Stanford vs. Harvard vs. Michigan ($$$)

[Acceptable User]

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I am a long-time reader and poster on SDN. I created this account to preserve anonymity. Right now I'm looking at a decision between Stanford, Harvard (NP), and Michigan (full-tuition scholarship). My first choice is Stanford because it's close to family, though I am tempted to accept HMS NP for career reasons. I am also giving strong consideration to Michigan, due to their scholarship offer.

I'm not sure how to go about prioritizing career considerations/prestige and money over personal preferences. Any advice would be appreciated.

TL;DR: SMS, HMS, or Michigan w/ $$$?

 

[Beekachu]

Have you received financial aid packages from the other two schools? What do those look like?

These are all really great schools, so its not like one will give your career a boost over the other two. Simply attending Harvard Med isn't going to create a career for you if you don't work for it.. and putting in that effort at any of the three will yield the career you want for yourself. So given the fact that the schools are all on par with each other my priority list would look like this:

- Cost (but only in so far as comparing paying the full COA at one versus full-tuition aid at another)
- Location (proximity to family mainly)
- School features (grading, required class time, structure of M3/4, ...)
- General feelings/vibes from visiting

You really can't go wrong picking any of these schools, so congrats!

 

[Acceptable User]

Have you received financial aid packages from the other two schools? What do those look like?

These are all really great schools, so its not like one will give your career a boost over the other two. Simply attending Harvard Med isn't going to create a career for you if you don't work for it.. and putting in that effort at any of the three will yield the career you want for yourself. So given the fact that the schools are all on par with each other my priority list would look like this:

- Cost (but only in so far as comparing paying the full COA at one versus full-tuition aid at another)
- Location (proximity to family mainly)
- School features (grading, required class time, structure of M3/4, ...)
- General feelings/vibes from visiting

You really can't go wrong picking any of these schools, so congrats!

Thanks, Beekachu. I haven't received financial aid packages yet from any school, so I'm waiting on those. I'm also going on second looks for SMS and HMS, where I'll get a better idea of the soft factors involved. I guess I'm really conflicted about these choices. I don't know if the $$$ from Michigan should sway me, especially with looming healthcare cuts and falling reimbursement rates. I could really use an extra $200k after-tax money now (~$400-500k later).

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[capn jazz]

i would take the full scholarship...

 

[NinersFan0]

Just keep in mind that Stanford has amazing financial aid, and if you participate in medscholars or TA positions while in medical school your cost goes down even further. I think Stanford was 3rd on the list of schools producing graduates with the least debt...

/bias

 

[mdeast]

Just keep in mind that Stanford has amazing financial aid, and if you participate in medscholars or TA positions while in medical school your cost goes down even further. I think Stanford was 3rd on the list of schools producing graduates with the least debt...

/bias

Just a FYI...Stanford Financial Aid can be both amazing and terrible. It really depends on your financial situation. Our graduating debt is low because we heavily subsidize students who don't have the means to pay for their medical education (i.e. the full Stanford grant is $33k-$44k/year with eligibility for no-interest loans, MedScholars, TAing, etc.). I think this is amazing and one of the enormous strengths of Stanford- i.e. poor students don't have to graduate with greater debt. However, most of the students who don't qualify for Stanford grants just have their parents pay for their education...which is why our graduating debt is so low. There is a small contingency of people here who still graduate with enormous amounts of debt (i.e. over 300k) because Stanford is a ridiculously expensive institution to attend.

If you don't qualify for Stanford financial aid....Stanford is ungodly expensive. The cost of living here is enormous...especially with all the recent tech developments which have skyrocketed housing prices here and cost of living. It is very difficult to find a decent place here for under $1000 and students pay up to $2000/month for housing. Even some on campus housing runs around $1700/month. Additionally, while the first year of tuition covers 3 quarters....subsequent years require 4 quarters of tuition payment (33% increase in tuition for 2nd and 3rd years). I wasn't completely aware of this when I applied....and most of the second year MedScholars/TAing just helps bring tuition more in line with what other schools charge. These programs can become enormously financially beneficial to students...but keep in mind it can be very difficult to juggle classes, boards studying, research, and TAing and not everyone can handle the distraction. Our 2nd year budget (includes living expenses, tuition, boards, etc.) was something around 94k. It's the same for 3rd year and goes down to 70k for 4th year. However, keep in mind annual 3-5% tuition increases and I will not be surprised if 2nd and 3rd year skyrocket to over 100k budgets in the next 2-3 years.

