Penn State Hershey vs TCMC

[Warrior12]

Hi Guys,

I was accepted to both of these institutions and am having a hard time making a final decision. What are your thoughts on these two schools, and which one would your personally choose? Penn State is known for great rotation sites and being a historically great medical school, but the location is in the middle of nowhere. TCMC is still kind of new, but I really liked their community centered medicine.
Any advice or thoughts would be great

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[CHoge25]

Hi Guys,

I was accepted to both of these institutions and am having a hard time making a final decision. What are your thoughts on these two schools, and which one would your personally choose?

You should edit your original post and put (from your perspective) the pros and cons of each.... it will help people give you advice!

 

[Spector1]

are you penn in state?

 

[Warrior12]

yes I am a Pennsylvania resident.

 

[InterviewI]

disclosure: i'm currently wailisted at Penn State.

I would consider what residency I might be interested and how well applicants from each school match:
TCMC 2015 match: https://tcmc.edu/students/student-o...vents/match-day/past-match-days-at-tcmc/#2015
PSU 2015 match: http://www.pennstatehershey.org/doc...015+list/835533b9-d58b-448a-ab4c-7241022c699b

A quick glance of both and they look to be very similar.

I believe cost of tuition is near identical so finances might not be a major factor in your decision.

Location: I think you would know more about the locations considering you're in-state but it really depends on your lifestyle preferences. Some people are okay living in the middle of nowhere and I've interviewed at schools which are 'really in the middle of nowhere'. They make Hershey look like New York haha.

Hopefully you got a feel for the people during your interview days. Go with the school that made you feel the best and that you would see yourself succeeding at.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Hershey all the way. I wouldn't be caught dead in Scranton.

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[ridethecliche]

Hershey all the way. I wouldn't be caught dead in Scranton.

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What this guy said.

 

[Terry Toma]

Not sure if this is a selling point for you, OP, but if you go to PSU and get tired of Hershey, you can do a good chunk of your clinical years in State College (PSU is in the process of expanding med opportunities at its main campus). State College is also in the middle of nowhere, but it's a cool little town.

I have a friend who graduated from PSU recently, and he really liked the time he spent in State College. Since he was one of a few med students at the community hospital, he had more hands-on experience and closer interaction with attendings than would be possible at the main med center with a few hundred med students.

 

[Warrior12]

TCMC Kinda scares me because I heard they were on some type of probation a few years ago (please correct me if I am wrong). They are a newer school so I worry that they don't have everything completely figured out yet. PSU had been around for 50 years and as previously said, has a lot of great rotation sites. I am leaning this way. Thank you everyone who has posted!

 

[Mansamusa]

Not sure if this is a selling point for you, OP, but if you go to PSU and get tired of Hershey, you can do a good chunk of your clinical years in State College (PSU is in the process of expanding med opportunities at its main campus). State College is also in the middle of nowhere, but it's a cool little town.

I have a friend who graduated from PSU recently, and he really liked the time he spent in State College. Since he was one of a few med students at the community hospital, he had more hands-on experience and closer interaction with attendings than would be possible at the main med center with a few hundred med students.

They are opening a new MD program at the state campus with its own separate class, so that may not be possible for OP.


OP, I would like to get off the waitlist at PSU, but I would still recommend PSU for you. PSU is no academic powerhouse, but the fact that they are an academic med center will help a lot with resources and it is nice to not have to drive around for all your 3rd yr rotations. Hershey is not the most exciting place, but it has more going on than TCMC's territory. Plus, getting to stay in one location for all 4 yrs will help prepare you to match and form relationships with higher ups. And PSU has home residency programs in everything

 

[hopefulERdoc251]

So from my experiences of traveling to and from Hershey comparing it to Scranton, I'd take the unfavorable opinion and pick Scranton as the better city. Hershey, similar to Scranton, is in the middle of nowhere. There is literally NOTHING around it other than fields and farmland, once again, similar to Scranton. At Hershey, there aren't as many "younger" students-you basically have the kids at PSU Hershey. To compare populations, according to the last census, it's approx 14K at Hershey compared to 74K at Scranton. In Scranton, you at least have 3-4 other larger universities/colleges (Univ of Scranton, Marywood, Lackwana) around there so it still maintains the younger environment. Now obviously Scranton is in a rebuilding stage and it's not anywhere near nice as Philly/Pitt or any major city for that matter, but I think it holds its own for the needs of med students in comparison to Hershey.

