UIC vs NYMC vs SLU

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digitalsea11010

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Hello everyone,

I have been accepted to UIC (UPR) and to NYMC. I have one interview pending, and I am waiting to hear back from SLU post interview. Both UIC and NYMC are awesome schools, and I would be happy to attend either. Despite this, I feel like SLU fits my personality the best, and I am already quite comfortable in St. Louis. I am on HPSP, so tuition is irrelevant, but my stipend is about 2,000/ month which makes cost of living a big issue. I really like NY, but I don't know if my stipend will allow me to have a good quality of life. Illinois will be the cheapest, but there isn't as much to do in areas other than Chicago. If I attempt to switch to Chicago, then the cost of living will increase substantially. Saint Louis has a decent cost of living and a lot to do. Also I loved the people at the school, and the curriculum seems awesome. The school seems supportive of its students which is a really important factor. I should be evaluated by Slu either next week or the following meeting in two weeks. I am heavily leaning towards sending a letter of intent, but I still have one school that I haven't interviewed at, and I am worried that I will suddenly fall in love with this other school ( the cost of living is comparable to St. Louis, and there seems to be a lot to do). I am in a position where I think SLU is my best fit, and I want to increase my chances of acceptance, but I am working on partial information. Can anyone provide information that may make this decision easier? I will send a letter of intent or interest by tomorrow, so fast responses are preferred. Thank you for the help!

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hello everyone,

i have been accepted to uic (upr) and to nymc. I have one interview pending, and i am waiting to hear back from slu post interview. Both uic and nymc are awesome schools, and i would be happy to attend either. Despite this, i feel like slu fits my personality the best, and i am already quite comfortable in st. Louis. I am on hpsp, so tuition is irrelevant, but my stipend is about 2,000/ month which makes cost of living a big issue. I really like ny, but i don't know if my stipend will allow me to have a good quality of life. Illinois will be the cheapest, but there isn't as much to do in areas other than chicago. If i attempt to switch to chicago, then the cost of living will increase substantially. Saint louis has a decent cost of living and a lot to do. Also i loved the people at the school, and the curriculum seems awesome. The school seems supportive of its students which is a really important factor. I should be evaluated by slu either next week or the following meeting in two weeks. I am heavily leaning towards sending a letter of intent, but i still have one school that i haven't interviewed at, and i am worried that i will suddenly fall in love with this other school ( the cost of living is comparable to st. Louis, and there seems to be a lot to do). I am in a position where i think slu is my best fit, and i want to increase my chances of acceptance, but i am working on partial information. Can anyone provide information that may make this decision easier? I will send a letter of intent or interest by tomorrow, so fast responses are preferred. Thank you for the help!

slu >> uic >>>>>>> nymc

Read about nymc and the percent of 4th years who go to their first choice.
 
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slu >> uic >>>>>>> nymc

Read about nymc and the percent of 4th years who go to their first choice.

Is this data posted somewhere? I tried to search it but all I found was that 47% matched into their first choice in 2000. Do you know where I can find more recent data?
 
I am in a position where I think SLU is my best fit, and I want to increase my chances of acceptance, but I am working on partial information. Can anyone provide information that may make this decision easier? I will send a letter of intent or interest by tomorrow, so fast responses are preferred. Thank you for the help!

I'm biased because, at the moment, I'll be attending SLU. That said, I'd avoid UIC if I had the choice. With how volatile their tuition is right now, it may be very likely that SLU will not cost you that much more (if any more at all with cost of living chi vs stl). And the Illinois budget is a nightmare, so I don't see that smoothing over any time soon.

So I'm with Franz if you have those three acceptances: SLU > UIC > NYMC

EDIT - missed the part about tuition being irrelevant. Still, I've heard way more negatives about the curriculum and administration at UIC than I have SLU.
 
Hello everyone,

I have been accepted to UIC (UPR) and to NYMC. I have one interview pending, and I am waiting to hear back from SLU post interview. Both UIC and NYMC are awesome schools, and I would be happy to attend either. Despite this, I feel like SLU fits my personality the best, and I am already quite comfortable in St. Louis. I am on HPSP, so tuition is irrelevant, but my stipend is about 2,000/ month which makes cost of living a big issue. I really like NY, but I don't know if my stipend will allow me to have a good quality of life. Illinois will be the cheapest, but there isn't as much to do in areas other than Chicago. If I attempt to switch to Chicago, then the cost of living will increase substantially. Saint Louis has a decent cost of living and a lot to do. Also I loved the people at the school, and the curriculum seems awesome. The school seems supportive of its students which is a really important factor. I should be evaluated by Slu either next week or the following meeting in two weeks. I am heavily leaning towards sending a letter of intent, but I still have one school that I haven't interviewed at, and I am worried that I will suddenly fall in love with this other school ( the cost of living is comparable to St. Louis, and there seems to be a lot to do). I am in a position where I think SLU is my best fit, and I want to increase my chances of acceptance, but I am working on partial information. Can anyone provide information that may make this decision easier? I will send a letter of intent or interest by tomorrow, so fast responses are preferred. Thank you for the help!

go to slu.

and i don't know why there so much nymc haterade in here. the past 5 years of match lists look just fine to me.
 
go to slu.

and i don't know why there so much nymc haterade in here. the past 5 years of match lists look just fine to me.