Personally, I really love Stanford. TAing and MedScholars are great, and there are very few schools that have built in funding to take a year off (which is especially important as some programs i.e. Doris Duke, no longer exist). But depending on your financial situation (and the fact that Michigan is a really great school that matches students incredibly well), the full-tuition scholarship might make your life a lot easier down the road. I'd say it's definitely something to think about seriously. No debt=bliss.

 

[NinersFan0]

Just a FYI...Stanford Financial Aid can be both amazing and terrible. It really depends on your financial situation. .

I guess I was never really aware of this...

I assume the people with 300k of debt never made any efforts to reduce that number, right?
(through research/TA/cheaper living options)

 

[Acceptable User]

Just a FYI...Stanford Financial Aid can be both amazing and terrible. It really depends on your financial situation. Our graduating debt is low because we heavily subsidize students who don't have the means to pay for their medical education (i.e. the full Stanford grant is $33k-$44k/year with eligibility for no-interest loans, MedScholars, TAing, etc.). I think this is amazing and one of the enormous strengths of Stanford- i.e. poor students don't have to graduate with greater debt. However, most of the students who don't qualify for Stanford grants just have their parents pay for their education...which is why our graduating debt is so low. There is a small contingency of people here who still graduate with enormous amounts of debt (i.e. over 300k) because Stanford is a ridiculously expensive institution to attend.

If you don't qualify for Stanford financial aid....Stanford is ungodly expensive. The cost of living here is enormous...especially with all the recent tech developments which have skyrocketed housing prices here and cost of living. It is very difficult to find a decent place here for under $1000 and students pay up to $2000/month for housing. Even some on campus housing runs around $1700/month. Additionally, while the first year of tuition covers 3 quarters....subsequent years require 4 quarters of tuition payment (33% increase in tuition for 2nd and 3rd years). I wasn't completely aware of this when I applied....and most of the second year MedScholars/TAing just helps bring tuition more in line with what other schools charge. These programs can become enormously financially beneficial to students...but keep in mind it can be very difficult to juggle classes, boards studying, research, and TAing and not everyone can handle the distraction. Our 2nd year budget (includes living expenses, tuition, boards, etc.) was something around 94k. It's the same for 3rd year and goes down to 70k for 4th year. However, keep in mind annual 3-5% tuition increases and I will not be surprised if 2nd and 3rd year skyrocket to over 100k budgets in the next 2-3 years.

Personally, I really love Stanford. TAing and MedScholars are great, and there are very few schools that have built in funding to take a year off (which is especially important as some programs i.e. Doris Duke, no longer exist). But depending on your financial situation (and the fact that Michigan is a really great school that matches students incredibly well), the full-tuition scholarship might make your life a lot easier down the road. I'd say it's definitely something to think about seriously. No debt=bliss.

Thanks, mdeast for your informative post. I was really confused about how SMS boasts such low average indebtedness stats given their COA. Parents bankrolling their kids' education would certainly explain it. I'll have to wait for my financial aid award I guess, since I'm not sure how my family would fare in medical school financial aid calculations. Stanford, however, remains my top choice if finances aren't an issue. I just loved my time there.

I really hope that it works out financially. Part of the reason why this is so tough is because I fully understand how debilitating student loan debt can be, particularly after 10ish years of interest capitalization. Michigan seems more and more attractive; I don't really want to graduate with >200k debt.

 

[AcceptableUser2]

I am so happy I found this thread! I am in a very similar situation: Duke vs Harvard vs Pritzker ($$$). Wonderful, albeit very conflicting, predicament.

