Penn or Stanford--any thoughts???

[Esco]

My world was just turned upside down on Friday when I found out I was accepted to Stanford...I really didn't think I had a good chance of getting in considering their low class size, but hey, the Lord works in mysterious ways.
Anyway, I was all set to move to Philly (I was even looking at apt's on apartment.com) but now I'm conflicted with which school I should call home next year? For those who applied, what do you guys think of Stanford's five-year program? It sounded like if you wanted to do four, you would have to work your a$$ off. Plus, I remember the avg. debt for a Stanford student being around 60K as opposed to 110K at Penn. I think the lower debt would give me more freedom in choosing a specialty later on, plus, i would be going to a TOP NOTCH program for a cheaper price tag? What do you guys think? I am confused and I've always valued SDN'ers opinions!

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[Dr. L]

Wow, congratulations! Everyone I have heard of loves Stanford, plus the climate is a lot better! I don't know much about the average debt but I hardly think that there's a $50,000 benefit to going to Penn over Stamford. Good luck with your decision!

 

[dr. maybe]

I must agree with Dr. L. I am originally from the Bay Area and there is no way you can turn it down - if just for the atmosphere alone. It is a great school in a great place. I must say I cried when I turned in my secondary 6 hours too late. Good luck to you.

 

[zizo]

Congratulations for your acceptances. I have to disagree with the people above. Although Stanford is a good school, I don't think their medical school is better than U Penn. Residency directors LOVE U Penn graduates. Besides, as a student in U PENN, you will see cases that you will not be able to see at Stanford ( I know this because I volunteered at both). U Penn is just the best, and they have much more interesting research. To be honest, I think Stanford Medical School is relying on the reputation of Stanford Univ as a whole. Besides, Stanford research has gone down over the last 2-3 years (you can see that in NIH funding). So If I were you, I'd go to U Penn right away. One more thing, Stanford uses a quarter system ( I am not sure about U Penn). I don't know about you, but I think the quarter system is soo annoying. As you get to know the professor and the subject, it is just time of exams!! Last thing, I really don't think the Stanford curriculum is well-organized. It is just a lot of class time for no reason.

On the reputation arena, U PENN Medical School is known internationally. All people know U Penn is just the best as opposed to the embarrassing question " I didn't know that Stanford had a medical school!!".

Anyway, wherever you go buddy, you cannot go wrong. but go for U Penn. I love that school as does everyone else.

-So long

 

[Tuesday Weld]

Even if Stanford were more expensive, I'd go there.

The top three schools with 'the reps' in the U.S. are Harvard, Yale, and Stanford.

I was also looking at the rankings and saw that of all of the major grad programs, Stanford has the most #1 programs of any school in the country. Well, it impressed me.

•••quote:•••Originally posted by kjigga:
•My world was just turned upside down on Friday when I found out I was accepted to Stanford...I really didn't think I had a good chance of getting in considering their low class size, but hey, the Lord works in mysterious ways.
Anyway, I was all set to move to Philly (I was even looking at apt's on apartment.com) but now I'm conflicted with which school I should call home next year? For those who applied, what do you guys think of Stanford's five-year program? It sounded like if you wanted to do four, you would have to work your a$$ off. Plus, I remember the avg. debt for a Stanford student being around 60K as opposed to 110K at Penn. I think the lower debt would give me more freedom in choosing a specialty later on, plus, i would be going to a TOP NOTCH program for a cheaper price tag? What do you guys think? I am confused and I've always valued SDN'ers opinions!•••••

 

[synite]

tuesday weld, what the heck does all that have to do with Stanford SCHOOL OF MEDICINE vs. UPenn SCHOOL OF MEDICINE?

i think placing so much emphasis on a school's "name" is garbage.

 

[zizo]

I agree with synite.
We are going to Medicine not the whole University. At the end what matters is the kind of education and reputation of THE MEDICAL SCHOOL not the whole Univ. You also need to see the kind of environment you wanna practice in. Urban (U Penn-Big bucks) Vs. smallish places (Stanford). But for the Med school, you will definitley get better education and see more cases at U Penn.

