Northwestern vs UCSD

[kaysisiel]

First time posting, long time lurking.

I was very fortunate to get into Northwestern and UCSD. I'm a long-time California native. Now I have less than 4 days to choose between these two great schools and I'd love some feedback. My heart tells me I'll be happier at UCSD, but my brain tells me my heart is foolish and that it's more financially responsible for me to attend Northwestern.

Feinberg
Pros:
-Full tuition covered for four years (total COA is ~120k)
-Living in a major city
-Get to see outside of California
-Amazing, posh-looking hospitals
-Clinical research that I'm very interested in doing
Cons:
-The weather
-Far from family and friends
-High cost of living
-The new curriculum sounds like a huge time hog

UCSD
Pros:
-The weather, the beach, Mexican food
-Proximity to family and friends
-Slightly higher ranking
-Lots of basic science research I want to dabble in
-SoCal laidback atmosphere
-Low cost of living
-Wanted to attend as an undergrad but went elsewhere instead
-Curriculum allows for a lot of free time (better for Step I?)
Cons:
-High cost (total COA is ~235K)
-At this rate, I'm going to be in California forever (not sure if it's a con since I'm somewhat okay with it)

I'm also waitlisted at WUSTL, Icahn, UCSF, and JHU. I don't particularly care for WUSTL and Icahn, but I loved UCSF and JHU when I interviewed.

Thanks in advance for any tips and advice!

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[kanzeon]

You should go where you will be happiest. Med school is going to be tough so you want to be somewhere that you'll be most comfortable. They are both amazing schools, of course, but looking at your list it seems like the only real advantage for Northwestern is that it's cheaper. For me personally, 235K vs. 120K wouldn't be enough in the long run to sway me to choose the school that I know I would be less happy at.

Also San Diego is awesome!

 

[pachewisc]

First time posting, long time lurking.

I was very fortunate to get into Northwestern and UCSD. I'm a long-time California native. Now I have less than 4 days to choose between these two great schools and I'd love some feedback. My heart tells me I'll be happier at UCSD, but my brain tells me my heart is foolish and that it's more financially responsible for me to attend Northwestern.

Feinberg
Pros:
-Full tuition covered for four years (total COA is ~120k)
-Living in a major city
-Get to see outside of California
-Amazing, posh-looking hospitals
-Clinical research that I'm very interested in doing
Cons:
-The weather
-Far from family and friends
-High cost of living
-The new curriculum sounds like a huge time hog

UCSD
Pros:
-The weather, the beach, Mexican food
-Proximity to family and friends
-Slightly higher ranking
-Lots of basic science research I want to dabble in
-SoCal laidback atmosphere
-Low cost of living
-Wanted to attend as an undergrad but went elsewhere instead
-Curriculum allows for a lot of free time (better for Step I?)
Cons:
-High cost (total COA is ~235K)
-At this rate, I'm going to be in California forever (not sure if it's a con since I'm somewhat okay with it)

I'm also waitlisted at WUSTL, Icahn, UCSF, and JHU. I don't particularly care for WUSTL and Icahn, but I loved UCSF and JHU when I interviewed.

Thanks in advance for any tips and advice!

With equally reputable programs, as these two are, you should follow money/happiness. Unless you hate Feinberg, I can't any imagine benefits of UCSD are worth the extra $115k. That's potentially a quarter of a million dollars in savings after interest. Basically you'll be sacrificing an entire year's salary to go to UCSD over NW. Your payments will be half the size and allow for you to put money towards your life/family. My vote is definitely Feinberg.

 

[byaaaaaaah23]

With equally reputable programs, as these two are, you should follow money/happiness. Unless you hate Feinberg, I can't any imagine benefits of UCSD are worth the extra $115k. That's potentially a quarter of a million dollars in savings after interest. Basically you'll be sacrificing an entire year's salary to go to UCSD over NW. Your payments will be half the size and allow for you to put money towards your life/family. My vote is definitely Feinberg.

I agree with this reasoning. That's really a huge price difference.

 

[nBeeDee]

Feinberg
Pros:
-Full tuition covered for four years (total COA is ~120k)
-Living in a major city

Take the money. Chicago is an amazing city and even though it is expensive, I doubt you would need to spend $30k/year in living expenses. Your expected COA is a little high IMO if all tuition is covered.

 

[kaysisiel]

Thanks for the advice!

Take the money. Chicago is an amazing city and even though it is expensive, I doubt you would need to spend $30k/year in living expenses. Your expected COA is a little high IMO if all tuition is covered.

I'm just going off of Northwestern's estimates-- ~320K - 200k in scholarship and grants = ~120K.

Also, another major concern of mine is the added stress of Northwestern since it seems like they rank their students with AOA and Latin honors. I'm not sure if I'm super excited about that since UCSD is true P/F with no internal rankings.

 

[Nymphicus]

Also, another major concern of mine is the added stress of Northwestern since it seems like they rank their students with AOA and Latin honors. I'm not sure if I'm super excited about that since UCSD is true P/F with no internal rankings.

Is that worth a quarter million dollars?

 

[kaysisiel]

Is that worth a quarter million dollars?

Certainly not, that's why it's another major concern of mine, besides the weather, distance from family + friends, and complaints about the new curriculum.

And the cost difference will be ~120K, I will be getting an interest-free loan from the parents.

 

[tungsten184]

I was in a your shoes a couple weeks ago with a school I really wanted to attend and NU (NU gave me the scholarship so the difference in COA was similar ~120k). I agree with all your cons about northwestern. The way I saw it was that I knew I was going to be happy at the other school, but it was foolish for me to think I wouldn't be just as happy at NU. So I picked NU, and I can honestly say it was the right decision and for the most part I don't regret it. Will see in a year or two, but I did my future self a favor and now I get to enjoy to freedoms of not being so heavily in debt. PM if you got any questions and GL.

 

[tungsten184]

Also I can relate to your whole heart vs. brain thing but in the end will you be happy in Chicago going to NU?

 

[I like meowmix]

The new curriculum is not really a time hog, I think people don't have the correct perception regarding it. PM me if you want to know more (I'm from california too).

 

[earf]

Doctor's aren't poor people, so you can definitely be happy going to either school, no matter the cost. That being said, a potential $250,000 in savings over your lifetime will mean something to you and your future family (bigger real estate, money put away for your kid's college fund, etc.). Both schools are excellent, but if your family can support themselves without you for four years, I think you'll be fine. You'll make new friends in med school and you'll adjust to the weather. If you really want to be in California or San Diego, come back for residency.

Seems like you have a choice of either trying something new or staying somewhere comfortable. If I were in your position, I would choose NU over UCSD. For what it's worth, I'm waitlisted for UCSD so of course there might be some bias, but you're choosing between two awesome schools and can't go wrong either way.

 

[kaysisiel]

After brooding over this decision for many days, I decided on UCSD.

I hope that nice pot of scholarship money goes to someone else at Northwestern. Best of luck to you earf, I hope you get off the waitlist at UCSD!

 

[Infarction]

After brooding over this decision for many days, I decided on UCSD.

I hope that nice pot of scholarship money goes to someone else at Northwestern. Best of luck to you earf, I hope you get off the waitlist at UCSD!

Congrats on your decision!