UConn vs. Rush vs. Jefferson

[frisbae]

Hello!

I am blessed but stressed to have received acceptances to a few fantastic schools lol. Would love to hear everyone's input! TY in advance .

Little bit about me: I graduated in 2020 and am interested in sexual/repro health and LGBTQIA+ health through the lens of either FM or OB/GYN. I love nature but also love exploring new cities. Being close to family is cool but 100% not a requirement for me. I care most about the kind of people I will be surrounded by, as well as access to things I'm interested in (sexual/repro health, wilderness med, queer health, etc.). TBL curriculums just make more sense to me, would prefer one of those as compared to lecture based. Finances are huge IMO, the less debt the better but I do not want to sacrifice irreplaceable experiences (i.e. living in a great city in my mid 20's) for something I could probably pay back in an extra few years in attendinghood -- if that makes sense lol.

UConn (IS)

Pro's
- Students seem very happy
- Best/most enjoyable interview
- Cheapest tuition (42k/year, could lean on family for living expenses in some capacity, Med school is in my hometown)
- Small class size, very supportive faculty
- Could lean on connections that I have already made in CT to enhance my med school experience
- TBL seems like the way to go to make learning more engaging, encourages connecting with class mates
- Solid array of rotation sites/hospital systems
- Ability to work with underserved populations in Hartford
- Could heavily lean on my family for support throughout med school (I grew up in the same town that the med school is in)
- Closest to nature of all of the schools I am considering
- 2 week periods post assessment to allow for chill electives
- Curriculum... focuses on training you to think/act like a clinician, seems like you get a huge bang for your buck in terms of access to faculty and educational opportunities (as compared to going to a school where lecture is optional and you pay 50k a year to stay at home and do anki/B&B/UWorld etc...)
- I'm interested in a ton of the student groups (Wilderness Med, MSFC, Sustainability in Healthcare... I've reached out to the students in these groups via email and they all sell them so well/seem so excited about the same things I care about)

Con's
- Do not love the idea of going to med school in my home town, I worry this will limit my growth (as compared to Chicago and Philly)
- 8 hour long tests every 10 weeks
- Does not teach to step 1... added stress in addition to the 8 hour tests
- Lots of mandatory structured time each week

Jefferson

Pro's
- In the center of an incredible city, more opportunity for growth away from home?
- Fabulous match list, sending students nearly everywhere I could ever imagine that I'd want to go
- Strong alumni network
- Friendly, committed faculty
- More diverse patient populations, more so than UConn
- More fun (new) things to do in Philly
- Close enough to home, yet still a completely new experience for me
- Med humanities focus is interesting to me
- Have some support/extended family near philly
- Great FM and OB programs (my two interests atm)

Con's
- COA (62k/year - yikes!)
- Less non trad students than other two schools
- ginormous class size compared to other schools
- Lecture-based curriculum, not as much of a fan as compared to flipped classroom
- have heard not great things about the friendliness of preceptors in rotation years (as compared w/ UConn/Rush)

Rush

Pro's
- Really great vibe from students
- Incredible mission at school, commitment to service, opportunities to rotate at Rush and Cook County
- Relatively laid back (compared to UConns TBL/flipped classroom model)
- Incredible city, diverse people, neighborhoods, things to do
- Diverse/underserved patient populations, more so than UConn
- Comedy scene is fire (weird pro but I love stand up)
- Lots of non-trad students, seems like the people that make up each class are just incredible (maybe more so than Uconn/Jeff? Not sure about this lol don't come at me)
- RCSIP programs (ton's of opportunities for community service), love so many of these programs
- Opportunity to live and grow in a new city

Con's
- COA (57k/year - still yikes)
- Less access to FM it seems?
- Farthest from support, do have some connections I could lean on in Chicago if need be
- Less access to nature, though I am sure Chicago will make up for this as a city
- admin seems a lil snarky


Any input would be much appreciated, TYSM!

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[chilly_md]

I feel you would be happiest at UConn with the smallest amount of debt, family support, connections that could help you navigate things, the TBL curriculum and access to nature and student groups that align with your interest.

I think in residency you can go for a big city. It’s obviously frustrating to wait 4 years to do that, but I think it might be a mistake to pass up on UConn predominantly to see if you’d like city life. And not all cities are the same. Perhaps Chicago and Philly won’t be your favorites and you’re more of a Boston kind of person.

 

[frisbae]

I feel you would be happiest at UConn with the smallest amount of debt, family support, connections that could help you navigate things, the TBL curriculum and access to nature and student groups that align with your interest.

I think in residency you can go for a big city. It’s obviously frustrating to wait 4 years to do that, but I think it might be a mistake to pass up on UConn predominantly to see if you’d like city life. And not all cities are the same. Perhaps Chicago and Philly won’t be your favorites and you’re more of a Boston kind of person.

Thank you for your thoughtful reply! I've had similar thoughts to your second point in particular.