I started out leaning towards Harvard, but having researched the true COA (living expenses, interest, rapid hair loss, etc), I am less certain. An HMS student told me to fill out the financial aid application before truly comparing the cost differential between schools because we may be surprised. Are you attending One Harvard or HMS Revisit?

P.S. I created this account solely to remain anonymous for this thread.

 

[Acceptable User]

I am so happy I found this thread! I am in a very similar situation: Duke vs Harvard vs Pritzker ($$$). Wonderful, albeit very conflicting, predicament.

I started out leaning towards Harvard, but having researched the true COA (living expenses, interest, rapid hair loss, etc), I am less certain. An HMS student told me to fill out the financial aid application before truly comparing the cost differential between schools because we may be surprised. Are you attending One Harvard or HMS Revisit?

P.S. I created this account solely to remain anonymous for this thread.

Tough choice :-\. I started out with Pritzker as my #1 because of those juicy schollys.

 

[Fawn Leibowitz]

I'm choosing between Duke, UCSF and Michigan ($$$$). UCSF was initially my top choice because my family is in CA and I love the Bay Area. After the Michigan news, I'm all but certain to going there. It just seems like an incredible package, especially since there will be no unsubsidized federal loans anymore. And the school is very attractive in its own right - top rankings, great matches, happy students, pass/fail, flex quizzes, responsive administration, fun and affordable college town, etc. For me, the main downsides are the winters and the fact that I have no family or friends there. I'm submitting all of my financial aid applications to see how the numbers come in, but I can't imagine that Michigan won't come out way ahead.

Good luck with your choice! It's an awesome decision to have to make, and whatever you choose, someone else will be thrilled to have the opportunity that you leave behind.

 

[Fawn Leibowitz]

By the way, I calculated the average payment per day of the Michigan package over four years, just to see how it spread out -- the answer might help you to make a decision. : )

 

[Narmerguy]

Do you intend to go into private practice? I think that would make a huge difference.

 

[eHombre]

Unless I'm missing something, I think people are overvaluing the importance of merit scholarships. A merit scholarship is all well and good, but if you need to take out $25k in loans for cost-of-living, how is that substantively different than Harvard's unit loan policy? Provided you aren't super well-off, you'd likely qualify for a lot of institutional aid at HMS, potentially enough so that the net cost difference between them and Michigan becomes nearly negligible.

Wait for financial aid packages to come out, people. Some of these rich schools may surprise you.

 

[nadaba]

Unless I'm missing something, I think people are overvaluing the importance of merit scholarships. A merit scholarship is all well and good, but if you need to take out $25k in loans for cost-of-living, how is that substantively different than Harvard's unit loan policy? Provided you aren't super well-off, you'd likely qualify for a lot of institutional aid at HMS, potentially enough so that the net cost difference between them and Michigan becomes nearly negligible.

Wait for financial aid packages to come out, people. Some of these rich schools may surprise you.

If you aren't needy (and your parents aren't paying), merit scholarships would be a big help. 20-25k for living is a heck of a lot less than full cost of attendance. I definitely agree that you actually have to wait to see what's offered at the richie-rich schools.

At some schools, like WashU, you're still eligible for need based aid even if you've received a full-tuition scholarship. This is obviously the best situation 👍

 

[Docbeme]

OP, you have not included very much information about yourself and what you like to do outside of studying.

Obviously, all three programs are excellent academically.

I have spent a bit of time in Ann Arbor. Michigan has a huge engineering program and rapidly expanding biomedical capabilities. Ann Arbor is also a really fun town. Not that large that you are in a big city but large enough to have tons of things to do along with some of the best college sports facilities in the country if that is your thing. Housing, while not cheap in Ann Arbor, is way more affordable than Boston or Palo Alto. You are also about 25 minutes away from an excellent and large airport outside of Detroit. Winters in Ann Arbor are cold and snowy, but Boston is no picnic either.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[modelslashactor]

I would wait until seeing the other aid packages, but when they inevitably fail to match up, take the money. Every school mentioned in this thread is excellent and will get you where you want to go with hard work. If your parents are paying for your med school that's one thing but Harvard/Stanford is not worth 200k (probably 300k after interest) more than Michigan. Of note, you could try calling the other schools to see if they'll match the offer, it never hurts to try.

