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justwannabeinmedschool

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I need advice on choosing between these two schools. UAB is my in-state school and I have a scholarship of $10,000 dollars per year at the school. However, I recently was accepted off of the waitlist to Georgetown SOM. I really love the new 1.5 year curriculum, extra elective rotations, opportunities to work with public policy, and the Washington D.C. area in general. Also, it seems that Georgetown's match list is more impressive than UAB's in regard to specialties. Does UAB have enough name recognition to get me to a top residency program outside of the south in specialties outside of primary care or is it worth the extra ~$150k for the name recognition and pros I listed out of Georgetown? All opinions welcome!

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I wouldn't bank on top residency programs outside the south at UAB. If that's your end goal and you want those doors open, go Georgetown. If you don't mind doing a mid-lower residency outside the south, I think that's reasonable.
 
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Georgetown has a good name and great location but its not like we're talking about Harvard or Yale here when it comes to residency programs.

UAB match list reflects the fact that most of their graduates prefer primary care specialties and want to stay in the south.

Bottom line the main determinant of were you go for residency will be grades and board scores.
 
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Are you going to regret every day you wake up in Birmingham more than you'll regret every student loan check you write for as long as it takes to pay it off? Eventually it will be paid off and you'll be wherever it got you and you may look back and be grateful. I picked the more expensive school (over a free ride) and it was painful to pay for years and years but look where it got me. YMMV
 
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I need advice on choosing between these two schools. UAB is my in-state school and I have a scholarship of $10,000 dollars per year at the school. However, I recently was accepted off of the waitlist to Georgetown SOM. I really love the new 1.5 year curriculum, extra elective rotations, opportunities to work with public policy, and the Washington D.C. area in general. Also, it seems that Georgetown's match list is more impressive than UAB's in regard to specialties. Does UAB have enough name recognition to get me to a top residency program outside of the south in specialties outside of primary care or is it worth the extra ~$150k for the name recognition and pros I listed out of Georgetown. All opinions welcome!

Don't base your decision based on match list. You have no understanding of the motivations behind why those people chose those places or if those places are even good residency spots despite their being at a "prestigious" name. The most likely reason UABs list is not as impressive is because UAB attacts local applicants who are more likely to stay in the region due to family or other factors. That doesn't make them less competent or smart, it actually makes them smart since they know what's important to them. Your ability to match into your preferred specialty is more on how well YOU do in med school (grades, STEP1 score, away rotations) instead of how much your schools name will overcome your deficiencies.

Some of the things I learned from going to Georgetown:
1. living in the area is really expensive. If you take out full cost of living, you'll graduate with at least 250K of debt.
2. Don't underestimate that 10K scholarship as coming out of med school with less debt is always better than more
3. Yes, the amenities are nice and you can do more things. But you're in med school, how much free time do you expect to spend looking around doing other stuff?
4. They may have changed their grading since I was there but the curve was brutal and your typical H,HP,P,LP grading scheme.

Ask yourself what's more important to you and what you're willing to sacrifice for that and make a decision. I would rather go with less debt and be closer to home but that's me.
 
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Are you going to regret every day you wake up in Birmingham more than you'll regret every student loan check you write for as long as it takes to pay it off? Eventually it will be paid off and you'll be wherever it got you and you may look back and be grateful. I picked the more expensive school (over a free ride) and it was painful to pay for years and years but look where it got me. YMMV
So do you think that Georgetown would get me further in the medical field?
 
Don't base your decision based on match list. You have no understanding of the motivations behind why those people chose those places or if those places are even good residency spots despite their being at a "prestigious" name. The most likely reason UABs list is not as impressive is because UAB attacts local applicants who are more likely to stay in the region due to family or other factors. That doesn't make them less competent or smart, it actually makes them smart since they know what's important to them. Your ability to match into your preferred specialty is more on how well YOU do in med school (grades, STEP1 score, away rotations) instead of how much your schools name will overcome your deficiencies.

