Trying to Make a Decision Between Howard, MUSC and USC Greenville for Medical School

[luckyleftie]

Hello!

I have an interesting choice between three medical schools. I've been accepted to MUSC, University of South Carolina Greenville and Howard University College of Medicine. I'm still waiting to receive financial aid packets, however, I'm interested to know anyone's thoughts/opinions. I am a Maryland resident so out of state tuition for the SC schools would be extremely expensive!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Gifted Hands]

Go wherever you will be happy for the least amount of money. You'll get a great education no matter where you go.

More importantly, don't rely on strangers on the internet to decide what you are going to do for the next 4 years. Good luck

 

[tco]

Go wherever you will be happy for the least amount of money. You'll get a great education no matter where you go.

More importantly, don't rely on strangers on the internet to decide what you are going to do for the next 4 years. Good luck

I would investigate the clinical years as well...Is everyone on the same campus? How much experience do medical students get in clinic/the OR, how malignant are departments that you'll rotate through (can be found out by asking medical students at these schools). All else equal, go to the cheapest.

 

[pacman2018]

Hello!

I have an interesting choice between three medical schools. I've been accepted to MUSC, University of South Carolina Greenville and Howard University College of Medicine. I'm still waiting to receive financial aid packets, however, I'm interested to know anyone's thoughts/opinions. I am a Maryland resident so out of state tuition for the SC schools would be extremely expensive!

I guess I'll just reiterate what others have said here. I'm not too familiar with Howard, but MUSC and Greenville are two schools I am also choosing between. They both have great rotation sites at the hospital systems in their area (MUSC and GHS). I personally like the Charleston area more, but I was very impressed with Greenville when I visited the city. MUSC obviously has a better reputation while Greenville is a new school, but has had students at GHS for a long time from the Columbia campus so I don't see it being much of an issue. As you can tell, I'm putting most of my emphasis on clinical years as these are the grades that seem to matter the most and where you can get your LORs. Greenville will be giving out a ton of scholarship money this upcoming year and my decision between the two will most likely be whichever is cheapest, like everyone else here has recommended.

edit: Also, at Greenville you can become a IS resident after the first year where I do not believe this is true of MUSC... would be much cheaper for you as you are OOS

 

[Chrissisissi]

I've heard Howard has had some accreditation issues and some administration/organization issues so that's something to think about. I would try to get in touch with a student and ask them about their experience good and bad.

 

[J ROD]

Not to give away my ID, MUSC is know for not being the nicest place. Charleston is nice to visit not that great to live in. Bad traffic, horrible parking, etc. It floods often downtown where the school is. I know a girl that had to get a new car.

Greenville is a nice place and the school looks nice and I have seen the rotations for 3rd and 4th yr. They looked real solid to me.

Howard.......just no.

I would go to USC-Greenville. They are new but based off the USC Cola and have been doing the clinical years for some time.

Curious as to why you don't have USC Cola on that list?

 

[luckyleftie]

I've heard Howard has had some accreditation issues and some administration/organization issues so that's something to think about. I would try to get in touch with a student and ask them about their experience good and bad.

I've heard this as well...when I went on my interview the student's tried to downplay it..so I didn't get a concrete answer.

 

[luckyleftie]

Not to give away my ID, MUSC is know for not being the nicest place. Charleston is nice to visit not that great to live in. Bad traffic, horrible parking, etc. It floods often downtown where the school is. I know a girl that had to get a new car.

Greenville is a nice place and the school looks nice and I have seen the rotations for 3rd and 4th yr. They looked real solid to me.

Howard.......just no.

I would go to USC-Greenville. They are new but based off the USC Cola and have been doing the clinical years for some time.

Curious as to why you don't have USC Cola on that list?

This is honestly the first thing I've heard about MUSC that is not horrible, but not so nice. USC Cola isn't on my list because I wasn't impressed when I interviewed. I withdrew my acceptance sometime last month.

