Okay, so I want to start off by saying that I am not bragging or lying about what I'm saying. Now that that is out the way I am writing this post, the only one I have ever written because I am having a very hard time picking a school. I am a native Californian and applied pretty much to all the California schools exclusively. I have been accepted at UCSF, UCSD, UCR/UCLA Haider program, Stanford (2/3 need based scholarship), USC (Full Tuition scholarship), UCSD, and UCI (95% need based scholarship). All of these schools offer very exciting opportunities. I already withdrew from UCR and UCI because I am pretty sure that I don't want to stay in riverside and Irvine is pretty far down the list from UCSF and Stanford. I would like to hear your thoughts on my remaining four UCSF, UCSD, USC, and Stanford. I have started a pro-con list but any advice or additons to it would be appreciated. Thanks for your time and hooray I did my first post.
Need Help Picking a School!!!
- Thread starter mgaer001
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1. Troll. Even if you are serious, this is a troll post.
2. You're really going to let a bunch of strangers make this decision for you?
3. Go to Stanford, unless UCSF comes off on some aid or you just absolutely hated Palo Alto. USC at full tuition is nice, but a notch or three below the Bay Area schools in prestige (if that's important to you.)
2. You're really going to let a bunch of strangers make this decision for you?
3. Go to Stanford, unless UCSF comes off on some aid or you just absolutely hated Palo Alto. USC at full tuition is nice, but a notch or three below the Bay Area schools in prestige (if that's important to you.)
Let me clarify I am not asking for a decision to be made for me I am simply asking for an opinion on the schools to which I am holding acceptances. I know a little about each school from researching and interviewing at them all, but they all seem to have different strengths and weaknesses. They all sold their schools very nicely and the money is an issue. I simply want input and feedback so that I may make a more informed decision. Thank you.
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I'm having a preeeeeeetty hard time believing the OP...
No, stanford said during Interview day that if you and your parents combined income is less the 120000 dollars you will recieve a stanford grant equal to 30000 off tuition each year for four years, my dad and me combined is 75000 no assets just the house (my mom passed away two years ago). USC offered me a full tuition scholarship, UCI offered 80k need based pending the financial aid info. I'm still waiting for packages from all schools based on my fafsa and supplementary forms.
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If this isn't a troll post, congrats on getting into all those with those scholarships. That's some serious display of work ethic. Mind if I ask you what your MCAT scores were?
The differences between those schools (except maybe the Bay Area ones) are pretty clear. It's hard to comment without knowing more about you and your career goals - for example, are you really into research? If not, maybe Stanford's not a good option. Do you like living in a city? Do you really want to work with underserved Spanish-speaking populations? Does the "prestige" matter to you? etc. etc.
of those UCSF and stanford are not just at the top of the rankings, but probably the best overall. Especially with the scholarship stanford might be the better choice, heavily research oriented but the opportunities there are really substantial. Personally I think I'd go UCSF but i haven't actually been to either campus and i got a few more years to go so take it with a grain of salt
I am torn. I have 7 years experience working as a physical therapy aide ( 4 years inpatient and 3 years out) in a low income Area (Colton and Riverside CA respectively) I also have three years of research experience working in a neuro lab so I love the patient care as much as the science and both are strong points for me. I inerviewed with Dr. Yung at UCSD (Lung transplant) and he told me that you have to make a choice because you can't really dig deeper into the science without giving up some of the clinical care. Underserved is a high priority to me as well because of the work I do now.
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Scholarships are huge. Just imagine how nice it would be to not be crushed by debt when you get out of school!
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Moving to the School Specific Discussions forum.
hahaha, what a ridiculous post.
Who gives you the best scholarship? Who has the best clinical rotations/opportunities your 3rd & 4th years?
There you go. Medical schools are pretty much standardized outside those two aspects.
Who gives you the best scholarship? Who has the best clinical rotations/opportunities your 3rd & 4th years?
There you go. Medical schools are pretty much standardized outside those two aspects.
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Hey OP
Ignore the people here calling you a troll. It looks like you are new here to SDN. Well, a large number of the people making negative comments are applicants who are pretty envious of your accomplishments (or at least bitter that they aren't as successful in the ultra-competitive CA medical school system as you are)
Also, Thank you for posting your UCSF acceptance letter--I believed you and had no reason not to.
I second what a previous poster said. I can do my best to help you make an informed decision, but we need to know a little bit more about you. What are your long term endeavors with medicine? Do you see yourself going into primary care? Possibly research? What about location? Patient population? (Patient population at USC should be relatively different compared to Stanford's.)
Again, congrats!
P.S. I am a UC Riverside alumnus as well. Tip my hat!
Ignore the people here calling you a troll. It looks like you are new here to SDN. Well, a large number of the people making negative comments are applicants who are pretty envious of your accomplishments (or at least bitter that they aren't as successful in the ultra-competitive CA medical school system as you are)
Also, Thank you for posting your UCSF acceptance letter--I believed you and had no reason not to.
I second what a previous poster said. I can do my best to help you make an informed decision, but we need to know a little bit more about you. What are your long term endeavors with medicine? Do you see yourself going into primary care? Possibly research? What about location? Patient population? (Patient population at USC should be relatively different compared to Stanford's.)
Again, congrats!
P.S. I am a UC Riverside alumnus as well. Tip my hat!
