UMich (full tuition) vs Kaiser

[madameprestomed]

Hi! Deciding between UMich and Kaiser. Here are pros and cons:

University of Michigan
Pros:

• Full tuition Scholarship
• Very reputable school, many matches into surgery and several into neurosurgery (my specialty of interest, subject to change)
• Favorite interview day
  • Students seemed real and genuine, big on community
  • Caring staff, Amazing resources
• Pre-clinical pass fail, and it’s 1 year
• Flexible quizzing with two chances
• 6 weeks break between M1 and M2
• Flexibility in M3 and M4 year for research, more clinical experiences, exploring specialities etc
• Huge hospital system, so diverse cases
• strong match list
• 8 hour drive to family, 2 hour flight
• Large class size

Cons:

• Location → cold, middle of nowhere, scared of feeling isolated/bored
• Not a very diverse class or area and you have to drive to other towns (Flint, Detroit, Ypsilanti) to interact with more diverse patient populations.
• Heavily recommended to have a car
• Graded clinicals
• Stressful M2 year
• Difficult to find housing, and its expensive
• I will graduate with debt. I was given really generous aid but I would have to take at least ~40k in loans every year to make up for the rest of living costs, so I would come out with ~160k in debt.

Kaiser
Pros:

• Completely free
• Love the idea of living in Los Angeles County → cute town of Pasadena
• Lots of free perks (UWorld, Sketchy, Pathoma, AMBOSS for studying STEP)
• Innovative curriculum with wellness days built in
• Diverse class of students
• Don’t need a car
• Exams are recycled STEP questions
• On rotations within first two weeks of classes
• No lecture setting, mostly case-based learning

Cons:

• New class, no match data available
• No cadavers
• Across the country from family/friends
• Not close to any hospitals, concern for seeing real life cases
• Not as many students/student orgs
• Seems to be a focus on primary care, but I’m interested in more competitive specialties

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[NotReal234]

I would recommend UMich. I also got into Kaiser, but I am choosing a different program. They are being pretty guarded with the match data, and in your case for Neurosurgery they don’t have a home residency which could make it difficult to match. I have also personally found a hard time getting a hold of people to answer questions, which I don’t think is a good sign for a school I was considering.

UMich is a reputable program and will set you up great. Kaiser is enticing, but somewhat of a big risk.

Just my opinion.

 

[Opuntia]

Hi! I have a similar decision (I'm between UChicago (full tuition) and Kaiser). Feel free to DM me if you wanna talk things through. I'm leaning slightly toward Kaiser, but I'm still completely undecided. Have you been able to chat with anybody who is trying to apply to NSGY? I heard that a few of the M4s took a research year, so they'll be applying to residency now, and I'm sure you could ask admissions to get you in touch with someone who is pursuing a specialty that you are interested in!

 

[Opuntia]

I would recommend UMich. I also got into Kaiser, but I am choosing a different program. They are being pretty guarded with the match data, and in your case for Neurosurgery they don’t have a home residency which could make it difficult to match. I have also personally found a hard time getting a hold of people to answer questions, which I don’t think is a good sign for a school I was considering.

UMich is a reputable program and will set you up great. Kaiser is enticing, but somewhat of a big risk.

Just my opinion.

You think they're being guarded with their match data? I was shown the full list during SLW and was really impressed. Also, they just posted all the match info online. 2024 Match Results | Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine

Maybe it has just been my experience, but I've had 0 issues at all getting ahold of students to chat with. I think that they have spoken really candidly about their experience (both the good and the bad), and all have said they are incredibly happy they chose Kaiser. They've actually been the most open of all the schools I have been considering. Sorry to hear, but I'm sure your other option is absolutely amazing!!