Pitt Med vs. UWSOM (Seattle) vs. BU

[melodic-mermaid]

Hi everyone, would appreciate insights as I make a decision. Interested in clinical research, medical humanities, oncology, ENT, psych.

Pitt Med Pros:

* UPMC is huge, great for surgical specialties and psych
* structured research and area of concentration in medical humanities
* cheaper COL
* has a rare research department in the specialty and a disease I am interested in

Cons:

* Small city
* Far from family and friends

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UW Med Pros:

* Seattle is home. Friends and family live here
* I want to live in Seattle in the future and going here might make it easier to match to a west coast residency
* T10-15, so has a good name?
* cheapest tuition by ~50k for 4 years

Cons:

* weakest student community since students are more likely to commute
* atrocious vibes on interview day. disorganized and cold aura from faculty
* a bit lack of mission fit with the primary care focus

—

BU Med Pros:

* Alma mater so strong network of friends, family, and faculty
* did research in the area for 2 years, which I would love to continue during med school
* Easy lifestyle transition

Cons:

* smallest hospital system
* high COL
* lowest rank (again not sure if this is negligible)

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[deleted1170007]

I say your choices are between Pitt and UW just due to the size of the hospital system at BU. I would definitely go visit Pitt before deciding if you can. Pittsburgh gets a bad rep but is genuinely a great city with incredibly nice people and UPMC is insane. However, UW is a great option.

 

[melodic-mermaid]

I say your choices are between Pitt and UW just due to the size of the hospital system at BU. I would definitely go visit Pitt before deciding if you can. Pittsburgh gets a bad rep but is genuinely a great city with incredibly nice people and UPMC is insane. However, UW is a great option.

Tysm! I agree with you and am hoping to visit Pitt soon. It would definitely be hard to turn down the opportunities at UPMC

 

[1692020135420]

Current Pitt student. If you're certain you want to live in Seattle or at least match in-region for residency, going to UW is the better option. You'll always have the hometown connection and can certainly match there or anywhere else coming from a place like Pitt, but you will always have a significantly better chance of matching your home program versus anywhere else.

Pitt is definitely the smallest city of the three, but I'd hardly call it a small city. It's a great town overall.

The difference in educational opportunities between the programs, realistically, is negligible. What you choose to do with your time in medical school is what will make the difference.

Regarding vibes on interview day, honestly some places just have weird medical students who volunteer to interview and it's not an accurate representation of the student body. Moreover, the composition of your class may be entirely different, and you'll likely find "your people" in just about any class.

Future aspirations + cheaper -> I think your answer is UW. If you want to get out of Dodge for a little while, full send to Pitt. Good luck.

 

[ProteinShakeshack]

Hey, I'm actually trying to make the same decision between Pitt vs. UW and a couple other schools.

For me, I think Pitt is a better fit because it is more research oriented for the students than UW. However, UW is closer to my family and support network, so Im leaning towards UW at the moment.

 

[melodic-mermaid]

Current Pitt student. If you're certain you want to live in Seattle or at least match in-region for residency, going to UW is the better option. You'll always have the hometown connection and can certainly match there or anywhere else coming from a place like Pitt, but you will always have a significantly better chance of matching your home program versus anywhere else.

Pitt is definitely the smallest city of the three, but I'd hardly call it a small city. It's a great town overall.

The difference in educational opportunities between the programs, realistically, is negligible. What you choose to do with your time in medical school is what will make the difference.

Regarding vibes on interview day, honestly some places just have weird medical students who volunteer to interview and it's not an accurate representation of the student body. Moreover, the composition of your class may be entirely different, and you'll likely find "your people" in just about any class.

Future aspirations + cheaper -> I think your answer is UW. If you want to get out of Dodge for a little while, full send to Pitt. Good luck.

Good points. Family + cheaper tuition + residency match advantage would definitely make me lean toward UW. I’m a bit hesitant and curious about how much home program advantage would come into play for residency matching though, even though i’ve heard about that before. I’m not sure if certain schools like UW have a quota for how many of their own students they can accept towards residency programs or if there are higher expectations from the faculty who worked with you. If so would still consider Pitt.. thank you for your insights!

 

[melodic-mermaid]

Hey, I'm actually trying to make the same decision between Pitt vs. UW and a couple other schools.

For me, I think Pitt is a better fit because it is more research oriented for the students than UW. However, UW is closer to my family and support network, so Im leaning towards UW at the moment.

Yeahh I’m in the same boat. I really love Pitt’s research programs whereas I’m not sure if UW has the same focus. It’s ranked highly for research because they get a ton of federal funding, but I think that affects community orgs and non-profits more than med student opportunities. Family and cheaper tuition is a big plus. I would love to hear where you decide to go!!

 

[1692020135420]

It's less a quota and more about being a known entity at your home program. Students are also likely to rank their home program highly for similar reasons, it's familiar and possibly close to their support system. Away rotators at best have one month to make an impression that you get over 3 years to make. Assuming you're a relatively normal human, do well enough on step 2, and there aren't an excessive amount of other home students applying to your specialty the same year, you've got a much better shot than anyone else.