UNMC vs VCU

[squarecat]

Hi everyone! I’m incredibly grateful to have been accepted to two medical schools, the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Virginia Commonwealth University. I would be considered out of state at both schools.

Both programs seem well respected & established, with similar opportunities for home residencies for the specialties I’m interested in (anesthesiology and radiology). I haven’t gotten any scholarship information for either school and haven’t formally visited the UNMC campus yet.

UNMC College of Medicine
Pros

• Enhanced Medical Education Tracks for research in an area I’m passionate about that will be included in the MSPE for residency applications
• COA ~ $68k/year
• I was born in Nebraska and have lots of family in Omaha and the surrounding area (parents both still live in Washington State)
• Slightly better ranked than VCU in research (58 vs 64) and significantly better ranked in primary care (8 vs 64)
• Pass/Fail classes (maintains percent grades to include in MSPE)

Cons

• Familiar city state - I really value experiencing new cultures and environments
• Match list is 50+% primary care. I expect this is somewhat self-selecting since majority of students are from Nebraska and wants to be rural PCPs in the state, and a good number of students still match into competitive specialties.

VCU School of Medicine
Pros

• Richmond is a new city, and would offer opportunities to explore the South/East Coast that I likely would not get otherwise
• True Pass/Fail (no info about percentage or rank included in MSPE)
• Med school & hospitals located close together so I would be able to walk to lectures and clinicals (haven’t visited UNMC yet, so could be a similar situation there)

Cons

• No family in the area except a great aunt and uncle that live in Blacksburg
• COA ~98k/year
• Don’t feel super comfortable in the city yet, but I imagine I would in time and this isn’t necessarily a reason I wouldn’t go to this school

Summary: Both UNMC and VCU are great medical schools, and I don’t think I can go wrong picking either one. UNMC is more familiar and I have lots of family nearby, and potentially would be $20k less per year depending on whether I get any scholarships. VCU is extremely well-established being one of the oldest medical schools in the country, and would give me exposure to a new culture and area of the US that I haven’t explored much which I welcome. I’m having lots of trouble deciding, so any input/advice you all have would be very much appreciated

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[parquetshorts]

I don't think you can really go wrong with either choice! Both are great schools and can get you to your final career goals. I think it really boils down to your personal preferences and career goals. Current student here at UNMC, and I will say that many students do primary care, but typically not as much rural primary care as people expect; probably 10-12 people in our class want to do rural FM, but the rest of the "primary care" group mostly falls in IM/Peds/Ob, which about 50% of our class does plan on applying. If you want to do something competitive, UNMC has most specialties and residencies in-house with plenty of research opportunities; however from what I understand I believe the same is true at VCU. If COA is important to you, you'd likely save a significant amount of loan money at UNMC, and if you went to high school in Neb then there's a very high chance you could get switched to in-state status. Even then, most students, even OOS, receive some sort of financial aid in forms of scholarships. At the end of the day, I'd explore differences in curriculum, grading, rotation schedule, and folks matching in your planned specialty to make a final decision, because otherwise the two schools will be very similar! I'd also recommend visiting both campuses and talking to students to get a better feel! Feel free to DM with any more questions if you have them

 

[squarecat]

I don't think you can really go wrong with either choice! Both are great schools and can get you to your final career goals. I think it really boils down to your personal preferences and career goals. Current student here at UNMC, and I will say that many students do primary care, but typically not as much rural primary care as people expect; probably 10-12 people in our class want to do rural FM, but the rest of the "primary care" group mostly falls in IM/Peds/Ob, which about 50% of our class does plan on applying. If you want to do something competitive, UNMC has most specialties and residencies in-house with plenty of research opportunities; however from what I understand I believe the same is true at VCU. If COA is important to you, you'd likely save a significant amount of loan money at UNMC, and if you went to high school in Neb then there's a very high chance you could get switched to in-state status. Even then, most students, even OOS, receive some sort of financial aid in forms of scholarships. At the end of the day, I'd explore differences in curriculum, grading, rotation schedule, and folks matching in your planned specialty to make a final decision, because otherwise the two schools will be very similar! I'd also recommend visiting both campuses and talking to students to get a better feel! Feel free to DM with any more questions if you have them

Hi! So sorry I didn’t respond to this sooner, I have been referencing it periodically over the last several weeks lol. Thank you so much for your thorough & thoughtful response, it has been incredibly helpful in helping me navigate this process - and I want to doubly thank you for taking the time to provide this guidance as a super busy medical student. I greatly appreciate it!! I’m still no closer to a decision haha, but this advice has definitely brought my attention to the factors I need to consider Thank you so so much!!

