Tufts vs GW: Urgent pls help

[IslandCoral]

Hi everyone, I just received an updated financial package to GW that makes it a bit harder for me to decide between my two schools. I am hoping to pursue a competitive speciality in medical school and would like to match back in California. My family will not be helping me with my tuition, so I will be taking out loans for medical school.

TUFTS (received no scholarship, will cost about 100k per year):
Pros:
- Location: Boston is one of the biggest medicine hubs in the United States, ample research opportunities
- Match List: Relative to its ranking, Tufts is a well-known name in medicine and has a strong match list, in terms of both specialities and matching back in California
- 1.5 year, P/F preclinical

Cons:
- Cost: Tufts tuition is insane and COL is high too
- Rotations can be very spread out, may need car
- Lots of other high-ranked medical schools in Boston, not sure if this is a pro or con
- Used to sunny weather, Boston gets cold and dark early
- Second Look day wasn't very impressive


GEORGE WASHINGTON (received $25k scholarship, will cost about 80k per year)
Pros:
- Location: Washington DC is an amazing city (not as cold as Boston)
- Cost: save about $20k per year, which is a solid amount given the fact that I have to take out loans to pay everything
- Shares the city with only one other medical school (Georgetown), thus easier to get research opportunities (?)
- 1.5 year, P/F preclinical + No internal rank
- Second Look day really highlighted how happy the current students were

Cons:
- Match list isn't as strong, especially if I want to match back to California
- School and the city offers a lot related to health policy but lacks in medical research compared to Boston

I was leaning towards Tufts but the school's cost of attendance is scary so I'm really unsure what to do.
I'll be happy to hear anyone's opinions about the 2 schools, as I need to make a decision before tomorrow's deadline (April 30th)

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[olemickyd]

hi med student here. first off congrats! you have options which is sometimes even harder to make the decisions. from my perspective as a student, I would try to think less about the prestige of these two(they aren't really that different and both will get you into residencies you want). If you want to match somewhere in Cali, you will make it happen regardless of the schools and the match lists only are not always great signals especially if they are regionally biased. Idk where your support system is closer to, but that is also a really important factor that might sway how I'd make the decision over the cheaper option.

I'd choose GW--you will be in less loan burden/debt because of this. DC is a great place to live (as is Boston), and I think when you graduate with around 100-150k less debt you will thank yourself after. Med school is already sad, so it'll also help with the better weather in DC if you like the sunshine>cold.

 

[firesign08]

It sounds like you didn't like Tufts very much in terms of weather/location and the SLW. Paying $20k more per year for a school you don't love is a hard ask.

I agree that GW sounds like the better option

 

[truthwarrior]

I was in a similar situation and would say tufts. boston is a hub of medicine and research so there will always be opportunities, compared to all my schools the students at tufts who i talked to had a great work/life balance (p/f pre, no internal rank, lots of faculty mentoring+connections) and were well prepared for step and rotations. the students also mentioned even though their second look experience hadn't been amazing, they found actually attending the school much better so it might just be the way that day is run. maybe im biased but i think boston is an incredible city and the winters are doable and the match does seem stronger for ur goals but truly two good choices!