so you are not entirely reliable on a car. For rotations a car is a must. RI is also part of the MBTA so riding throughout the Boston metro area is convenient.

Clinical Rotations: Rotations will be in Rhode Island Hospital. This is the main safety net hospital in RI. Brown does not own the hospital but most people that work in the hospital that are involved in research have an appointment in the medical school. Keep in mind there is not ENT department.

Positive Impressions: First time I felt impressed by the student’s compassion. They were all chill, nice and genuine. The students were frank with me about the school which was refreshing when most students try hard to play up the school. The area is cute and serene . A decent amount of diversity Match list punches above its weight significantly compared to its US News ranking. Admission staff were so caring. Only medical school in the state so not competition of resources. Layman’s prestige due to Ivy status (if you care about that lol) AOA is announced after match so less competition.

Negative Impression: Providence is bland No ENT department 2+2 curriculum
 
Emory
Location: Druid hill, Atlanta, Ga, Close to CDC

Cost of Living: Pretty low on average compared to other private institutions (of course these are averages so your cost might be different )

Transportation: You will need a car without a doubt. You are on the wards shadowing day one of school in Grady and Grady is not nearby.

Clinical Rotations: You start in the middle of second year. Lots of Affiliated hospitals: Emory University Hospitals and Clinics, Grady Memorial Hospital, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta VA Medical Center, and Wesley Woods Geriatric Hospital.

Positive Impressions: Tuition is lower at baseline compared to other private institutions 1.5 year pre-clinical Built in protected research time after rotations (5-months) MPH, MSCR or a year of research is easy to request if you desire during 3rd year Research powerhouse (strong in basic science and public health) Diverse class Diverse faculty ATL itself is amazing and deserves its own set of pros but in general just know it is an exciting busy city Warm weather I like how you can experience medicine in a safety net hospital like Grady and also experience the more “high-end” stuff in Emory’s own hospitals The cookies at interview day were good af

Negative Impression: ATL has very bad public transit due to the sprawl, which also leads to terrible traffic Two sets of AOA nominations: Spring and in the Fall. With an institution like Emory I don’t think they need to stratify students with AOA.
 
Sidney Kimmel Medical College (Jefferson)
Location: Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Busy city)

Cost of Living: High (total = $335,778) (but compared to most private institutions it looks on par)

Transportation: First two years not needed, second half depends heavily on where you rotate, better off having a car second year. Septa is also great as well. Amtrak in 30th street station can take you to a lot places in under 3 hours (DC, NYC, Baltimore)

Clinical Rotations: A lot of clinical rotation sites they have 22 affiliated hospitals

Positive Impressions:
- Students seem very chill.
- Strong in ortho and opt.
- Center City is the place to be! So much to do, lots of life.
- Public Transportation in Philly is great.
- Very work/life balanced

Negative Impression:
- Large class size, felt lost, too easy to form cliques probably.
- The student body felt too…perfect. A lot of the people here seem very socially “perfect”. I like a little bit of “awkward” in the people I interact with. Also, a lot of the people that I know that go to Jeff seem gung-ho about it even though in reality it’s a very “mid” school. I don’t get it.
- Research seem not that strong, but it is there.
- Rotation sites are all over the Greater Philadelphia area
- With Jefferson’s large class size, they should theoretically have more diversity. But they have very little URMs in the class. Very alarming and seems like a problem that dates back further in time. I have talked with Alumni from the school and they said it had the same problem with diversity.
- Clinical rotations are spread-out throughout the area. Although there are probably ways to concentrate the places you rotate, having a large class with a lot of rotation spots probably complicates a lot.
 
Boonshoft (Wright State):
Location: Dayton, OH - kinda not near anything

Cost of Living: Cheap/reasonable

Transportation: car needed

Clinical Rotations: Wright State doesn't have a university hospital so there are I think 8 different clinical affiliations. You can be exposed to a variety of healthcare systems including rural health, VA, children's hospital, suburban center, level 1 trauma, military medical training center, etc.

Positive Impressions:
Wright Curriculum is flipped classroom style. Professors assign readings and content you need to master. You are free to use other resources outside of those assigned. ~3 hours of mandatory class time each day dedicated to answering STEP 1 practice questions individually and in groups based on material learned.