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I second what the previous poster noted, and congrats on the great choices. As a side note, it's funny that people in an online community like SDN would badger someone for asking for opinions. I guess they're just here to let other people know when they're wrong? Whatever.
From my understanding, UCSF and Stanford focus on slightly different things, although you could always get what you need at either place. UCSF has a very strong medical center, and has some of the most sought after residencies in the country. They have a children's hospital, SFGH, and UCSF main, plus the new Mission Bay in a few years, and the Parnassus campus. Oh, and a center out in Fresno too.
Stanford has a great medical center as well, but I think where their medical school really shines is the research concentration. As far as I recall from interview/revisit material at UCSF, there is no systematic requirement to do research, and it there is likely much less of a drive to do so. Stanford on the other hand really emphasizes research.
In the end, you could have great research projects at both schools. However, if you were adverse to academic research, perhaps UCSF might be a better choice. Of course, the other big thing is location. Living in a city affords many opportunities to a medical student, in which case UCSF is the clear winner.
Good luck, and please let us know what you decide. It's always interesting to see how people end up deciding, especially for people down the line (as there are many making the UCSF/Stanford call).
Oh, I realized I forgot the other schools. I guess you see where I stand there...
From my understanding, UCSF and Stanford focus on slightly different things, although you could always get what you need at either place. UCSF has a very strong medical center, and has some of the most sought after residencies in the country. They have a children's hospital, SFGH, and UCSF main, plus the new Mission Bay in a few years, and the Parnassus campus. Oh, and a center out in Fresno too.
Stanford has a great medical center as well, but I think where their medical school really shines is the research concentration. As far as I recall from interview/revisit material at UCSF, there is no systematic requirement to do research, and it there is likely much less of a drive to do so. Stanford on the other hand really emphasizes research.
In the end, you could have great research projects at both schools. However, if you were adverse to academic research, perhaps UCSF might be a better choice. Of course, the other big thing is location. Living in a city affords many opportunities to a medical student, in which case UCSF is the clear winner.
Good luck, and please let us know what you decide. It's always interesting to see how people end up deciding, especially for people down the line (as there are many making the UCSF/Stanford call).
Oh, I realized I forgot the other schools. I guess you see where I stand there...
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Also this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3QIW9iVh8I
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Well, you might want to wait until you actually have financial aid packages from all these schools. If you're getting good financial aid from UCI, you're probably going to get good financial aid from UCSF, UCSD, etc. So, in the end, cost might not be a huge issue in comparing the schools. Clearly from a reputation standpoint, your top picks are probably UCSF, UCLA, and Stanford. They're all really different environments with different core focuses so it's more a matter of finding which is the personal fit for you.
LA vs. Bay Area? City vs. Suburb? Research heavy or clinical heavy? Undergrad campus? Dual degree interest? Where do you want to end up after residency (NorCal/SoCal/East Coast/other)?
LA vs. Bay Area? City vs. Suburb? Research heavy or clinical heavy? Undergrad campus? Dual degree interest? Where do you want to end up after residency (NorCal/SoCal/East Coast/other)?
First I want to thank some of the later posters for backing me up. I am new to this I don't use forums or the SDN. I am just trying to narrow it down, I came into this thinking that I wouldn't get into any top schools and now I have gotten into several and I am finding it very difficult to see the disadvantages at one versus the other. What I am really looking for by posting this is some feedback regarding the feeling that individuals took away from each of these schools and if there are pros and cons between them. Obviously Stanford is focused mainly on research, but is the name worth it as far as career opportunity. Can you put a price on your education, is the money at USC worth it and does it matter that they are a few ranks down? How does that translate into later residency matching? Honestly I came into this not knowing I could do this, I graduated in 2008 and at that time I did not think that I could do this so I never looked into it. I am on this site trying to gain from the knowledge that many of you have, because some of you guys have been doing this type of research since you were freshman. My background is very diverse. I have worked with minorities promoting racial unity with a non-profit for the past ten years, since I was fifteen. In the last two years I have hosted an annual race unity conference designed to promote unity of all peoples and the eradication of all forms of racial prejudice. So I love working with different ethnic and racial groups so diversity is gonna be big. I also have worked in health care since I was eighteen as a physical therapy aide, working 4 years in patient subacute (head traumas, strokes, geriatric etc.) and the past three years (since graduation 2008) as a physical therapy aide in an outpatient orthopedic surgery rehab center (any and all ortho injuries) so patient care and the clinical experience are a must. Finally I did research for three years during my undergrad receiving awards and getting published as well. So research is a must because i want to satisfy my intellectual curiosity. I heard from Dr. Yung (my interviewer at UCSD, Lung Transplant) that you can't in the end really have both the close patient care experience (primary care) and the research or the quest fo more knowledge (academic medicine or sub-specialization). At this point I am leaning most closely to UCSF, Stanford, and UCLA, but does anyone know or have any sense of the opportunity at UCSD compared to those schools? Thanks again for the kind posts I appreciate everyone's patience with me as I am a newbie at this. I will update you guys after I get my financial aid packages and what I find when I go back for Admit Day at each school thanks again.
Also at this point I am still researching what kind of doctor I would like to be, I came into this thinking that it was an open slate and that you could decide later if you wanted. It seems now from what I am hearing that you need to narrow this down much more before you choose, which is adding to the headache.
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