Penn State vs. Temple

[Longbottom7]

Hi everyone. I'm a student in the philly area who is from Hershey. Oddly enough, I got into a school at both places, Temple in philly and Penn State in Hershey. I've been weighing the two for weeks and still cannot decide. Each school seems to have its strengths and weaknesses, although it's tough to tell whats important, and also what is important for ME.

My fam is still in hershey, my friends are in philly (and will continue to be there). So the external factors cancel. I may benefit a bit financially by going to psu, but socially by going to temple.

knocks on psu: poor usmle preparation, very conservative, and not a lot of student autonomy/students are babied a bit, push primary care (i'm not sure what field i'm interested in yet)
knocks on temple: facilities in general blow, education in years 1+2 not as rounded/dynamic (no PBL, humanities, etc)., potentially more expensive

I also got into GW but am STILL waiting to hear from them and their price tag is something to laugh at esp considering living expenses in DC.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

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[drmota]

knocks on psu: poor usmle preparation, very conservative, and not a lot of student autonomy/students are babied a bit, push primary care (i'm not sure what field i'm interested in yet)

who told you there is poor usmle prep? i've heard the opposite. the very conservative part is fo sho. i agree, this is gonna be a tough one for you.
-dr. mota

 

[nutmegs]

I think it'll come down to where you wanna be/how you like the feel at each school. I grew up in hershey and spent a LOT of time in that hospital/research labs. Now I go to temple. The people in hershey are nice but I can't imagine it comes close to the things I get to see/learn at Temple. I personally haven't found the facilities to be inadequate. If you're someone who needs how to be a human taught to you, penn state might be a better option. I have the rest of my life to live in hershey, I am very glad I chose temple. I highly recommend taking a second look day at each.

 

[Longbottom7]

I think it'll come down to where you wanna be/how you like the feel at each school. I grew up in hershey and spent a LOT of time in that hospital/research labs. Now I go to temple. The people in hershey are nice but I can't imagine it comes close to the things I get to see/learn at Temple. I personally haven't found the facilities to be inadequate. If you're someone who needs how to be a human taught to you, penn state might be a better option. I have the rest of my life to live in hershey, I am very glad I chose temple. I highly recommend taking a second look day at each.

Thanks for the Advice DaMota and nutmegs.

Nutmegs, is there an official second look day at Temple in the spring, or would that just be something I'd arrange on my own?

 

[nutmegs]

Thanks for the Advice DaMota and nutmegs.

Nutmegs, is there an official second look day at Temple in the spring, or would that just be something I'd arrange on my own?

there's an official day and it's quite nice (you get a tour again, one that you'll actually remember instead of being nervous through) and I ended up getting good info on where to live, meeting my future advisor, etc. if you can't make it that day just contact Maria Demmler in admissions and she can always set stuff up for you... I was a tour guide last year and gave some one on one tours, it was kinda fun.

 

[thatguyagain]

Hi everyone. I'm a student in the philly area who is from Hershey. Oddly enough, I got into a school at both places, Temple in philly and Penn State in Hershey. I've been weighing the two for weeks and still cannot decide. Each school seems to have its strengths and weaknesses, although it's tough to tell whats important, and also what is important for ME.

My fam is still in hershey, my friends are in philly (and will continue to be there). So the external factors cancel. I may benefit a bit financially by going to psu, but socially by going to temple.

knocks on psu: poor usmle preparation, very conservative, and not a lot of student autonomy/students are babied a bit, push primary care (i'm not sure what field i'm interested in yet)
knocks on temple: facilities in general blow, education in years 1+2 not as rounded/dynamic (no PBL, humanities, etc)., potentially more expensive

I also got into GW but am STILL waiting to hear from them and their price tag is something to laugh at esp considering living expenses in DC.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I don't know what I'd choose, but I've definatly heard a physician or two complain about the "quality" of the PSU MSIII and MSIV students that rotated with them. They mentioned something about "doing away with pharmacology training". I don't know if these comments were literal or figurative. I've never looked into the matter, but obviously something is going on there. Maybe these were isolated cases, but I just thought I'd throw that out there for you. Feel free to throw it right back if you want.

Some other tidbits....Apparently, doctor satisfaction at Hershey is at an all time low due to some extreme mismanagment. Just never mention the word "Geisinger" in that hospital. hahaah. That has not been the only issue in the past 5 years though. The quality of many of their residency programs has been on the decline from what I hear (totally unverified information that I heard from some of their doctors. It could be complete BS).

 

[nutmegs]

mmmm... gotta love anecdotal, fairly unfounded claims. the geisinger thing did happen but I'd wonder where you get this "extreme level of doctor unsatisfaction" stat. and several of their residency programs are regarded pretty reasonably, anesthesia being the one that comes to mind first. easy, killer.

 

[thatguyagain]

mmmm... gotta love anecdotal, fairly unfounded claims. the geisinger thing did happen but I'd wonder where you get this "extreme level of doctor unsatisfaction" stat. and several of their residency programs are regarded pretty reasonably, anesthesia being the one that comes to mind first. easy, killer.

Let me first say that the "anectdotes" I stated are NOT my viewpoints. I didn't mean to bash PSU. I actually feel that it has a very good name and reputation.

The "anectodes" I told were based directly on conversations I've had with certain employees of the Hershey med center. I have been fortunate enough to meet many of them at various functions. I won't name names, but many of these physicians are considered to rank very high up on the totem pole. While I've been applying for medical schools recently, I asked many of them their honest opinions. The statements I made were direct summaries of our conversations.

Take it for what its worth. It could be that I've met the only few discruntled employees that exist at Hershey. Also, each one I asked were all involved in the same specialty, so maybe they are only seeing what is going on in their niche of the hospital. I just thought it was interesting food for thought. Poor employee morale breeds disfunction.