 

[Chrissisissi]

You have to find a disgruntled student who hasn't volunteered to give tours! Lol

 

[J ROD]

This is honestly the first thing I've heard about MUSC that is not horrible, but not so nice. USC Cola isn't on my list because I wasn't impressed when I interviewed. I withdrew my acceptance sometime last month.

I can tell you it is a good school and we all get along well. Gville looks better but Cola is still the parent so to speak. Hate you withdrew. Not the newest or greatest facilities but a solid program that helps its students. I imagine Gville is the same. But, I have heard they make you get EMT certified. Not sure why.

 

[PB n J]

I'm from SC and lived in Charleston for a long time. It is an absolutely fantastic place to live and definitely the best city in the state if not one of the best small cities on the east coast. I would move back there in a heartbeat. However, I don't think I would attend medical school at MUSC (although before I went to medical school it was one of my top choices). MUSC has an air of superiority about it and thinks it is the only academic center in the state. Its residency programs are also known for being particularly malignant.

USC-G is a fantastic school with absolutely amazing facilities. Obviously their clinical rotations take place at GHS, which is a wonderfully busy hospital at where you will receive tons of clinical experience. You will be busy, make no mistake. And I can promise you that, even as a medical student, you will have so much more "autonomy" and get to do much more than you will at MUSC.

In the end, you need to make the choice that is best for you. Don't listen to a bunch of strangers on an anonymous internet forum. I will leave you with this: don't decide based solely upon name. Think about culture and philosophy of the school, faculty, and hospital, and how that will translate to your daily life and ultimately the education you receive at whichever institution you choose.

 

[tco]

I'm from SC and lived in Charleston for a long time. It is an absolutely fantastic place to live and definitely the best city in the state if not one of the best small cities on the east coast. I would move back there in a heartbeat. However, I don't think I would attend medical school at MUSC (although before I went to medical school it was one of my top choices). MUSC has an air of superiority about it and thinks it is the only academic center in the state. Its residency programs are also known for being particularly malignant.

USC-G is a fantastic school with absolutely amazing facilities. Obviously their clinical rotations take place at GHS, which is a wonderfully busy hospital at where you will receive tons of clinical experience. You will be busy, make no mistake. And I can promise you that, even as a medical student, you will have so much more "autonomy" and get to do much more than you will at MUSC.

In the end, you need to make the choice that is best for you. Don't listen to a bunch of strangers on an anonymous internet forum. I will leave you with this: don't decide based solely upon name. Think about culture and philosophy of the school, faculty, and hospital, and how that will translate to your daily life and ultimately the education you receive at whichever institution you choose.

He's telling you to not listen to strangers on the Internet, which is, in of itself, a paradox. This means that you really should listen to us, which means that you should listen to him... My head hurts.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

 

[link2swim06]

Ok here is the deal.

USC lets you convert to instate tuition after the first year (at least they did 3 years ago).

MUSC doesn't let you convert.

So MUSC is >50K X 4 years = a crapton of money. While USC hits you with 70K M1 year then you drop to the low 30Ks for the rest.

 

[luckyleftie]

You have to find a disgruntled student who hasn't volunteered to give tours! Lol

I've been searching!

 

[luckyleftie]

I can tell you it is a good school and we all get along well. Gville looks better but Cola is still the parent so to speak. Hate you withdrew. Not the newest or greatest facilities but a solid program that helps its students. I imagine Gville is the same. But, I have heard they make you get EMT certified. Not sure why.[/quot

USC does have a solid program, you're right. I just didn't feel that it was a good fit for me. I'm not sure about the EMT certification either but I remember speaking with one student and she told me that it was actually difficult because they would have to deal with their EMT duties and still study for classes. That's also something I'm taking into consideration.

 

[J ROD]

Your decision is really easy actually. MUSC has a bad atmosphere, etc. USC Gville is solid. Howard....no.

You save a lot of money at USC-Gville.

To conclude, listen to me and go to USC Gville. Fin.

 

[PB n J]

He's telling you to not listen to strangers on the Internet, which is, in of itself, a paradox. This means that you really should listen to us, which means that you should listen to him... My head hurts.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

Yeah, I totally contradicted myself on that one. Whoops!

