Preliminary Advice for Choosing a School

[PB&Jam]

I realize I am in the enviable position of needing to decide between at least two medical schools (I have an interview in January at a third, and am still hoping to hear back from my top choice, which rejects during the cycle but has not rejected me nor offered me an interview yet). Of the two that have accepted me, one is my state medical school, and the other is a top 10 school that is much farther away. I know this sounds like a no-brainer, but I'm legitimately unsure as to which school to choose, should it come down to these two. There are definite pros and cons to both, and some factors that could be a pro or a con, depending on your perspective.

State school

• I went to this state school for undergrad, and in fact have spent my entire life in this state. This could be a pro (I'm comfortable here, I have lots of friends in the area, I'd be able to visit my friends who are still in undergrad, my family would be close). However, it could also be a con (it would be beneficial to get out of the state I've spent my entire life in, experience new things, get some distance from my family, and be better able to move on from undergrad–something I imagine myself having difficulty doing).
• I am in the combined BS/MD program for this school, so I know a lot of my classmates who will be attending, as well as a lot of the medical school faculty. (There is no penalty for me having applied to other schools, nor would there be a penalty for attending another school). However, I've never been very close with most of my BS/MD classmates, and sort of feel disconnected from the rest of the program.
• The medical school just underwent major renovation, and have amazing new facilities and state of the art equipment.
• I know that a lot of schools use PBL/TBL now, and that it's not as big of an innovative strategy that med schools make it out to be, but we got to do a mock TBL session during my interview there, and I really liked the idea. However, some students have said that it is ineffectively implemented/unnecessarily increases workload/has a ton of other problems.
• In state tuition
• School is not in a major city. That could be good because of lower cost of living, but bad because there's not as diverse of a patient base/not as many different kinds of specialties and cases to see.
• Despite having in state tuition, being a state school they have less money to give than the top 10 I've been accepted to. Consequently, the MSAR lists a higher average indebtedness at state school than at the top 10 school, and the info they gave at their financial aid session seemed to bear this out.
• Fewer research opportunities/less funding for research.
• Fewer opportunities to work with a spanish-speaking population (something I am very interested in, as a spanish minor and somewhat fluent spanish speaker).
• Fewer extracurricular opportunities, particularly in the arts and music. This is important to me, as I love playing my trumpet and would like to continue to do so.
• I have not looked at match statistics in detail, but I would imagine that this school would have fewer students matching in competitive programs and specialties. I have not decided what I want to do, of course, but I am interested in some competitive areas like neurology and ophthalmology
• My boyfriend is moving in with me when I go to school (we're long distance now) and he said he liked the area where this school is as well. Obviously, though, I would go where I think is best for me, regardless of his preference.

Top 10 School

• This school is very far away (I can't even fly there direct from my home state). Again, could be good or bad, for similar reasons as staying in state could be good or bad.
• I would know precisely no one at the school or in the area. Good for a fresh start, bad for (at times crippling) social anxiety.
• School definitely looks old, in need of renovation. I stayed in their on campus dorms for my interview, and they were disgusting. The facilities also looked rather lackluster, compared to the shiny newness of the state school, which was fresh in my mind from interviewing there a week earlier.
• School is P/F for the first two years (as is state school), but uses a traditional lecture hall style, rather than PBL/TBL. I was not as thrilled about this, perhaps because it's not new and different and exciting.
• Higher sticker price than in state school, but has much more to offer in the way of merit/need based aid and low interest loans, and consequently lower indebtedness.
• The school is in a city, and has access to several large hospitals and a diverse range of patients with varying medical issues.
• The city is one of the lowest cost of living cities in the US
• Required research, plus extensive grants for research opportunities
• A program which certifies you as a physician fluent in medical spanish
• Plenty of extracurricular opportunities in the arts and music–I would definitely be able to keep playing my trumpet!
• Probably very very good match statistics.
• Again, boyfriend moving in with me. He has never been to this city, but it is much closer to where his family lives (8 hr drive/1 hr plane flight), and we would be able to visit them without too much trouble, which is good because he has a great relationship with them and I love his family too!
• However, we would be very very far from my family.

There seems to be roughly equal pros and cons to both schools. Again, I still have more schools to hear from and at least one more interview, but these are the two most likely options for me right now, so I wanted to gauge opinions from people who might be able to view this in a more objective lens!

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[aldol16]

I don't believe that objective advice from strangers is a good way to go about this. It's impossible for someone else to weigh the pros and cons for you because that's individual-specific. If it's a priority for you to stay close to home, then your decision is made. Someone else wouldn't be able to tell you that. It looks like you've already given much thought to the factors here so I would encourage you to read it a few times closely and see if you're swayed in any one direction.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Even though the names of the schools are hidden, this should still go in school-specific discussions, so I will move it there for you.

Even though you've given a very detailed profile of each school, sometimes it's still helpful to list the actual schools, particularly because as an applicant, you might not have too much of an idea of the inner working of the schools while current students (many of whom frequent pre-allo) will.

My advice would be 1) wait for financial aid info, particularly from the top 10 school (especially if its the one I'm thinking of) because that can often make a huge difference in terms of how much you're going to be paying. I had a similar decision to make (state flagship vs. top 10) and aid from the top 10 made the price the same for both schools.

Also, 2) really you should go where you'll like it better and have a better quality of life. If you're happy in med school, you'll do well. Yes, there will be several professional advantages to going to the top 10, but if you do not like being there, all of them will be negated. You also will not immediately close any doors going to your state MD school. No specialties will be closed to you, though it will be harder to match to certain programs within certain specialties.

If most of the decision is being based on cost and you like both schools "enough", then I would wait for aid from the top 10 school and if it's sufficient, absolutely go there. If you really don't like the top 10 school, just go to your state school. The hardest decision is if you don't get aid from the top 10 school and then you have to make the personal judgment of debt vs. professional advantages, and that's a whole different discussion that shouldn't be entertained until you get aid offers from both schools.