OUWB vs RFUMS

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OUWB vs RFUMS

  • OUWB

  • RFUMS


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chonc

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I'm noticing a lot of OUWB vs discussions out there lately but I'll add mine anyway. Essentially, I was wowed by the OUWB community, especially the faculty and staff. They really seemed to have their sht together on interview day and wholly invested in making sure their students were happy and successful. On the other hand, RFUMS admin were squarely dissed by a current student, during a panel discussion at that. The person quickly rebuffed with a "but they're working on it". While I appreciated the candidness, it obviously colored my impression of the school. Other positive aspects of OUWB:
- 50% scholarship for all 4 years (full tuition is roughly the same as RFUMS).
- Connection to Beaumont Hospitals; makes networking easier for research opportunities and residency

Downsides to OUWB:
- Capstone required. Most past abstracts I read seemed legit, but some looked like complete bs. One was about the changing impressions of OUWB based on SDN-sourced opinions lol..
- Less competitive edge for residency placement (?) The past 2 years seemed to have a heavy Beaumont bias. I can't tell if these students really wanted to stay in the area or were just limited in their choices.
- Suburban location.

RFUMS seems like a basic, no-frills med school education with the benefits being:
- set standard of residency placement based on many past graduates
- urban locale for M3-4
- established curriculum
- no *required* research
- has the vote of my SO, who would rather die than be in the far off 'burbs of Detroit.
- 24-hr facilities that have everything you need under one roof. Literally did not step a step outside on interview day.

Downsides to RFUMS:
- No aid. That was always the default but looking away from 100K is hard.
- Current students say finding research opportunities has been difficult, although not impossible. There's definitely less baby'ing from the admin in terms of finding and neatly packaging up opportunities like this for you.
- Rotations all over the place -- this could also be a good thing?

Other considerations:
- OOS, would like to return to the west coast.

Any insight/advice/questions to ask would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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Don't mean to be crass. But what is OUWB? Is that a DO school in Detroit?
 
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RFUMS always has a super good match list but I don't know why
I know right?? For all the crap I read about it online/hear in person, they get the job done.

A few more reasons RFUMS looks favorable:
- location. Urban > suburban
- be able to land a west coast job with ease preferably in OR, CA, WA
- feel less guilt about moving SO out to the midwest

But how to equate the cost value of these things?? Are they worth 100k+? Interview day @ OUWB was rosy af but how much does this reflect on the 4 yrs and beyond?

Tbh, the fact that my SO is far from thrilled about OUWB is playing a bigger factor than I'd like to admit. So I'm trying to give both places as much objective consideration as possible.

Anyone who's gone through a similar deliberation, please feel free to share your thought process.
 
I don't know much about OUWB, but I'd like to chime in on RF. Don't necessarily pick RF because it's in an urban location. Students don't live in Chicago until M3-M4. North Chicago is horrible (plz make sure you convey that to your SO) and you will be stuck somewhere in the surrounding area during M1 and M2, which are 100% the suburbs of Chicago I met an M2 who was living in Chicago and he had a 45-1hr 15-minute commute to RF, especially long during rush hour and wasn't happy about it. Also, M3 and M4 have clinical sites that are spread throughout the city and suburbs and you will have to be commuting potentially a significant distance everyday. RF has a great match list, but students there work really hard. Research is basically non-existent on campus and you will have to reach out to faculty at other medical schools or physicians at other hospitals, which again may require you commute.

GO to OUMB. 50% off tuition. This is a easy decision in my book. 100K will be a LOT more after interest. Also, I've been to Royal oak a few times. It's a reasonably cool place.
 
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I don't know much about OUWB, but I'd like to chime in on RF. Don't necessarily pick RF because it's in an urban location. Students don't live in Chicago until M3-M4. North Chicago is horrible (plz make sure you convey that to your SO) and you will be stuck somewhere in the surrounding area during M1 and M2, which are 100% the suburbs of Chicago I met an M2 who was living in Chicago and he had a 45-1hr 15-minute commute to RF, especially long during rush hour and wasn't happy about it. Also, M3 and M4 have clinical sites that are spread throughout the city and suburbs and you will have to be commuting potentially a significant distance everyday. RF has a great match list, but students there work really hard. Research is basically non-existent on campus and you will have to reach out to faculty at other medical schools or physicians at other hospitals, which again may require you commute.

GO to OUMB. 50% off tuition. This is a easy decision in my book. 100K will be a LOT more after interest. Also, I've been to Royal oak a few times. It's a reasonably cool place.

Thanks. Deep down, I agree with you. I finally had the dreaded talk with my SO today and it was fine. It's a big change for us both, and because we were never super keen on either option, it was harder to make a decision. Barring anything unforeseen, we'll be going to MI :)
 
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I know right?? For all the crap I read about it online/hear in person, they get the job done.

A few more reasons RFUMS looks favorable:
- location. Urban > suburban
- be able to land a west coast job with ease preferably in OR, CA, WA
- feel less guilt about moving SO out to the midwest

But how to equate the cost value of these things?? Are they worth 100k+? Interview day @ OUWB was rosy af but how much does this reflect on the 4 yrs and beyond?

Tbh, the fact that my SO is far from thrilled about OUWB is playing a bigger factor than I'd like to admit. So I'm trying to give both places as much objective consideration as possible.

Anyone who's gone through a similar deliberation, please feel free to share your thought process.

Just FYI, location for RFUMS for the first 2 years is basically wisconsin. It's a 60-90 minute drive to the city depending on traffic, so for all intents and purposes its in the middle of nowhere.
RFU gets a bad rep because their administration has a high turnover so its problems never really get fixed and it can make your life difficult depending on how much you need the admins to do for you. However, a school being more established is worth a lot more in terms of residency placements as the school will have better connections with PDs. This is really important come match day.
 
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