 

[luckyleftie]

Your decision is really easy actually. MUSC has a bad atmosphere, etc. USC Gville is solid. Howard....no.

You save a lot of money at USC-Gville.

To conclude, listen to me and go to USC Gville. Fin.

haha I like you!

 

[Smurfette]

Moving to PreAllo as this is a premed decision.

 

[Derpz]

someone explain the environment @ MUSC to me? I'm a SC resident and will be applying to the 3 state schools among others in June. Am a transplant but lived in Chuck and loved it...figured among state options MUSC>>>>>>>USC-Cola=USC-Greenville USC-G is newer and has no real track record - USC-Cola has a track record, not sure what kind, and Cola is not so nice from my observations. Genuinely curious about what each of them is liked from the more well informed posters

 

[1badmamajama]

I personally would choose Howard. I love DC and their alumni networking is amazeballs.
But again, this is a personal choice. We're all looking for different things.

Follow your heart (and the money....)

 

[mvenus929]

MUSC has an air of superiority about it and thinks it is the only academic center in the state. Its residency programs are also known for being particularly malignant.

Speaking strictly from the OOS perspective, MUSC is much better known. As in, I was not advised to apply to any of the other SC programs for residency, and I don't know how many people at my school were. And while peds doesn't have too many malignant programs, they didn't seem all that bad to me (when I interviewed there). Granted, that doesn't say anything about any of the other programs, so grain of salt and all.

 

[J ROD]

If you like to feel better than everyone else....go to MUSC. Want to be unhappy in residency go there. Almost everyone I know does not like it there. I like Charleston better than Columbia. But, the parking is horrible at MUSC and the traffic itself is the worst in the state (I traveled SC for 2yrs for work). All I know is when I talked with them I could not wait to get out of there. They talk down to you. Everyone that have I talked with regrets going there or advises me not to go there. That simple.

 

[CyberMaxx]

Hey @luckyleftie congratulations on your acceptances! My impression of the South Carolina schools that you are choosing between is that MUSC will give you more research opportunities and USC-Greenville will give you more clinical opportunities (i.e. EMT-B training and work). Beyond that, I think the big differences are the cost and location. Having lived for five years or more in both Charleston and Greenville I can easily say that I prefer Charleston. For a city its size Charleston has an absurd amount of good restaurants and bars, not to mention the beach! Further I think the layout of Charleston is much more desirable with a more 'compact' downtown area. If you live downtown you won't have to worry about parking because you can just walk or bike to MUSC. Of course, Charleston is more expensive than Greenville and MUSC is more expensive than USC-Greenville so these factors may ultimately be more important than lifestyle issues.

 

[CarlosDanger]

.

 

[ClemsonFirst]

I would like to respectfully disagree. Being an MUSC student, I can honestly say that all the professors are extremely helpful and friendly. I've never felt looked down on and don't feel like I'm better than anyone else. All the MUSC interviews I've heard about were very friendly, mine included. I've also heard about horrendous interviews from both Greenville and USC Cola (but mainly Cola). It has only flooded once (which is a drawback), but parking is not horrible (at least no one complains that much about it and as long as you know where not to park), and people are actively trying to stay in Charleston for summer programs (aka excited about living downtown and being at the school). MUSC is a great institution with lots of opportunities in a beautiful city. I do think there is some arrogant students here, but what medical school wouldn't have those. Even being arrogant, these students are still friendly and easy to get along with.

Greenville and MUSC are both great schools. MUSC will be more expensive because of tuition as well as living expenses. It is a more well known school, but I've talked to many people who think Greenville is going to be a great school as well.

The only drawback that I have about MUSC is some curriculum requirements can be a little disorganized at times. Other than that, there are plenty of resources they offer you here, even if you must pursue the opportunities a little more than at Greenville (you can shadow physicians basically anytime, you just have to email them). I had the same decision as you (between Greenville and MUSC) and went with MUSC because it is more established and a better city to live in. If you think money is a bigger factor, then maybe Greenville is the right place for you. You will get about the same education I would assume, minus the obvious lack of EMT. It's just about the atmosphere in which you want to live.

