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

[wildstrawberries]

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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!