Northwestern vs. Pittsburgh

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

SigurRos

Full Member
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2007
Messages
502
Reaction score
0
Anybody have any comments on how the two compare? Pittsburgh ranks a little higher on USNWR and gets a significantly greater number of research grants from the NIH and is also the only regional medical center for its area, but Northwestern is in a superb city and has a great reputation, with an interesting student body. Both schools seems somewhat PBL heavy and research oriented. Anyone else care to chime in?
Members don't see this ad.
 
I find the search function extremely helpful when looking at X versus Y school. :love:
 
I was trying to make this decision as well a couple of weeks ago. I liked Northwestern better than Pitt. But that's just me. I'm a city girl. Both have amazing facilities and research options. I didn't like that you had to do what amounts to a thesis for Pitt. Also NW has very little class time and a 4 year MD/MPH program that I was interested in. I would have chosen Northwestern over Pitt simply because I felt more comfortable there (and whats a couple of point in rankings for a school you really like?)

Good luck, both are great schools!
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I have a friend that goes to NU medical school and from what he said it is a very cohesive and challenging environment. The one thing he did warn about is a lot of the students in the medical school are part of the guaranteed med school program and therefor have known each other for a long time. NU is also in the heart of Chicago and if you can handle the weather there is no better place to be.
 
ihatescience said:
I find the search function extremely helpful when looking at X versus Y school. :love:
Click to expand...

So... am I just stupid or are you talking about Googling SDN? I have no clue what "search function" you're talking about. :confused:

I have the same question as the OP... also, can anyone throw in comments on U of Chicago/Pritzker? It seems to be generally regarded as better than both Northwestern and Pitt...
 
MsJLewis said:
I was trying to make this decision as well a couple of weeks ago. I liked Northwestern better than Pitt. But that's just me. I'm a city girl. Both have amazing facilities and research options. I didn't like that you had to do what amounts to a thesis for Pitt. Also NW has very little class time and a 4 year MD/MPH program that I was interested in. I would have chosen Northwestern over Pitt simply because I felt more comfortable there (and whats a couple of point in rankings for a school you really like?)

Good luck, both are great schools!
Click to expand...

They have a 4 year MD/MPH?? Good lord. How do they manage that? (Can you tell I haven't been to my NU interview yet? :) )
 
StealthNerd said:
They have a 4 year MD/MPH?? Good lord. How do they manage that? (Can you tell I haven't been to my NU interview yet? :) )
Click to expand...

Yea, the host I was staying with was in the program and raved about it. Basically you take classes in the afternoon at the school of public health.. which is manageable since they have so little med school class time. Then the summer after 1st year you work on a public health project and you use some 4th year elective time to finish your project. Its condensed but doable if you really want it.

About Pritzker, I did not complete the secondary simply because they have a lot of class time (like 9am-5pm). Also they have anatomy every single day. :thumbdown:
But they do give out a lot of scholarship money... good luck!
 
MsJLewis said:
Yea, the host I was staying with was in the program and raved about it. Basically you take classes in the afternoon at the school of public health.. which is manageable since they have so little med school class time. Then the summer after 1st year you work on a public health project and you use some 4th year elective time to finish your project. Its condensed but doable if you really want it.

About Pritzker, I did not complete the secondary simply because they have a lot of class time (like 9am-5pm). Also they have anatomy every single day. :thumbdown:
But they do give out a lot of scholarship money... good luck!
Click to expand...

Wow, thanks for that info. That's amazing! :-D
 
MsJLewis said:
Yea, the host I was staying with was in the program and raved about it. Basically you take classes in the afternoon at the school of public health.. which is manageable since they have so little med school class time. Then the summer after 1st year you work on a public health project and you use some 4th year elective time to finish your project. Its condensed but doable if you really want it.

About Pritzker, I did not complete the secondary simply because they have a lot of class time (like 9am-5pm). Also they have anatomy every single day. :thumbdown:
But they do give out a lot of scholarship money... good luck!
Click to expand...

Pritzker has changed their curriculum for the incoming class of 2012. I believe all of anatomy has been moved earlier so that it is in a block by itself. This should reduce time spent in class, although the school year will start a few weeks earlier than before.
 
