UMN vs. UW Madison SMPH

[pinkducktape]

Hello!

I'm a non-traditional student (will be 30 when I matriculate) that just got accepted into UW-Madison and UMN Medical School. I got accepted into UW late in the cycle, and had been planning on going to UMN. I'm from WI originally, and currently live in Madison, where I've been working for the last 5 years. But, I did go to undergrad at UMN and still have friends in the area. I'm really torn between the two! Here's the stuff I'm thinking about, would love feedback on all of the below, or any other thoughts you have!:

School UMN
Pros

• Has the Center for the Art of Medicine-I'm really big into medical humanities and narrative medicine, and it seems there is a more developed program for this than at UW-Madison. I'm currently doing research with some UW Madison SMPH people though on narrative medicine topics, and they said they would be happy to keep working with me in medical school if I stay here.
• I really liked the admitted students events and meeting all of the faculty/staff from there, they were all very nice and welcoming

Cons

• More expensive as an OOO, but believe I'd be able to make this more comparable after my first year there.
• don't have an already established community (i have college friends there, but i've got a soccer team and friends here in Madison I've grown close to over the last 5 years).
• Farther from my partner, who will be going to Chicago Booth for business school for the next 2 years

School UW Madison
Pros

• Closer to my partner, also could do rotations in La Crosse, where I'm originally from, and save $ while spending time with family
• Like the earlier entrance into clinical experiences
• I work in one of the SMPH departments right now as a research coordinator, and already have some great connections to faculty who are really nice and have offered to continue doing the type of research with me that I want to do

Cons

• I've already been here 5 years, and I don't know if I want to stay in Madison forever--wondering if now is the time to do it.
• I have specific connections to people here in terms of possible mentors, but the school as a whole doesn't seem to have a ton of institutional support for med humanities/narrative medicine but would love to learn more about this if anyone has any advice/experience! Maybe I'm just not looking in the right place.
• Possibly less diverse??

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[Myxococcus-Xanthus]

This is from an unbelievably biased source (Badger undergrad and WI resident) but I'd probably go with UW on this one. At the end of the day the schools are fairly comparable and UW is cheaper and closer to your family and SO. Plus with your already established connections for research projects I think you'd be able to do some really cool things that'd set you up to match well. That said UMN is a great medical school and the Twin Cities are a fun place to live so I'm not sure you can make a bad choice here. Best of luck.