UNC or Emory?

[craustin]

I was wondering what everyone's opinion is when deciding between Emory and UNC. I'm a resident of NC, and also am a current senior at UNC. I love it here, but I can't help but think that Atlanta would be a great change of scenery and a fun place to live. Emory also has an awesome medical school, but it's about twice as expensive as UNC, which I find very hard to justify.

Right now I'm leaning toward UNC because of the financial difference, and I do think I would be happy here since I had a good time at UNC's Second Look, in addition to having strong ties to the local area and people.

Any other items that y'all think I should take into consideration when making my decision?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[fastnfurious]

I was wondering what everyone's opinion is when deciding between Emory and UNC. I'm a resident of NC, and also am a current senior at UNC. I love it here, but I can't help but think that Atlanta would be a great change of scenery and a fun place to live. Emory also has an awesome medical school, but it's about twice as expensive as UNC, which I find very hard to justify.

Right now I'm leaning toward UNC because of the financial difference, and I do think I would be happy here since I had a good time at UNC's Second Look, in addition to having strong ties to the local area and people.

Any other items that y'all think I should take into consideration when making my decision?

You need to figure out which school you belong at. If you feel like the atmosphere is better at UNC, then go there. If it's better at emory, then you might want to consider it as an option. There both reputable schools so that should not be a concern....Also, look into financial aid at emory - since they are private that might be willing to offer students grants, scholarships, etc.

 

[specter]

seems like UNC is the obvious choice...cheaper and equally reputable. If you want to experience life somewhere else, there's always residency.

 

[justinbaily]

I agree with specter. If you are fortunate enough to be IS at one of the top ten public medical schools, then I can't really imagine turning one of them down unless you were going to be especially unhappy there. Unfortunately, that's not something that we can decide for you. I would look at UNC as equal to Emory plus a 30k+ scholarship. I personally think that, if you choose UNC, you will look back in 20 years and be thankful that you saved an enormous amount of money while simultaneously going to a school with an identical reputation as Emory. For what it's worth, according to USNEWS Emory and UNC have the same residency director assesment scores, and maybe the same peer assesment scores as well.

Let us know what you decide and good luck!

Edit: UNC is 0.2 higher for peer assessment. Again, shouldn't figure too highly into your decision, but it's not as though you would be settling for a lesser school if you chose UNC.

 

[craustin]

Thanks everyone,

Hopefully I'll get my financial aid packages to help with the breakdown of costs, but it's looking like UNC right now since it's too good of a deal to turn down. I'm headed down for Emory's second look in about a week so I guess I can talk to someone in the financial aid office when I'm in town, and see where everything stands after that.

 

[millepora]

The one selling point I really liked with Emory (but unfortunately was rejected from them earlier in the cycle) was that it had the 1.5 years of academics, which I really fell in love with at the schools who had it. You take your boards like Jan/Feb, so you don't lose as much knowledge from 1st year (due to the truncated time period), and you can move on to clinical rotations at the start of the spring (with boards already done). They also give you roughly six months of "discovery" phase, which you can pursue your own independent project. For me, I would have liked the time to concentrate on research.

 

[Steeler7588]

Yeah, the 1.5 pre-clinicals was a big selling point for me as well. If the Discovery project didn't appeal to you at all, though, the cheap price of UNC would be hard to pass up.

 

[craustin]

Well I did really like how their curriculum was laid out with the 1.5 years, and then a Discovery Phase, but I'm not sure exactly what I would want to do with the discovery period.

Ironically Emory sent me their financial aid package today. It looks like they gave me a $13,000 scholarship and approved me for $8,500 in subsidized loans. Not really enough to offset their $42,000 tuition compared to UNC's $13,600 though, and I haven't heard anything back from UNC's financial aid office yet.