Now as for academics. I would favor PSU because they have a more renown program. I don't think anybody will deny that. On the flip side, when talking to two friends that are first and second year students at TCMC, they said preclinical education was amazing. The faculty are very supportive and have open door policies, and are vested in their students success. I also know a 3rd year and a kid who graduated and matched Derm from TCMC who said that the rotations were pretty good and on par compared to schools such as Drexel, PSUCOM, PCOM when they talked to their friends from those schools. One of the big differences will be the population though. You will be dealing with an older population with many long-standing health problems and poor access to healthcare, but will not be seeing much inner city pathology. At the same token, you will not be seeing much inner city pathology at Hershey. As for TCMC being on probation, they were on probation for financial reasons as far as I recall, and not academic reasons. Theyhey became fully accredited last year or the year before by LCME.

The other caveat is that are you interested in research or public health. Research will draw you to PSU because they definitely draw in more $$ than TCMC will. If you're interested in Public Health Research, TCMC has stronger roots in the community to do such research.

Ultimately it comes down to personal goals. I don't think you can go wrong either way!

 

[WedgeDawg]

Moving to SSD

 

[JustAPhD]

So from my experiences of traveling to and from Hershey comparing it to Scranton, I'd take the unfavorable opinion and pick Scranton as the better city. Hershey, similar to Scranton, is in the middle of nowhere. There is literally NOTHING around it other than fields and farmland, once again, similar to Scranton. At Hershey, there aren't as many "younger" students-you basically have the kids at PSU Hershey. To compare populations, according to the last census, it's approx 14K at Hershey compared to 74K at Scranton. In Scranton, you at least have 3-4 other larger universities/colleges (Univ of Scranton, Marywood, Lackwana) around there so it still maintains the younger environment. Now obviously Scranton is in a rebuilding stage and it's not anywhere near nice as Philly/Pitt or any major city for that matter, but I think it holds its own for the needs of med students in comparison to Hershey.

Now as for academics. I would favor PSU because they have a more renown program. I don't think anybody will deny that. On the flip side, when talking to two friends that are first and second year students at TCMC, they said preclinical education was amazing. The faculty are very supportive and have open door policies, and are vested in their students success. I also know a 3rd year and a kid who graduated and matched Derm from TCMC who said that the rotations were pretty good and on par compared to schools such as Drexel, PSUCOM, PCOM when they talked to their friends from those schools. One of the big differences will be the population though. You will be dealing with an older population with many long-standing health problems and poor access to healthcare, but will not be seeing much inner city pathology. At the same token, you will not be seeing much inner city pathology at Hershey. As for TCMC being on probation, they were on probation for financial reasons as far as I recall, and not academic reasons. Theyhey became fully accredited last year or the year before by LCME.

The other caveat is that are you interested in research or public health. Research will draw you to PSU because they definitely draw in more $$ than TCMC will. If you're interested in Public Health Research, TCMC has stronger roots in the community to do such research.

Ultimately it comes down to personal goals. I don't think you can go wrong either way!

Hersheys a quick 20min drive to Harrisburg, so it's not as in the middle of nowhere as you make it seem. You make good points though.

Honestly I've been to Scranton more than a few times and I haven't enjoyed my stays. Maybe because it's been cloudy every time, but it reminded me of something out of the communist bloc. So much grey!

 

[hopefulERdoc251]

Hersheys a quick 20min drive to Harrisburg, so it's not as in the middle of nowhere as you make it seem. You make good points though.

Honestly I've been to Scranton more than a few times and I haven't enjoyed my stays. Maybe because it's been cloudy every time, but it reminded me of something out of the communist bloc. So much grey!

Scranton definitely can be a grey area but I think that goes without saying for any smaller city in the north next to a mountain haha. But nevertheless, I still see where you're coming from as well! My uncle been to Harrisburg multiple times for work training and says the same thing as Hershey! Population is very small, ~45k, elderly population. Only college that I know of that is there is PSU-Hershey!

 

[TehTeddy]

Hershey all the way. I wouldn't be caught dead in Scranton.

