UCSD vs UCLA vs Columbia

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planariaparty

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I currently live in California. Longterm I think I would like to work in California/west coast. I am not yet decided on a specific specialty; I am really interested in dermatology, but I also really like emergency medicine and global health (esp. addressing health issues in Latin America).

UCSD
Pros
  • I currently live in the San Diego area and love it; the UCSD campus is beautiful
  • My SO works in San Diego — we would be able to keep living together during med school, and I would prefer not to be long-distance
  • Students have been really nice/chill and seem happy
  • Global health opportunities - proximity to US-Mexico border
  • Matching in California
  • I have lots of friends/support network here
  • Price - no aid but being able to live with my SO would make the price difference between UCSD and Columbia minimal (UCLA would be more expensive)
Cons
  • 2 year pre-clinical curriculum - since I am not sure about what specialty I want to do, I really prefer the shorter pre-clinical curriculums
  • Not sure how well they match people in dermatology/em
  • Have heard not great experiences about the emergency department
  • only 6 weeks for USMLE study
  • Haven't found as many research projects that I am particularly passionate about

UCLA
Pros
  • New curriculum - 1 yr pre-clinical, 3rd year discovery year
  • Great matching record in dermatology and emergency
  • Student groups: SLING Health
  • Would get to explore a new city
  • Great global health opportunities
  • A lot of research projects that I am excited about

Cons
  • Price - no scholarships or aid so it is looks like it will be >$100,000 more than the other options (all loans)
  • New curriculum - I like the curriculum but it is daunting that this will be the first year, so there is no one to ask about how it was or see the results
  • Don't have many friends/support network in LA
  • Being long-distance from my partner
  • LA - I don't LOVE LA (expensive, lots of traffic, I visited the UCLA campus and it was nice but I liked the UCSD campus more)


Columbia
Pros
  • I really like the curriculum set-up (18 month Pre-clinical, scholarly project)
  • I got ~$50,000/yr financial need-based scholarship and they are really supportive about helping to find additional scholarships
  • 8 weeks USMLE study time
  • Get to explore a new city/side of the country
  • Great match list (seems to match people fine into CA)
  • Great global health opportunities
  • Great clinical opportunities

Cons
  • Very far from partner, family, friends
  • I have heard some bad things about some of the professors
  • Have never visited the campus, not much support network in NY
  • I have been told by a lot of people that I would not like the east coast (though not sure what to take from that)
  • I probably wouldn't be able to take full advantage of being in NY since I will be studying a lot
  • Housing (expensive, on-campus housing is dorm style with shared kitchen/bathrooms)

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I am also considering UCSD. Do you have access to the Second Look Google Drive? They have posted a document in the Other Resources folder called "2014-2020 UC San Diego SOM Alumni Specialty Counts and Locations." It includes all the dermatology and EM matches from 2014-2020. The 2021 match list is in that folder, as well.

Re: lack of specific student groups, one way to view that would be as an opportunity for you to start one and get that leadership experience. SLING Health seems like a good fit for UCSD given all the biotech research happening in the area. I am also thinking of a pre-clinical elective called "Innovation & Healthcare: Identifying Problems & Creating Solutions" (MED-233) that one of the deans was talking about in some video I watched. It's co-attended by business and engineering school students and seems geared toward entrepreneurship.

Re: the longer pre-clinical curriculum, that a slight downside for me, too. On the other hand, some have said that 2 years pre-clinical translates into more free time and less pressure during that period, which you can use to shadow and do clinical electives and research. And it does seem like UCSD has plenty of structured and unstructured opportunities for shadowing during the pre-clinical years (current students provided a lot of info about that during the MS4 panel yesterday). But you would have to be the sort of person to take that initiative to be exploring specialties while also studying.

Congrats on your other acceptances to UCLA and Columbia! I would have loved to get into both of those schools since I have strong ties to both of those cities, but I don't envy the difficulty of your decision!
 
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Shouldn't have a problem matching back to CA from Columbia. If anything, it will also open up East Coast match opportunities which is not a bad option to have if your mind changes later.

San Diego is an awesome place to live. UCSD and UCLA are a wash reputation-wise, and you'll likely end up in the same place if your performance is similar at both schools. If you absolutely want to match at UCSD for residency, it will give you a better leg up than UCLA.

Can't imagine having to tolerate living in LA through four years of medical school. That it's the most expensive of the three would disqualify it for me. Nonetheless, if you absolutely want to match at UCLA for residency, it will give you the best leg up of all three schools.

Far too many Californians never have the chance to leave the state and see something different. For that alone, I'd vote for Columbia. That you'll study the most at Columbia is even better.
 
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Shouldn't have a problem matching back to CA from Columbia. If anything, it will also open up East Coast match opportunities which is not a bad option to have if your mind changes later.

San Diego is an awesome place to live. UCSD and UCLA are a wash reputation-wise, and you'll likely end up in the same place if your performance is similar at both schools. If you absolutely want to match at UCSD for residency, it will give you a better leg up than UCLA.

Can't imagine having to tolerate living in LA through four years of medical school. That it's the most expensive of the three would disqualify it for me. Nonetheless, if you absolutely want to match at UCLA for residency, it will give you the best leg up of all three schools.

Far too many Californians never have the chance to leave the state and see something different. For that alone, I'd vote for Columbia. That you'll study the most at Columbia is even better.
Thanks for the recommendations! All very good thoughts. One note is that I am not actually from California, I moved here last year (won't get in-state tuition first year unfortunately) :) But yeah I do agree it is important to explore different places!
 
I'd go with UCSD in your case as it's 1) In california, close to SO/family/friends 2)similar price to columbia 3)you want to match in California anyway 4) has a fantastic reputation and can get you to whatever specialty you want 5) your desire to incorporate latin american health issues. Also UCSD has a top tier in-house dermatology residency/department - so with regards to getting research/letters you should be well supported: Research - Department of Dermatology - UC San Diego School of Medicine.

With regards to EM, you can get there from anywhere, it's not too competitive.

I would have said Columbia because of that massive scholarship, but if you're hesitant about moving 3k miles away without any real idea of the city/school and no support/long distance with your SO, it's a tough sell...
 
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