UChicago Pritzker ($150k) vs Duke ($280k)

[wildstrawberries]

Hi everyone, thank you all for taking the time to read this post and offer opinions! I am very grateful to be making this decision, but feeling very conflicted about my choices and unsure of what to do. I would appreciate any and all advice!

My goals are to (likely) pursue a surgical sub-specialty and match in California. I also have an interest in medical technology/biomedical engineering, and I hope to one day work in an academic setting performing research alongside clinical work, ideally in that BME/translational medicine field. In med school, important factors for me are quality of life, access to opportunities, and flexibility. I don't think either of these schools has a large difference in terms of clinical training, mentorship, or ability to match, but please offer advice if you think this is not correct.

Both schools would be far away from my support system and family. It might be a little bit easier for family to visit at Uchicago, but both are really far away from home.

UChicago
Pros:

• Full tuition scholarship! (still have to pay for COA which gets me to that 150k ish number)
• I really honestly LOVED the vibes I got at revisit; all the faculty, staff, and other students I met were amazing and I could see myself really enjoying my time here. It seems like the faculty and mentors really go above and beyond to support student interests
• Chicago seems like a great city. Went to school in Los Angeles and I am used to larger metropolitan areas. I think I would have more fun here exploring the city in the (little) free time I have

Cons:

• Weather. I grew up in a very warm state and I went to undergrad in LA. Cold to me is 50 degrees. I am worried about living through cold, dark weather especially during a stressful med school experience. I enjoy running or going on walks outside to destress and I think it might be difficult to do that here.
• No engineering school. While the school has a molecular engineering department, there is less work in medical devices and technology. However I did talk to the admissions staff and there seems to be a lot of great work being done in these fields, just potentially less accessible and abundant than at Duke.
• AOA, graded (H/HP/P/F) clerkships. worried about this causing additional stress during med school
• Less surgically focused match list? I realize this is likely self selecting
• Research time blocks are more spread out. Might not be a con? But I do think that if I decide on a more competitive specialty during clerkships, there might be a need to take additional time to get research (ie research year).

Duke
Pros:

• Super strong surgical match list. I also realize this is likely self selecting
• fully P/F, no AOA, no internal ranking. this seems like it would be SO nice to not have to stress about graded clerkships.
• 3rd year of research. Research is important to me, and I really love the idea of being able to take an entire year of dedicated time to do research toward a project, especially since it is after clerkships. I think it would be nice to figure out what I'm interested in during clerkships, then dedicate third year to getting enough research to match without taking a research year. Also lots of really cool opportunities like spending the year in Singapore, etc
• has a great BME school with BME opportunities during third year (M.S. in BME, design health classes, etc). would definitely be easier to get involved with this work because of the proximity
• Weather seems a lot better. Still would get cold, but it seems much more manageable than Chicago
• possibly stronger residencies? especially in surgery

Cons:

• Cost: this is my main con. Duke will end up being ~130k more expensive than chicago
• I didn't love Durham, it was very different than what I'm used to. I think I could get used to it though and it would be okay
• I also didn't vibe as much with the students at second look, but everyone was super nice and I didn't sense any competitive or unfriendly vibes. Still think I would be friends with everyone and it wouldn't be a bad time

Summary:
I feel like Duke is a better fit for my professional research and specialty interests, but I am concerned about the cost. Both schools seem equal in terms of clinical strength. I feel like Chicago is a better fit city-wise, but Durham would be more enjoyable weather-wise.

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[Crunchyshrimpfries164]

Are research years funded at pritzker? If not, that would likely be an additional $32k COA (by your math), so the difference would be more like $100k

 

[hydroflaskhomie]

What does your funding situation look like? Full loans vs family help? Is it $130k additional loans on top of the rest of COA?

This is a tough choice because of your strong interest in medical devices - Duke is the clear winner in that arena and 4 years of medical school is an excellent time to start making strides in this area. I think that might be the only real UChicago con aside from non-P/F clerkships because weather sucks in both places compared to LA (and Chicago summer is MUCH better than NC summer, trust me). However, I do think your concerns about running around where UChicago is are well-founded - it's not the safest area. One thing I would add to your UChicago cons as you make your final decision is the strength of the hospital system - Duke has a far better hospital system and UChicago's health resources are comparatively slightly lacking (also pale in comparison to other Chicago area schools), for example, unless this has changed in recent years since I was applying, they don't have access to a VA.

If this is a question of taking out $130k more loans and you're not really that hot on Durham and you like the city of Chicago/the vibes at Pritzker, I would say it seems like UChicago is the slightly better choice here. Congratulations on a tough choice!