I'm an intern now and was faced with a similar decision back in the day. I went with the scholarship and it's one of the best decisions I've ever made. There's something to be said for financial freedom, I was able to pick my specialty without thought to paying back a huge loan, I could go into academics and take a 50% salary cut, I could quit my residency tomorrow and work at Starbucks.

Don't worry about your residency picks, those are all good schools and can get you anywhere. I ended up going to one of the 2-3 best programs in my field (granted not a terribly competitive field) on one of the coasts. If I was paying back loans I would barely be able to afford living in the city and probably would have had to think twice about my choice. Instead now I have an extra $500 or so per month to spend on vacations, dinners, going out, savings, etc.

Congrats on being able to make the decision, you guys are in an enviable position and the kind of work ethic that got you to this point will certainly keep giving you great career options as you go forward.

 

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

I would wait until seeing the other aid packages, but when they inevitably fail to match up, take the money. Every school mentioned in this thread is excellent and will get you where you want to go with hard work. If your parents are paying for your med school that's one thing but Harvard/Stanford is not worth 200k (probably 300k after interest) more than Michigan. Of note, you could try calling the other schools to see if they'll match the offer, it never hurts to try.

I'm an intern now and was faced with a similar decision back in the day. I went with the scholarship and it's one of the best decisions I've ever made. There's something to be said for financial freedom, I was able to pick my specialty without thought to paying back a huge loan, I could go into academics and take a 50% salary cut, I could quit my residency tomorrow and work at Starbucks.

Don't worry about your residency picks, those are all good schools and can get you anywhere. I ended up going to one of the 2-3 best programs in my field (granted not a terribly competitive field) on one of the coasts. If I was paying back loans I would barely be able to afford living in the city and probably would have had to think twice about my choice. Instead now I have an extra $500 or so per month to spend on vacations, dinners, going out, savings, etc.

Congrats on being able to make the decision, you guys are in an enviable position and the kind of work ethic that got you to this point will certainly keep giving you great career options as you go forward.

This is very good advice and I am encouraged to read about this. I got 2 full tuition scholarships, and one 75% tuition scholarship and immediately dropped my spot at JHUSOM. My friends thought I was crazy but these scholarships are at the top schools in 3 different states, and I have learned from several well placed MDs that the prestige factor will not weigh heavily in residence picks once you are in an institution of high repute like a top-20 med school.
It is good to hear you reinforce these ideas because having the flexibility that you have is by far the most empowering thing about charting the course of your career in medicine! Congrats to you, too!!👍

 

[Acceptable User]

By the way, I calculated the average payment per day of the Michigan package over four years, just to see how it spread out -- the answer might help you to make a decision. : )

What is it? Thanks in advance.

Do you intend to go into private practice? I think that would make a huge difference.

Yeah, I'm thinking about private practice. I understand that pedigree is somewhat less important for PP, but I still am having trouble justifying passing up HMS. Likewise, I am having trouble justifying living in Ann Arbor (the arctic tundra for a Californian) for four years for what seems like a small sum of money in the long run.

Unless I'm missing something, I think people are overvaluing the importance of merit scholarships. A merit scholarship is all well and good, but if you need to take out $25k in loans for cost-of-living, how is that substantively different than Harvard's unit loan policy? Provided you aren't super well-off, you'd likely qualify for a lot of institutional aid at HMS, potentially enough so that the net cost difference between them and Michigan becomes nearly negligible.

Wait for financial aid packages to come out, people. Some of these rich schools may surprise you.

Thanks. I hope the schools are generous.

