University of Nebraska Medical Center VS Wayne State

[sooshigal]

UNMC

Pros

• Big scholarship and cheap rent so won’t need to take out loans
• Ranked higher but I feel like they’re both mid tier so I’m not sure if it matters
• Sweetest people ever
• True P/F
• Name recognition
• Very easy to get involved in research over long summers

Cons

• This one has nothing to really do with the school itself but Its in Omaha so there’s not much there, also not a lot of flights go to Omaha direct so it would be hard for me to fly home for shorter breaks (ie long weekends). The lack of anything out there and the gloomy weather also seems to affect me. Maybe I’ll be studying so much that I can stick it out?
• Mostly matches in Midwest to primary care+ very primary care focused. not sure if I want to do primary care

Wayne

Pros

• I’m also OOS here but I have 3 friends who go here which will help with transition
• I like the city of Detroit a lot, I was a lot happier with the area. I’m a city person for sure
• Matches pretty well into everything

Cons

• Not sure what my financial aid is so I’m not sure if I need a loan. I’m guessing I will tho
• My student and faculty interviewers were pretty harsh on me
• Less time for research and seems not as easy as UNMC to get and do
• Lower ranked than UNMC idk how much that matters
• Honors pass fail

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[parquetshorts]

Current student at UNMC who was also between these two last year. With the scholarship at UNMC, you'll be saving a ridiculous amount in loans. From what I remember, Wayne was pretty brutal for OOS tuition, so you may be looking at a difference of hundreds of thousands of dollars when it's all said and done. They're similarly ranked, so I think as far as residencies it's probably a wash. UNMC does have a lot of people that do primary care, but I think that's fairly self selecting tbh. A lot of folks are just interested in that here I suppose. That being said, tons of people are also shooting for more competitive specialties, and there's certainly no shortage of research here to get involved in. From my recollection at looking at past match lists, however, Wayne does tend to match students all over the country a little more than UNMC does. As far as night life, the med school is right next to Blackstone, one of the more popular bar areas in town for young folks! Winters here definitely suck, but they're honestly maybe a little less cold and snowy than Detroit would be. The summers here are definitely pretty hot and humid though which can be rough lol.

Anyways, rambling aside, Wayne is also a great school and I think the two are pretty similar as far as adequately preparing students for a medical career. If you're looking to save money, UNMC would be the smart choice, but Detroit is also an incredible city that is difficult to pass up! Congratulations and best of luck!

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

UNMC has a better reputation and will probably be cheaper. Go UNMC

 

[123OkayGoogle]

Nebraska

 

[effectedtag]

I would say Nebraska

 

[sooshigal]

UNMC has a better reputation and will probably be cheaper. Go UNMC

Thank you! If u don’t mind, could you tell me a little more about what you know about reputation? I just assumed they’re both solid mid tier schools, but I’d like to hopefully match on East or west coast

 

[sooshigal]

Current student at UNMC who was also between these two last year. With the scholarship at UNMC, you'll be saving a ridiculous amount in loans. From what I remember, Wayne was pretty brutal for OOS tuition, so you may be looking at a difference of hundreds of thousands of dollars when it's all said and done. They're similarly ranked, so I think as far as residencies it's probably a wash. UNMC does have a lot of people that do primary care, but I think that's fairly self selecting tbh. A lot of folks are just interested in that here I suppose. That being said, tons of people are also shooting for more competitive specialties, and there's certainly no shortage of research here to get involved in. From my recollection at looking at past match lists, however, Wayne does tend to match students all over the country a little more than UNMC does. As far as night life, the med school is right next to Blackstone, one of the more popular bar areas in town for young folks! Winters here definitely suck, but they're honestly maybe a little less cold and snowy than Detroit would be. The summers here are definitely pretty hot and humid though which can be rough lol.

Anyways, rambling aside, Wayne is also a great school and I think the two are pretty similar as far as adequately preparing students for a medical career. If you're looking to save money, UNMC would be the smart choice, but Detroit is also an incredible city that is difficult to pass up! Congratulations and best of luck!

Thank you for the thoughtful response! I am so grateful you reached out

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Nothing against Wayne as it is a good school but I do think that it tends to be perceived more as lower tier whereas UNMC is more firmly in the mid tier category. At least based on my impression. I interviewed and was rejected at UNMC. There seemed to be so many opportunities for research.

In other words, UNMC fits the mold of a traditional Big Ten research powerhouse a notch down from UM but in the same league as Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota. UNMC is the flagship in Nebraska whereas in Michigan it is obviously UM rather than Wayne

I do think that Wayne matched more on the coasts than UNMC but it’s probably just a function of more OOS students at Wayne.

 

[sooshigal]

Nothing against Wayne as it is a good school but I do think that it tends to be perceived more as lower tier whereas UNMC is more firmly in the mid tier category. At least based on my impression. I interviewed and was rejected at UNMC. There seemed to be so many opportunities for research.

In other words, UNMC fits the mold of a traditional Big Ten research powerhouse a notch down from UM but in the same league as Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota. UNMC is the flagship in Nebraska whereas in Michigan it is obviously UM rather than Wayne

I do think that Wayne matched more on the coasts than UNMC but it’s probably just a function of more OOS students at Wayne.

Thanks for the reply!! I appreciate your insight so much

 

[fewcherdoc]

Wayne is not “lower tier”. It’s firmly in the middle /upper-middle tier and very well established; in the heart of a vibrant city surrounded by some of the best hospitals in the state; an underserved population that provides unmatched clinical opportunities, imho; lots of research opportunities; home residencies in most competitive specialties; and a very strong match list. Congratuluations on your options—you won’t make a wrong decision, but don’t make it based on some “perceived” relative rank of the two schools that’s just not right.

 

[sooshigal]

Wayne is not “lower tier”. It’s firmly in the middle /upper-middle tier and very well established; in the heart of a vibrant city surrounded by some of the best hospitals in the state; an underserved population that provides unmatched clinical opportunities, imho; lots of research opportunities; home residencies in most competitive specialties; and a very strong match list. Congratuluations on your options—you won’t make a wrong decision, but don’t make it based on some “perceived” relative rank of the two schools that’s just not right.

all of the above make me super excited about my offer from Wayne!

 

[E1520]

all of the above make me super excited about my offer from Wayne!

Hey I find myself in a somewhat similar situation and would love to hear where you ended up.

 

[i-doctor]

I think it might help if you had a general idea of your future specialty. For example…in Ophthalmology (my field), Wayne State has a strong department and students there match very well, some even to top programs out East. UNMC, on the other hand, according to their match lists hasn’t had a single student match into Ophthalmology in the last 2 years. It’s unknown if anyone was interested or even tried. But they do match some students into ENT. And UNMC students match well for primary care.