Poll: SUNY Upstate vs. Ohio State: which school is better?

[greggth]

Thank you for helping me out.

I need to decide whether to go to the SUNY Upstate interview; I was already accepted to Ohio State. Unfortunately, SUNY upstate is not ranked by USNWR because they didn't turn in their statistics.

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[DrJ2B]

How about which school would you be happier at? Rankings do not matter as much as whether you will be happy and comfortable at the school. How about cost? location? proximity to family? student/body atmosphere? If you would definitely go to Ohio despite getting into SUNY Upstate, then perhaps you should decline the interview. However, if you are the least bit unsure, you might as well go to the interview. SUNY Upstate might not be ranked but may be a better place for you based on other criteria. Good luck with your decision!

 

[DrJ2B]

Addendum: Do you want to go into academic medicine? If so, then rankings might matter more? I am not sure if Ohio is really into academic medicine, but it is something else to consider. If you are really considering academic medicine, the consensus is to go to the best school you get into (unless they are all quite comparable then you can use other criteria to make up your mind).

 

[greggth]

I'm not really considering academic medicine. I want to go into practice.

What I really want is a medical school where the quality of teaching is excellent. Where the faculty can give individualized attention to the students. Where the faculty are interested and motivated to teach, where they love to teach. I would learn best in that kind of environment. I don't want to be taught by researchers who are forced to teach in order to retain their faculty positions, and who look on it as a chore that they want to spend as little time on as possible. I want the faculty to be very knowledgeable, but I don't need them to be the top, cutting-edge researchers in their field.

Is there any ranking system that addresses this issue-- the quality of teaching?