Negative Impressions:
Dayton is a pretty small city lacking major attractions. It also isn't really bikeable or walkable so having a car is recommended. Parking at the med school goes fast though so students say you should get there early if you don't want to end up parking in a far away lot. Clinical rotations are scattered about since they aren't affiliated with a university hospital so you could be moving around a lot during your clinical years
 
Kaiser
Location: LA area! Great weather (sunny, no humidity); good food

Cost of Living:Very expensive to live in Pasadena

Transportation: car is needed

Clinical Rotations: hospitals are all over the LA area and I'd imagine require significant commute time due to the infamous LA traffic

Positive Impressions:
Love the curriculum (lots of free time in the afternoons for self-structured study/interests, longitudinal clinical experiences early on, really awesome high-tech anatomy lab), super welcoming faculty and staff, state-of-the-art facilities, free tuition for the first five classes. They integrate health science systems and care about their students (each is assigned a psychologist, one mandatory visit and you can schedule your own meeting with them if you like to continue. Scheduled break weeks and reflection periods with a mentor called REACH). The class size is small. Diverse faculty and interview cohort was diverse so they want a diverse class for sure. They are tuition-free (still includes fin aid scholarships as well if you need so potentially could go to school for free if needy enough). I vibed with the strong missiona nd vision.

Negative Impressions:
New school w/ unknown outcomes. Lack of cadaver dissections may be a drawback if you're interested in surgery. The summer break is only 4-5 weeks which is short. There are a decent # of mandatory classes. Rotations, longintidual learning locations, and services learning areas are probably all over LA meaning a car is probably needed, not to mention LA traffic (yikes) It seems hard to fit in research in the early years, most likely can do it in 4th year but that seems VERY late for it to be useful in matching.
 
Last edited:
Michigan
Location: Ann Arbor as great as it is, isn't a real Hussle bussle city no matter what - Tailgates are gonna be lit, (free drinks ). 40 min from Detroit if you want some diversity and change, 3 to 4 hours fron Chicago, 4 hrs from Toronto, 1 hr flight to JFK or PHL airport.

Cost of Living:reasonable

Transportation: car is needed

Clinical Rotations: do rotations through UMichigan system

Positive Impressions: Administration is fantastic. Carol Teener is funny, amazing and responsive. Dean Gay is so inspirational.This school has top department of almost every specialty. Consistently, residency programs rate UMich med grads as highly prepared. Umich 1 year preclinical allows students to practice medicine early. 4 years of constant medical exposure. Taking step 1 after clinical rotations increased step scores by 10 points. There is strong mentorship through the m home and faculty in general. They have concentrations that allow you to customize your career. 3 and 4th year is wide open yo basically do what you want as long as required sub-internships and capstone is finished before graduation. EC and clubs are almost limitless and can really shape your career. Umich over the past 5 years increased the diversity of their class (double digits African Americans and Hispanics). Flex timequizzess. They're known to give generous financial aid. They have access to top dual degree programs (MBA, mph, jd) with ease (gre not required, application is simple) and a strong global health program with great funding.
Ann arbor is a larger college town than i expected and has a decent amount of stuff to do,

Negative Impressions:
Lack of diversity in the college town. M1 can be busy (50 q quizzes every other week). Abbreviated summer break (4 weeks). Step 2 examination time line is weird since you take step 1 after clinical year in second year. You would need to take step 2 close to your step 2 exam or wait a bit. Waiting might make you use your material knowledge. 177 or so students is a decently large class not the largest but just big enough imo to not know everyone.
 
University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine
Location: I’m biased to Chicago, but I like Hyde Park and I think Chicago is arguably the best city for a young person in the US. From comedy to food to art to green spaces to the Lakefront, Chicago feels like it has it all. Hyde Park isn’t in the BEST location to take advantage of the north side of Chicago, and I haven’t lived in Hyde Park before, but from my interview day, it seemed nice. Enough places to live and coffee shops to explore. Plus, right on campus with undergrad.

Cost of Living: Somewhere in the middle. Not as bad as SF, NYC, LA, or Boston.

