Quinnipiac/Frank Netter SOM (349k COA total)
Pros:
- Recorded lectures
- Surprisingly strong match lists for a newer school with a variety of locales and pretty much every specialty
- Awesome interview day with great faculty, admissions, and students (Does an interview day really matter in regards to choosing a medical school though?)
- New and beautiful facilities
- I actually like the rural feel as I hate driving in traffic and would rather drive 30 minutes on open roads than 20 minutes in traffic to go 5 miles. Although those poorly designed highways in Connecticut using stop signs and no merge entrance/exit lanes are a pain.
- Smaller class size (90-100)
- Beautiful area. I have not lived in the Northeast before, so it would be an opportunity to experience a new locale.
- MeSH program gets hands-on primary care interactions every week throughout pre-clinical
- The pre-matriculation program seems helpful to kick my old ass into gear, however, it could be canceled due to COVID-19.
- It seems like some interdisciplinary functions with other medical professions in the same building.
- True Pass/Fail for pre-clinical. H/HP/P/F for clinical.
Cons:
- No affiliated hospital or residencies (yikes)
- 45-minute drives to clinical sites / MeSH
- Expensive tuition (pending financial aid information)
- No true research opportunities. Granted I don’t have a research background, but it would be beneficial for the match.
- Newer program/less well known
- Further drive to the airport (minor con)
- Only 50% of exams are NBME questions, however, with Step 1 P/F this likely is less helpful. They currently have no plans for if the curriculum will change due to P/F.
Neutral:
- Faculty only teach, they are not clinicians or researchers. This likely results in better quality instruction, but without the current clinical practice background and limited access to research.
- There may not be as much to do in the area (outside of 1.5-2 hour drives to major cities), but it does have an associated university with entertainment opportunities (watch sports, additional student groups/extracurriculars/intramural/etc)
Eastern Virginia Medical School EVMS (245k COA total)
Pros:
- As a vet, I get in-state tuition (huge savings of ~26k a year over Netter - still pending financial aid information at both places)
- More established program
- I really enjoyed the current students and the few faculty that I spoke with
- Strong ultrasound and standardized patient programs within the first week.
- NBME test questions are 100% of the exams…. Which likely will matter less that Step 1 will be P/F.
- More opportunities in free clinic vs Netter's once per month
- Children's hospital is awesome.
- Beach nearby as well as more things to do with a larger population.
- Recorded lectures
- UWorld included in the tuition
- Pass/fail. H/HP/P/F for clinical.
Cons:
- Only slightly better research opportunities
- The interview day was weird. We were left alone waiting in the hall for tour guides to show up. I’m hoping medical school is not run the same way.
- Slightly larger classes at ~150.
- Match list is more east coast (I don't really know where I want to live, so not a huge deal), which is likely self-selecting due to being a public school vs Netter being private.
I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago (I’m used to cold) and currently live in Phoenix. So neither one is near any support network. I enjoyed the interview day at Quinnipiac more, but I feel that EVMS would offer more opportunities. I’m still waiting for 1 decision and I am on 4 waitlists, so things may change. Currently, I think financial aid will likely be the decider, but I was hoping to hear what you all think. Also, P/F step 1 seems like it will favor institutions that have residencies and I don’t believe many of the clinical sites for Netter have associated residencies. Both are more focused on primary care and I am leaning to specializing. Both are 2-year pre-clinical programs using organ systems with EVMS also using some PBL. Neither requires attendance.
Edit: No financial aid outside of federal loans from Netter, so I withdrew.
Pros:
- Recorded lectures
- Surprisingly strong match lists for a newer school with a variety of locales and pretty much every specialty
- Awesome interview day with great faculty, admissions, and students (Does an interview day really matter in regards to choosing a medical school though?)
- New and beautiful facilities
- I actually like the rural feel as I hate driving in traffic and would rather drive 30 minutes on open roads than 20 minutes in traffic to go 5 miles. Although those poorly designed highways in Connecticut using stop signs and no merge entrance/exit lanes are a pain.
- Smaller class size (90-100)
- Beautiful area. I have not lived in the Northeast before, so it would be an opportunity to experience a new locale.
- MeSH program gets hands-on primary care interactions every week throughout pre-clinical
- The pre-matriculation program seems helpful to kick my old ass into gear, however, it could be canceled due to COVID-19.
- It seems like some interdisciplinary functions with other medical professions in the same building.
- True Pass/Fail for pre-clinical. H/HP/P/F for clinical.
Cons:
- No affiliated hospital or residencies (yikes)
- 45-minute drives to clinical sites / MeSH
- Expensive tuition (pending financial aid information)
- No true research opportunities. Granted I don’t have a research background, but it would be beneficial for the match.
- Newer program/less well known
- Further drive to the airport (minor con)
- Only 50% of exams are NBME questions, however, with Step 1 P/F this likely is less helpful. They currently have no plans for if the curriculum will change due to P/F.
Neutral:
- Faculty only teach, they are not clinicians or researchers. This likely results in better quality instruction, but without the current clinical practice background and limited access to research.
- There may not be as much to do in the area (outside of 1.5-2 hour drives to major cities), but it does have an associated university with entertainment opportunities (watch sports, additional student groups/extracurriculars/intramural/etc)
Eastern Virginia Medical School EVMS (245k COA total)
Pros:
- As a vet, I get in-state tuition (huge savings of ~26k a year over Netter - still pending financial aid information at both places)
- More established program
- I really enjoyed the current students and the few faculty that I spoke with
- Strong ultrasound and standardized patient programs within the first week.
- NBME test questions are 100% of the exams…. Which likely will matter less that Step 1 will be P/F.
- More opportunities in free clinic vs Netter's once per month
- Children's hospital is awesome.
- Beach nearby as well as more things to do with a larger population.
- Recorded lectures
- UWorld included in the tuition
- Pass/fail. H/HP/P/F for clinical.
Cons:
- Only slightly better research opportunities
- The interview day was weird. We were left alone waiting in the hall for tour guides to show up. I’m hoping medical school is not run the same way.
- Slightly larger classes at ~150.
- Match list is more east coast (I don't really know where I want to live, so not a huge deal), which is likely self-selecting due to being a public school vs Netter being private.
I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago (I’m used to cold) and currently live in Phoenix. So neither one is near any support network. I enjoyed the interview day at Quinnipiac more, but I feel that EVMS would offer more opportunities. I’m still waiting for 1 decision and I am on 4 waitlists, so things may change. Currently, I think financial aid will likely be the decider, but I was hoping to hear what you all think. Also, P/F step 1 seems like it will favor institutions that have residencies and I don’t believe many of the clinical sites for Netter have associated residencies. Both are more focused on primary care and I am leaning to specializing. Both are 2-year pre-clinical programs using organ systems with EVMS also using some PBL. Neither requires attendance.
Edit: No financial aid outside of federal loans from Netter, so I withdrew.
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