UCLA Geffen vs UMichigan

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jana2022

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Any insight is appreciated. Narrowed down to UCLA vs Umichigan. Used to midwest snow/cold winters; don’t particularly like high temps but love the outdoors. Parents live in Chicago. I know people say rankings don’t matter but still in the back of my mind. I am already involved and very interested in research and authored papers. diversity is important. Love city life.

UCLA - visiting in March
- Nicer weather
- hospital is #3 ranking
- UCLA is ranked #21
- heard the campus is beautiful
- expect faculty and students to be diverse
- okay with doing residency here or east coast

Cons:
- seems far from “home” - 4 hr flight from Chicago
- Not sure of culture and how Chicagoans feel.

UMichigan Med
Pros:
- hospital has good reputation
- Medical school ranked #15 US
- 3.5 hour drive from Chicago/easy 4 hour train ride home
- do not want to stay back for residency here. Interested in East Coast

Cons:
- winters are not necessarily fun
- drove though campus and found it a bit disappointing - lack of restaurant and lacked diversity

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They are equivalent. If you are used to the Midwest and snow, then go to Michigan. UCLA of course has the famous benefits of CA like warm weather, beaches etc. 4 hour flight I guess has a lot of headaches for security, parking and check-in vs the train ride.
 
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I'm also a Chicago resident weighing midwest schools against UCLA/CDU. Honestly, the cali weather has me sold lol.

For you, both schools are very solid. I'd look deeper into curriculum, cost, etc. UCLA has a 1 year preclinical that may be a pro or con depending on who you ask.
 
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wait til you hear back from ucla financial aid haha
 
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They're basically equivalent. Wait for scholarships/finaid and choose the one that gives you more. If all else equal and weather isn't a big factor to you, I'd go with UMich. Being close to home is nice, but UMich also has better grad programs (business, public health, etc.) that has better collabs and options for dual degrees, and it has more money for interdisciplinary research.

I'd definitely wait for scholarships though, both these schools are known to give a lot of merit aid (for UCLA, if you happen to get Geffen there's probably no other better merit aid in medical school).
 
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For you, both schools are very solid. I'd look deeper into curriculum, cost, etc. UCLA has a 1 year preclinical that may be a pro or con depending on who you ask.
They both have 1 year pre-clins. UCLA just switched, but UMich has been doing it for a few years if I remember correctly.
 
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They both have 1 year pre-clins. UCLA just switched, but UMich has been doing it for a few years if I remember correctly.
Had no clue. Didn't apply to UMich so I know nada about it beyond it's rep lol. But yeah UCLA's is new which can be a bit worrisome as they work out the kinks.
 
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These are top tier powerhouse medical schools so you can throw out whatever rankings that USNWR may designate. Basically comes down to which one is cheaper and would you rather live in an quintessential college town or the 2nd largest metropolitan area in the US. Me personally, its Hail to the Victors !
 
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Equivalent in reputation and prestige, go where you will be happy, weather wise and fun wise.
 
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Both powerhouses. U of M especially has a great reputation on the East coast (a huge number of undergraduate students are from NY).
I graduated from U of M Med School. I had more residency interviews (in ophtho) on the East Cost than even the Midwest due to the name. Matched in NYC
 
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