ULSOM (Louisville) vs UK College of Medicine (Lexington)

[RockClimberMed]

ULSOM (Louisville)
Pros

• Grew up and completed UG and Master's in Louisville. Familiar with the city and close to my family and lots of friends.
• Good housing options
• Connections to research labs and mentors (faculty & PI)
• Good match rate for potential specialties of interest
• Diverse population & larger range of hospitals for rotations
• Louisville is a cool city (live music, restaurants, rock climbing gym)

Cons

• Older clinical sites and research labs
• Not P/F grading
• Already will have done 2 years of classes at the med campus prior to matriculation so it would be 6 years of school in the same area
• Higher cost of living and tuition ~ 42,000/yr

UK College of Medicine (Lexington)
Pros

• New clinical facilities
• High match rate for potential specialties of interest
• P/F curriculum
• Lower cost of living, Tuition ~ 39,000/yr
• Could be fun to explore a new city
• Smaller class size
• Partner wants to get MBA here
• Close to Red River Gorge (for rock climbing)

Cons

• 45 mins from family and I dont know anyone else going here
• Parking/Housing will be more difficult
• Will have to join new research lab
• Could be distracting from classes/rotations by living in new city
• Not as diverse class or patient population

Summary: Louisville is childhood home, but I feel UKCOM may have the slightly better program. Many of my freinds from UG chose ULSOM, but I cant tell if that was just to stay close to home or because Louisville has a better medical program. I would love any advice on how to approach this decision! Thank you for reading this far 🙂

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[chilly_md]

P/F is nice and if you’re 45 minutes away, you could visit family on the weekends. You will be busy during the weekdays anyhow.

If you do have multiple friends entering ULSOM at the same time as you, that would likely be helpful though. It depends how close you are to them too, especially if they are further ahead as you often won’t see 3rd years much when they’re on rotations/clerkships.

 

[SuperSally]

I don't know much about either school, but the "prestige" of both schools from an out-of-state perspective is the same. I would choose UKCOM for the P/F and the superior basketball program. 45 minutes is still close to family and honestly, it might be good to not have the distractions of being too close to family.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Which city is more fun and which will be cheaper after merit/need based. Those should be your two concerns. Prestige isn’t a factor as both are equal

 

[MDbecomesMD]

trying to make the same decision except I was accepted into UK-BG. Currently just trying to patiently wait on financial aid packages.

 

[RockClimberMed]

This is such a hard choice ahhh!!! Does anyone have first-hand experience at these schools?

 

[MDbecomesMD]

For me personally, after multiple visits to each campus, there is a clear winner in my mind.... UK. It will be cheaper for me, the Bowling Green campus is brand new (5 yrs) and beautiful. The curriculum is pass/fail. And the culture is just much more aligned with my wants/needs. I was not a fan of the Lousiville campus or location. The parking deck is like a mile from the campus in an unsafe area. The classrooms and buildings are old and in need of care. (I know you are more knowledgeable in this realm since you did your Masters there, so you may disagree and thats okay!) It's just not the school for me. As a family oriented non-trad, I'll be happier at UK.

 

[MDbecomesMD]

@RockClimberMed what did you choose?

 

[RockClimberMed]

GO CATS!!