Transportation: I think you’d need a car to get to some clerkship sites

Clinical Rotations: Not a level 1 trauma center, but a good mix of “really, really sick” patients and more healthy, regular patients. They put you up in a hotel when you rotate in the North Shore for family medicine.

Positive Impressions: HUGE focus on healthcare disparities (don’t come here if you aren’t interested in addressing this, was the vibe I got, which felt inspiring). Teacher of teachers, big focus on medical education. Great community vibe from current students. No adjunct faculty, they’re all full time. Lots of collab with other UChicago schools. My M3 interviewer was SO fantastic and the interview was a conversation. Current students were laughing a lot!
bongocat.gif

Negative Impression: Long preclinical curriculum. People complaining about their summer research projects, people waiting until the last minute to do the write-ups. No formal tour of campus, so didn’t get to see any study spaces or things like that.
 
UCLA
Location: Westwood is beautiful and the weather is obviously fantastic.

Cost of Living: too expensive, but there is subsidized student housing that seems nice ($1300/month, I believe)

Transportation: To get around LA at all, you will need a car or a fat wallet for Uber

Clinical Rotations: Seems like a good mix of high-need hospitals and fancier ones (Reagan)

Positive Impressions: Students were REALLY excited to meet us and they were all hanging out with one another a lot! They seemed very happy. Beautiful weather. In-state residency after the first year. Gave us DGSOM lunch boxes and thermoses, which was actually dope. I still use them.

Negative Impression: Generally disorganized interview day and post-interview nonsense. I was waitlisted in December and then accepted the next day, which was just straight-up weird. “We are the best medical school in the world” hmmmmmm ok! Current students were frustrated with administration and the new curriculum rollout without their input (they would be doubled up on clerkships because of it) … then UCLA decided to NOT roll out the new curriculum and just changed the admissions presentation to reflect that they are NOT changing the curriculum, but they did not reach out to already interviewed students that they aren’t doing the new curriculum. So, if it weren’t for SDN, I would still be thinking they are doing the new, 1 year preclin curriculum. Bad breakfast. Like, 4 bagels for 20 applicants. I got one half. Faculty felt pretty impersonable. My interviewers both grilled me and insinuated that I didn’t really know what I wanted with my career and “why would I become a doctor if I like education so much? You should be a high school teacher.” Lots of UC students which just took me back a little bit, wasn’t expecting it and made me think … hey I might not totally fit in here.
angrydoggo.png
 
Northwestern Feinberg
Location: Maybe the best city-located school (except for weather). Beautiful campus on the lake. I think Chicago is arguably the best city for a young person in the US. From comedy to food to art to green spaces to the Lakefront, Chicago feels like it has it all.

Cost of Living: a bit expensive, but you can live a little bit off campus (like, Wicker Park, amazing location in the city, $780/month for 1/d of a 2 bdrm) for a little bit cheaper. Other areas (Lakeview, Uptown) are a little farther from campus (maybe 20 min) but even cheaper. Chicago has a wide variety of prices, with Streeterville and the Loop being the most expensive, yet most convenient.

Transportation: Not necessary in Chicago at all, might be useful for suburbs rotation and honestly useful to get around the city. Lots of free street parking in Chicago, too.

Clinical Rotations: Some rotations in the burbs, they put you up for them, though

Positive Impressions: Attractive students
ohbaby.png
… nice, new facilities. 4 year MD/MPH is pretty dope, ECMH is awesome. Lots of clinical experience and ability to work with Spanish-speaking pops.


Negative Impression: “broey” culture, fitness culture, especially from the admitted students page, which was honestly a huge turnoff for me.Not a big primary care focus, as said by students. Didn’t vibe with my M4 interviewer.
 
Vanderbilt School of Medicine
Location: People love Nashville, but I didn’t get to see much of it. As far as the south goes, I think it would be a good place to be.

Cost of Living: pretty cheap, in comparison to most other top MD schools

Transportation: Unsure if you need a car or not.

Clinical Rotations: p/f and "chill" - what more could you want?
Cheers.png


Positive Impressions: Gut reaction … I loved it a lot. CURRICULUM IS AMAZING, arguably the best of all med schools (mix between Duke and Harvard imo). Rotations are pass/fail. My application was REALLY read through and my interviewer cared a lot about me and my story, which felt very nice. Lunch was amazing. HUGE focus on wellness, the different colleges/societies actually matter and people actually do kind of care about them … Vandy is at the cutting edge of medical education and student wellness. Current students were very, very happy. Lots of personal feelback. LGBTQ+ group seems active, faculty was all pretty interesting and personable.

