Univ. Oklahoma COM vs UTHSCSA (Long)

[pangolin25]

I am trying to decide between attending OUHSC and UTHSCSA in the coming months and am having difficulty coming to a conclusion. I am technically out-of-state for both schools, but am currently am located in Oklahoma, and relocating to the OUHSC campus will be largely effortless.

Cost: I have received in-state tuition and considerable scholarships from OU and in-state tuition from Long, bringing the total four-year direct COA to be roughly $60–70k (OU) vs $80–90k (Long). I have a living situation established on-campus at OU. Living in SA is very close to the school and costs roughly 25-30% more.

Location: While I dislike cities, both schools are located in places that are not overwhelmingly urbanized. Moving to San Antonio will be an inconvenience, but I think either location will be acceptable for long-term living. I have no family or serious connections to either city.

Preclinical grades: OU uses S/U with internal %-based ranking; Long uses Honors/High Pass/Pass/Fail. The stratified grading at Long has been listed as a con by many posts I found on this subforum involving Long, but the students and faculty at Long seem to suggest that nobody at the school is particularly stressed about this. It is also said that Honors/High Pass may help compensate for P/F Step 1.

Student atmosphere: I think Long possesses an advantage in this area. The incoming class already appears considerably more sociable than that of OU, and the current students seem to pride themselves on the highly collaborative and supportive atmosphere. It also seems likely that more students will be attending Long from outside San Antonio than students attending OUHSC from outside Oklahoma City, which I find beneficial for finding new friends. The students at OU do not seem to be necessarily competitive, but also do not seem as close. Posts on this subforum seem to consistently highlight Long's culture/mental health.

Career impact: Both schools are mid-tier medical schools and I cannot figure out which one is more advantageous to attend. I figure this consideration is more important now with Pass/Fail Step 1. @Eurycea made a post suggesting the benefits of Long's more clinical-focused curriculum in light of Step 1 changes. I am interested in IM (cardio) and not very interested in primary care, but want to leave doors open. To this end, I cannot seem to draw any meaningful conclusions from comparing historic match results (e.g. here and here). I have heard that OU COM has attractive ophthalmology programs at home, which I do not know much about at this stage. I would certainly not mind matching in Texas, which Long's match list suggests is very consistently achieved. I would guess that Long is the more well-known/respected of the two schools. Feedback from those more informed on this matter would be most appreciated, as I feel fairly oblivious.

Please let me know if you have any thoughts; any advice would be quite appreciated.

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[Eurycea]

It's pretty fortuitous that you tagged me here- these are actually the two schools I was ultimately deciding between! Obviously I picked Long, and 4 years on the other side of that decision I'm very happy with my choice. Before I launch into details, I'll just say that I still think anyone facing a similar situation who chooses OU is not making a mistake- these are both great schools (and remarkably similar) that will get you where you need to go.

Cost: No comment there if you've gotten pretty meaty scholarships from OU. The COL in SA is very very low- not lower than OK in general, but lower than urban OKC.

Location: Having spent a fair amount of time in both cities, I'd be happy to live in OKC but would prefer SA. The medical center's location in SA is almost more suburban- you don't really feel like you're living in a big city, for what it's worth. SA definitely feels like more of a unique city with its own identity and culture.

Preclinical grades: You pretty much said it- either way residency programs are going to see roughly where you ranked. If you know you're going to work hard, really think about going to the place that will allow you to stand out more. While on the subject of preclinical curricula, the two are very similar in that they're systems based and somewhat recently updated- I would still give the edge to Long because of the huge gap between MS2 and MS3 that I don't think OU has.

Clinical years: OU has some more elective time, but it's easy to build that in at Long if you do an early rotation in that gap I was talking about. The clinical sites are going to be great in both, with a huge catchment area serving both rural and urban communities. I liked Long's a little more as it seemed like a bigger hospital system with a huge VA as well as the local military hospital to also rotate through.

Student atmosphere: I think it's great at both, but this is really something Long prides itself on, like you said. They're proud of that reputation for friendliness.

Career impact: I think it's important not to put too much weight in this category, as YOU will have a much bigger impact on your career that your school, and both of these schools are really solid mid-tier options. That said, Long is typically ranked higher, and that does seem to more or less play out in the match list every year. You make a good point about matching in Texas- for OU you really only have ties to OU and OSU (and some regional connections). The pipeline from every TX medical school (outside of the new ones popping up) to every TX residency is very solid. If you see yourself in TX, go to a TX med school if you can. Finally, Long has more residency programs than OU. This isn't a big deal to everyone, but if you're undecided, it could make a world of difference. I don't think I'd be going into the specialty I'm going into if I had gone to OU- they simply don't have good exposure to it there.

So due to those reasons and a few others, I wound up choosing Long. I think it was the right choice- but (just to muddy the waters a little more) I think if I had chosen OU I'd still be really satisfied.