Ranking: GW vs. VCU

[roo425]

I'm confused. I thought generally, ranking represents how good the school is. I was suprised to find that GW is not included to top 60 research schools based on US news ranking. On the other hand, VCU was ranked around 60. Does it mean that VCU is better research school than GW? But getting into GW is much harder than VCU (also based on the US news ranking.) I did not apply GW due to my lack of interest back then (last summer). But now GW looks more attractive than VCU (well, there's nothing I can do at this point). But I was suprised to find out the ranking and toughness to get-in are not directly related. Would you say VCU is better school than GW? Or which school would you go if you get into both of schools? I know this question is a little bit silly and too simplified but just want to hear what you think.

My other question is if you want to move to East coast, is it better to go to schools in East coast? I applied most of UC schools and hoped to stay in CA I live in CA now). Now, I'm thinking about moving to DC area. When I looked at residents profile in different schools (GW, Gergetown, UCSD, UCLA, UCI etc..), many of them are from near-by schools. If I'm thinking about living in DC area, should I go to school around the city? Maybe I should do some searching first. Anyhow any input will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading my random curiosity.

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[DrBowtie]

Read the methodology of the US News. That should answer your first question.

 

[karbouzie]

I'm confused. I thought generally, ranking represents how good the school is. I was suprised to find that GW is not included to top 60 research schools based on US news ranking. On the other hand, VCU was ranked around 60. Does it mean that VCU is better research school than GW? But getting into GW is much harder than VCU (also based on the US news ranking.) I did not apply GW due to my lack of interest back then (last summer). But now GW looks more attractive than VCU (well, there's nothing I can do at this point). But I was suprised to find out the ranking and toughness to get-in are not directly related. Would you say VCU is better school than GW? Or which school would you go if you get into both of schools? I know this question is a little bit silly and too simplified but just want to hear what you think.

My other question is if you want to move to East coast, is it better to go to schools in East coast? I applied most of UC schools and hoped to stay in CA I live in CA now). Now, I'm thinking about moving to DC area. When I looked at residents profile in different schools (GW, Gergetown, UCSD, UCLA, UCI etc..), many of them are from near-by schools. If I'm thinking about living in DC area, should I go to school around the city? Maybe I should do some searching first. Anyhow any input will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading my random curiosity.

I go to GWU and personally don't like it much and dont think its a good school, but its not fair to judge cuz ive only been here for a semester, although a junior and mature enough to rate a school, dont get me wrong cuz they do have among the best faculty members and profs, i just dont like the fact its in the middle of the city and buildings are scattered all over, graduate students cant live on campus (not sure about med), and student population isnt my type.... i talked to many pple to get opinions about GW's medicine, like premeds and master students doing research, none liked it either, mainly because of the student body, I recommend u go there for a tour and see how u feel there,,,if u'de like, i'll ask my research mentor and more knowledgeable pple to see what they think of medicine program once we go back to school, jan 17th.
Georgetown has a funny story, many pple told me its a waste to apply, mainly because of the financial crisis they had in early 90's and sold their hospital to MedStar, but I was told they are good for research, I read more about the school and think its really good so I applied to it....its not fair to judge their academic aspect based on administrative aspects, besides, the school got back on its feet nicely and even improved their ranking drastically in 2004.... as far as student body is concerned, ude feel comfortable there, very diverse and friendly. I think best advice I can give though is like u said, research more on schools, and remember life in D.C is freakin expensive! 😳

 

[C.P. Jones]

and student population isnt my type.... i talked to many pple to get opinions about GW's medicine, like premeds and master students doing research, none liked it either, mainly because of the student body

what type of ppl would you say are those that you are saying go to GW who you don't like

i just want to see if these are the same type of ppl i would like or not (but i don't think this would be a deciding factor for me)

 

[Vizsla]

Georgetown has a funny story, many pple told me its a waste to apply, mainly because of the financial crisis they had in early 90's and sold their hospital to MedStar, but I was told they are good for research, I read more about the school and think its really good so I applied to it....its not fair to judge their academic aspect based on administrative aspects, besides, the school got back on its feet nicely and even improved their ranking drastically in 2004.... as far as student body is concerned, ude feel comfortable there, very diverse and friendly. I think best advice I can give though is like u said, research more on schools, and remember life in D.C is freakin expensive! 😳

Georgetown is "very diverse" ??? Maybe their undergrad but not their med class. That's one thing GWU definitely has over georgetown. As for which student body is friendlier, I would say GWU again but that is a personal opinion. The research programs at Georgetown are much better. GWU obviously has the better hospital.