 

[squarecat]

I don't think you can really go wrong with either choice! Both are great schools and can get you to your final career goals. I think it really boils down to your personal preferences and career goals. Current student here at UNMC, and I will say that many students do primary care, but typically not as much rural primary care as people expect; probably 10-12 people in our class want to do rural FM, but the rest of the "primary care" group mostly falls in IM/Peds/Ob, which about 50% of our class does plan on applying. If you want to do something competitive, UNMC has most specialties and residencies in-house with plenty of research opportunities; however from what I understand I believe the same is true at VCU. If COA is important to you, you'd likely save a significant amount of loan money at UNMC, and if you went to high school in Neb then there's a very high chance you could get switched to in-state status. Even then, most students, even OOS, receive some sort of financial aid in forms of scholarships. At the end of the day, I'd explore differences in curriculum, grading, rotation schedule, and folks matching in your planned specialty to make a final decision, because otherwise the two schools will be very similar! I'd also recommend visiting both campuses and talking to students to get a better feel! Feel free to DM with any more questions if you have them

So I did think of another question - I visited UNMC on Friday and absolutely fell in love with the campus. I was fully convinced to go there at the end of the visit, then I checked my email and had received a substantial scholarship offer from VCU which will make that school cheaper by $150k at least. I have heard from other students that UNMC typically doesn’t start to distribute scholarships until June, but I did receive an email in Feb that said the scholarship committee would attempt to distribute scholarships by 4/15. Do you happen to know when UNMC has typically distributed scholarships in previous years, and if so, how much aid students typically receive? Just trying to decide if I even have a chance to coming close to what I will pay at VCU or knowing if I have any scholarships at UNMC by the end of April since I have to decide on a school by the end of the month.

 

[parquetshorts]

So I did think of another question - I visited UNMC on Friday and absolutely fell in love with the campus. I was fully convinced to go there at the end of the visit, then I checked my email and had received a substantial scholarship offer from VCU which will make that school cheaper by $150k at least. I have heard from other students that UNMC typically doesn’t start to distribute scholarships until June, but I did receive an email in Feb that said the scholarship committee would attempt to distribute scholarships by 4/15. Do you happen to know when UNMC has typically distributed scholarships in previous years, and if so, how much aid students typically receive? Just trying to decide if I even have a chance to coming close to what I will pay at VCU or knowing if I have any scholarships at UNMC by the end of April since I have to decide on a school by the end of the month.

It is true that the majority of scholarships tend to distribute in May/June. I’m really glad to hear that you enjoyed the campus!! It truly is a hidden gem. That being said, I tend to be one to err on the side of choosing the more affordable medical school, especially when of such equal caliber. I think it’s absolutely reasonable to contact UNMC’s financial aid office and explain your situation to see if they could potentially expedite things on the scholarship end. No guarantees of course, but worth a shot. As far as amount of scholarship money, it’s unfortunately impossible to know. It varies greatly by student and situation, and also unfortunately varies year to year. I do know that out of state students tend to get a little bit more aid.

 

[squarecat]

It is true that the majority of scholarships tend to distribute in May/June. I’m really glad to hear that you enjoyed the campus!! It truly is a hidden gem. That being said, I tend to be one to err on the side of choosing the more affordable medical school, especially when of such equal caliber. I think it’s absolutely reasonable to contact UNMC’s financial aid office and explain your situation to see if they could potentially expedite things on the scholarship end. No guarantees of course, but worth a shot. As far as amount of scholarship money, it’s unfortunately impossible to know. It varies greatly by student and situation, and also unfortunately varies year to year. I do know that out of state students tend to get a little bit more aid.

Thank you for the advice! I will go ahead and email financial aid to explain my situation. I really appreciate the guidance thanks again!