University of Washington vs. Georgetown vs. UCSD

[offbrandteas17]

UWSOM (Out-of-Region Applicant)

Pros

• Closer to family and partner in California (~12 hour drive, 2 hour flight)
• Love Seattle as a city and get to explore a new city/state
• T-20 school (#1 primary care, #7 research according to USN)
  • Placing more emphasis on this than I normally would with Step 1 becoming P/F
• Great research opportunities
• Better odds at matching back in CA than Georgetown (?)
• Unique opportunity to work with underserved communities throughout the WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho) region
• Really appreciate the transparency and communication from the school!
  • They offered me a practice interview with several med students given my disadvantaged status and also waived the secondary fee because of the pandemic
• Smaller class size (100 students at Seattle campus)
• P/F Preclinicals
• Heard students are very collaborative and supportive, really got that vibe from my practice interview and Second Look day

Cons

• Cost of attendance as out-of-region: ~ $100k+ per year
• Seasonal affective disorder in the PNW (but perhaps a tiny bit prepared having lived in very foggy regions of the Bay Area)
• Appears very family/internal medicine oriented but I seek to pursue a surgical specialty
• Graded Clerkships (Honors/High Pass/Pass/Fail) and AOA
• Least favorite interview experience

Georgetown

Pros

• Have not been to DC, but heard amazing things and will get to explore a new city/state
• Best interview experience with my one-on-one interviewer
• Good research opportunities (close to the NIH and also through campus)
• Great public policy involvement opportunities with a focus on social/health justice
• Name recognition: matches well despite lower rankings
• 1/3 of class URM!
• P/F Pre-clinicals

Cons

• Cost of attendance: ~ $100k+ per year
• Opposite coast of family and partner (~5 hour flight)
  • Cannot afford to visit as often
• Less prestige with lower US News/PD rankings (?) (#90 primary care, #56 research according to USN)
• Heard that the med school buildings are a bit rundown
• Bigger class size (203 students)
• Weather (strongly dislike hot and humid weather)
• Graded Clerkships (Honors/High Pass/Pass/Fail) and AOA

UCSD
*Waitlisted, waitlist is unranked, about 11% acceptance rate off waitlist last year
Not super hopeful...

Pros

• Closest to family and partner in California (8-9 hour drive, ~1 hr 30 min flight)
• Lower cost of attendance with in-state tuition: ~$60-70k on average per year
• T20 school (#32 primary care, #20 research), more name recognition than UW (?)
• Better odds at matching back in California (?)
• Smaller class size: ~135
• P/F Pre-clinicals and no AOA
• On-campus housing
• No seasonal affective disorder
• Ability to work with underserved populations both in San Diego and across the border

Cons

• Graded Clerkships H (honors); NH (near honors); P (pass); F (fail)
• No seasons
• Will not be able to explore a new state
• Personally always preferred San Francisco Bay Area over Southern California, so think Seattle might be a better fit given its similarities to NorCal
• Heard that students can be very competitive and kind of got that vibe during my interview
• There is a lot less transparency. Have heard that communication is an issue, especially with waitlisted applicants. The unranked waitlist also slightly rubs me the wrong way.

All located in cities with high cost of living.

Summary: UW feels like the best fit, but its CoA is comparable to Georgetown - those numbers make me very anxious. Not sure if I can qualify for Washington residency after a year. UCSD would be the cheapest, but not super hopeful about their waitlist movement. Georgetown would be furthest from home and I want to match back in the West Coast for residency, but could be a unique opportunity to explore the East Coast.

Thanks for your advice!

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[123OkayGoogle]

UCSD, UW, Georgetown in that order