Stanford vs. NYU

[medmigos]

Hi everyone. I was initially accepted to Stanford and was prepared to move out to California, but recently was accepted to NYU off of the waitlist. Here are my pros and cons. I'd appreciate any advise.

Stanford:
Pros
- the match list is absolutely incredible
- the prestige and pedigree is so high, which matters a lot because I'm interested in an academic surgical faculty position
- If I don't experience california now, I probably never will in my entire life because I plan on living in the northeast
- Love the revisit and the people that I met
- P/F without AOA

Cons
- The full loan that I would be taking out is 360-380k
- No support structure on the west coast

NYU
Pros
- Free tuition means that my loan would be closer to 110k
- I'm from Queens, NY so my parents and grandparents will be a subway ride away
- Love the opportunity to rotate at Bellevue and with such a diverse patient population

Cons
- The biggest con I have is the reputation. I'm worried that not as many doors will be open to me in the future, and this is of particular importance because I really want to go into academic medicine
- AOA means that I'll have to try and be in the top 27% of my class for this honor

Basically what it boils down to, is I'm wondering whether or not the prestige of Stanford is worth the debt it would require me to take on since I want to go into academic medicine. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

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[jessicajonesharvard]

Can you ask Stanford to match? They have a huge endowment. Even if Stanford offers you 50% tuition, I would choose Stanford.
NYU is a solid T20 school but their research isn't that great, to be honest (their residency ranking, however, is a solid T20, which is great).
Stanford will always be a T5 research powerhouse.

 

[medmigos]

Can you ask Stanford to match? They have a huge endowment. Even if Stanford offers you 50% tuition, I would choose Stanford.
NYU is a solid T20 school but their research isn't that great, to be honest (their residency ranking, however, is a solid T20, which is great).
Stanford will always be a T5 research powerhouse.

I actually tried, and used the same 50% as my cutoff. They strictly offer need-based aid, so they can't offer anything extra :/

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

350K loan with 7% interest rate compound over 9 years (4+5) means loan due will be close to 700K. that's lot of money for prestige. You can do well in NYU and aim for top 10 residency.

 

[meronebib]

NYU. Don’t believe that Stanford will offer you something more than NYU, unless if you’re looking to start a startup. Did you know that ~10 years ago Stanford wasn't even in the top 10, and things magically changed when USNews included NIH dollars/faculty in their ranking, probably from pressure from Stanford?

NYU isn’t some community program. It’s been on the rise for the past decade. Don’t be surprised when your future coworkers in some large academic hospital come from some *lamer* schools like, gasp, NYU. There are many premeds on this forum that think that going to a better school will somehow open magical doors for you, when in reality they will graduate with the same opportunities as 99% of all the other students in the T10. NYU is offering you 250k, with the convenience of having your family nearby. That’s something that a majority of students graduating from the T10 WON’T have.

 

[dodolol21]

Unless your parents are bankrolling your education comfortably then I would advise NYU 10/10. Good luck

no conflicts of interest to declare

 

[rball]

If you are dead set on academic medicine, then yes Stanford will give you an edge. If that edge is worth the whopping sum of debt you will accrue, only you can answer that question. Going to Stanford, assuming decent performance once there, essentially opens up any door into academic medicine in almost every field, and opens up doors outside of clinical medicine throughout the rest of your life. The fact that there is no AOA there (and I believe P/F third year) makes it as easy as possible to do well there - just focus on learning medicine, don't have to compete at all.

Personally, knowing how hard medical school is, and given the fact you want to go into a surgical sub, I'd go with Stanford. It would make it as easy/low stress as possible to pursue your career goals both now and in the future, and you would earn enough $$ as a surgical subspecialist that the debt would be paid off fairly easily. If material wealth is more important to you, and you know that you will kill it in med school, then NYU is still a good option.

 

[fdgjfg]

Have you talked to any Stanford students about real costs? From what I've heard, average indebtedness is much lower than you'd expect because you can work as a TA/research assistant (MedScholars) during school, plus a quarterly tuition system that affects costs in a weird way. I think their average indebtedness is among the lowest in the country, so the loan burden might not be quite as high as you'd expect.

For example, see this post:

2018-2019 Stanford University School of Medicine

How does the quarterly tuition work? The quester tuition multiplied by 4 is insanely high.. You only pay full tuition for 12 full-time quarters, after which tuition drops to 20% the normal rate. As MS1 is only 3 full-time quarters, you hit the 12 quarter requirement during Q1 of MS4, and as a...

forums.studentdoctor.net

You could talk to some students such as @skk_ to see if your expected indebtedness figures match what they've experienced.

 

[Espressoshot436]

As long as there isn't some major issue with a school, no T20 is worth $250k+ more than another T20. NYU all day

 

[scootad.]

NYU is not the same school it was 5-10 years ago. These are peers now. Definitely NYU.

 

[Shammyguy3]

No question. NYU

 

[jessicajonesharvard]

Do you copy and paste this same answer onto every thread or... Why is T5 prestige worth 380K more than T20 prestige?

What is the harm in asking Stanford to match? Tell me

 

[crimson-cat]

Stanford's unofficial slogan seems to be "a great place to go to medical school if you don't want to be a doctor". It offers a ton of non-traditional opportunities, great research, but not that robust of a clinical environment compared to its peers (more of a boutique high-end hospital).

NYU has a phenomenal hospital system, and has a far higher percentage of students who actually want to pursue residency and be physicians. However, it definitely won't open quite the same doors in non-traditional fields (VC, intense basic research, startups, etc...).

As far as matching goes, they both have incredible lists and I'd consider them roughly equal. NYU's reputation is also likely to continue to rise as it is pulling a lot of (well off) students away from other top programs given the free-tuition. The main question you should ask yourself is if you want to be a PHYSICIAN-leader (NYU) or physician-LEADER (Stanford), and if you'd actually be doing enough entrepreneurial/dual-degree things to make Stanford worth the huge price tag. It sounds like for your goals, NYU is the way to go.

 

[lalalallala]

250-270k with interest will be an insane amount of extra debt (on top of the 110k) for what? NYU will give you all of the academic medicine options you need in the northeast. I truly think it would be a shame to get so swayed by what you think the relative prestige difference is that you bury yourself in this debt

 

[bill2018]

Go to NYU. It is essentially Stanford's peer and will not close any doors for you. I also turned down several top 5 schools for the free tuition, and it was quite literally the easiest decision I've ever made. I personally think it would be insane to go to Stanford, even if it were marginally more prestigious, if it means taking on THAT much extra debt. They're both top 10 and that is so, so, so much money.

That being said, this is just my opinion and I'm sure you'll make it work regardless of where you decide to go. Good luck with the decision!

 

[Dream of the Endless]

I'm curious to see the choice. I'm a man who likes numbers. 380,000? Assuming 7% interest....

10 years - 4400/mo - 150,00 extra (530,000)
20 years - 2900/mo - Max out at 320,000 extra (700,000)
25 years (Minimum payment = maximum damage) - 2600/mo - Max out at 411,000 extra (790,000)

Of course if you choose one of the extended plans than the rest is forgiven after X years, but taxable. There are also the income based options, but that varies. For example, 10% on your 350,000/year would work out to 2900/mo. Some choose to pay it off sooner than 10. Safe to say which option I think is better. This isn't meant to scare anyone, just the reality of debt. Happy trails!