Top public vs top private

[jessicajonesharvard]

Is there any disadvantage of attending top public med schools (UCSF, Michigan) over top private schools (Stanford, Columbia)? I went to a public undergraduate institution and it really sucked-- always underfunded, crowded housing, not given enough attention by the administration, high student to faculty ratio, "do everything on your own" mentality. What are your thoughts? Does anyone regret choosing a public institution over peer private med? Does it really not matter? I am interested in academic research and/or competitive surgical residencies. Thank you.

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[lalalallala]

No it does not matter. UCSF med school is a different ball game from your public undergrad

 

[capriccio]

I can't imagine any objective disadvantage to attending UCSF or Michigan—they are top schools, period. Not to mention that a lot of the top publics have similar-sized classes as many of the top privates, so the issues of crowding, spread-out resources, and high student:faculty ratios that exist at the undergrad level are essentially nonexistent at the med school level. For example, MSAR shows that UCSF's class was 161 compared to Columbia (150), which is actually a much smaller difference than the one between Columbia and Stanford (100).

As for private vs public undergrad, it's really different shakes for different people, and truthfully not all publics are equal and not all privates are equal either. I currently attend a huge public undergrad and have zero regrets because I've had an amazing time here.

 

[rball]

It's really tough to answer your question without naming specific schools you are talking about. In general yes, even amongst elite schools, it can be easier at a private school to obtain certain opportunities and more intimate advising/support. When I was deciding a couple years ago, the common sentiment I heard most often from students at the publics I was looking at was, "nobody will hold your hand here" whereas students from privates never said this and gave off the vibe that they were better supported.

It is no coincidence that when you look at studies regarding student and graduate research productivity (there was a paper a couple of years ago titled "What makes a top medical school" that studied this), the top 10 schools were all private and I believe UCSF was the only one to break the top 20. This is despite the fact that schools like UCSF, UMich, UCLA are all top research institutions that get massive funding from NIH and recruit students who are interested/accomplished in research. From my experiences, elite privates do have a slight leg up when it comes to research opportunities trickling down to medical students.

That being said this is a very general concept, and it really depends on which specific schools you are looking at. Some private schools are more like publics, and some publics are more like privates.

 

[jessicajonesharvard]

It's really tough to answer your question without naming specific schools you are talking about. In general yes, even amongst elite schools, it can be easier at a private school to obtain certain opportunities and more intimate advising/support. When I was deciding a couple years ago, the common sentiment I heard most often from students at the publics I was looking at was, "nobody will hold your hand here" whereas students from privates never said this and gave off the vibe that they were better supported.

It is no coincidence that when you look at studies regarding student and graduate research productivity (there was a paper a couple of years ago titled "What makes a top medical school" that studied this), the top 10 schools were all private and I believe UCSF was the only one to break the top 20. This is despite the fact that schools like UCSF, UMich, UCLA are all top research institutions that get massive funding from NIH and recruit students who are interested/accomplished in research. From my experiences, elite privates do have a slight leg up when it comes to research opportunities trickling down to medical students.

That being said this is a very general concept, and it really depends on which specific schools you are looking at. Some private schools are more like publics, and some publics are more like privates.

Thank you. I was comparing UCSF vs Stanford or Columbia.

 

[rball]

In that case, I would highly recommend focusing on fit/gut feeling rather than public vs. private. All these schools are world-class and none will put you at a disadvantage.

I do think if you are sick of the public school atmosphere it would be prudent to take a hard look at Stanford - they have a smaller class size than your other options, and from my experiences provide a more personalized and nurturing environment than UCSF (I don't know too much about Columbia). Their match outcomes are insane (probably slightly more insane than UCSF), and a significant proportion of their class goes into other highly competitive careers outside of medicine. This suggests their faculty/admin are incredibly supportive of student interests and have tremendous power inside and outside of the medical sector.

If I wanted a more intimate, smaller school environment I would choose Stanford personally, but there are a lot of other factors to consider. Hope this helps, and congrats!