If you aren't needy (and your parents aren't paying), merit scholarships would be a big help. 20-25k for living is a heck of a lot less than full cost of attendance. I definitely agree that you actually have to wait to see what's offered at the richie-rich schools.

At some schools, like WashU, you're still eligible for need based aid even if you've received a full-tuition scholarship. This is obviously the best situation 👍

OP, you have not included very much information about yourself and what you like to do outside of studying.

Obviously, all three programs are excellent academically.

I have spent a bit of time in Ann Arbor. Michigan has a huge engineering program and rapidly expanding biomedical capabilities. Ann Arbor is also a really fun town. Not that large that you are in a big city but large enough to have tons of things to do along with some of the best college sports facilities in the country if that is your thing. Housing, while not cheap in Ann Arbor, is way more affordable than Boston or Palo Alto. You are also about 25 minutes away from an excellent and large airport outside of Detroit. Winters in Ann Arbor are cold and snowy, but Boston is no picnic either.

Good luck with your decision.

Thanks. I would be somewhat happy in Ann Arbor, but having lived all my life on the coasts, Ann Arbor seems a little bit dull from my visit. No offense intended, but the location is not for me. I am, however, very excited about being at UMich. The school and community are fantastic.

I would wait until seeing the other aid packages, but when they inevitably fail to match up, take the money. Every school mentioned in this thread is excellent and will get you where you want to go with hard work. If your parents are paying for your med school that's one thing but Harvard/Stanford is not worth 200k (probably 300k after interest) more than Michigan. Of note, you could try calling the other schools to see if they'll match the offer, it never hurts to try.

I'm an intern now and was faced with a similar decision back in the day. I went with the scholarship and it's one of the best decisions I've ever made. There's something to be said for financial freedom, I was able to pick my specialty without thought to paying back a huge loan, I could go into academics and take a 50% salary cut, I could quit my residency tomorrow and work at Starbucks.

Don't worry about your residency picks, those are all good schools and can get you anywhere. I ended up going to one of the 2-3 best programs in my field (granted not a terribly competitive field) on one of the coasts. If I was paying back loans I would barely be able to afford living in the city and probably would have had to think twice about my choice. Instead now I have an extra $500 or so per month to spend on vacations, dinners, going out, savings, etc.

Congrats on being able to make the decision, you guys are in an enviable position and the kind of work ethic that got you to this point will certainly keep giving you great career options as you go forward.

Thanks! It's really nice hearing about your own experience. Was the money worth it? Can you address the notion that medical school debt, however large (within reason, of course), can be paid off with a specialist's salary?

This is very good advice and I am encouraged to read about this. I got 2 full tuition scholarships, and one 75% tuition scholarship and immediately dropped my spot at JHUSOM. My friends thought I was crazy but these scholarships are at the top schools in 3 different states, and I have learned from several well placed MDs that the prestige factor will not weigh heavily in residence picks once you are in an institution of high repute like a top-20 med school.
It is good to hear you reinforce these ideas because having the flexibility that you have is by far the most empowering thing about charting the course of your career in medicine! Congrats to you, too!!👍

Thanks for your thoughts. Turning down JHU wasn't a big deal in my case, because of location, but I admire your huevos nonetheless!

 

[boopitybop]

i dont subscribe to the "always go to the cheapest school no matter what" line of thinking as strongly as others on SDN but for me i would definitely go with the full tuition scholarship at UMich. i cant imagine how stress and worry free little or no tuition would be. plus, all three of those schools are top tier institutions with huge prestige. either way, good luck and congratulations, quite an awesome decision you have

 

[modelslashactor]

Thanks! It's really nice hearing about your own experience. Was the money worth it? Can you address the notion that medical school debt, however large (within reason, of course), can be paid off with a specialist's salary?

The money was worth it for sure since I still ended up at a great school. If it had been my state school I would have thought twice but you're talking about two top tens.

I do think you can pay back even the heftiest of loans on any doctors salary, even primary care if you play your cards right (might have to think about loan forgiveness programs though). This of course is subject to change depending on healthcare laws and future cuts, but unless the govt wants to bankrupt half the doctors in the country theyll have to think of something.

