NYU vs UCLA vs Yale

[supermenz]

Hey everyone! First time poster, long time lurker. I appreciate this community a lot, you guys have helped me a ton throughout college (and hopefully thru med school too lol). I've been very lucky this application cycle and am having trouble choosing between these schools. Hoping you guys can help me out! Haven't decided on a specialty but i wanna match in California as my family is there.

NYU

Pros: -foll COA scholarship (hallelujah)
- NYC! If i'm ever gonna live there it's gonna be now
- Upwards trend, i think the school is tryna do big things and it feels cool to be a part of that
-this may sound flimsy but I feel like living in new york will allow me to maintain my current connections better as ppl go in and out of new york often for a lot of different reasons so I feel like it'll be easier to see friends more frequently.

Cons: -exams every other week (i guess it's nice that they're in bite size pieces but still that's very frequent)
- this is kinda BS but ranking dropped from #3 to #9 recently, but i think that tells me how NYU has only been hot stuff for a short period of time, maybe they're not as respected/recognized yet as they will be in 10 years. Not really a con but might affect residency prospects.
-speculation, but with the tuition free thing i'm worried it's bound to be gunner capital

UCLA

Pros: - Geffen scholarship (bless up)
-liked it the most upon interviewing (unfortunately second look conflicts with NYU :/ )
- Definitely had the most chill student population, feel like i'll vibe well there
- I wanna match in CA so no doubt this will give me an edge
- not sure how true, but I feel like UCLA is more recognized/respected in medicine as they've been hot stuff for a long time. Maybe has better networking opps than NYU, but again not sure how true.
- Have some family in LA (parents live abroad tho)

Cons: - 2 year pre clinical, feel like a lot of schools are stepping away from this model
- i heard during interview that students don't do their own dissections in anatomy and that the 2nd year students do the dissection for 1st year students?


Yale (still waiting on fin aid package)

Pros: -my family is pretty broke so im sure i'll get a good fin aid package, although i doubt it's gonna be as good as NYU or UCLA
- ivy league, prob most recognized school on my list
- bragging rights for parents (jk, but lowkey)
- very chill students, probably more chill than nyu but not as chill as ucla
- they're very big on research, which i'm sure will help if i wanna match into ortho or something

Cons: -New Haven (not as bad as i thought but for some reason the thought of me living in CT turns me off)
-ivy league (could also be a con with regards to the type of students they attract, don't know if i'll vibe as well)



So that's pretty much it. Since cost is mostly taken care of, I'm most concerned about location and residency prospects. I know I didn't really talk about rotations or clinical stuff but that's cause I think all 3 schools have diverse patient populations so the differences are negligible, lmk if im wrong though.


Thanks in advance!

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[freedoctor17]

Take the geffen at UCLA and run (amazing weather plus the full ride at a great school is hard to beat).

I'm waitlisted at nyu as a disclaimer but even if accepted I'm very unlikely to go there. Didn't like the feel very much and have another acceptance i liked much better that I'd go to over it.

 

[dodolol21]

I'm voting for Geffen, unless COA is under 50k at Yale, then Yale

 

[wagonwheel23]

Based on your post, it sounds like you want to go to UCLA. Also, prosected cadavers could be a plus. I liked dissecting but it took an insane amount of time.

 

[Ninefingers]

Geffen is the full COA scholly right? You would be crazy to turn that down.

 

[puahate]

ucla

 

[Rachapkis]

UCLA is in a great location, it’s higher ranked than the other schools, and is absolutely free with a Geffen. Particularly if you want to match in California, this decision doesn’t seem close to me—UCLA hands down.

 

[Phoebus Apollo]

Not adding anything new here, but if California is your longterm then you should feel great about going to UCLA (especially since you have the scholarship).

Also, I 100% get what you’re saying about seeing people frequently in NYC and I don’t think that’s ~flimsy~. But I’d wager that continuing to grow roots in LA over the next four years will probably make you feel just as socially fufilled in the end.

 

[supermenz]

Geffen is the full COA scholly right? You would be crazy to turn that down.

Yea that's true, although NYU is also full COA so it's the same as Geffen, guess I can rule out Yale cause that will require me to go in debt

 

[supermenz]

UCLA is in a great location, it’s higher ranked than the other schools, and is absolutely free with a Geffen. Particularly if you want to match in California, this decision doesn’t seem close to me—UCLA hands down.

Fair, I guess I need to look at match lists to see if NYU students match competitively in CA and decide off that , though I'm sure it's easier for UCLA students

 

[Rachapkis]

Yea that's true, although NYU is also full COA so it's the same as Geffen, guess I can rule out Yale cause that will require me to go in debt

The Geffen covers tuition, fees, books and supplies, room and board, and a stipend for travel and expenses, whereas NYU covers only tuition. Given the cost of living in NYC, it will likely be significantly more expensive to attend NYU.

FAQs - David Geffen School of Medicine - Los Angeles, CA

 

[supermenz]

The Geffen covers tuition, fees, books and supplies, room and board, and a stipend for travel and expenses, whereas NYU covers only tuition. Given the cost of living in NYC, it will likely be significantly more expensive to attend NYU.

