Tufts v. Robert Wood Johnson v. Cooper Rowan

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frosty42

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Tufts
Pros
- Highest ranking of the 3 (top specialty interests are currently ophtho and neurology)
- Being in more of a “real” city
- Moving out of state
- Having a more geographically diverse student body (I’m honestly very turned off by the idea of going to an in-state school where the vast majority of people are also from NJ)
- Likely better research opportunities and networking in Boston than in Camden or New Brunswick/Piscataway

Cons
- SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive >>$125k COA more than Rowan or RWJMS
- Farther from home/family

RWJMS
Pros
- In-state tuition, significantly cheaper than Tufts
- Close to home/family

Cons
- In-state and TOO close to home
- Less geographically diverse student body
- Not as highly ranked as Tufts and seem to be fewer opportunities than there would be in Boston

Rowan
Pros
- Newer school - administration & faculty seem very enthusiastic and willing to listen to their students
- Loved interview day & the current students I met
- Can live in Center City Philly (Philly >> Boston for me personally)
- Close to home/family
- Cheapest option

Cons
- Lowest ranking out of the 3
- In-state (again, I highly value getting to work with people who are from different places & backgrounds & the life experience of moving farther away from home)

Ultimately, I am much more excited about Tufts than my two state schools for the more diverse (in certain ways) student body, urban setting in more of a true city than the other 2 schools, and better research/networking opportunities & ranking. I highly value the experience of moving out of state and getting to meet people who are from different backgrounds. I know that the students at any medical school are all different, but I am very wary of being surrounded by people who are all from the same state/area as myself (whether this is rational or not, this is a legitimate concern of mine).

I just don’t know if I can/should justify the significantly greater debt I would be going into for Tufts.
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Robert Woods Johnson. Cheaper, sends people to ortho (remember match is really up to you though), close to home.

While I’m not familiar with the area and particulars, I don’t think you’ll get much of a difference in Boston student body wise. Tufts supposedly has a preference for students from the Northeast so you’re not going to meet a boatload of new people. You can leave the state/region in residency for free instead of paying 125k for that privilege. Maybe take a piece of that savings for a summer vacation trip to someplace you might be interested in going in the future
 
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RWJ is a great school overall, well established. I get the family being too close thing but that's not so bad during med school; I think in general you're taking the whole "out of state" thing out of proportion. Rowan would be option number 2 if you really want to be in Philly - but it is a relatively new school.

Tufts is out of contention - definitely not worth that much more money. There is no significant prestige difference between RWJ and Tufts.
 
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Current RWJ student, but also former Boston resident. If you are going to go to a NJ program I would pick RWJMS over Rowan. Research resources of Rutgers outweigh those of Rowan, and I think there is a better match list here. Also, home residency programs at RWJ tend to better than Coopers, and it is relatively easy to stay on after graduation for most of them.
RWJMS = Tufts in terms of academics/residency imo. Boston is a much more fun place to live - if you have the financial ability to enjoy it. (paying for the difference in tuition, but also the difference in housing/food/even a beer.) I am in a situation where I will graduate RWJ with little enough debt that every specialty can pay it off, and that is a luxury some of my classmates cannot afford given extreme pre-existing undergraduate debt. If the extra 125k (perhaps even more tbh) makes you feel limited in your ability so select a specialty, and you don't know what you want to do, factor that in.
 
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I'd personally ax Rowan off this list. Tufts is absolutely worth 125k more than cooper IMO. It's comparing a bottom-tier school to an upper mid-tier school so I think there's enough of a difference there. The case could be made for RWJ over Tufts butttt I personally have Tufts above RWJ on my list (deciding between these and a couple others); however, I value school reputation more than I do location or support system being nearby or anything like that. Give me the better school if it's not gonna cost an absurd amount more (which I think 125k is just about approaching that limit for me, but not quite there personally. 175k and I think maybe Rutgers). If I was not interested in competitive specialties, I would choose the cheaper option though.
 
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JohnJacobJingleheimer said:
I'd personally ax Rowan off this list. Tufts is absolutely worth 125k more than cooper IMO. It's comparing a bottom-tier school to an upper mid-tier school so I think there's enough of a difference there. The case could be made for RWJ over Tufts butttt I personally have Tufts above RWJ on my list (deciding between these and a couple others); however, I value school reputation more than I do location or support system being nearby or anything like that. Give me the better school if it's not gonna cost an absurd amount more (which I think 125k is just about approaching that limit for me, but not quite there personally. 175k and I think maybe Rutgers). If I was not interested in competitive specialties, I would choose the cheaper option though.
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Respectfully disagree. I'm not sure what an "upper mid-tier" is, since I've never heard that expression before, and, sure, everyone has their own value system. But $125K plus interest is a significant amount of money, and no #55, out of around 150, is worth $125K more than any other accredited US MD program. Period.