 

[goinverted]

I thought that the OP was wanting a comparison between VCU and GW, not Georgetown and GW.

 

[SpeedRacer]

I'm confused. I thought generally, ranking represents how good the school is. I was suprised to find that GW is not included to top 60 research schools based on US news ranking. On the other hand, VCU was ranked around 60.

who knows, gw might be 61. once you get down there in the rankings i feel like it doesn't make that much of a difference anyway, right? i would look at residency placement and other factors. at least that's what i'm doing (and assuming).

 

[Pewl]

I'd probably pick SLU over GWU. I like the feel of St. Louis more than the feel of being President Bush's neighbor. SLU's ranking is higher, too, if you're into that kind of thing. Richmond and DC are essentially the same location though, both are like within an hour of each other on the eastern seaboard. =P

 

[karbouzie]

Georgetown is "very diverse" ??? Maybe their undergrad but not their med class. That's one thing GWU definitely has over georgetown. As for which student body is friendlier, I would say GWU again but that is a personal opinion. The research programs at Georgetown are much better. GWU obviously has the better hospital.

I guess I can't say much about the med student body since im only undergrad, but true GTU undregrad is more diverse as far as ethnicity, religion (and perhaps socioeconomic status) are concerned. GTU def. has a good research program, a plus for students interested in MD/PhD.
If ur applying to GW's Early Selection program then u dont have to worry about MCAT scores (not required last time I checked), and dont have to worry about competing with as many students, so got a better chance...

 

[karbouzie]

what type of ppl would you say are those that you are saying go to GW who you don't like

i just want to see if these are the same type of ppl i would like or not (but i don't think this would be a deciding factor for me)

hmmm, never mind what i said about this cuz I was refering to student body over all, not specifically med students. Im sure med students are more mature and serious about school and dont have time to party and smoke u know what every weekend

 

[SpeedRacer]

I'd probably pick SLU over GWU. I like the feel of St. Louis more than the feel of being President Bush's neighbor. SLU's ranking is higher, too, if you're into that kind of thing. Richmond and DC are essentially the same location though, both are like within an hour of each other on the eastern seaboard. =P

when/why the hell did SLU get put into this?

 

[Pewl]

when/why the hell did SLU get put into this?

Dunno SMOKE. I was just comparing the places I've SMOKE interviewed at. GW is pretty cool, but the living cost is really high, and who wants to be Bush's Neighbor. =P

 

[roo425]

Thank you for everyone posting various opinions. (I'm the OP.) I don't mind seeing info about other schools that I haven't questioned (such as SLU or GTU)). It's good to know about other schools even though I didn't apply. BTW, where do I usually find the info about match for residency program? What I did was to look up departments that I'm interested in (such as EM, Internal medicine) and look at residents' profiles. I figuired some schools have match statistics but others don't.

Regarding location.. Someone mentioned DC and Richmond is very close.. It's true since it only takes about two hours driving. But in terms of the size of city and other aspect, DC and Richmond seem very different. DC (or George Town area) seems like a big city such as LA (well, much smaller scale) and Richmond more feels like a small town with much less popluation. It's hard for me to predict what the cities are like without visiting. Well, I'll visit both of cities at the end of Jan so I will find out. The only problem is that I don't have any option since I only got interview at VCU. 😳 (I didn't even apply any DC schools.)

Anyhow, thank you so much for all the replies. Good luck to all and Happy New Year.

 

[Vizsla]

Regarding location.. Someone mentioned DC and Richmond is very close.. It's true since it only takes about two hours driving. But in terms of the size of city and other aspect, DC and Richmond seem very different. DC (or George Town area) seems like a big city such as LA (well, much smaller scale) and Richmond more feels like a small town with much less popluation.

In my opinion DC is very different from Richmond (or at least the area where VCU is located) in that DC has much more of a city feel. I liked the program at VCU a lot, but a big drawback for me was the area. Good luck with VCU.

