UF vs. UM

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MySandwich

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For clarity, that is University of Florida vs. University of Miami.

I was recently fortunate enough to be accepted to both, but I'm having trouble deciding between them. They're both great schools, so either way I will be content.. I'm just trying to make the right decision. These are some (definitely not all) of the random bullet points I've considered so far:

UF: Pass/fail, Shands is awesome and it's also pretty much where all the classes are, fairly low cost of living. But, seems to have a large focus on research (not really my cup of tea), and Gainesville really is in the middle of nowhere.

UM: Jackson Memorial is amazing, you start with patients extremely quickly, facilities are top-notch, the students were really friendly, and I'd get to live in Miami. But, it's not a true p/f system, which seems kind of like a downer to me.

Any input would be really helpful!

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They're ranked similarly but Miami seems to have a better national reputation. Last year's match list at Miami was insanely good (http://www6.miami.edu/UMH/CDA/UMH_Main/0,1770,66825-1;66853-3,00.html). I'm unable find the 2012 one though. Also the diversity in patient population and pathology you'll see in South Florida (only tropical part of the contiguous US) is unparalleled. Not to mention that living in South Florida >>> living in North Florida for most people.
 
That's definitely what I've been thinking, and I'm pretty sure I'm leaning towards UM. Thanks for your input :)

Anyone else have other words of advice?
 
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How much experience do you have with Shands? Have you lived in Gainesville...because as someone graduating from UF undergrad I would say that Miami and Gainesville are VERY different environment as are Shands vs Jackson...
 
I'm also graduating from UF, and I have enjoyed living here. I also am familiar with Miami and I know I would enjoy living there as well.. I guess I'm just looking for confirmation on preferring UM other than just the fact that it's located in Miami, haha.
 
I would suggest attending the 2nd look weekends for both schools, and making your decision there. That being said, yeah you do get to live in Miami, but the CofA can't be beat at UF. You also start seeing patients early at pretty much any school in the country, so don't let that be a factor in your decision either.

You end up teaching yourself like 95% of the material anyway, so curriculum is kind of irrelevant anyway. Essentially, what I'm saying is that you should choose a place based on a few things: How is the 3rd year set up (where do evals come from, and what's the schedule like), how costly is the school, how good are the research opportunities (if you're interested in academia), and how good is the school at focusing on bread and butter cases (i.e. how to read an EKG, how to manage a CHF patient with concomitant chronic renal failure, how to manage childhood asthma, etc.).

Again, this is a 2nd year's perspective on things, but I'm just passing on knowledge that I've gotten from higher ups (med students, residents, attendings, etc.).

Hope this helps.
 
You may want to even look a step further. As a previous poster stated match rates for UM was great. You might want to see how the match was in:

1) areas of medical interest...do they seem to have strong numbers in certain specialties
2) institutions/geographic areas... are there string connections in match to specific programs in specific cities. If you have some strong desire to be in a certain city for residency and/or medical practice, if may be helpful to look into this.

On the other side, as a previous posters have said, the material you learn is the same so where/what clinical you'll have, what electives, the campus plant, the class atmosphere, the city/living conditions, and lastly dont ignore your gut. Which campus feels right
 
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