We could argue about Harvard, Stanford or Penn, but not Tufts. If being in Boston is worth the premium, or being near family, or really anything, then great. But, there is no such thing as "upper mid-tier," and, as @hiiiiiiiiiii is saying, you really can do well coming from anywhere. A school like Tufts just does not give the prestige boost that a T10 or T20 might, and is not worth any premium simply because 55 is higher than 93 or 123. Cooper has a 3.37% acceptance rate. Tufts' rate is 4.62%. Is Tufts really that much better, if at all, just because the USNWR black box gives it a higher, albeit still relatively low, ranking?

Cooper opened in 2011, Tufts in 1893. The odds are very high that the rankings are more reflective of that than any actual difference in student outcomes in 2022. JMHO, but I wouldn't pay an extra penny, let alone $125K, to go to an "upper mid-tier" over a "lower low-tier," without actual substantive reasons beyond the rank. And, while I'd probably pay an extra $125K to go to a Harvard-tier school just for the bragging rights and possibility of a better outcome, it's not looking like that's an issue I'm going to have to deal with. :laugh:

I'm not sure that there is a good reason to turn down a more established state school in favor of Cooper (although I do understand the attraction of Philly as compared to New Brunswick/Piscataway), but, TBH, Tufts is the school I'd ax, UNLESS I received enough money to make the cost comparable to the NJ schools.
 
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I'd probably take off Rowan as well. Between Rutgers and Tufts, I can see it going either way. I'm a bit different in my thinking. For the $125k difference, I'd be curious to know what the baseline debt is. If it's $300k which makes total over 400k, that is a lot different than baseline of 100k making it 225k. Living like a resident on an attending salary is fine the first 2 years, but beyond that it definitely matters. And the added interest rates the longer you have alone.

But I'd agree that $125k alone isn't that big of a deal if you're sure you're gonna be a doc. You can pay that off in a year or 2 attending's salary if you save, and in my opinion your happiness (if you care about location that much) and opportunities (Boston is an epicenter of healthcare and medicine). Though my understanding is New Brunswick is not far from NYC?

At the end of the day, I don't think it'd be ludicrous if you to take either of the two. Cooper might be a questionable decision though.
 
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All are great choices! I’m in a similar position, I’m considering NJMS vs Tufts but I’m leaning towards Tufts. Difference in cost of attendance for me is about 60-80k depending on where I choose to live, all my friends are in the Boston area and with NJMS moving to a graded preclinical system I’m basically set on Tufts.

If you are seriously interested in ophthalmology or the other competitive specialties, then I’d go Tufts or RWJ. Specifically for ophthalmology, (could be wrong) I don’t think cooper has a home residency program for that and they had 0 matches to optho last year. RWJ does not have a home optho residency either (NJMS does though, idk if there’s any connection between the two schools since they’re rutgers) so Tufts may help you make easier connections in the field.

As for Tufts vs RWJ I guess it just comes down to whether or not you are ok with going into more debt for a potentially better med school experience. Tufts might be slightly better, but they’re very comparable programs. 125k is definitely a lot of money, but you also don’t want to be kicking yourself for going to a school that you dislike or staying in an environment that doesn’t work for you. Boston is a great city to be in and Tufts is a strong school on its own, but you also have the opportunity to do aways and network with the other massive hospitals in Boston.

For me I think happiness/location is the most important, so if you know you’d be way happier at tufts I’d lean towards that. But if all else is equal and you think you’d be just as happy at RWJ, then save the money.
 
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JohnJacobJingleheimer said:
I'd personally ax Rowan off this list. Tufts is absolutely worth 125k more than cooper IMO. It's comparing a bottom-tier school to an upper mid-tier school so I think there's enough of a difference there. The case could be made for RWJ over Tufts butttt I personally have Tufts above RWJ on my list (deciding between these and a couple others); however, I value school reputation more than I do location or support system being nearby or anything like that. Give me the better school if it's not gonna cost an absurd amount more (which I think 125k is just about approaching that limit for me, but not quite there personally. 175k and I think maybe Rutgers). If I was not interested in competitive specialties, I would choose the cheaper option though.
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Definitely would disagree. Currently a graduating M4 who chose Cooper over a school "ranked higher" than Tufts and for a much smaller difference cost tuition cost and have absolutely zero regrets lol
 
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RWJ. Boston is probably one of the worst cities along with NYC and SF for attending med school. As somebody with a lot of friends who went to Harvard, the Boston area is great for undergrads (due to dorm options) and high earners but much less so for grad students. According to Tufts COA estimates, students get 1412 per month for rent. This really isn’t enough to live comfortably for most Boston neighborhoods. If it was HMS, I think the increased opportunities vs. RWJ would be worth the increased expense and or less comfortable circumstances.

Obviously disregard the above if money isn’t a factor (ex. Family wealth, non-trad with high savings etc.).
 
