U Michigan vs UVM Larner

[kathhank]

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Hello all! Thank you in advance for your help.
So far I have been accepted to University of Michigan Medicine, UVM Larner, Wake Forest, and Wayne State. Waiting post interview to hear from Saint Louis University.
I went to Michigan for undergrad and loved it. I have a community including my best friend living in Ann Arbor and love my life there. It is also a quick train to Chicago where my boyfriend lives.
However, I am from Vermont so earn in-state there and my mom, dad, grandparents, aunts etc all still live there.
I am mostly between Michigan and Vermont for these reasons, but am interested to hear if anyone thinks I should more strongly consider one of the other schools.
I want to go into OBGYN and do maternal fetal medicine and high-risk pregnancy work.

Michigan Medicine
Pros

• Highly ranked
• Global health opportunities (really important to me)
• Could live with my best friend/be close to other friends
• I love Ann Arbor and the Michigan community
• Closer to my boyfriend and Chicago (I love Chicago, living there now)
• Has an integrated maternal fetal med clinic I have shadowed in before that is exactly the work I want to do
• 1 year of classes then straight to clinicals, more time 3rd/4th year for global health etc
• Tons of student orgs, street med programs, etc

Cons

• 80k per year just in tuition
• More competitive (maybe harder to do well?)

UVM Larner
Pros

• 40k per year in tuition (in-state!)
• Close to mom and grandparents (a lot of familial preference for UVM and they may help me pay if I attend Vermont)
• Good mission fit, and I do like Vermont just not necessarily to live long term
• Has research and global health opportunities just may not be as readily available(?) (that could be my bias)
• Good amount of student orgs and fun things to be involved in!

Cons

• Flipped classroom (super into active learning curriculum, seems like more work to me)
• Mandatory attendance
• Mixed feelings about being back in the hometown I grew up in for 18 years...

Summary: At the end of the day this is kinda an opportunities/ranking versus cost question and I don't know how to weigh it. I don't want to just be dazzled by Michigan's prestige and take on 2x debt for no reason. But I also want a competitive specialty so idk.

 

[Basalganglia4life]

UVM is my pick. Being close to family and support is huge in medical school. Plus with all the changes to student loans I'd rather have 1/2 the debt if I could choose

 

[BritainKittenMittens]

I mean Michigan is undoubtedly a more prestigious program and a better hospital system, but it isn't 40k more a year better, especially with the student loan caps. 160k total is not gonna be much when you're an attending and I wouldn't said to go for it if all your personal reasons also aligned. But sounds like you have personal reasons to go to UVM too.

 

[YellowSalamander]

It depends on your specialty interests! If you want to pursue neurosurgery or plastics, you'd be better served going to Michigan. They will open doors that UVM does not. However, if you are not interested in ivory tower academia or highly competitive specialties, UVM is a great option!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Where do you want to practice? Also, UM isn't just about practicing in Ann Arbor; it's a big state, including some remote rural areas. Vermont is different rural (more in the Appalachians vs. the topography of Michigan... just different). As for rural, Michigan has a few more urban areas (obviously including Detroit). Does that intrigue you? Or maybe you rather stay closer to Boston, New York, and I-95.

 

[cytomegalovirus123]

UVM. We are in a weird era now. You really have to think about what you are putting your money into. Sure Umich is a good institution but im not coughing up that much extra money especially in your position.

 

[Med Ed]

See if Michigan will match UVM's tuition, then come back with an answer.