The question you have to answer for yourself is what makes you happy - for me being debt free and having financial freedom was worth more than going to a marginally better med school. If having hms on your diploma instead of michigan is worth xyz dollars to you, or if living in the bay or Boston would make you that much happier, then go for it. Whatever you decide just make the most of your opportunities, study hard, enjoy your free time every chance you get and good things will happen.

 

[Fawn Leibowitz]

Unless I'm missing something, I think people are overvaluing the importance of merit scholarships. A merit scholarship is all well and good, but if you need to take out $25k in loans for cost-of-living, how is that substantively different than Harvard's unit loan policy? Provided you aren't super well-off, you'd likely qualify for a lot of institutional aid at HMS, potentially enough so that the net cost difference between them and Michigan becomes nearly negligible.

Wait for financial aid packages to come out, people. Some of these rich schools may surprise you.

At Michigan, the merit package is on top of need-based aid and they do offer need-based grants. I'm not sure how generous the need grants are or who qualifies. So with a full tuition merit scholarship, it would be at least theoretically possible to have need-based grants cover some (or all?) of the living expenses.

I do think it makes sense to have all the packages come in and that's what I'm doing myself. I'm just pretty sure that UMich will come out ahead.

In the Boston vs. Ann Arbor vs. CA discussion, I totally sympathize with the climate concerns. I live in CA now and I love having a mild winter. But if the OP is considering Boston vs. Ann Arbor, the difference isn't so clear. I lived in Boston for years and it is a snowy, desolate tundra in the winter. I looked up Ann Arbor average monthly temps and compared them to Boston for reference in making my own decision, and Ann Arbor is colder by a few degrees in the winter. That is a big bummer to me. However I've consoled myself with a few points:

(1) One of the toughest aspects of winter for me is that the sun sets so early. In Boston, it sets at around 4:10 pm at the earliest point. In Ann Arbor, it's more like 5:05 because of where the time zone lines are. For me, this extra hour of daylight makes up for Ann Arbor being a bit colder.

(2) In Boston, I had to park on street because housing with covered parking is rare and expensive. In Ann Arbor, housing is more affordable and covered parking/driveway parking seems more plentiful. For me, this factor makes the Ann Arbor winter more tolerable. In Boston, whenever a storm came, I had to dig my car out of the ice and snow. A few times I didn't do so fast enough, and my car actually froze to the parking spot - I literally couldn't move it for days. Also, if the snowstorm is bad enough (at least a few times per winter), the city declares a "snow emergency" - available parking is cut in half because the snow plows push all the snow to one side of the street. Anyone on the other side of the street gets ticketed and towed, which easily costs hundreds of dollars. The idea of having a garage - or even a covered driveway - makes the Ann Arbor winter seem more livable.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[Se7eN]

Harvard

 

[Adventuring]

As a first year student at Michigan whose decision (vs. JHSOM) was ultimately made following a generous scholarship offer, I can confidently say I have no regrets. The school is as supportive as it seems on interview day and knowing that I have little debt hanging over my head is an amazing relief.

 

[Knocked Up]

Just a FYI...Stanford Financial Aid can be both amazing and terrible. It really depends on your financial situation. Our graduating debt is low because we heavily subsidize students who don't have the means to pay for their medical education (i.e. the full Stanford grant is $33k-$44k/year with eligibility for no-interest loans, MedScholars, TAing, etc.). I think this is amazing and one of the enormous strengths of Stanford- i.e. poor students don't have to graduate with greater debt. However, most of the students who don't qualify for Stanford grants just have their parents pay for their education...which is why our graduating debt is so low. There is a small contingency of people here who still graduate with enormous amounts of debt (i.e. over 300k) because Stanford is a ridiculously expensive institution to attend.

