need some serious advice

[kbear]

im not really sure what to do here and im stressing a lot so if anyone has any advice please help me! i got a full ride to umdnj-njms plus a $10000/year stipend, basically guaranteeing me that i will come out of med school debt-free. however, i didn't like njms when i visited and i am also into nyu and was all set to go there before i heard about the scholarship. my question is...is it worth the extra money to go to nyu? what about residency placement if i want to go into one of the competitive specialties and definitely don't want to do primary care? or should i just suck it up, go to njms even though i didn't get a very good vibe, and have the luxury of not being like a million dollars in debt? any advice or any factors that i should take into consideration would be much appreciated.

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[Joe Joe on da Radio]

unless you have physical convulsions at the thought of attending njms, take the full-ride/stipend. congrats.

 

[efex101]

I have to agree, unless you totally hate the school I would be hard pressed to reject the scholarship and the stipend...

 

[docjolly]

Originally posted by kbear
im not really sure what to do here and im stressing a lot so if anyone has any advice please help me! i got a full ride to umdnj-njms plus a $10000/year stipend, basically guaranteeing me that i will come out of med school debt-free. however, i didn't like njms when i visited and i am also into nyu and was all set to go there before i heard about the scholarship. my question is...is it worth the extra money to go to nyu? what about residency placement if i want to go into one of the competitive specialties and definitely don't want to do primary care? or should i just suck it up, go to njms even though i didn't get a very good vibe, and have the luxury of not being like a million dollars in debt? any advice or any factors that i should take into consideration would be much appreciated.

wow! this is very impressive!!! how many applicants get a full ride to a med. school and have to make this type of decision??? very few, i think. anyhow, most people (and correct me if i'm wrong) in your case would go to umdnj. i certainly would. i guess you have to determine whether or not you can live with those characteristics of umdnj that you dislike. are your problems w/umdnj superficial (ex. old classrooms and housing, ugly campus)? will you completely be miserable if you go there???

when all is said and done, you have to make the decision, not me. although a debt-free medical education does not automatically equate to happiness, there is still no guarentee that you will be happier at nyu (especially when you enter into residency)....

btw, can you further speak to students(in their first and third years) at either school to help you to have a greater understanding of each school?

good luck with whatever decision you make!

 

[12R34Y]

no brainer...........take the full-ride and be VERY VERY happy forever that you won't have debt.

later

 

[Harry Truman]

a full ride is definitely a sweet deal. although, if you absolutely hated umdnj, and loved it at NYU, then you should suck it up and go to NYU. don't worry about paying back your loans. hundreds of thousands of doctors have done it before you, and so will many more after you.

money is definitely important, but not as important as your happiness. go to the med school where you will be the happiest.

oh, and does anyone think that going to NYU might look better/open up more doors as compared to going to umdnj.

just my thoughts.....

 

[monkeyarms]

i'll be the black sheep here and say that you should not allow money to be a major factor in your choice of school. if you are unhappy where you are, it will NOT matter how little debt you have or how well you're doing in class or what the rep of your school is etc.....i can guarantee that at this juncture you have not got any significant appreciation of where you'll be spiritually/physically/mentally at the end of four years of med school. it changes everybody when they go through something as monumentally challenging and demanding as this. you will really be amazed as you see yourself and your classmates morph over the ensuing years. therefore, the ABSOLUTE MOST important thing for you to consider is where you will be happiest. do you like the town? close to family? close to friends? is there something unique that attracts or repulses you about the school? do you want to go through with grades or pass/fail? etc,etc,etc
money never REALLY makes anybody happy anyways! good luck!

 

[Stinger86]

kbear, you need to find out what it is exactly that you don't like about njms before you make that decision. I was about to relate this kind of decision to college choice, but now that I think about it, it's totally different. Med school is professional school, not a second college. People go there to learn medicine, work on their people skills, and earn an MD. If you can find out what it is that bugs you about this school to which you earned a full-ride plus benefits, you will probably be able to make a more informed decision. If you find out you don't like the students, who gives a crap? You're not there to socialize and make friends first, you're there to learn medicine. If you hate the area around the school, consider finding a better place to live in town where you don't have to see it all the time.

I guess I'm just biased, but at my school, it's in an ugly part of town, with lazy and immature classmates, and rotten professors. But you know what? I can still learn medicine outside of school and in the clinics. And in two years, I'm going to have an MD, and I'll be outta there.

If you dig deep-down inside yourself, and find out that you can tolerate the school with the full-ride+, I would most definitely recommend you go there. Man, no debts plus extra spending money. Yowza

Hope it all works out!

 

[12R34Y]

take the free money.......i don't buy the whole "open more doors" thing if you go to NYU..........it won't matter.

later

 

[periodic]

kbear:

Is this one of the scholarships under the humanism in medicine grant NJMS got? PM me if so..I'm potentially facing a similar situation.

periodic