Most people are still obsessed with the name game. When you graduate, most of your life is gonna be in the medical field. And people in medicine know medical schools. Who cares about a good law school or a good graduate school. My advice is just to look at the MEDICAL SCHOOL. there is no law that says a good medical school has to be next to a good law school or whatever.

-So long

 

[Cdc28p]

U Penn will probably give you a slightly better medical education, but I would be much happier at Stanford because of the location. Four years in Philadelphia is a long time.

 

[Esco]

Wow, thanks for all the thoughtful opinions guys...I think everyone's just about reaffirmed my initial thoughts. I am leaning towards Penn right now because I like the curriculum (1.5 years), the urban location, the fact that it is affiliated with CHOP and the students were a lot more chill. I'll just wait until I get my fin. aid package and go from there...honestly though, the only thing Stanford has going for it is the weather and the fact that my sister is an undergrad there right now and it would be cool to be out there with her...I really didn't like the curriculum (too traditional)...but that cheap price tag sure is appealing, especially when it has the Stanford name attached to it!

 

[chgpwd]

kjigga,

Three impressions from speaking with people, and from my interview at Stanford:

1) a very high cost of living in Palo Alto, and not enough student housing.
2) nothing to do in Palo Alto unless you have lots of money.
3) the clinical training really stinks.

I'm still waiting to hear from Stanford (I'm MSTP).

 

[jofrbr76]

My two cents,

Save 50k and your in the sunshine state, and it's a top notch program? no question in my mind.

 

[Dr. L]

I know everyone keeps on saying not to base decisions on money but the fact is that you will have to live in debt for a lot longer when you go to an expensive school. Ten years from now all my friends who went to law school will be making good money and I'll still be living in serious debt. We are all (at least I hope!) going into medicine knowing the dedication required, but it just seems like an unnecessary $50,000 when you are choosing between two great programs.

 

[Dr. L]

Zizo- Mind if I ask where you go are going to med. school/go to med. school?

 

[The Fly]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by chgpwd:
3) the clinical training really stinks.
[/QB]••••This seems really unfair. While I don't think Stanford is as good a hospital as HUP, saying it "really stinks" is simply untrue.

$50k might be worth more like $100k by the time you pay it off--think about it--is it worth all that more money and give up amazing weather...

plus penn has 8am classes!

(incidentally, I am desperately trying to get off the waitlist at Penn and so you might take what I have to say with a grain of salt). :wink:

 

[Sir William Osler]

fyi,
i passed by Penn med yesterday to check out the 2002 match list and i have also perused over the Stanford 2002 match list. I cant distinguish them one bit. Both are EXCELLENT! Your opportunities wont be ANY different graduating from either. to each her own.

 

[INeedAdvice]

•••quote:••••$50k might be worth more like $100k by the time you pay it off--think about it--•••••Double? Really? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" />

•••quote:••••plus penn has 8am classes!•••••<img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" /> YUCK!! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" />

 

[Esco]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Sir William Osler:
•fyi,
i passed by Penn med yesterday to check out the 2002 match list and i have also perused over the Stanford 2002 match list. I cant distinguish them one bit. Both are EXCELLENT! Your opportunities wont be ANY different graduating from either. to each her own.•••••So you actually saw the matchlist? Do you know if they post it online anywhere, I'd really like to take a look at it...

 

[Sir William Osler]

you'll see if you revisit. i saw it posted on the wall of the med school. it's not online. email them and they will send it to you i'm sure.

 

[chgpwd]

•••quote:••• This seems really unfair. While I don't think Stanford is as good a hospital as HUP, saying it "really stinks" is simply untrue. ••••OK, well maybe it does seem unfair. But what led me to #3 was this statement from a reliable source: "Dr. Larry Leung, the Chief-of-Hematology at Stanford Hospital says 'that a lot of second-tier schools have better clinical training than Stanford.'" Note that I'm quoting someone who is quoting Larry Leung, and so I can't say for sure if Larry Leung really said this, or even that Larry Leung isn't a figment of my source's imagination. But like I said, I think that my source is reliable.

 

[chgpwd]

Also,

Does the 50K difference take into account the unreasonably high cost of living in Palo Alto?