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JohnJacobJingleheimer said:
I'd personally ax Rowan off this list. Tufts is absolutely worth 125k more than cooper IMO. It's comparing a bottom-tier school to an upper mid-tier school so I think there's enough of a difference there. The case could be made for RWJ over Tufts butttt I personally have Tufts above RWJ on my list (deciding between these and a couple others); however, I value school reputation more than I do location or support system being nearby or anything like that. Give me the better school if it's not gonna cost an absurd amount more (which I think 125k is just about approaching that limit for me, but not quite there personally. 175k and I think maybe Rutgers). If I was not interested in competitive specialties, I would choose the cheaper option though.
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In this thread you mention Cooper as a bottom tier school, this is my concern with when it will come to matching. Going back to the Rowan DO program, it’s “ranked” 2nd in the country with great residency outcomes. Look into their match list, let me know your thoughts. Thanks ❤️
 
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medschoolapplicant101. said:
In this thread you mention Cooper as a bottom tier school, this is my concern with when it will come to matching. Going back to the Rowan DO program, it’s “ranked” 2nd in the country with great residency outcomes. Look into their match list, let me know your thoughts. Thanks ❤️
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Right, but keep in mind that the acceptance rate for people applying to US MD’s as a whole is right around 40%. Nearly every person in that remaining percent would die for that A, regardless of which “tier school” it is. Discussing tiers of med schools and making a comparison is only relevant for the minority of people that hold multiple acceptances and have the luxury of choice. That isn’t to disparage the fact that all US MD’s are very competitive, tough to get into, and are great at getting their students prepared and into a US residency, where they’ll then go and become doctors. That is their goal, and every US MD program is excellent at preparing their students for this path. In comparison to other MD’s, however, Rowan has lower step scores, less reserch funding, a more regional reputation, and a less desirable location than other schools. Again, even a lower tiered MD school is a program you should be thrilled about.

This isn’t to say DO’s don’t also do a good job at developing their students into doctors. They certainly do. They just have less available resources (research funding, rotation sites, etc) to help their students become competitive applicants. This is why, year after year, we see DO’s at a stark disadvantage when it comes to applying to competitive specialties. Again, there are likey countless threads out there that can tell you why you should almost always choose MD over DO when you’re looking at it strictly through the lens of what is the better career move. Sorry that my previous comment detracted from the excitement you feel about having been admitted to Cooper. It’s a great accomplishment and one you should be excited for and proud of.
 
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JohnJacobJingleheimer said:
Right, but keep in mind that the acceptance rate for people applying to US MD’s as a whole is right around 40%. Nearly every person in that remaining percent would die for that A, regardless of which “tier school” it is. Discussing tiers of med schools and making a comparison is only relevant for the minority of people that hold multiple acceptances and have the luxury of choice. That isn’t to disparage the fact that all US MD’s are very competitive, tough to get into, and are great at getting their students prepared and into a US residency, where they’ll then go and become doctors. That is their goal, and every US MD program is excellent at preparing their students for this path. In comparison to other MD’s, however, Rowan has lower step scores, less reserch funding, a more regional reputation, and a less desirable location than other schools. Again, even a lower tiered MD school is a program you should be thrilled about.

This isn’t to say DO’s don’t also do a good job at developing their students into doctors. They certainly do. They just have less available resources (research funding, rotation sites, etc) to help their students become competitive applicants. This is why, year after year, we see DO’s at a stark disadvantage when it comes to applying to competitive specialties. Again, there are likey countless threads out there that can tell you why you should almost always choose MD over DO when you’re looking at it strictly through the lens of what is the better career move. Sorry that my previous comment detracted frkm the rxcitement you feel about having been admitted to Cooper. It’s a great accomplishment and one you should be excited for and proud of.
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Absolutely proud and grateful for the acceptances. Cooper has an amazing support system as well as research opportunities. I understand and agree with your points, I have been on top of things when it comes to reading about md vs do, however, when specifically comparing these two amazing programs, questions arise. The only reason I am trying to understand deeper is due to RowanSOM students are matching into competitive fields, research is available and funding is excellent, boards scores are top notch, support system, hospital affiliations are all A++++ So…

PS. Sorry guys not trying to hijack a post ❤️
 
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medschoolapplicant101. said:
Absolutely proud and grateful for the acceptances. Cooper has an amazing support system as well as research opportunities. I understand and agree with your points, I have been on top of things when it comes to reading about md vs do, however, when specifically comparing these two amazing programs, questions arise. The only reason I am trying to understand deeper is due to RowanSOM students are matching into competitive fields, research is available and funding is excellent, boards scores are top notch, support system, hospital affiliations are all A++++ So…

PS. Sorry guys not trying to hijack a post ❤️
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Go to Cooper. RowanSOM has a lot of support because it is a public school, but so is Cooper and the MD will mean you don’t have to do COMLEX. RowanSOM is a phenomenal school but Cooper is the better choice.
 
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