Pitt Vs Cincinnati

[anonymousdoc37]

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Hey guys! I am so fortunate to have two very good choices for medical school next year. However, I am having a difficult time making a decision on which school to choose, and would appreciate any input that you have 🙂

Cincinnati: I very much enjoyed my interview day and second look here. I am particularly impressed with the faculty support and career advising. Everyone was very nice, and I like the idea of living in a city where having a car is not a burden. In addition, I live in-state so tuition is relatively cheap. I also loved Cincinnati as a city! However, the internal quartile ranking system that Cinci has is definitely a con for me. They did a great job explaining their abundance of service opportunities and community involvement opportunities.

Pittsburgh: I did not enjoy my interview day here as much, but Second look weekend was absolutely amazing. I love the opportunities that Pitt has to offer, as it is a T20 school and the city has tons to do (Service, research, sports, etc)! However, I am not particularly sure I want to be involved with academic medicine or do research beyond medical school but I do not like the idea of limiting myself from the start, as I am not sure of what field of medicine I want to do yet.

Both have an excellent match list. Both are well known, but I am not sure how much a T20 school name influences one's residency opportunities. If anyone knows any additional information to make my decision easier, let me know! Good luck to everyone else trying to decide!

 

[deleted966008]

If you’re not set on academic medicine the difference is negligible and I say go to Cincinnati.

Both are excellent schools and will prepare you well, Pitt may give you a slight edge in matching to prestigious institutions but the question is whether or not that is worth the extra $$ (keeping in mind you definitely still can match anywhere from Cincy if you put the work in)

 

[anonymousdoc37]

What is the cost difference?

Approx total cost of attendance:

Cinci: $54,242
Pitt: $83,804

 

[deleted966008]

Approx total cost of attendance:

Cinci: $54,242
Pitt: $83,804

Cincy without a doubt in that case. You’ll thank yourself in your 30’s

 

[thepatrickstar30]

Is OP getting any financial aid or help from family? If so, then it's more about fit

 

[deleted915325]

Approx total cost of attendance:

Cinci: $54,242
Pitt: $83,804

Is that COA per year or for all 4 years. Because Pitts tuition is around 56k for OOS I believe. You can find housing for less than $500 a month (don’t live in Darragh apartments. You’ll save close to 10k). All in all it would probably be closer to $70K a year for COA if you’re paying full tuition. I did this math last year

 

[puahate]

Pitt is way better tho

 

[LondonFog1997]

Pitt is way better tho

Lol I’m choosing my cheaper school over a “way better” school. It was easy to say I would be picking the better school and to tell others to choose the better school before I learned about the financial situation, the interest rates on the loans, and how difficult it can be to pay off those loans when you’re 30 and trying to start a family. Unfortunately my family is barely able to help and loans are not something to ignore in my opinion but it depends how debt averse you are. OP if there’s really a 30k difference a year I would say not worth it and go to Cincy, work your butt off and succeed. What will limit you more is if you have 150k extra in debt (I’m including interest here) and you will be hesitant about paycuts in academic medicine. If you go into Pitt you clearly have a good work ethic so keep it up in med school and you will be fine.

 

[puahate]

Lol I’m choosing my cheaper school over a “way better” school. It was easy to say I would be picking the better school and to tell others to choose the better school before I learned about the financial situation, the interest rates on the loans, and how difficult it can be to pay off those loans when you’re 30 and trying to start a family. Unfortunately my family is barely able to help and loans are not something to ignore in my opinion but it depends how debt averse you are. OP if there’s really a 30k difference a year I would say not worth it and go to Cincy, work your butt off and succeed. What will limit you more is if you have 150k extra in debt (I’m including interest here) and you will be hesitant about paycuts in academic medicine. If you go into Pitt you clearly have a good work ethic so keep it up in med school and you will be fine.

Definitely true. I think it just depends what's important and how the scale tips

 

[LondonFog1997]

Definitely true. I think it just depends what's important and how the scale tips

Yeah of course, it’s definitely sucky and a difficult situation. Hopefully you will end up with a T20 school with scholarships or financial help! But unfortunately doesn’t work out that way for everyone.

 

[Fidelio17]

You're only looking at the COA for Year 1. At Cincinnati tuition isn't the same every year, and actually increases years 2 & 3 because they bill it as 3 semesters instead of 2.

 

[Konkurro]

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