Rutgers NJMS vs. Georgetown vs. USC Keck

[Itdistractsfromthenow]

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Hi everyone! NJ resident here. Want to go into academic medicine (unsure about specialty but likely something in critical care medicine). Thinking about applying internally to MD/PhD programs but not totally sold on committing to that yet, hence why I would wait to apply to MD/PhD, and why cost is a pretty important factor in weighing these options.

Having a lot of trouble deciding between my options so figured I would ask some friendly SDN people to weigh in!

Rutgers NJMS
Pros: close to family/most of my friends in NJ/NYC, in-state tuition, lots of opportunities for research and mentorship, already have gotten in contact with a bunch of professors in research I find interesting, very welcoming deans, impressive match list
Cons: relatively lower ranking than other acceptances, not much of a campus feel, lots of commuters

Georgetown
Pros: went there for undergraduate so decent mentoring and advising infrastructure in place, Jesuit mission, good research opportunities, proximity to DC and NIH, impressive match list
Cons: *very* expensive cost, relatively far from my family/most of my friends in NJ/NYC

USC Keck
Pros: great research opportunities, SoCal weather, extremely welcoming students and campus atmosphere, impressive match list, liked the campus
Cons: match list seems a bit west coast-heavy (not exclusively though), *very* expensive cost, very far from family/most of my friends in NYC

 

[libertyyne]

id go to rutgers based on your goals.
How much of a cost difference is there between Keck and Rutgers?

 

[Itdistractsfromthenow]

id go to rutgers based on your goals.
How much of a cost difference is there between Keck and Rutgers?

Based on their respective cost of attendance pages, without factoring in interest:

Rutgers (NJMS | Office of Financial Aid | Rutgers University)
(own residence) $261,236
(living with parents) $235,112

USC Keck (USC Financial Aid)
$393,697

A reminder, though, that I'm considering applying to MD/PhD programs at both schools, which would mean that I would only pay tuition + fees for the first year.

 

[libertyyne]

Based on their respective cost of attendance pages, without factoring in interest:

Rutgers (NJMS | Office of Financial Aid | Rutgers University)
(own residence) $261,236
(living with parents) $235,112

USC Keck (USC Financial Aid)
$393,697

A reminder, though, that I'm considering applying to MD/PhD programs at both schools, which would mean that I would only pay tuition + fees for the first year.

if MD /PHD is your goal then i would eat the difference between keck and rutgers for the first year.

 

[Melanogaster]

USC for 400k without interest? Highway robbery. I'd go Rutgers!

 

[lalalallala]

I think you need to make your decision as if you will be there all 4 years. There is no guarantee that you will get to switch to MD/PHD. 400k without interest is insane (no one is giving you any aid? or has it just not been released yet?). I would go rutgers - you will be glad to have a support system. That being said I would pay the extra 20k to not live with my parents but that's just me 🙂

 

[DrFortiusNatando]

I appreciate that this is a difficult decision.
But Rutgers. Some of our best residents over the years have come from Rutgers Med School.
I am in a T10 east coast med school with T10 residencies in many specialties.
We love the Rutgers med students! They are very well-trained and many could have chosen "fancier" name schools, but went to Rutgers for IS tuition. We never look down on a student who chose their IS med school and did well in that school. We may scratch our heads (for a minute) over why a phenomenal student chose a bottom-tier expensive private med school - but even then, if the student is a great residency applicant, we get over it pretty fast!