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Can you elaborate? I will likely be applying there next year as a PA resident, but admittedly don't know much about the city.

 

[ciestar]

Not sure if this is a selling point for you, OP, but if you go to PSU and get tired of Hershey, you can do a good chunk of your clinical years in State College (PSU is in the process of expanding med opportunities at its main campus). State College is also in the middle of nowhere, but it's a cool little town.

I have a friend who graduated from PSU recently, and he really liked the time he spent in State College. Since he was one of a few med students at the community hospital, he had more hands-on experience and closer interaction with attendings than would be possible at the main med center with a few hundred med students.

Happy Valley is the greatest place on earth!

 

[sunset57]

Penn State.

It's a more established program, the hospital is a major referral center for central PA, it's P/F without internal ranking, and they have a reputation for being an innovator in medical school curriculum.

I think there were posts in last year's TCMC thread questioning the quality of clerkships. I can't recall if they were posted by prospective or current students, but worth a search before you commit.

Good luck, congratulations.

 

[ciestar]

Penn State.

It's a more established program, the hospital is a major referral center for central PA, it's P/F without internal ranking, and they have a reputation for being an innovator in medical school curriculum.

I think there were posts in last year's TCMC thread questioning the quality of clerkships. I can't recall if they were posted by prospective or current students, but worth a search before you commit.

Good luck, congratulations.

TCMC has clerkships all over the state. Yes, Scranton is definitely more urban but if they send you to West or Guthrie campus for your clerkships...you're REALLY in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Is TCMC still doing that longitudinal clerkship thing? Terrible idea.

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[terra330]

Is TCMC still doing that longitudinal clerkship thing? Terrible idea.

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From what I remember on interview day, they are switching to a hybrid of sorts (half the time longitudinal, half traditional).

 

[Doctor Strange]

From what I remember on interview day, they are switching to a hybrid of sorts (half the time longitudinal, half traditional).

Checked out their website. Still looks super iffy.

 

[Warrior12]

Checked out their website. Still looks super iffy.

Exactly! This was another thing that I was worried about. During the interview they said that other schools are doing this as well, however I haven't heard about it anywhere other than here

 

[hopefulERdoc251]

Exactly! This was another thing that I was worried about. During the interview they said that other schools are doing this as well, however I haven't heard about it anywhere other than here

Harvard, JHU, Duke, UCSF, among other schools are doing this model. At TCMC from what I understood, it's half hospital inpatient based, and half outpatient based. Not sure what the long term outcomes will be though, but here's what a quick google search yielded;

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23165275

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21475642

 

[monkeypen]

Checked out their website. Still looks super iffy.

Actually, the clinical rotation curricula has won awards and members from the curriculum committee present it for other medical schools all the time and they're setting up models for other medical schools because of its success. It's a hybrid system of LIC outpatient and traditional inpatient blocks that gives a well-rounded perspective of both inpatient and outpatient medicine. With it now transitioning to Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, having the additional academic center and support will only improve specific sub-specialties and allow for home residencies on top of it.

 

[monkeypen]

TCMC has clerkships all over the state. Yes, Scranton is definitely more urban but if they send you to West or Guthrie campus for your clerkships...you're REALLY in the middle of nowhere.

I can't speak for Guthrie, but the Williamsport campus may have a smaller population but it definitely seems more urban than Scranton as far as amenities and life outside of school goes.

 

[ciestar]

I can't speak for Guthrie, but the Williamsport campus may have a smaller population but it definitely seems more urban than Scranton as far as amenities and life outside of school goes.

Well Guthrie is truly in a very rural area. Williamsport in and of itself does have many opportunities to do things outside of school. (I was born at the Williamsport Hospital). Venture a few miles away and you're in rural nowhere except for the Lyco mall which is 10ish miles away.

 

[hopefulERdoc251]

Guthrie was actually the #1 ranked campus for the c/o 2020 over scranton proper, and even wilkes-barre/geisinger down south of scranton. Guthrie is a pretty small town but it has a phenomenal hospital that mimics the mayo clinic (multispecialty hospital). We had the chance to tour the facility before choosing our clinical campus and it was amazing and if you're super into surgery, that's the place to be b/c they have a surgical residency that you can be hooked up with