Penn vs Stanford (Waitlist): Should I send LOI?

[monkey.d.luffy]

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I currently hold an A at Penn, WL at Stanford. I am unsure whether I should send a letter of intent, update, or just stay on the Stanford waitlist. No scholarship at Penn, and I doubt I would get one at Stanford.

Stanford (full COA)
Pros: more lay prestige (but same prestige in medicine), slightly stronger MD+ culture
Cons: higher COL

Penn (full COA)
Pros: I like Philly better, I want to match to Northeast, lower COL
Cons: graded clinicals, less "cutting-edge" research compared to Stanford

I imagine that I got into both, my COA would be roughly equal, but I am 50/50 on where I should go

 

[riv_jordan]

Your pros for Penn seem much more significant than those for Stanford. Even if you did get into both, would something like lay prestige really be a compelling reason to choose Stanford over an equally strong school in a more preferred location (this is of course ignoring the fact that Penn is an Ivy League and thus hardly lacking in terms of lay prestige). Note also that Stanford is apparently implementing some form of grading during clinical years so perhaps that's no longer a con unique to Penn. I'm not sure what cutting-edge research you're interested in but both institutions are research powerhouses within medicine.
I can't advice on how to navigate the waitlist process with Stanford, but I would really consider why you are still waiting on Stanford and whether it might be better to instead focus on getting excited for Penn.

 

[spoodleydoo]

I think the pros for Penn might outweigh here! It sounds like you liked Philly (Palo Alto is more of a suburban area, I've heard), and while graded clinicals might be a slight con for Penn (just in the sense that I've heard at P/F schools, students don't quite as much have to drop off the face of earth to do well on their clerkships and have a little more time for other things filling their cup), but as someone who went to Penn Preview, I was impressed by the vast amount of resarch resources Penn has. I was talking to my mentors the other day (faculty at some great Northeast residency programs) about my own med school decision, and all agreed that Penn sets you up very well, especially for matching in the Northeast. The no scholarship sucks (also in the same boat), but congrats on getting into the school!