OUWB Vs UMASS

[sunny0909]

Hello,
Have received A from both OUWB and UMASS.
I am interested in a surgical residency later on , and so understand that research , AOA, class rank , etc are important.
UMASS is focussed on primary care. Don't know much about OUWB.
Both have amazing match lists in competitive specialities.
UMASS is attached to UMASS Memorial Medical center while OUWB is attached to Beaumont Hospital.

Please help me decide.
Thanks

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[inagomask]

Which school is cheaper? I think OUWB is probably going to be pretty expensive since it's a private school. Also, it's a newer and less established program. If all else is equal, I would probably go to Umass. Unless you have significant ties to the state of Michigan or you get a good financial deal out of OUWB. Both programs will set you up for success in surgery though.

 

[sunshine09]

Thank you so much!! This helps

 

[Nerd300]

Hello,
Have received A from both OUWB and UMASS.
I am interested in a surgical residency later on , and so understand that research , AOA, class rank , etc are important.
UMASS is focussed on primary care. Don't know much about OUWB.
Both have amazing match lists in competitive specialities.
UMASS is attached to UMASS Memorial Medical center while OUWB is attached to Beaumont Hospital.

Please help me decide.
Thanks

Hello, as a Boston native, I have worked with at least 2 physicians who attended UMASS and are currently surgeons (Urologist, OB-GYN). I cannot speak for OWUB, but I know that UMASS is a good school that will prepare you for any specialty. Plus, Worcester is quite close to Boston, which fields many excellent hospitals (MGH, BWH, Dana Farber, Children's Hospital), if you are interested in research and looking for mentors outside of what the school offers. However UMASS OOS tuition is ~ $60-$64K. Thus is you are out of state, this is something to think about. Also, Worcester is not as lively as Boston.

 

[sunshine09]

Hello, as a Boston native, I have worked with at least 2 physicians who attended UMASS and are currently surgeons (Urologist, OB-GYN). I cannot speak for OWUB, but I know that UMASS is a good school that will prepare you for any specialty. Plus, Worcester is quite close to Boston, which fields many excellent hospitals (MGH, BWH, Dana Farber, Children's Hospital), if you are interested in research and looking for mentors outside of what the school offers. However UMASS OOS tuition is ~ $60-$64K. Thus is you are out of state, this is something to think about. Also, Worcester is not as lively as Boston.

Thanks!!

 

[MadRadLad]

William Beaumont Hospital is one of the busiest surgical hospitals in the country and OUWB has multiple surgery-related residencies/fellowships where you can get exposure such as general surgery, vascular, colorectal, ENT, neurosurgery, urology, ob/gyn, anesthesia and radiology. Looking at their match list it doesn't seem you would have any issues matching into a surgical residency and getting connections. If you want to be on the east coast for sure though, UMass would be better.

 

[sunshine09]

William Beaumont Hospital is one of the busiest surgical hospitals in the country and OUWB has multiple surgery-related residencies/fellowships where you can get exposure such as general surgery, vascular, colorectal, ENT, neurosurgery, urology, ob/gyn, anesthesia and radiology. Looking at their match list it doesn't seem you would have any issues matching into a surgical residency and getting connections. If you want to be on the east coast for sure though, UMass would be better.

Oh wow!

 

[deleted1054719]

Hello, as a Boston native, I have worked with at least 2 physicians who attended UMASS and are currently surgeons (Urologist, OB-GYN). I cannot speak for OWUB, but I know that UMASS is a good school that will prepare you for any specialty. Plus, Worcester is quite close to Boston, which fields many excellent hospitals (MGH, BWH, Dana Farber, Children's Hospital), if you are interested in research and looking for mentors outside of what the school offers. However UMASS OOS tuition is ~ $60-$64K. Thus is you are out of state, this is something to think about. Also, Worcester is not as lively as Boston.

I guess it depends on what you mean by relatively close but Worcester is about an hour away by car and 1.5 hours by commuter rail which doesn't make it extremely accessible to Boston in my book.

 

[smallermarine]

From when I interviewed at OUWB, my interviewers and the faculty who I met gave me the impression that financial aid is not something that they keep all to themselves. As far as I understand, they have a good amount of aid that is given to students. I have a friend with a half-tuition scholarship there as well.

 

[aniongap]

You should reach out to each school and ask if you can talk to current students. I probably talked to 4-5 UMass students before making the decision to go there.

I don't know anything about OUWB, but I can say a lot of good things about UMass. I still haven't checked the Match list for UMass, but I think we have a pretty great match list. Make sure you go over each school's match list before making a decision. I am not interested in surgery, so I can't speak much about that. However, UMass is not simply a "primary care" school. There is definitely a lot of focus on primary care, but it means that they do a pretty good job teaching how to connect and communicate with patients. I am still in the first year, but I can tell that the school is doing a pretty good job teaching clinical skills so far. For research, there is a lot of opportunities here. The faculty is very welcoming and open to having you shadow them and/or do research with them. One of my classmates will be doing thoracic surgery and robotics research this upcoming summer. To be honest, after living in Boston for so many years, I loved moving to Worcester. You will definitely need a car here. It is about 45-50 minutes to Boston. I don't go to Boston very often because I am still getting to know my classmates, so we have stuff going on pretty regularly.

Feel free to shoot me a message if you have any specific questions.