Penn State versus Virginia Tech Carilion (VTC)

[kitkat13]

Virginia Tech Carilion

PROS

• The area is more diverse and their is much more to do than Hershey
• Emphasis on research all 4 years. Great for applying to residencies
• Small class size (42!) is good for a close community & getting faculty to know you well
• Students genuinely seemed happy during the interview day & seemed close to each other. I enjoy a close knit community feel
• Their match list seems pretty decent for how new the school is
• They offer a $15 k scholarship for 1st year and $5k for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year

CONS

• The program was established in 2010 so it is still pretty new. I heard residency directors prefer established programs
• The school itself only has 13 residency programs, so I wonder if this will hinder my clinical exposure + learning. Carilion Clinic is not a teaching hospital from what I understand
• Class size might be too small! I feel like everyone will know everyones life lol
• Not many matches to cities like NYC or boston. Why is that? It would be nice to end up there
• People who ended up in competitive specialties (derm) ended up matching back into Carilion, not other schools

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Penn State Hershey Program

PRO

• Penn State is a tried & true program. It is much more established which will probably help for residencies (this is the biggest pro in my opinion)
• Good match list
• You take STEP 1 after 3rd year, which might help with STEP scores
• The pre-clinical curriculum is 1.5 years which means more time for clinical exposure

CONS

• Hershey seems like it is in the middle of nowhere. The area is not diverse and it is kinda boring
• The students did not seem AS happy as VTC but still seemed chill & content
• Same COA as VTC but no scholarship provided (that I know of?)

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[kitkat13]

Bump

 

[The_Free_Elf]

I’m honestly in the same boat as you. I’m choosing between penn state and another school, the only thing keeping me from penn state is the location and the weird vibe I got from the students :/
Other than that I think penn state has so many things going for them. I think research should be a pro for penn state. It is literally so easy to do research there since there is a ton

But looking at your pros and cons list it seems like you would be happier at Virginia tech. Also I wouldn’t let tankings bother you about the school because in the end your step score is the most important.

Feel free to pm me if you have any other questions or want to chat about penn state