Need Help: UC Davis or Cornell...

[babyface]

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[Eraserhead]

I'm too biased to give any sort of response. Good luck choosing though.

 

[LoneCoyote]

I doubt going to Cornell would hurt you for matching in California since it is a top school, especially if you are shooting for primary care. Davis will get you a good residency in California in most specialties, from looking at their match lists this year and last year. From what I have heard the class is full right now and their has been less waitlist movement than in past years... did they tell you when you might hear from them?

I think only you can decide if life in NYC and going to an Ivy league med school is worth the extra money you would have to borrow. For me, it would not be worth it, but I grew up in the NYC area and am not interested in living there again. If you want to try living in a new place, this might be a good time to do it because you could come home for residency. It sounds like you really loved Cornell and are ambivalent about Davis, other than the location. So maybe you have already made your decision about whether it is worth the $ or not...

There was a good thread in the Allopathic forum about Cornell v. some other school and a current Cornell student wrote a nice post about why he/she likes Cornell. You might look it up. Good luck with your decision

 

[Mr Reddly]

Think ahead 10-30 years from now... You're trying to get a certain job and someone asks "so, which medical school did you go to?" What would you like to say? Would it make a difference to you? Next question... You have your own little private pratice and on the wall (like most docs seem to do), you have your diploma, where you and your patients will walk past it all the time... One of them looks up and says "Wow! You went there?!?" ... Now, which school's diploma was it? Also, do you care?

I realize this isn't the only factor, but it is one of the factors to consider.

 

[Medikit]

This would be a hard decision for me too. I'll be interested to know which you pick and what were the final reasons for doing so, so please update the thread when you do.

 

[WatchingWaiting]

Think ahead 10-30 years from now... You're trying to get a certain job and someone asks "so, which medical school did you go to?" What would you like to say? Would it make a difference to you? Next question... You have your own little private pratice and on the wall (like most docs seem to do), you have your diploma, where you and your patients will walk past it all the time... One of them looks up and says "Wow! You went there?!?" ... Now, which school's diploma was it? Also, do you care?

I realize this isn't the only factor, but it is one of the factors to consider.

This is a pretty good assessment. If you are a prestige *****, go for Cornell. If not, go where you feel you will have a better match personality/lifestyle wise. In terms of residency, you shouldn't have a problem matching in California graduating from either place, especially in Family Practice or Peds. Family Practice has about a 30% unfilled program rate, and of those slots that are filled well over half are foreign medical graduates. You can graduate from any med school in the US at the bottom of your class and match into Family Practice of Peds with no problems.

 

[Mr Reddly]

I was wondering if I would get ripped or not. Part of it came from going into a doctor's office and in his magazine collection were Duke SOM alumni mags.

Another part of it came from work. A co-worker's boss was after one engineer BIG time. The reason... MIT. His Boss' bosses just wanted to be able to say they had someone from MIT working there.

thus, the office, and the job.

 

[mellantro]

I think you should aim for the UC Davis waiting list. If you are want to match in California, have lots of friends and family there, and their financial aid offer will be better than Cornells than UC Davis. If you do end up going into primary care, do you really want to pay 200,000 back?

My own experience was to turn down a top tier with terrible financial aid and go to my state school, they offered me a great deal of scholarship money. I made this decision by talking to many doctors in both primary care and academic medicine (at a top-5 institution) who overwhelmingly urged me to take the money and RUN! But to each his own!

P.S. I know one poster mentioned prestige and the feeling you'd get when people look at where you got your degree, honestly I really do not think that should be a big factor. I think your patients will care if you are a good compassionate doctor, not that you went to School X orY. Very few, if any, will care. And if you plan to practice in California, more people will be familiar with UC Davis; rep than Cornell.

 

[babyface]

I'm too biased to give any sort of response. Good luck choosing though.

Don't trip man, isn't UCI on the quarter system that it starts some time in September? So technically, you can still take Weill's offer up until August 30? Some movement is bound to occur before then! Good luck!

 

[babyface]

Thanks everyone for the great help. It seems the consensus is that going to NY would not really hinder too much the possibility of me matching back to CA in 4 yrs, which is what I was worried about the most. Anyone else wanna chime in on this? Cuz some med students were telling me moving out of CA would put me in a significant disadvantage comes residency application...

 

[exmike]

dude, cornell, or ill kick your ass

people telling you it'll handicap you are smoking some good wacky tabacky. I chose case western over a CA school myself. I dont think it'll hurt me at all or else i wouldnt have done it.

 

[Mr Reddly]

I remembered there being atleast 1 thread about the OPs question...
I did a search and found this one:

>>> California people going out of state for med school <<<

 

[Mirror Form]

Do you really want to spend your entire life living in the same area? I'd say go for Cornell, although I'm a bit biased. But I've never heard of anybody who regrets spending their mid 20's in NYC!!!!

 

[mellantro]

You should really talk to doctors in both general practice and academic medicine to help you make your decision. All we can offer is Oh, NYC is great in your 20s, but when you are in your 30s trying to pay back 200,000+ worth of debt on a peds or general practice salary, you aren't really going to be remembering the good times. Ask any doctor what they would choose, I wouldn't suggest taking the words of people who don't know what it is like yet to pay back massive loans (in the hundreds of thousands).

exmike says he turned down a Cali school, but that was Drew/UCLA (right?) and frankly, Drew is in a weird predicament right now and exmike made the right decision. But would he have turned down UCDavis or UCI? I mean, in my opinion, there are some states which have an amazing group of medical schools and those in-state residents who are lucky enough to get a spot should run to hold it! (TX, CA, even NC)

I mean, like you said, if you think living in NYC is really worth that extra money, than knock yourself out. But I do believe if you get off the waiting list at Davis, do at least consider them from a financial point of view.

just my 2 cents, since everyone seems to be in favor of newyork! I'd thought I'd throw in the other side

 

[Premedtomed]

I think you should aim for the UC Davis waiting list. If you are want to match in California, have lots of friends and family there, and their financial aid offer will be better than Cornells than UC Davis. If you do end up going into primary care, do you really want to pay 200,000 back?

My own experience was to turn down a top tier with terrible financial aid and go to my state school, they offered me a great deal of scholarship money. I made this decision by talking to many doctors in both primary care and academic medicine (at a top-5 institution) who overwhelmingly urged me to take the money and RUN! But to each his own!

P.S. I know one poster mentioned prestige and the feeling you'd get when people look at where you got your degree, honestly I really do not think that should be a big factor. I think your patients will care if you are a good compassionate doctor, not that you went to School X orY. Very few, if any, will care. And if you plan to practice in California, more people will be familiar with UC Davis; rep than Cornell.

Totally agree with you. It doesn't matter - makes no difference.
The patients will come to you for treatment and not feel happy about what medical school you went to. I presume many of them wouldn't even know or care to know what medical school is the best!