tough decision

[pjr28]

I have been admitted to NYU med (full ride), Cornell med (half ride) and Harvard med (I haven't gotten the fin aid harvard yet, but I don't think it will be very much). I am pretty sure I want to do dermatology. So, my question is, which school would help me get the best residency and if it is the more expensive school, is it worth going into debt?

Also, if you had the chance to come out of medical school with not debt, would you take it over a top name school?

Thanks.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Kalel]

Personally, I'd go to Harvard. Your chances of landing a derm residency from there are not guarenteed, but they are pretty good if you are an above avg student there. Normally, I'd tell people to go to wherever gives them the full ride, but Harvard is Harvard and I've heard that their FA program is pretty generous anyways. NYU has a pretty high cost of living too, so unless you have a lot of cash sitting around, I don't think that you will graduate anywhere debt free. If you do decide to go to NYU or Cornell though, I don't think that you should regret your decision because both schools are still considered excellent schools are your chances of matching into derm will be similar to your chances of matching from Harvard (ie they will be mostly dependent on your individual performance). I read in the forums last year that Hopkins had a few competetive applicants that didn't match into derm last year, so school reputation will only get you so far.

 

[Goober]

I would also go to Harvard. Did you see their match list last year in derm? I would say that you don't even have to be an above average student to match from there as Kalel suggests. I would say that pretty much everybody who wants Derm pretty much gets it unless you are really bottom tier- like bottom 10 percentile. Even then I bet some community programs would take you as long as you did well on the boards. Harvard is one of those few schools whose name carries a lot of weight. The 2 students who didn't match from JHU last year supposedly were good students and were overconfident. They did not apply broadly enough but will probably get in with reapplication.

Is it worth going into debt? Well you will still have some debt at the other schools because it costs so much to live in NYC. For the $100,000 extra in tuition sounds like alot but once you get out and are making money it is not really that big of burden as long as you don't go crazy buying expensive things for a few years.

 

[s4yxia]

I agree with the above two...Harvard is the way to go. However, you still need to work hard in med school and make the right connections. Spending time with the Derm faculty and doing research and doing good academically. Good Luck!

 

[pjr28]

Thank you everyone for your great advice!

 

[pheck]

i disagree. i would go with NYU for the full ride. they have one of the strongest derm programs in the country and students consistently match well from there. debt sucks! take it from me... i am graduating from stanford with debt and just matched to mayo, rochester derm.

ps-Goober is not correct. many many students try for derm from harvard and they have a good but not great track record. they only match 50-70% of their applicants in recent years (probably due to the sheer number coming from there). check the derm board http://pub50.ezboard.com/fdermatologyfrm17 for more on this. good luck!

 

[Goober]

Originally posted by pheck


ps-Goober is not correct. many many students try for derm from harvard and they have a good but not great track record. they only match 50-70% of their applicants in recent years (probably due to the sheer number coming from there). check the derm board http://pub50.ezboard.com/fdermatologyfrm17 for more on this. good luck!

Actually I stand by my statement although I admit I don't have first hand knowledge. Last years Harvard class had almost everyone match according to several students/graduates who claim to be from Harvard posting on that very board. This year they apparently did not do as well only (12/19). But a more telling statistic would be how many harvard students that wanted Derm never end up getting it. Many of those who didn't match would undoubtedly would do research and reapply. I would still like my chances coming from Harvard over NYU from any competitive specialty all else being equal.