FAQs - David Geffen School of Medicine - Los Angeles, CA

True true, but I got the Dean's scholarship at NYU so its also tuition+living... just like the Geffen, so cost is equivalent !

 

[freedoctor17]

The Geffen covers tuition, fees, books and supplies, room and board, and a stipend for travel and expenses, whereas NYU covers only tuition. Given the cost of living in NYC, it will likely be significantly more expensive to attend NYU.

FAQs - David Geffen School of Medicine - Los Angeles, CA

They got a full cost of attendance at NYU as well so along with the free tuition it covers living costs as well. I don't think they get the extra stipend for travel expenses though but still the cost difference won't be a big deal at all. I'd still say choose UCLA but if OP is a fan of new york then can't really go wrong here.

 

[TempuraOreos]

They got a full cost of attendance at NYU as well so along with the free tuition it covers living costs as well. I don't think they get the extra stipend for travel expenses though but still the cost difference won't be a big deal at all. I'd still say choose UCLA but if OP is a fan of new york then can't really go wrong here.

My student host has also gotten the NYU full COA scholarship and he told me they do give a stipend (around $3000/semester iirc) so that could be used towards anything including travel. But since OP wants to match in Cali UCLA is definitely the better option.

 

[Luckyone1023]

I also was lucky enough to choose between full COA at NYU and UCLA. I chose NYU which at the the time was ranked 12, below UCLA. For me, the opportunity to live four years for free in the heart of Manhattan was a definite draw, along with the fact that major clinical facilities are all walking distance. I've been extremely happy here, but I'd have to say that UCLA would be a better choice if your ultimate goal is to match in California, not to mention the great weather!

 

[Troyzle]

You forgot the best pro of UCLA...I'll be going there.

I say take UCLA. Though I'm obviously biased, the fact you want to match in Cali makes it the obvious choice. You'll make plenty of friends in LA and people would love to have an excuse to visit LA.

 

[965978]

UCLA seems perfect for you, especially since you want to match in California.

And remember that you’ll eventually become a 2nd year student so you’ll be able to do dissections eventually haha.

 

[Radiata20]

UCLA seems perfect for you, especially since you want to match in California.

And remember that you’ll eventually become a 2nd year student so you’ll be able to do dissections eventually haha.

This. Trust me, no matter what school you go to, you will soon realize that anatomy prosections like ours are so much better than trying to do the dissections yourself as an MS1. If you want to dissect--like most MS2s do--after you know what things look like and where they are, you can do so over the summer or the first half of MS2; if you decide you don't want to, then your friendly neighborhood MS2s and anatomists just saved you dozens upon dozens of hours of dissecting as an MS1 that resulted in shredded muscles and transected nerves/vessels which prevented you and your classmates from seeing the preserved anatomy that a prosection would show you.

It's more work for Dr. Stark and the rest of the anatomy faculty to have prosections ready to go for you from day 1. It would be far easier for them to just tell all the MS1s to dissect everything yourselves. They don't put in the extra work to do this for nothing!

 

[lalalallala]

NYU is definitely going to be filled with gunners. If you want to match in Cali going to UCLA will be a big plus. Plus IMO the students just seem SO much chiller there. That anatomy thing also sounds like a plus not a con imo

 

[Avada Cadaver]

NYU is definitely going to be filled with gunners. If you want to match in Cali going to UCLA will be a big plus. Plus IMO the students just seem SO much chiller there. That anatomy thing also sounds like a plus not a con imo

There are gunners at every medical school. I've met some NYU med students that were pretty chill. Conversely, I know actual gunners that attend DGSOM.

That said, I think you should go to DGSOM if your ultimate goal is to match Ca.

 

[lalalallala]

There are gunners at every medical school. I've met some NYU med students that were pretty chill. Conversely, I know actual gunners that attend DGSOM.

That said, I think you should go to DGSOM if your ultimate goal is to match Ca.

Yes there will be gunners everywhere, but the proportion of gunners varies at different schools and can have a substantial impact on whether students enjoy their time in medical school and like the culture of their school. I guess my statement was coming from the fact that I know like 5 kids from my UG going to NYU med this coming year and they're all gunners. I feel like with their tuition free initiative making the school much harder to get in to and the location in NYC, which is already a pretty not-friendly place to begin with, will make it a place where there are more gunners. You know gunners at DGSOM so your perception is slightly different than mine. Unfortunately we don't have any surveys on how many gunners are at each school lol so all we can do is make our best guesses about which cultures fit us each individually

 

[lalalallala]

I disagree - I don't think that the personalities of the classes at every top medical school are the same. I don't think the general vibe/culture of every city is the same. But to each their own

 

[lococola]

UCLA dean straight up told us Mr Geffen had his eye on NYU and hinted that he (Geffen) had similar aspirations for UCLA...I would think the recent admissions policy changes and # of Geffen scholarships being thrown around are no coincidence. Look for them to become more similar than different going forward, just on opposite coasts.

To OP - location is really major the difference here, if you want a sure path to a west coast residency go UCLA, if you wanna live the NYC dream for a few years in your 20s go with NYU.