I'm making the same choices here too. I have already turned down Pitt. Even though it's ranked a bit higher than NW, I couldn't really see myself in Pittsburgh, the mandatory thesis is a turn-off (plus the seeming focus on training academic physicians, which is not necessarily my thing), and the facilities/setting which aren't even in the same league as those at NW.

The harder decision for me is between NW and Pritzker. Pritzker is much more academic which, again, I'm not particularly a fan of. But at least a thesis isn't required. And I'm wondering whether Pritzker's reputation will make a difference over NW's come residency applications.

I'm sort of hoping I get into one of my top choices in March so I don't have to make these hard decisions :p
 
Northwestern mainly has the city of Chicago and its location in the city going for it right near Michigan Ave and the lake.

Northwestern has great research and clinical opportunities but Pittsburgh beats it in both, research with all their NIH grants and also in clinical opportunities/experience during the 3rd and 4th years having the third biggest hospital complex in the nation behind Houston and Birmingham.

As far as overall reputation, Pitt would be the choice but I'd have a really difficult time with it since location is very important to me and Northwestern prob has one of the best in the nation.
 
Seems like a lot of people are commenting on how Northwestern is in Chicago, which is a cooler city than Pittsburgh. While I agree with this overall, I'd just like to add that I was pleasantly surprised with the city of Pittsburgh. It's got an up-and-coming kind of feeling, and a lot of that is centered around the biotech industry filling in for the old mills.

I also liked how there are many distinct neighborhoods that are all pretty accessible and close together. In addition, with Carnegie Mellon right there (not to mention other Universities), there's a pretty cool arts scene going on, and some great museums. Lots of diversity in the patient population too.

Again, I don't mean to put Chicago down at all (I love that city), but I think Pittsburgh has a lot of wonderful aspects to it that people sometimes overlook.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I have to agree with you. Pittsburgh definitely felt like a good city to be in for medical school and early adulthood in general. I was amazed by the medical center, and I have to disagree that the facilities at NU were that much better. Does anyone have 2nd look information for either of these schools?
 
RedLights said:
I'm making the same choices here too. I have already turned down Pitt. Even though it's ranked a bit higher than NW, I couldn't really see myself in Pittsburgh, the mandatory thesis is a turn-off (plus the seeming focus on training academic physicians, which is not necessarily my thing), and the facilities/setting which aren't even in the same league as those at NW.

The harder decision for me is between NW and Pritzker. Pritzker is much more academic which, again, I'm not particularly a fan of. But at least a thesis isn't required. And I'm wondering whether Pritzker's reputation will make a difference over NW's come residency applications.

I'm sort of hoping I get into one of my top choices in March so I don't have to make these hard decisions :p
Click to expand...

The scholarly project does not need to be researched based so don't use that as a con for Pitt. There are many opportunities for other types of work.

Since I'll be doing extra research time I'll be doing that (and don't have the best information about what else is available), but I know that people are able to do some global health or local community service based projects. Another option is setting up new programs to be used for the simulation center. If you come to second look you'll get a bigger tour of the simulation center and learn a little more about that as a scholarly project, and you can also ask people what they are planning on doing.
 
Pittsburgh has an amazing clinical background to have a medical school...the massive beast known as UPMC. But its location leaves much to be desired for, and the medical school facilities, especially the lecture halls, seem like it can use a new coat of paint...

Northwestern has a great location (1 block from Michigan Avenue), but with a clinical background much weaker than Pittsburgh. It seems like most of the clinical training is done in a very fancy hospital that seems more like a hotel...so its strictly upper middle class to upper class...I don't know how I feel about that class distinction... Plus cost of living is much much higher than Pittsburgh.

Research wise, they each have their specialties and strengths. Pittsburgh is all about the liver while Northwestern has a strong drug design/discovery program due to the inventor of Lyrica being a faculty member there.
 
