Rochester vs UMass

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Hi everyone! So grateful to have received these acceptances 🙂 For some context, I am Canadian applicant but US citizen with ties to Massachusetts. My goals would be to match to a residency in Boston, but I also want to get the best medical education possible and have access to many opportunities.

Rochester

Pros :

• More NIH funding
• A bit more prestigious
• Approx 3 hour drive from home
• I like the biopsychosocial model
• Might have more opportunities for niche subspecialty exposure

Cons:

• Most people match to Rochester or places in NY - but not sure if that is due to personal preferences or no

UMass

Pros:

• Close to family in Boston
• Opportunity to build connections in Boston
• Tuition is a bit less but nothing substantial
• Better ranked for primary care (interested in internal med I think)

Cons:

• Lower ranked for research
• Maybe a bit less well regarded nationally

Overall, I feel quite in the middle and need some more guidance on what would be good to look out for to help make this decision. I also think visiting the schools will give me a lot more insight into them but the second look days aren't for a couple of months.

Thank you!!

 

[riv_jordan]

Congrats on getting into two awesome schools! I think any ranking differences are negligible. I also think differences in where students match is mostly due to personal preference, but both have impressive match lists.
The key factors to me seem to be that 1) Rochester is closer to home and 2) UMass may give a marginal increase in chances of matching in Boston. So it really comes down to which you think is more important. Tbh, I feel like this is one of those cases where your decision kind of doesn't matter (that is to say, you'd probably end up happy at either of these places). If you can attend, I'd go to second look weekends to try to see if you like the vibes of one more than the other.