Negative Impression: My interviewer was overcompensating about how it might be hard to choose to come to Vandy being queer, but kept reassuring me that it was OK! Kind of in the way that a grandpa would be talking about LGBTQ+ things, which rubbed me the wrong way … just a little bit. Seemed like it was a lot of people from the south and people who wanted to stay in the south.
 
Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine
Location: Rochester, MN. Not for me, especially being LGBTQ+. I talked to other LGBTQ+ students and they were dating students from the twin cities, which is like 1.5 hours away. Small town.

Cost of Living: very cheap

Transportation: Pretty sure you need a car for everything, including getting to campus?

Clinical Rotations: focus on PROFESSIONAL, wearing suits, seems like a lot is expected of you

Positive Impressions: Current students seemed happy? Selectives are interesting … you can do a selective where you write about medicine and some students get to public that writing. Pretty cool. After withdrawing post-A, dean reached out to me to see what they could do differently, which was nice. Facilities/hospitals are beautiful. Lots of teaching opportunities.

Negative Impression: a lot … one of my interviewers really walked me in circles during my interview, tricking me into saying things that contradicted my application. Really not a good experience. Current students seemed weird. Everybody was a bit off the wall. My student host kind of gave me a bed and then that was like it, no real interest in getting to know me. Selectives seem to have TOO MUCH flexibility, I was a bit turned off by hearing students do things like … hike and read a book, and have that count for credit. Class size feels too small. And, somewhat turned off by the whole “WRITE US A LETTER OF INTENT” plea, and then the messy “OOPS EVERYBODY IS ACCEPTED” ordeal. Also, felt like going to Mayo would make me a full-blown adult, not a student, which I am not totally into. Some students ONLY applied to Mayo, and a lot seemed to be from Minnesota originally. Students who chose Mayo seemed to “not really think about” living in Rochester, which struck me as weird because it was all I was thinking about lmao.
StopRightNow.png
 
Yale School of Medicine
Location: New Haven seemed fine, though hard to get to by plane. Not far from Boston or NYC, which is nice. Cool that Yale undergrad is so close. New Haven is definitely a bit gritty and dirty and parts might be dangerous. Faculty seemed to live outside of New Haven.

Cost of Living: seems not too bad, lots of housing options, also dorms (bleh)

Transportation: You basically need a car for some rotations. Car is like 100-200 a month to keep there, current students say?

Clinical Rotations: You see low, mid, and high-income patients. Some hospitals are 30-45 minutes away, sometimes get an apartment if too far away. Oh, hospital-wide translation service where you can facetime a translator in the hospital. Pretty cool.

Positive Impressions: my gut reaction - it’s Yale! Yale! Yale! I met some students that I enjoyed. Students could take lots of time off if they want. Lots of educational outreach and focus on medical education. “Yale family” kept coming up - so, maybe good professional community with faculty and students?

Negative Impression: I don’t love that so many people take an extra year (like, 90% or something insane like that)
ohmy.png
and I really, really did not vibe with one of the students. They talked about how they don’t know so many of their classmates and how they see some of them once a year. Then, they went on to decide to not go to her clerkship for the day, which was weird? And left me with a bad taste of … woah, Yale is so hands-off. Which, I don’t love. I didn’t get a great sense of community here. 3rd years “seem to disappear.” HAVEN (free clinic) is like … massive, and includes undergrads and people from all across the university, which also rubbed me the wrong way. Seemed like you couldn’t really get involved in leadership as a MD student, although I could be wrong. You may not rotate in rad, optho, derm during clerkship year. Students soooo (too?) chill.
 
Columbia University VP&S
Location: I mean, it’s NYC! You might like that or hate it. But, Washington Heights (UWS!) seems nice, and not in the hustle and bustle of things. 50% live in Bard dorm, 50% live outside

Cost of Living: Expensive, but there are dorms (bleh). It’s NYC, of course it is going to be expensive. ~1700/month for 1 bedroom.

