University of California Riverside vs University of Colorado Anschutz

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IEMD

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Hello, everyone. I feel super fortunate to have gotten two acceptances to medical school this year, to the University of California Riverside, and the University of Colorado Anschutz.
Since I am a southern California native, I thought going to UCR would be an easy decision if I were to get in. But after doing some research, I have started to consider Colorado more seriously. I am very torn, and would greatly appreciate any input that current medical students from anywhere would be able to give me. Here is a brief Pros & Cons list I have gathered. Please feel free to comment on whether you think any of these points are more/less important than others, important points I might have missed about either school, or general advice. Thank you so much!

UC Riverside

Pros:
- P/F Pre-Clinical Grading
- Close to home/friends/family
- In-State Tuition is HALF THE PRICE of CU!
- UC system funding and affiliation (possibly helpful for residency matches?)

Cons:
- Newer school with perhaps less resources
- Lower ranked/less prestigious?
- Less research funding and opportunities

CU Anschutz

Pros:
- P/F Pre-Clinical Grading
- Very well funded research labs
- Several Home Residency Programs including competitive ones like Plastic/Derm (possibly helpful for residency matches?)
- Higher ranked/more prestigious? (possibly also helpful for residency matches?)
- Close to Denver, with a seemingly nice mix of urban/outdoorsy culture

Cons:
- Again, DOUBLE the price
- Far from home/friends/family
- Apparently has an overwhelming amount of required in-person sessions (Reddit, 2021)

PS: reposted from the MD thread not knowing about this one. Discussion at the moment is whether or not Home Residency programs at CU provide a match advantage (for an extra $200k)

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CU is so ridiculously expensive for OOS students. I can't imagine paying that kind of money unless 1) it was my only option, or 2) money was really not a concern at all. Yeah, CU might provide more opportunity but the cost difference is too much IMO. Having family close by is a big plus too.
 
100% UCR. It’s half the cost of CU. I wouldn’t worry about opportunities related to research and speciality exposure with UCR. You still have Loma Linda close by and UCI an hour away. I’ve met UCR students who have networked with faculty at these institutions for research opportunities and have matched in surgical sub specialties.
 
Do you not think Colorado would give an advantage to competitive specialties compared to UCR (I’m considering dermatology)? I also calculated the total COA for both if I live on campus and realized it’s about a 100k difference after about 10 years of interest.

-CU on campus (~550k)
-UCR on campus (~450k)

-UCR living at home (~300k) (45 min. drive)

Does this information change anyone’s opinion? Thank you!
 
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I go to UCR for undergrad and know a decent amount about UCR's med school. Just know that they have a really specific mission of serving the underserved communities in the Inland Empire, and their student body really reflects that. The school pushes the students to match into primary care primarily, so if you have a competitive specialty in mind, you might have to do it kinda independently.
 
Do you not think Colorado would give an advantage to competitive specialties compared to UCR (I’m considering dermatology)? I also calculated the total COA for both if I live on campus and realized it’s about a 100k difference after about 10 years of interest.

-CU on campus (~550k)
-UCR on campus (~450k)

-UCR living at home (~300k) (45 min. drive)

Does this information change anyone’s opinion? Thank you!
Not really. You will have access to derm faculty, research and a home rotation but even those factors don’t outweigh a 100k difference. You can still network with surrounding institutions at UCR and perform a away rotation
 
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