If you don't qualify for Stanford financial aid....Stanford is ungodly expensive. The cost of living here is enormous...especially with all the recent tech developments which have skyrocketed housing prices here and cost of living. It is very difficult to find a decent place here for under $1000 and students pay up to $2000/month for housing. Even some on campus housing runs around $1700/month. Additionally, while the first year of tuition covers 3 quarters....subsequent years require 4 quarters of tuition payment (33% increase in tuition for 2nd and 3rd years). I wasn't completely aware of this when I applied....and most of the second year MedScholars/TAing just helps bring tuition more in line with what other schools charge. These programs can become enormously financially beneficial to students...but keep in mind it can be very difficult to juggle classes, boards studying, research, and TAing and not everyone can handle the distraction. Our 2nd year budget (includes living expenses, tuition, boards, etc.) was something around 94k. It's the same for 3rd year and goes down to 70k for 4th year. However, keep in mind annual 3-5% tuition increases and I will not be surprised if 2nd and 3rd year skyrocket to over 100k budgets in the next 2-3 years.

Personally, I really love Stanford. TAing and MedScholars are great, and there are very few schools that have built in funding to take a year off (which is especially important as some programs i.e. Doris Duke, no longer exist). But depending on your financial situation (and the fact that Michigan is a really great school that matches students incredibly well), the full-tuition scholarship might make your life a lot easier down the road. I'd say it's definitely something to think about seriously. No debt=bliss.

Where are you getting your info from? This is news to me, my elder sibling who is an alumni of the program, and her PI. Please explain further....

 

[dmercer]

It's on the Doris Duke website. The students finishing in 2013 are the last class.

http://www.ddcf.org/mrp-crf

 

[Acceptable User]

I wanted to update SDN with where I am at now. At the end of this process, I am very thankful to the information that users have contributed. Thank you, SDN community!

I am looking at taking out full COA loans for both SMS and HMS, though HMS is offering me ~8k in scholarships, making it about 10% cheaper than SMS. I am almost certainly going to be choosing SMS, however. Upon reflection, I realize that the only reason why HMS is so attractive is because, well, it's HMS. Rationally speaking, I think I ought to look past the marginal difference in prestige. I have been chasing prestige all my life, and I think this is a good time as any to learn to look past that and to focus on what's really important to me - family, location, quality of life, etc.

 

[OldMan707]

Couldn't agree with you more 🙂

Hopefully I'll see you at SMS in the Fall

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

I wanted to update SDN with where I am at now. At the end of this process, I am very thankful to the information that users have contributed. Thank you, SDN community!

I am looking at taking out full COA loans for both SMS and HMS, though HMS is offering me ~8k in scholarships, making it about 10% cheaper than SMS. I am almost certainly going to be choosing SMS, however. Upon reflection, I realize that the only reason why HMS is so attractive is because, well, it's HMS. Rationally speaking, I think I ought to look past the marginal difference in prestige. I have been chasing prestige all my life, and I think this is a good time as any to learn to look past that and to focus on what's really important to me - family, location, quality of life, etc.

Yeah bud your quality of life is gonna be great starting out 200K lighter than you would at Michigan.

 

[RedSox10]

Haha it sounds like you exactly chose prestige if you chose Stanford over a full ride to Michigan.

 

[Etorphine]

I wanted to update SDN with where I am at now. At the end of this process, I am very thankful to the information that users have contributed. Thank you, SDN community!

I am looking at taking out full COA loans for both SMS and HMS, though HMS is offering me ~8k in scholarships, making it about 10% cheaper than SMS. I am almost certainly going to be choosing SMS, however. Upon reflection, I realize that the only reason why HMS is so attractive is because, well, it's HMS. Rationally speaking, I think I ought to look past the marginal difference in prestige. I have been chasing prestige all my life, and I think this is a good time as any to learn to look past that and to focus on what's really important to me - family, location, quality of life, etc.

I can just see the SDN meme now.

Turns down HMS to get over prestige issues.


Goes to SMS.

 

[Megatron2016]

I'm glad I subscribed to this thread. Turned out to be pretty hilarious.