Transportation: Car would be a hassle.

Clinical Rotations: I’m not totally sure

Positive Impressions: Okay, that frickin building is BEAUTIFUL. By far the best education center of all med schools I saw. Students were the most normal from any med school I saw. I liked them all … they were super cool and just chill (but not a “Yale” chill that rubbed me the wrong way). They had interested outside of medicine and they were able to continue to pursue them. They loved their faculty. Rotate through everything, including neurosurg. HUGE LGBTQ+ clinic and culture of serving LGBTQ+ people. Lots of teaching opportunities. They were playing Carly Rae Jepsen in the admissions office during the day.
pepeLikesLGBT.png


Negative Impression: Honestly, very little. I loved this interview day.
 
Harvard Medical School
Location: Did not know much about the Longwood area going into the interview day, but nightlife/restaurants are definitely within walking distance. And I think that Boston has pretty good public transit. Boston is the place to be for a medical career/tech career, it seems. So many colleges, Harvard College not that far away in Cambridge (a short bus ride, free I think), Harvard Business School, public health school … it’s all there.

Cost of Living: Most live in Vanderbilt Hall 1st year, which is like 10k/year. Boston is expensive, and it is def reflected in total COA.

Transportation: Having a car would be hard and expensive, and not necessarily because clerkship sites are accessible by public transit.

Clinical Rotations: Placed at either Mass Gen, Beth Israel, Brigham and Women’s, or CHA by lottery (you opt into a different lottery CHA, which has a bit of a different structure … you don’t go through the clerkships in any particular order, you have like all of them at once and you get to spend time with patients in a more longitudinal way, which is cool. For student more interested in primary care, I think?)

Positive Impressions: Most current students were awesome. I got lucky to spend an evening with current students that I knew from undergrad, and they were great … like a friend group of 10 people. Everybody seemed to know everybody, and the curriculum seemed really good for that. Campus is beautiful and impressive. They had a nice place stocked with snacks for interviewees where we could leave luggage, change out of our interview clothes, make phone calls, do work, etc. Weather was really nice in September. Required lecture → community!!! (full disclosure, I’m likely going to HMS)
SquirtleWonderfull.png


Negative Impression: Definitely a “holier than thou” feel. Architecture is so large and intimidating (which is a plus and a minus, it’s very cool to be surrounded by that). Some current students seemed a bit “grrrrrr” and mad at Harvard for whatever reasons. I think that HMS prob attracts people who really like to fight for institutional change, and I saw that in the M1’s that I interacted with for sure. Interview day was largely unstructured and there was a ton of downtime.
 
Duke University School of Medicine
Location: I didn’t realize exactly how rural Durham is … but it is rural. I’ve heard that its not great for LGBTQ+ people. Lots of like … gravel parking lots.
Cool that it is so close to Duke Undergrad but I was largely turned off by Durham. Easy to get to by plane, though. Nice weather, too.

Cost of Living: Definitely cheap. Host had a 1 bedroom, living room, spacious bathroom, kitchen, entryway … and it wasn’t expensive. A few different options for housing, each a different distance from the hospital.

Transportation: Seems like you can walk around Durham, but not really at night. So, car might be good. You could have it for free I’m pretty sure.

Clinical Rotations: Some in rural NC for sure, so again, a car might be nice. But, the hospital was pretty nice. Seems like patient population would be SOUTHERNERS. Really southern southerners. Host talk about experiences of sexism and racism when working with some patients, but felt supported by Duke and her preceptors.

Positive Impressions: My student host was amazing, drove me around Durham, took me to all of her favorite spots. I loved her a LOT. If I were to end up choosing Duke, it would have been because I had such a great experience staying with her. Curriculum is very cool. Got to meet a lot of current students.

Negative Impression: A lot of current students seemed intense. There seemed to be a little bit of a religious vibe, maybe because it is the south. Basketball culture was overwhelming (“well, if you don’t like it now, you better by the time you get here!” and people seemed to be like … party children. Also just hearing about how people camp out for basketball tickets was like … ok WHAT the heck! Lots of Duke undergrads. My two tour guides were contradicting one another the entire tour and jumping in and interrupting one another and I was literally laughing because it was so comical and weird. They were both M1’s and they were just like … bickering. “Oh, that’s not true at all in my experience…”
Confused_Dog.gif

Seemed strange. Didn’t really meet any faculty members. Also, MMI was incredibly stressful and by far the hardest MMI that I had, arguable the hardest interview that I had.
 
