Need to decide between top 5 or less debt at state school. Help?

[patch171]

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Hello! Forgive me if this is the wrong forum.

I have been lucky to be accepted to a few medical schools and have narrowed it down to two choices. One is a top 5 school, but has a high price tag. The other is ranked in the ~50 range, is local and would entail about 1/3 of the debt.

I am interested in emergency medicine and public health. I plan on working in patient care and in the nonprofit sphere.

Since I am married and have a child, ideally I would like to pursue a local residency and the in state school has a high match rate to my area (California). However, I am unsure if the region or prestige would be more helpful in that regard. Does any of that really matter or should I disregard this concern?

As far as the programs, I truly can see myself thriving and being happy at either school. I am just very nervous about taking on so much debt.

How did you decide on your program? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Sunshizzle]

Um... this would be a no brainer for me. Less debt, and staying local to avoid moving your wife and child. Also, the responsible thing to do for your family is take on as little debt as possible. Don't let US News and World Report empty out your pockets more than you have to.

 

[Tenk]

Less debt by far and away. I am an ED attending if that has any value to you.

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

If you wanted to go into research or a very competitive speciality then it may be a different story, but just make sure you make the choice that you won't regret. I am guessing the decision is between UC Davis and Penn or Hopkins? Davis is a great school! The only caveat is that if you care greatly about eventually matching into a program in California, then it may be easier to have that geographic control if you go to a top 5 school.

 

[deleted573262]

You say 1/3 and this could mean 25k vs. 75k or 200k vs. 600k. This is a big difference, especially after adding interest during school + residency.

You are considering EM which is somewhat competitive. EM does not require research to match as much as other specialties, say ortho or derm. I don't see any of your career goals (public health and EM) worse at a state school.

It will probably be easier to match in your home state if you stay in your home state for medical school. Seems logical that program directors will be more likely to take you as a 'known quantity'. There is also a higher chance that EM physicians at your state school have connections to other academic EM physicians in your home region.

 

[Lya]

People change their minds all the time. I think it depends on how serious and committed you are on going for EM and public health. Have you considered/explored other specialties, especially the competitive ones?

It also depends on how supportive your family is if you end up going to a different school. Are they open to a possibility of moving out of California if necessary?

 

[y123]

Top 5
Did you get your financial aid package? Top schools usually have generous aid.

 

[emergentmd]

EM attending here but Could be any attending. I would take a bottom 1/3 US school with 1/3 the debt (assume avg 100k) vs a top 5 school with (300K debt). Trust me...... you will thank me.

I would go with a decent state college vs an Ivy league any day.

Student A goes to Ivy league and after 4 yrs has 300k in debt. Then goes to private Top Med school and adds another 300k in debt. After 8 yrs, that 600k would be pushing 800K.

Student B goes state school and has 100k debt. Then state med school with another 100K debt. After 8 yrs, that would be about 250K.

People who tells you top 5 have no idea about finances and debt.

Once you get out of residency, NO one would care where you went to college/Med school. But every month you would feel the burden of writing that 10K check paying off that 800k in 10 yrs.

 

[intubesteak]

Don't leave California. The rest of the country sucks

 

[jd989898]

Unless you're interested in an ultra competitive specialty or academics, I'd go with the lower ranked school.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Moving to preallo

 

[Crayola227]

forget the MONEY

I say you gotta think about where you will be happiest and FUNCTION best

the school where you FUNCTION best, you will be healthiest, happiest, most family-est, most grades-est, most Step 1 scores-est

The school where you fail for $400,000 vs the school where you succeed for $800,000

I'm not telling you what school that is.... I'm telling you that's not price tag it's what you get for the money

all else being equal, save money over prestige

 

[Nommonnom]

If it's something like 300k and you have a kid, do your kid a favor and go local.

 

[787593]

Don't leave California. The rest of the country sucks

You've obviously never been to Wisconsin...

 

[mcloaf]

You've obviously never been to Wisconsin...

 

[intubesteak]

You've obviously never been to Wisconsin...

I'm mostly bitter that my own state didn't want me

That being said there is some regional bias that can make it difficult to come back to CA for residency if you leave. Probably wouldn't effect you much since you are considering a top tier out of state, but still worth thinking about. Also consider how freaking hard it is to get into a UC. UC is not really the same as a "state school" that most SDNers post about. Different league altogether.

 

[Eternal_Premed_Struggle]

If you want a career in academics, go top 5.

 

[darkjedi]

Has your financial aid package come through yet?

The top 5 are pretty generous with their aid and unless your parents are wealthy, usually wind up being cheaper than most state schools.