greatjoyousday
Full Member
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2018
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Hello and thank you for any advice/input you may have!
A little bit about me: I eventually want to end up doing pediatric oncology (I'm open to this changing, but it has been my goal for years so I'm fairly confident that this is what I will end up doing) and I would love to end up in a competitive pediatric (or Med/Peds) residency either on the west coast or east coast in a city. I envision myself doing academic medicine for a while, so I want substantial oncological research experience during medical school.
After scholarships, both of these schools have similar tuition and CoA so I'm currently not using cost as a determining factor (although if my scholarship packages increase this may change). I'm a very mission based person, and both of these schools align really well with my personal educational mission and also have a seemingly supportive and wonderful community of students and staff that I could easily see myself fitting into. Additionally, both of these schools have gorgeous campuses (Level 1 trauma center, pediatric hospital, cancer center, research buildings) with recently renovated/built buildings so I know I would have great resources (in terms of facilities) at both. They seem pretty much the same in terms of rank in the medical community, but Penn State probably has better name recognition in the country in general. I will list my pros and cons for each school in order of most importance/influence for me.
Penn State
Pros:
+1.5 Pre-clinical years
+Great pediatric oncology research mentors with several established projects I'm really interested in
+Humanities (and systems) based curriculum with essay style exam questions
+Patient Navigation program which pairs you with a patient throughout your first two years
+On-campus housing (helps to build more community within the student body... and helps for when I sleep past my alarm)
+They have a student run free clinic
+Really nice sim lab as well as VR and 3D printing
+They were my first II, first acceptance, and first scholarship, so I feel as if they really believe in me
Cons:
-Location is the middle of PA. Not only will there be less to do socially, but there will be less opportunities to branch out professionally and with ECs
-Their peds and Med/Peds match list is solid, but there aren't many competitive east/west coast programs on it
-Diversity of the student and patient population
Loyola
Pros:
+Location right next to Chicago. This would give me a new city to explore and myriad opportunities socially and professionally to make connections and gain new experiences
+Emphasis on social justice in their curriculum and they are located in a community with lots of opportunities to actually apply those concepts
+Their most recent Match List seems slightly better than Penn State's (although I can't find any previous match lists so I'm unsure if it's an anomaly)
+Better student clubs and seemingly more opportunities for service
+Greater diversity of the students and patients
+That gym!!!!! I love working out and swimming so it is something I would utilize often
Cons:
-No established research mentors or research projects in pediatric oncology (at least none that I could find, but they do have normal oncology)
-2 years pre-clinical
-Internally ranked (although one of the current students said they thought they would be getting rid of this)
-No option to live on campus
Overall I love both schools and I can easily see myself being very happy at both. If Penn State were near a city, it would be the winner because of the research available and the patient navigation program, but its location is a big con. I'm very torn between these two amazing schools, please help!
A little bit about me: I eventually want to end up doing pediatric oncology (I'm open to this changing, but it has been my goal for years so I'm fairly confident that this is what I will end up doing) and I would love to end up in a competitive pediatric (or Med/Peds) residency either on the west coast or east coast in a city. I envision myself doing academic medicine for a while, so I want substantial oncological research experience during medical school.
After scholarships, both of these schools have similar tuition and CoA so I'm currently not using cost as a determining factor (although if my scholarship packages increase this may change). I'm a very mission based person, and both of these schools align really well with my personal educational mission and also have a seemingly supportive and wonderful community of students and staff that I could easily see myself fitting into. Additionally, both of these schools have gorgeous campuses (Level 1 trauma center, pediatric hospital, cancer center, research buildings) with recently renovated/built buildings so I know I would have great resources (in terms of facilities) at both. They seem pretty much the same in terms of rank in the medical community, but Penn State probably has better name recognition in the country in general. I will list my pros and cons for each school in order of most importance/influence for me.
Penn State
Pros:
+1.5 Pre-clinical years
+Great pediatric oncology research mentors with several established projects I'm really interested in
+Humanities (and systems) based curriculum with essay style exam questions
+Patient Navigation program which pairs you with a patient throughout your first two years
+On-campus housing (helps to build more community within the student body... and helps for when I sleep past my alarm)
+They have a student run free clinic
+Really nice sim lab as well as VR and 3D printing
+They were my first II, first acceptance, and first scholarship, so I feel as if they really believe in me
Cons:
-Location is the middle of PA. Not only will there be less to do socially, but there will be less opportunities to branch out professionally and with ECs
-Their peds and Med/Peds match list is solid, but there aren't many competitive east/west coast programs on it
-Diversity of the student and patient population
Loyola
Pros:
+Location right next to Chicago. This would give me a new city to explore and myriad opportunities socially and professionally to make connections and gain new experiences
+Emphasis on social justice in their curriculum and they are located in a community with lots of opportunities to actually apply those concepts
+Their most recent Match List seems slightly better than Penn State's (although I can't find any previous match lists so I'm unsure if it's an anomaly)
+Better student clubs and seemingly more opportunities for service
+Greater diversity of the students and patients
+That gym!!!!! I love working out and swimming so it is something I would utilize often
Cons:
-No established research mentors or research projects in pediatric oncology (at least none that I could find, but they do have normal oncology)
-2 years pre-clinical
-Internally ranked (although one of the current students said they thought they would be getting rid of this)
-No option to live on campus
Overall I love both schools and I can easily see myself being very happy at both. If Penn State were near a city, it would be the winner because of the research available and the patient navigation program, but its location is a big con. I'm very torn between these two amazing schools, please help!