Why are there so many threads "Pitt v. [fill in name of school]"???

are people dying to justify NOT going to Pitt for some reason that escapes me? other than, well, Pittsburgh.
 
lemon tree said:
Why are there so many threads "Pitt v. [fill in name of school]"???

are people dying to justify NOT going to Pitt for some reason that escapes me? other than, well, Pittsburgh.
Click to expand...

Yep. Pretty much. I loved Pitt ... except that it's friggin Pitt. I'm trying to convince myself to just go to UVA and be done with it. :)
 
StealthNerd said:
Yep. Pretty much. I loved Pitt ... except that it's friggin Pitt. I'm trying to convince myself to just go to UVA and be done with it. :)
Click to expand...
Lol. Just go with your heart and stop overanalyzing stuff.
 
Pittsburgh's a great city, and thats coming from a person who was raised in LA. If the only reason you don't like Pittsburgh is because of location, you should remember that while it is a smaller city, it has a great sense of community and I've never lived in a city with nicer people.
 
I thought this was an interesting comparison, so I 'm bringing it back with a b-u-m-p, BUMP!
 
im facing the exact same decision here...location is important to me, but so is reputation. i really want to become a neurosurgeon (i know, a bit cliche) and want to know which school, nw or pitt, would give me the best shot at the best residencies. thanks!
 
I would guess that Pitt has a better residency matchlist, but that would be nitpicking. Pitt and NU are pretty similar in terms of reputation too.
 
yea, i maybe have to flip a coin on thsi one, considering i cant make it back to either second look...
 
"in a very fancy hospital that seems more like a hotel...so its strictly upper middle class to upper class"



don't those people deserve medical care too? They have just as serious problems that require medical care. They deserve the same amount and quality as those that have to wait 2 hours in line at a county hospital.



I mean isn't the role of a doctor to provide care to everyone that needs it?
 
plus the also do get a pretty nice mixture of patients even though they are in a more endowed section of Chicago
 
Just to clarify a few things...

A great number of my Northwestern Memorial Hostpial medicine patients were on Medicaid. Every single primary care experiences (Peds, Family Medicine, Ob/Gyn outpatient clinic) were in underserved neighborhoods or served underserved populations. The notion that we serve only the rich is patently false.

Northwestern has a great reputation for training residents who are very clinically competent from the get go. Our reputation among residency directors reflects this. I don't think there's any way to support claims that clinical training is better at Pitt or U of C (though I would never make the counter claim that we are clearly better than these excellent institutions). I think anyone should take comments like that, that lack objective data, from other pre-meds (or anyone else for that matter) with a real big grain of salt.

As for neurosurgery, we matched 4/4 this year at great places. As well as 100% in ortho (16/16!) and derm. Just guessing, this probably relefects 99%+ the talent/effort of the students and <1% the reputation of the school. Unless there's a real huge discrepancy in the reputation, I wouldn't go to any school over another because it gives you a better chance of matching into X. That's going to be up to the individual for the most part.

I dont know the programs at Pitt or Pritzker that well. (never heard of the required thesis). I would personally avoid any school that does 8-5, 5 days/week lectures M1 year. I'm not sure if anyone still does that. The only thing I can say for sure is that cost of living is going to be considerably less in Pittsburgh, so that's one important factor.

Remember the most important factor in the US News rankings is NIH funding - this is crucial for PhD and MD/PhD applicants but not so important for straight MD applicants. In the end, if one goes to the program that feels right, it will probably work out well.

Feel free to PM me with any questions about NU.
 
If this statistic at all influences your decision, Pittsburgh ranks in the bottome 11 of cities with most sunshine/year. #12 is Nome Alaska which has 6months of night. Just saying...but also ranks as the most "livable city" and if your studies are where you'd want them to be matching and placement wouldnt be the issue.
Feel free to PM me with any questions about NU.
Click to expand...
Feel free to PM with questions about Pitt, seriously though.
 
jhc said:
Just to clarify a few things...

A great number of my Northwestern Memorial Hostpial medicine patients were on Medicaid. Every single primary care experiences (Peds, Family Medicine, Ob/Gyn outpatient clinic) were in underserved neighborhoods or served underserved populations. The notion that we serve only the rich is patently false.