 

[luckyleftie]

Thank you @ClemsonFirst @CarlosDanger and @cybermaxx12 for your input!

 

[listener23]

Lol SDN is the most anti Howard place on the internet. I have a friend who is MS 2 there and she loves it. You should really find a non tour guide student and ask them about there school.

 

[terp720]

Weird, I got none of those impressions during my visit. No one talked down to me or seemed entitled. They sold their school pretty hard the whole time. No one made any judgement about my undergrad (many people haven't heard of it anyway). I don't remember anything about athletes other than it being used as an example of extracurricular activities.I had a kind of crazy interview, but it felt more like they were trying to see how I would handle that sort of situation than anything else.

I have definitely visited entitled and self-important schools and MUSC really didn't seem like one of them. Oh well, I guess not every interview day is the same.

Your interview day seems a lot like mine. All the students I met were great, definitely not entitled. The tour guides seemed to sell MUSC just as much as tour guides at other schools I've interviewed at have, so everything seemed pretty normal to me. Also, by far my best interview so far was with MUSC. Definitely didn't have any negative impressions.
A family member of mine went to MUSC and loved it, so far she hasn't said anything negative to me about it. Parking/traffic may be bad..but compared to living where I live now, can't be any worse.

 

[3838]

I had a physician at USC-Greenville advise me against going there, because they still have a lot of kinks to work out with the curriculum. They have little experience doing m1&m2. That said, I have friends who go to both med schools and seem happy at both. I would say that generally speaking, the student body at MUSC seems to be more outgoing than those in Greenville. I think many of the people who chose Greenville were more reserved in their nature. I'm from Greenville, and the downtown is beautiful and the nightlife is actually really classy--lots of young professionals, so if you are outgoing, it shouldn't be a problem or anything. Also, no beaches, but mountains aren't far. And falls park is GORGEOUS and about a ten minute drive from GHS. GHS is great though; I volunteered there and clinical years will be superb. Research involvement may be difficult as well at Greenville. Most of the big research is at MUSC. GHS is much better for public health research, though, in my opinion.

 

[DPT_2014?]

I am reading those posts over here and started worrying a bit. I am from NC and if I get accepted into MUSC program, I am expecting to pay out of state tuition only in the first year. Right? How is that possible to become a resident after a year and still pay out of state tuition for another 2 years?? I am so calling them to find out

 

[pacman2018]

I am reading those posts over here and started worrying a bit. I am from NC and if I get accepted into MUSC program, I am expecting to pay out of state tuition only in the first year. Right? How is that possible to become a resident after a year and still pay out of state tuition for another 2 years?? I am so calling them to find out

I believe OOS students have to pay OOS tuition all 4 years from my understanding

edit: just saw your username. are you talking about PT or Med school? I'm not sure about PT, but I assume the same rules would apply to all colleges at MUSC

 

[alpinism]

Ok here is the deal.

USC lets you convert to instate tuition after the first year (at least they did 3 years ago).

MUSC doesn't let you convert.

So MUSC is >50K X 4 years = a crapton of money. While USC hits you with 70K M1 year then you drop to the low 30Ks for the rest.

Based on this alone I'd go with Greenville.

MUSC has only a slightly better reputation than USC and in the grand scene of things it won't matter at all when applying for residency.

There are tons of opportunities to do summer research at other med schools (paid fellowships etc..).

 

[DPT_2014?]

I believe OOS students have to pay OOS tuition all 4 years from my understanding

edit: just saw your username. are you talking about PT or Med school? I'm not sure about PT, but I assume the same rules would apply to all colleges at MUSC

PT school, so I am trying to find out if it would be the same for college of health professions too. Thank you!

 

[DPT_2014?]

yeah you cannot change to in-state if you start as out-of-state, sadly. They say it in the acceptance packet.

Thank you. I hope that does not apply for the college of health professions too! this is ridiculous!