pinkdolphin361
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I am a Phoenix native and am very interested in pursuing orthopaedics. I love both of these schools so I am very torn 🙁 I am also waitlisted at UofA Phoenix but as of right now these are my options!
TCU (COA over 4 years: ~$403,960)
Pros:
Pros:
Neither school has an attached hospital/home residency program in things I am interested in, so it’s kind of a wash for that aspect, but they are both located in their medical districts and have strong partnerships with surrounding hospitals/clinics. The campus buildings are pretty similar in their newness and facilities. TCU’s base tuition is actually cheaper than Creighton because there is a 15% endowed grant awarded to each student every year, but I would be taking out additional loans for housing and food. The difference of COA after 4 years between the two is roughly $72,000, but I anticipate it would end up being a bit more in actuality.
Summary: I know that at both schools, I will have to work super hard to network and pursue research opportunities if I want to do something as competitive as ortho. I have spoken to SO many people about this decision, and the advice I have received is that in my particular case, it might not so much be about which school I go to but what I do with my time there. Thanks for reading all this, and any advice is much appreciated!
TCU (COA over 4 years: ~$403,960)
Pros:
- Early clinical experience; every student is paired with a FM/IM doc the first week
- True P/F curriculum
- NBME exams
- 1.5 year pre-clinicals
- Longitudinal integrated clerkship (LIC) model → I’ve heard mixed things about this
- Gorgeous new building with high-tech SIM lab; space is only for the med students
- 60 students per class so can get a lot of individualized attention
- Access to all TCU main campus amenities
- Was awarded a small scholarship for the first year
- Everyone does a scholarly pursuit project where you complete research in any area
- Ortho residency at JPS which is a nearby hospital and students tap into that resource
- Seems to be a lot of mentorship, and since I heard a ton of students are interested in ortho, there are already some opportunities established
- Mandatory attendance at lecture M-F; spoke to current students and they do say this is super annoying
- No structure/timeline for taking shelf exams; when asked when students take those exams, admin said that you can take them “whenever you feel ready” which might be difficult to gauge since it’s an LIC model
- Will have to travel up to an hour away for some rotations
- Newer school (but they have matched well the past three years!)
- Spoke to M2s and they said during clinicals they only have one OR day a month
- Clerkship is true P/F and so STEP 2 is your only way to stand out from a “grade” perspective on residency apps (is this a negative idk- STEP 2 is crucial everywhere lol)
- I wasn’t able to attend the social part of Second Look Weekend & there isn’t an admitted students group chat, so I don’t have a read on the vibe of other incoming students BUT I am sure they are wonderful/the current students I have spoken to are so helpful and kind
Pros:
- Located 10 minutes from my house, and I would be able to live at home (saving money on rent and having my support system would be HUGE for me)
- Optional attendance for lecture (students say this grants them a lot of flexibility)
- Absolutely love the Jesuit principles and focus on service
- Also a gorgeous newer building with SIM lab and tons of study spaces
- They do have a few home-residency programs (not any specialty I’m mega interested in actually pursuing, but it could be helpful to be around residents)
- Although the PHX campus is newer, Creighton as an institution is more established
- Can pursue funded research projects during summer after M1 year/career exploration selectives
- Quizzes/exams on Fridays, and every student said that they truly feel as though they have the weekends to do whatever they want
- Average STEP 2 score is 254
- Loved the people I met, both incoming and current students, and the community seems super close and collaborative which is very important to me
- In-house exams (although I’ve been speaking to current students who said it isn’t so terrible and some blocks are actually NBME?? The M2s I spoke to said they felt super prepared and passed STEP 1)
- H/P/F curriculum → students said studying third party STEP 1 resources will get you a pass on a block and potentially even honors, but for some, you have to study the in-house material to get honors and they think that’s annoying/kind of pointless
- Have to share campus with other health professions students (nursing, PA, PT, PharmD; I think it’s awesome to be around these students but not sure if sharing the space gets crowded, and I would like to study on campus)
- Not a ton of research going on; this was hard to gauge since none of the current students at the Admitted Students Day were interested in a competitive specialty and therefore said they haven’t really been pursuing research
Neither school has an attached hospital/home residency program in things I am interested in, so it’s kind of a wash for that aspect, but they are both located in their medical districts and have strong partnerships with surrounding hospitals/clinics. The campus buildings are pretty similar in their newness and facilities. TCU’s base tuition is actually cheaper than Creighton because there is a 15% endowed grant awarded to each student every year, but I would be taking out additional loans for housing and food. The difference of COA after 4 years between the two is roughly $72,000, but I anticipate it would end up being a bit more in actuality.
Summary: I know that at both schools, I will have to work super hard to network and pursue research opportunities if I want to do something as competitive as ortho. I have spoken to SO many people about this decision, and the advice I have received is that in my particular case, it might not so much be about which school I go to but what I do with my time there. Thanks for reading all this, and any advice is much appreciated!