Northwestern has a great reputation for training residents who are very clinically competent from the get go. Our reputation among residency directors reflects this. I don't think there's any way to support claims that clinical training is better at Pitt or U of C (though I would never make the counter claim that we are clearly better than these excellent institutions). I think anyone should take comments like that, that lack objective data, from other pre-meds (or anyone else for that matter) with a real big grain of salt.

As for neurosurgery, we matched 4/4 this year at great places. As well as 100% in ortho (16/16!) and derm. Just guessing, this probably relefects 99%+ the talent/effort of the students and <1% the reputation of the school. Unless there's a real huge discrepancy in the reputation, I wouldn't go to any school over another because it gives you a better chance of matching into X. That's going to be up to the individual for the most part.

I dont know the programs at Pitt or Pritzker that well. (never heard of the required thesis). I would personally avoid any school that does 8-5, 5 days/week lectures M1 year. I'm not sure if anyone still does that. The only thing I can say for sure is that cost of living is going to be considerably less in Pittsburgh, so that's one important factor.

Remember the most important factor in the US News rankings is NIH funding - this is crucial for PhD and MD/PhD applicants but not so important for straight MD applicants. In the end, if one goes to the program that feels right, it will probably work out well.

Feel free to PM me with any questions about NU.
Click to expand...

do you by any chance have northwestern's 2008 match list?
 
SigurRos said:
Anybody have any comments on how the two compare? Pittsburgh ranks a little higher on USNWR and gets a significantly greater number of research grants from the NIH and is also the only regional medical center for its area, but Northwestern is in a superb city and has a great reputation, with an interesting student body. Both schools seems somewhat PBL heavy and research oriented. Anyone else care to chime in?
Click to expand...
I'd pick Chicago, mainly for the location. Northwestern does a better job with matching, many Pitts students did not match this year. Also, the scholarly project requires a lot of work, such as itemizing each month what you've done so far and how many times you've met with your advisor, etc. I'm sure the student body is interesting at both places.

Feel free to PM with questions about Pitt.
 
What do you mean many Pitt students did not match this year?

Are you talking about the same Pittsburgh med school that we're talking about?

Last I checked, Pitt's match list has been very impressive... some years they beat higher ranked schools like U Mich. So please elaborate...
 
You can't go with the rankings on this one. Both schools are very very comparable in reputation in the medical field. I live and work at UPMC and know a lot of the med students. Also, the surgeon I work for did her MD/PhD at Northwestern and talks about it pretty much everyday.

So, from my experience, I'd say Pitt is a much more laid back environment with more down to earth students. You're definitely going to get your intense gunners anywhere, but the overall impression at Pitt is very laidback. The students are pretty close friends for the most part and most live down in Shadyside which is a very nice area and maybe 2 miles from campus. From what I hear the students at NW tend to be more intense and sometimes a little "interesting". If your decision is that close and you plan to go to both 2nd look days try to really get a feel for the students at each place and see which feel more comfortable to you.

DISCLAIMER: *I only know 1 doctor from northwestern and the stories she tells me, but she is extremely down to earth and one of the funniest people I know*
 
GalaxySystem said:
What do you mean many Pitt students did not match this year?

Are you talking about the same Pittsburgh med school that we're talking about?

Last I checked, Pitt's match list has been very impressive... some years they beat higher ranked schools like U Mich. So please elaborate...
Click to expand...

I'm confused by that too since I looked at the match list when they posted it on Thursday. Not that I truly know which programs are the best for each specialty yet (and I know more than the pre-meds on here so really you can't look at one and decide what's a good match list), but I do know that if you see quite a few people matching into things like Anesthesiology, Derm, Optho, etc. that's quite impressive. I noticed a Neurosurg. at Penn, which I believe is supposed to be really good, and there are internal meds at the Harvard hospitals, which I've also heard are tops for that.

Lots of people also matched here, and I remember at another school during the interview day I was told that that's a good indicator of whether people felt their training in clinical rotations was good. Obviously you wouldn't apply to your school's program if you didn't like the culture at it.

You can also PM me for questions about Pitt.
 