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Location: really fantastic part of Philly. And Philly is pretty nice … great food, not far from NYC for a little weekend getaway.

Cost of Living: medium. Not as bad as Boston/SF/LA/NYC, but not great, especially since it is a nicer part of Philly. Could live in Nu Sigma Nu (social frat) with other people across the four years, which seems really awesome. Not sure if there is any university housing, seems like people live all around the city (because Philly is pretty small)

Transportation: you can have a car, but not necessary. Some students have bikes but also lots of students have been hit by a car while riding a bike so………. maybe no! THIS brain ain’t gonna hit the pavement anytime soon!
bigeyes.png


Clinical Rotations: Students talked about grading feeling pretty subjective on clerkships (which is a sentiment felt by lots of clerkship students everywhere, I think). Not much clinical experience in preclinical years, but they are “working on it”. Everybody said this.

Positive Impressions: Students were really cool and, in the admitted students page, current students seem AWESOME. They just seem to have so much fun and they have been really, really, welcoming. They seem to go out a lot, which I vibed with. Penn hosts a lot of events for it’s students. (full disclosure, I may go to Penn)

Negative Impression: M1’s seemed a bit stressed … also, like they hadn’t seen one another in a while. Only about 20-40 people attend lecture, which was a big turnoff for me. People live all over the city, which was another turnover. For the ~7 person “learning teams,” current students talked about how it was a “weird balance between professional and social relationships,” which made me be like … hmm. I don’t like that very much. My interviewer was wearing a cross around her neck and touched it as I was talking about being LBGTQ+ … also, she did not know what it meant to be first-gen. Eh.
 
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Location: Baltimore. Current students say they like it, everybody else (applicants, internet) says that it is dangerous, not great, etc. I didn’t get time to explore it.

Cost of Living: Relatively low, and the office of admissions made this VERY clear on interview day. Cheaper than Boston, NYC, SF, LA, probably cheaper than Chicago and Philly, too?

Transportation: No idea if current students have cars or not. Not sure on this.

Clinical Rotations: Current students said that they got a lot of responsibility on clerkships (one said she delivered a baby with help once, and then was basically on her own, which was cool) and that preceptors really, really trust you. Current students loved this about rotations, that you have a lot of responsibility.

Positive Impressions: Very cool facilities. So old, such a cool legacy. Lots of faculty interaction time at lunch. It was a beautiful day, but I think weather in Baltimore is actually pretty mild. Current students were VERY impressive, but also pretty intimidating. Seems like a great community and the molecule/atom community system seemed to really work.

Negative Impression: My interviewer implied that I do not really know what it takes to be a physician because I am the first in my family to graduate from high school. He said “well you basically have no clinical experience,” and I had to correct him, which was really frustrating. He went on to tell me a tale of how when he was 5 he went down to the river, collected samples of water, brought them back up to his parent’s laboratory (they were both physicians), and analyzed them with their help. This is when he learned about his love for medicine. He kept telling me that I was not answering his question and I almost started crying. Also, he was about an hour late to our interview so I was the last student remaining on interview day. I wrote to admissions office about him so, hopefully, nobody will have to interview with him again. Also didn’t love the “fishbowl” interview experience where you are (maybe?) being evaluated as you sit with all of the applicants and student interviewers. You basically are asking them questions and they are asking you questions. I think it is supposed to make you calm but it just made me stressed TF out.
9197_Pepe_YIKES.png
 
NYU
Location: It’s NYC. And, a bustling part of the city. No campus, really. Hospitals are BEAUTIFUL and are used to film movies and TV shows (New Amsterdam, I think). Also, I think that is the hospital where the president would get treated. Pretty dope.

Cost of Living: Very high, but there are dorms. But holy smokes, those dorms were tiny. And pretty dark. And high up. It felt like I was a little baby hamster. A common room and four tiny bedrooms. I feel like I would go crazy.
MonkaSnug.png


Transportation: Public transit. I don’t think you can really have a car. Too expensive.

