UPenn vs. Stanford

[Chimborazo123]

Hey guys! I'm in the fortunate yet difficult position of choosing between two great schools. I've always loved reading the advice posted here, so maybe you can help me out. I haven't received fin aid packages yet, so let's assume equal COA.

Stanford

Pros
• Small class size
• Excellent research opportunities
• Lots of flexibility
• Nice weather

Cons
• High cost of living
• Not so strong in clinical education (please correct me if ImI wrong)
• Family's on the east coast
• Match list not as strong???

UPenn

Pros
• Fantastic clinical education
• Step 1 after clinical year (I've heard that this is a plus, unanimously)
• Reasonable cost of living for a city
• Family is up north, but still closer than California.

Cons
• Stressed students? (Please correct me if I'm wrong—I didn't have much of a chance to talk with students on the interview day)
• Winter (I don't mind so much, but my SO has never experienced snow)
• Somewhat large class size.

Summary
two equally great schools in two disparate locations. Family's close-ish to Penn. Thanks for your help!

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[965978]

Don't worry about Stanford's quality of education or match list.

Both have phenomenal research.

So it's really about weather, location, and class size.

So what's most important to you among these three things?

 

[meronebib]

You will match fine from either one (seriously, these are both T10 schools). Pick based on price, location, etc. I would pick Stanford in a heartbeat.

 

[skk_]

Current Stanford student, from Philadelphia, turned down acceptance at Penn to come here. Like I said in another similar thread, i'm heavily biased in favor of my school (I'm super super happy here), so I'm not going to try to convince you one way or the other. This said, to add some perhaps useful information to several of the points in your post:

• (At Penn) Step 1 after clinical year (I've heard that this is a plus, unanimously)

You can choose when you want to take Step 1 at Stanford. This can mean right after finishing the pre-clinical curriculum, after a research year, after taking 1-2 clerkships, after completing all core clerkships etc., its your choice. Whenever you decide to take it, you'll get 8 weeks of dedicated time off to prep. The flexibility (alongside crazy research opportunities) here is no joke.

• (At Stanford) High cost of living

For what its worth.... I pay significantly less in housing here than I paid when I was living in Philly, since Stanford subsidizes housing costs by over 50%, both for on campus and off campus options. MedScholars and TA funding (which i'm sure you heard a lot about on interview day) on top of this is also substantial - I ended up with $15,000+ in tuition remittance from those sources during MS1 alone.

• (At Stanford) Not so strong in clinical education (please correct me if ImI wrong)

I personally would disagree, and pretty strongly feel that the level of clinical training you get here is as strong as at any of our peer institutions. In general, the quality of education you get at any top tier school is going to be basically a wash no matter where you go, so I wouldn't hinge your decision one way or the other on this - you're going to get a great education at either school.

• (At Stanford) Match list not as strong???

My understanding was that last year 100% of our graduating class matched to their specialty of choice, with 75% of the class matching into their #1 ranked program in that specialty. This wasn't due to aiming low either - the top three destinations were to a Stanford-affiliated residency program (~25% of the graduating class), Harvard-affiliated residency program (~25% of the graduating class), or UCSF-affiliated residency program (~15% of the graduating class). Historically, no one here has had issues matching into their specialty of choice if that's your concern, including in years where >25% of the class has matched exclusively into ortho, derm, or neurosurg.