I really liked NYMC. The glaring downside is the cost of living in Valhalla. For someone on a stipend, this would drastically decrease my standard of living. I can live alright and even save some money in most cities, buy I would probably use every penny in housing, groceries, utilities, and travel in Valhalla. What do I do if I want to go out for fun after a big test? I'll look into the on campus housing, but the truth is that M3 year may not be affordable living off campus. It's a shame too. The program has a ton to offer: newer facilities, professors that want to teach, 4 year MPH*, and a really friendly noncompetitive environment. Hard call for me. I need to keep that door open because it is still very appealing.

On th topic, no one should disrespect a U.S. MD school, especially now that pressure has been increased on residencies to go in or all out in accepting US MD students or
Carribean applicants. The value of a US MD is increasing because the Carribean
applicants will probably loose the ability to attend the same residencies.
Plus, do you want a more prestigious university that cares more about research than teaching? These are personal factors, and you can match into whatever you want as long as you work at it.
 
I really liked NYMC. The glaring downside is the cost of living in Valhalla. For someone on a stipend, this would drastically decrease my standard of living. I can live alright and even save some money in most cities, buy I would probably use every penny in housing, groceries, utilities, and travel in Valhalla. What do I do if I want to go out for fun after a big test? I'll look into the on campus housing, but the truth is that M3 year may not be affordable living off campus. It's a shame too. The program has a ton to offer: newer facilities, professors that want to teach, 4 year MPH*, and a really friendly noncompetitive environment. Hard call for me. I need to keep that door open because it is still very appealing.

On th topic, no one should disrespect a U.S. MD school, especially now that pressure has been increased on residencies to go in or all out in accepting US MD students or
Carribean applicants. The value of a US MD is increasing because the Carribean
applicants will probably loose the ability to attend the same residencies.
Plus, do you want a more prestigious university that cares more about research than teaching? These are personal factors, and you can match into whatever you want as long as you work at it.

This is a fallacy.

Also, OP, sorry I don't know anything about the three schools except NYMC is probably rejecting me sometime soon ("complete and under review" for the past 8 months)
 
http://www.nymc.edu/Medical/match/2011/results.htm

I am a 3rd year at NYMC and I ended up choosing it over SLU bc I wanted to live in NY (living in Manhattan and loving it!). But honestly you need to go wherever you think you will be most happy because it is 4 years of your life and you can't underestimate how important it is to enjoy life outside med school! Don't worry about what other people think bc it doesn't matter in the end. PS posted last years match list just to shut up people knocking how we match- I think putting 51 people into ROADS specialties speaks for itself..... I'm definitely not worried about getting into somewhere I wanna go. Best of luck sounds like you have decided SLU so I hope you get in!
 
This is a fallacy.

Also, OP, sorry I don't know anything about the three schools except NYMC is probably rejecting me sometime soon ("complete and under review" for the past 8 months)

At least in the case of UIC which tends to have a stronger reputation than NYMC, this seems to be the consensus on studentdoc. Honestly it isn't that surprising given that it is a state run research institution. I'm not incredibly opposed to this as I would enjoy a career in academic medicine.

Also, this is anecdotal, but I felt like the teaching at my undergrad (pretty high ranking) was somewhat spotty. The teachers would generally appear to care about us in the classroom but were generally annoyed if you tried to approach them in office hours (maybe they are all afraid of the rec letter seeking premeds or something). They were happy to do review sessions, but generally didn't like 1 on 1 interaction. I guess with 200+ premeds they loose their patience. I wouldn't trade the experience for anything, but people who went to small liberal arts colleges definitely had a better teaching experience. The professors were being paid to teach, not to conduct research. I can see this being true at a large research medical school as well. If you are dependent on grant money to survive, you will have a proclivity to let your teaching fall to the wayside. On the other hand, if teaching is the only thing you have to worry about, you will make it your priority. I'm sure the most prestigious schools have adequate teaching, but you will be competing for attention with gunners, and the professors will probably be stressed out about their research funding. I really don't see how this is a fallacy. The faculty at the smaller schools I went to seemed very open to spending time with students and helping them learn. Additionally, the classmates I feel would be highly cooperative in a noncompetitive environment. I think the prestigious schools have a competitive student body by nature. I guess it is just a difference in philosophy.
 
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