Clinical Rotations: A variety of hospitals.

Positive Impressions: MMI stations were fair and Dean Rivera was very nice. They also were very communicative during the decision release (they put me on post-interview hold pretty quickly, which I appreciated versus UCLA’s silence for months). Deans seemed to be very into moving NYU into the future and being on the cutting edge of medical education.

Negative Impression: They seemed very (too?) proud to be tuition-free, maybe a bit rankings obsessed. Prosections for anatomy. Would def choose Columbia over NYU in NYC (but got waitlisted at both haha ha ha hah aha). They put a chair under an automatic hand sanitizer dispenser. So, on my last interview of the cycle, I sat down and got my suit squirted with hand sanitizer. Thanks, NYU.
 
WashU
Location: I actually kinda vibed with St. Louis and I got the impression that there is a decent amount of LGBTQ+ life there. Current students were very reassuring about this and sent me a big doc with all kinds of LGBTQ+-recs. Also, walked to get food after the interview day and the piece of St. Louis that I saw was super cute. Not TOO far from Chicago but pretty far from everything else. Nice green spaces in St. Louis.

Cost of Living: Certainly relatively cheap! And you can like, buy a house I think.

Transportation: Hm, I’m not sure about whether you need a car or not, but I don’t think St. Louis has great public transportation, so you'd probs need a car

Clinical Rotations: MD students seemed to be very respected and liked by faculty, which felt good. Unsure how clinical rotations will change with new curriculum.

Positive Impressions: They were very clear about going through a curriculum transition, the transparency was awesome. The facilities were awesome and both interviewers were incredibly caring and sweet. I was actually really impressed by the interview day. I went into the day not expecting much at all, but it was really great. As a whole, students seem happy, healthy, thriving.

Negative Impression: As a whole, they felt insecure about being in St. Louis. Like, they were asking “Would you really come here?” which rubbed me
the wrong way a little bit … like maybe I shouldn’t???
9452_lul.png
 
TheDataKing said:
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Location: Cleveland, OH is not as bad as the world makes it out to be. But if you’re expecting the perfect city, this is not the move. You’ll be confined to campus for the most part anyway.

Cost of Living: Tuition is ~$65k with cost of living at around ~$20k.

Transportation: You will probably need a car

Positive Impressions: Situated close-ish to the undergrad campus, right next to the Cleveland Clinic. You can get a nice mix of the bread and butter community medicine but also the rare cases at the Cleveland Clinic. Tons of great research opportunities. Brand spanking new building….that is also shared with other health affiliate training programs.

Negative Impressions: My interviewer was not very kind. She was winging her understanding of my application, which I could easily see that she had only read it minutes before shaking my hand. That whole experience was almost enough to make me withdraw shortly thereafter. I didn’t like being crammed with all the other health affiliates, especially considering how big the class size is.
View attachment 300839
Click to expand...

I have a classmate who went to Case for undergrad. He said it was gunner central.
 
TheDataKing said:
Prosections for anatomy.
Click to expand...

Eh. Honestly we had prosections for most of this module because of distance learning from covid, and the amount of extra time I had to focus on other stuff was remarkable. I also did better on this anatomy practical than the others.
 
Last edited:
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Eh. Honestly we had prosecutions for most of this module because of distance learning from covid, and the amount of extra time I had to focus on other stuff was remarkable. I also did better on this anatomy practical than the others.
Click to expand...
I read this as "prosecutions for this model" and thought somehow med schools were mad about this thread and were involving lawyers :excuseme:I need sleep lmao
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

I
Can I use a family member's real name in my PS?
Replies
6
Views
379
Rachapkis
Rachapkis
BabySnoopy
Specific question regarding name dropping professors in secondary essay
Replies
5
Views
762
purpledoc1
purpledoc1
ElTacoGrande
Shortest/Longest Secondaries Hall of Fame/Shame
Replies
1
Views
890
deleted1130038
D
j_diggity
Mentioning a med school professor's name in an LOI
Replies
7
Views
1K
Med Ed
Med Ed
icedamericanopls
name dropping in secondary
Replies
5
Views
1K
pablo213
pablo213
Top