Some of the things I learned from going to Georgetown:
1. living in the area is really expensive. If you take out full cost of living, you'll graduate with at least 250K of debt.
2. Don't underestimate that 10K scholarship as coming out of med school with less debt is always better than more
3. Yes, the amenities are nice and you can do more things. But you're in med school, how much free time do you expect to spend looking around doing other stuff?
4. They may have changed their grading since I was there but the curve was brutal and your typical H,HP,P,LP grading scheme.

Ask yourself what's more important to you and what you're willing to sacrifice for that and make a decision. I would rather go with less debt and be closer to home but that's me.
So if you were to go back would you have chosen your state school over going to Georgetown?
 
Don't look at match lists. Look at the clinical sites that you'll be going to in years 3-4. Do you get to work in a level 1 trauma center for surgery, EM elective, IM, etc.? Or will you be stuck with either A.) rotating at level II/III trauma centers for cores/electives or B.) trying to land an away rotation at another program to get in better experience? Will the school send you around the state of AL to do your rotations?

I always stress to ask medical students about how they rate their home institutions clinical sites. It lets you know what kind of stress you're going to deal with. The DO school in my medical school's state sent kids all over the state, which was a selling point for them. But when you're an OMS-3/4, it can be a huge hassle if you have to find housing yourself or have to waste a lot of time and $$ travelling.
 
So do you think that Georgetown would get me further in the medical field?

It has good name recognition and I've never met a Georgetown grad who wasn't impressive. That said, UAB has its strong suits, particularly cardiovascular epidemiology, nutrition and obesity.
 
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100% bama. With the COA at Georgetown approaching 100k/ year, I personally think you'd be crazy to pass up in-state tuition with an additional scholarship. State schools always seem to have a great number of resources available to students as well
 
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Are you going to regret every day you wake up in Birmingham more than you'll regret every student loan check you write for as long as it takes to pay it off? Eventually it will be paid off and you'll be wherever it got you and you may look back and be grateful. I picked the more expensive school (over a free ride) and it was painful to pay for years and years but look where it got me. YMMV
 
But why go into 150K more debt to go to a lower-ranked school? (Georgetown ranks lower than UAB on USNWR). What am I missing?
 
We will rotate you in either Birmingham, Huntsville, or Tuscaloosa. Birmingham and Huntsville are both level I and Tuscaloosa being II.

Sounds like you know about the UAB program. Can a UAB student with a great STEP score get a top residency elsewhere in the country outside of primary care? Based on UAB match data, it seems that orthopedic surgery resident matches, for example, all go to the same / similar non-top programs.
 
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Sounds like you know about the UAB program. Can a UAB student with a great STEP score get a top residency elsewhere in the country outside of primary care? Based on UAB match data, it seems that orthopedic surgery resident matches, for example, all go to the same / similar non-top programs.
I think this is more up to you. I know people that have gotten into top ranked vascular, cardio, and ER programs. The institution is no slouch. I think with a great STEP score and interviewing, to a certain degree, it doesn't matter where you go. Of course, I have a biased opinion.
 
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Birmingham vs. DC. Not everything is about rankings.

I’ve lived in both cities. Birmingham has many nice areas and one can live quite (very) well there compared to DC. There are other reasons I suppose one would choose Georgetown over UAB (given rankings though I’m not convinced in this thread), but taking on large debt to live in DC over Birmingham is not one of them in my opinion. My two cents.
 
It has good name recognition and I've never met a Georgetown grad who wasn't impressive. That said, UAB has its strong suits, particularly cardiovascular epidemiology, nutrition and obesity.
I have to give a shout out to my research collaborators at UAB, who are world class experts in their field.
 
How important is the public policy aspect to you? I would have chosen Georgetown over my state school (didn't end up getting into either) but that is solely because I was interested in doing an MD/MBA at Georgetown's prestigious business school and wouldn't have wanted to do it at my state school's very subpar business school.
 
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