 

[roo425]

In my opinion DC is very different from Richmond (or at least the area where VCU is located) in that DC has much more of a city feel. I liked the program at VCU a lot, but a big drawback for me was the area. Good luck with VCU.

I think I might feel about the same as you do regarding the city. I live in San Diego right now and lived in New York city before San Diego. (And I have lived in a "fancy" or at least decent neighborhood.) If I get accepted and deicde to go to VCU, I'm thinking about living a little bit farther from school due to my kids' school district issue. I searched a littel bit and found an area with very good public school system. This neighborhood is about 10 miles away from VCU. Generally the neighborhood with a good public school system is a good place for older students with spouse and/or kids to live.

 

[Gut Shot]

I'm confused. I thought generally, ranking represents how good the school is. I was suprised to find that GW is not included to top 60 research schools based on US news ranking. On the other hand, VCU was ranked around 60. Does it mean that VCU is better research school than GW? But getting into GW is much harder than VCU (also based on the US news ranking.) I did not apply GW due to my lack of interest back then (last summer). But now GW looks more attractive than VCU (well, there's nothing I can do at this point). But I was suprised to find out the ranking and toughness to get-in are not directly related. Would you say VCU is better school than GW? Or which school would you go if you get into both of schools? I know this question is a little bit silly and too simplified but just want to hear what you think.

First off, rankings might give a vague sense of admission selectivity, but they aren't the whole story. GW is private, and is likely to be more appealing to people all across the country who are applying to private institutions. VCU being public skews its applicant pool significantly, given that you have a relatively small number of in-state applicants for about 2/3 of the seats, and thousands of out-of-staters competing for the remainder.

So is it tougher to get into GW or VCU as an out-of-state applicant? I'm not sure. According to the US News data, the overall acceptance rate for GW is 5.3%, while VCU's is 8.7%. It looks like GW is more selective, but there again the in-state preferences are going to drive VCU's acceptance rate up. The raw numbers for the VCU class of 2009 (3,602 out-of-state applicants with 80 entering the class) demonstrates a 2.2% rate of matriculation. In-staters matriculated at a rate of 12.9%.

Also, their composite MCAT averages are very similar (GW=9.6, VCU=9.5), so it's difficult to say there is a wide statistical gap between the two student populations. I'd be curious to see the average GPA's.

My other question is if you want to move to East coast, is it better to go to schools in East coast? I applied most of UC schools and hoped to stay in CA I live in CA now). Now, I'm thinking about moving to DC area. When I looked at residents profile in different schools (GW, Gergetown, UCSD, UCLA, UCI etc..), many of them are from near-by schools. If I'm thinking about living in DC area, should I go to school around the city? Maybe I should do some searching first. Anyhow any input will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading my random curiosity.

Your choice of specialty will dictate how easy it is for you to match in a preferred geographic area. If you want to do IM or peds then you would have zero problem ending up in DC from any med school in the country. If you're shooting for derm or ENT then you'll be better off going to med school in your intended target city.

Most people enter residency programs near where they go to medical school, but this has way more to do with personal preferences than difficulties matching. I went to VCU, and many of my classmates were from Virginia or nearby states. Given family, spouses, kids, familiarity with the area, etc., many of them opted to stay in the mid-Atlantic region. That said, the folks who were determined to return to California didn't have a problem - they just applied to Cali residency programs.

 

[Gut Shot]

In my opinion DC is very different from Richmond (or at least the area where VCU is located) in that DC has much more of a city feel. I liked the program at VCU a lot, but a big drawback for me was the area. Good luck with VCU.

There is no accounting for taste, but I thought Richmond was a fine place to spend four years. It has its share of problems, but when you compare things like cost of living or traffic, it has DC whipped hands down. My former classmates who had working spouses could actually purchase homes in the Richmond suburbs - try that in Northern Virginia.

Richmond certainly isn't a big city like DC, but the greater metropolitan area still has over a million people. I don't know how much of the city you've seen, but it does have its share of interesting areas: Shockoe Bottom, Shockoe Slip, The Fan (where I lived), Monument Ave, Grove & Libby, the entire west end of town, etc. I can only think of two of my classmates who really despised Richmond. One hated the winter weather, and the other hated everything in general.

 

[Gut Shot]

BTW, where do I usually find the info about match for residency program?

I don't know about GW, but I posted the match list for my class (2005) at VCU in this thread (message #29).