School selection help: Rochester v UVM

[jorgediaz]

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Need help deciding between the two schools.

Which would you pick?

More information:
No family ties or anything.
20k/year less at UVM due to scholarship...
Adds up to 56k per year at UVM (34k tuition), 66k per year at UR (47k tuition)
Slightly offput by UR attendance policies and PBL emphasis. However, it seems like a school with a better reputation and stronger research (slight importance for me).

So what does everyone think? If anyone has lived in either of these cities, I'd really appreciate your input. Thanks.

 

[DrSolus]

Spring and fall in Rochester is beautiful. The city is quiet, but very livable because of an abundance of cultural offerings, such as the Eastman School of Music (the #1 music school, usually tied with Julliard), Rochester Philharmonic, Memorial Art Gallery, Xerox Jazz Festival, George Eastman House, etc. Local foods are great: Rochester Farmer's Market is very lively and one of the best in the country and there's the beauty (and wine) of the nearby Finger Lakes region. Nightlife is pretty active on Park Avenue, and, of course, there's Wegman's (a fantastic food market/supermarket that has been a boon for foodies in Rochester for ages).

I would, however, consider the fact that public transportation in the city is useless, and winters are COLD and windy as hell. You have to be prepared for alot of snow (but not as much as Buffalo or Syracuse).

URMC itself is a leading medical center and an incredible center for biomedical research, and the UofR medical school is nationally recognized for graduating excellent physicans, especially in academic/teaching careers.

Having said that though, a $20k/year difference is SUBSTANTIAL and this cannot be understated. If the difference really is this large, then I would say for goddsake go to UVM, it's an excellent school and you'll be saving $80k over 4 years! I'm a bit confused because you provide figures of 56k/year at UVM and 66k/year at UR and that's only a $10k difference/year. At a $10k/year difference, I would say it's a fair comparison. $20k is not. The fact that you're having difficulty picking is precisely the reason why you should go to UVM. The reputation of both are similarly excellent and the quality of education will be the same. Go to UVM!

Edit: I only say this much about Rochester because I went there for undergrad. Definitely consider what UVM has to offer and find out what living there would be like to get a complete picture.

 

[jorgediaz]

It's 20k off, but the original COA is higher... it was an immense 76k before the scholarship. So it totals out to 56k per year, with 34k of it being towards tuition.

Thanks everybody for the insight so far.

 

[battousai]

I don't know anything about Rochester, but Burlington is a fairly expensive place to live in. It's a beautiful place, just removed from everything. Winters can also be brutal, just like Rochester.

UVM is a great school; their curriculum is great. They were hurting for rotation sites a couple years back though, since the deal they had with Maine Medical Center fell through.

 

[jorgediaz]

bump

 

[pisadeliveryman]

do most people view UVM as better school than its 60th US news ranking would indicate?

 

[MadRadLad]

US News rankings are pretty useless other than pre-med banter.

 

[Giantra Volta]

Have you looked at the curricula of the schools? IF I remember correctly, UVM has P/F and it consolidates the first 2yrs into 18 months (at the end of which, you'd take Step 1). I'm not 100% sure on the P/F for UVM, but I'm positive on the 18 months. These are the kinds of things I looked at when choosing between schools.

Also, I heard for Rochester that the students have classes from the early morning until around 3-4pm every weekday. So you have to also look at factors like this to make sure you'll be happy with how your schedule will be set up.

Good luck with your decision making! Both are great schools for their own reasons, so in the end, you can't really go wrong.

 

[ksun91]

Reasons I didnt like Rochester:

-Mandatory class attendence
-PBL
-No time off for boards
-cold
-No lecture recordings

I am not sure how UVM deals with these aspects but I would choose it as its cheaper.

 

[DrSolus]

A few more things to note:
-Burlington is likely to be just as cold as Rochester.
-I highly doubt there's NO time off for boards, I would recheck this information. (I believe I heard 5-7 weeks).
- PBL is not a bad thing, but we won't go into this discussion here.

One highly important point: If you're planning on going into academic medicine, I would strongly encourage you to attend Rochester. Research at URMC is very, very strong.

Just thought I'd balance this comparison a bit.

 

[battousai]

Have you looked at the curricula of the schools? IF I remember correctly, UVM has P/F and it consolidates the first 2yrs into 18 months (at the end of which, you'd take Step 1). I'm not 100% sure on the P/F for UVM, but I'm positive on the 18 months. These are the kinds of things I looked at when choosing between schools.

Also, I heard for Rochester that the students have classes from the early morning until around 3-4pm every weekday. So you have to also look at factors like this to make sure you'll be happy with how your schedule will be set up.

Good luck with your decision making! Both are great schools for their own reasons, so in the end, you can't really go wrong.

UVM is H/P/F

 

[GreyEarl]

I got into UVM as well and it was hard for me to turn it down. Ultimately, I turned it down because of money. I think you'll be happy in Burlington and UVM is making a name for itself in research. Plus, saving an extra $40K is awesome.

 

[jorgediaz]

Thanks everyone for the contrasting opinions. It certainly helps puts things in to perspective.
The main thing I am concerned about is the "mandatory" attendance and PBL. I could see how this could interfere with my learning, but at the same time, maybe it would be beneficial?

 

[DrSolus]

Thanks everyone for the contrasting opinions. It certainly helps puts things in to perspective.
The main thing I am concerned about is the "mandatory" attendance and PBL. I could see how this could interfere with my learning, but at the same time, maybe it would be beneficial?

Depends on your learning style. Personally, I think it'd be a nice way of getting to know everyone in the class and keeping people grounded. Eg you don't have those people who spend their whole 1st and 2nd years partying while other ppl feel stuck studying.

Also, It's been said that all this new freedom in med school (for at least the first two years: recorded lectures, online exams, etc) is essentially turning it into a vocational/online degree. There are inherent benefits to learning through dialogue and classroom discussion - for some people, at least.

 

[earf]

When I interviewed at UVM, I absolutely loved the Vermont Integrated Curriculum (VIC), especially since it'll give you extra time for rotations to explore what you want to do (it's a 1.5 year pre-clinical curriculum). Fletcher Allen Health Care seems to be a really awesome hospital as well. The city seemed small and quaint, but still had the option of nice places to study/hang out (mainly Church Street. Also, I prepared for my interview at Muddy Waters coffee shop which had live music playing that evening I was there and was a very quaint, organic, and cute cafe). The building itself is very modern and beautiful inside. I was impressed at how nice the entire staff/student body were.

The negatives were that it seemed impossible to get state residency for any of the 4 years, which makes going here really expensive.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[SouthernBelle12]

Thanks everyone for the contrasting opinions. It certainly helps puts things in to perspective.
The main thing I am concerned about is the "mandatory" attendance and PBL. I could see how this could interfere with my learning, but at the same time, maybe it would be beneficial?

Having just finished MS1 at URSMD, I can address some of the prior concerns. Most classes are NOT mandatory. Only PBL, labs (Anatomy & Histo), and small groups are mandatory. I personally went to day 1 only of the Molecules to Cells class and of Host Defense and easily passed. Some people like to go to lecture, and some (me) don't and do well.

You get like 6-7 weeks off to study for Step 1.

We start clinical experiences Year 1, including the Primary Care Clerkship usually done in 3rd. From the 4th Years I've talked to, their last year was super chill because of this and you get a lot of elective time 3rd.

And yes, the winter sucks (I'm from the South so it was especially brutal to me).

Hope that helps.

 

[DrSolus]

You know, now that you've clarified that the difference in COA is only 10k/year between the two, I would change my vote and say go UR. Just thought I'd put that out there.