10ftsurf said:
If this statistic at all influences your decision, Pittsburgh ranks in the bottome 11 of cities with most sunshine/year. #12 is Nome Alaska which has 6months of night. Just saying...but also ranks as the most "livable city" and if your studies are where you'd want them to be matching and placement wouldnt be the issue.

Feel free to PM with questions about Pitt, seriously though.
Click to expand...

where did you find this info?

I'd pick Pitt mostly because I love pittsburgh and UPMC, even if the weather's crappy. sadly they did not feel the same about me.

EDIT: via googling I found which cities were most & least stressful. Pittsburgh is less stressful at #12 than Chicago at #6. http://www.bizjournals.com/specials/pages/153.html
 
I know that Pitt gets much more funding for research relative to NU, but what about accessibility of student research capabilities? I don't have a definitive field in mind, but some of interest are neuroscience, medical anthropology, epidemiology, gerontology, blah blah (yea I know, I have research topic ADD). Any comments?
 
MsJLewis said:
Yea, the host I was staying with was in the program and raved about it. Basically you take classes in the afternoon at the school of public health.. which is manageable since they have so little med school class time. Then the summer after 1st year you work on a public health project and you use some 4th year elective time to finish your project. Its condensed but doable if you really want it.

About Pritzker, I did not complete the secondary simply because they have a lot of class time (like 9am-5pm). Also they have anatomy every single day. :thumbdown:
But they do give out a lot of scholarship money... good luck!
Click to expand...

Woah. Thanks, I'll remember that. :)
 
BoxingTheStars said:
where did you find this info?

I'd pick Pitt mostly because I love pittsburgh and UPMC, even if the weather's crappy. sadly they did not feel the same about me.

EDIT: via googling I found which cities were most & least stressful. Pittsburgh is less stressful at #12 than Chicago at #6. http://www.bizjournals.com/specials/pages/153.html
Click to expand...

I wouldn't use that link as any indication. They are showing the Pittsburgh has more murders per capita than Chicago, which I know is not true. I didn't look through the rest of the stats, but that one jumped out at me.
 
1956Goldtop said:
I know that Pitt gets much more funding for research relative to NU, but what about accessibility of student research capabilities? I don't have a definitive field in mind, but some of interest are neuroscience, medical anthropology, epidemiology, gerontology, blah blah (yea I know, I have research topic ADD). Any comments?
Click to expand...

There's plenty of funding programs for students at Pitt and ample opportunities. I think about 85 people are going to be here this summer for research and will be getting funding from some source. Maybe more, but I can't remember the exact number. There's also people going abroad to do research. We have a good neuro department and I've seen lots of emails about getting gerontology research opportunities. The other two I'm not sure about since my interests are elsewhere, but I'm sure if you look for opportunities they will be there.
 
Tell that to the 70% of non-trads at UCSF, or the 66% non-trads at UCSD, or even the 47% going to UVA. I suppose they can't party hard either, which is, of course, why people go to medical school....

Anyhow, Pittsburgh is more safe than many of the other major cities of the country. Plus students enjoy free transportation there.

Second Look is one day away! :)
 
For those facing this decision and were conflicted about it earlier this year, I'm interested to know what you all finally decided. I'm leaning more and more towards pitt. I will force myself to make a decision by the end of the week :)
 
GalaxySystem said:
Last I checked, Pitt's match list has been very impressive... some years they beat higher ranked schools like U Mich. So please elaborate...
Click to expand...

jesus, this mindset is like an infectious disease
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Next unread thread

Similar threads

O
Northwestern vs Miller
Replies
4
Views
408
sophop
sophop
I
Northwestern vs WashU
Replies
3
Views
1K
obiwan
obiwan
I_like_Floors
Northwestern (Feinberg) vs UChicago (Pritzker)
Replies
7
Views
501
toffeenut17
T
G
What types of research do T20 schools (UChicago or Northwestern) like?
Replies
2
Views
876
Saturday’s Child
Saturday’s Child
M
  • Poll
Northwestern vs Cornell
Replies
13
Views
3K
DZ2106
D
Top