UMASS vs TUFTS vs BROWN

[memberncc1701]

If you had an acceptance to all these schools which would you choose and why. Assume you won't be getting any significant financial aid. Thanks

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[pisadeliveryman]

Brown has very generous financial aid, so most people do get some sort of scholarship from them. I believe the average scholarship was a little over $25,000 last year and the average debt was like $130,000 (same as Umass' debt). I interviewed at Tufts (accepted) and Umass (waiting to hear) and my cousin is an M2 at brown. Tufts has the best location and offers the best research opportunities of the schools. BU is a 10-15 minute walk down Harrison Ave and Harvard is a few stop away on the green. Many student I talked to said they easily found great research opportunities at all three boston schools. The match list at Tufts is great. Pretty much everyone who wants to stay in boston does and they get a lot of competitive specialty matches. Obviously Tufts is a lot more expensive than Umass. I liked Tufts more than Umass but the price difference may be a little hard to pass up. However, Umass puts a huge emphasis on primary care and therefore there are less opportunities to do electives in the competitive specialties. Many of the students who do decide they want to do competitive specialties spend a 5th year at Umass, which means an extra $21,000+. Therefore the saving might not be so great. Plus, I think private medical schools can offer there student more opportunities since they are not affected by the budget cuts that will be taking place over the next few years. If you do get any money from brown I would probably go there. It is definitely viewed as an excellent school. They have awesome international opportunities, new school, great curriculum, and a small class size. There match list is great. Providence is a cool city and even though it's not better than Boston it's definitely better than Worcester.

 

[byaaaaaaah23]

I would go with Brown because Tufts' COA is ridiculous unless you are interested in primary care, in which case I would vote UMass because it's probably the least expensive of the three.

If you could tell us how much each costs that would be more helpful. I also think Providence >>> Worcester.

 

[pisadeliveryman]

If you come from a middle class person (50-80K) many of the private medical school like brown, cornell, harvard, sinai give need based scholarships which make the difference in coa between a state school and private minimal. sometimes the private school is the better deal. Umass, I don't believe offers really any need based scholarships.

 

[somefun]

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[pisadeliveryman]

Yeah, but Umass' COA is 43,000 and Brown's COA is 70,000. If he or she gets 20,000 in scholarship then the price difference isn't such a big deal.

 

[cookiemonsters]

However, Umass puts a huge emphasis on primary care and therefore there are less opportunities to do electives in the competitive specialties. Many of the students who do decide they want to do competitive specialties spend a 5th year at Umass, which means an extra $21,000+.

This pretty much cements the decision in my mind... Brown all the way.

 

[scotttrev]

I believe that the person who gave the curriculum presentation mentioned that quite a few students do a fifth year if they are interested in competitive sub-specialties. A fifth year was talked about in a positive way, which i didn't get since it's going to cost you another $40,000. so its definitely a cost that you may want to take into consideration if you are considering fields like ortho, urology, dermatology, etc.

 

[yehhhboiii]

Lol a fifth year probably means they didn't match and want to try again but without the disadvantage of not being a u.s. allopathic senior. Depending on the price, I would pick brown. If they don't give you anything, then umass. Tufts is just too expensive.