Urgent Decision!! UVa vs UAB

[jessetig]

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i know i posted a poll about this a while back but i was hoping to hear peoples' thoughts. heres the deal: i feel that uva offers better teaching and prep for the boards and has a better match list (esp for surgery which i want to do). the admin is definitely more organized. however, i have been in cville for 4 years and am kind of sick of it. plus they send you to another location for half of your 3rd year clerkships. uab has amazing clinical training (tons of hospital and in a big city) and research opportunites and one can get in-state after one year. uva total tuition: ~160,000 uab: ~60,000 uab also has great opportunities for international health trips which i want to do during my time in med school. however, uab's level of teaching and organization is poor as many uab students have told me. any thoughts or opinions........??????

 

[Doctor&Geek]

i know i posted a poll about this a while back but i was hoping to hear peoples' thoughts. heres the deal: i feel that uva offers better teaching and prep for the boards and has a better match list (esp for surgery which i want to do). the admin is definitely more organized. however, i have been in cville for 4 years and am kind of sick of it. plus they send you to another location for half of your 3rd year clerkships. uab has amazing clinical training (tons of hospital and in a big city) and research opportunites and one can get in-state after one year. uva total tuition: ~160,000 uab: ~60,000 uab also has great opportunities for international health trips which i want to do during my time in med school. however, uab's level of teaching and organization is poor as many uab students have told me. any thoughts or opinions........??????

I don't know anything about Virginia, but I can almost guarantee that you will leave UAB well trained clinically. I'm uncertain from whom you heard that the administration is unorganized or that level of teaching is poor. Certainly things can be said about the first two years, but I've not heard anything but the best things about our 3rd and 4th year training here from both students and comments from residency directors. If you could clarify by the "level of teaching and organization", I might be able to answer some of your questions.

As for preparation for the boards, if you want to get a school offered board review course, that's fine, but I frankly think that Correlative Pathology that we finish on Friday is one of heck of a board review course.

Finally, as far as match list is concerned, I'm not certain you have any idea about the strength of our surgery program here, despite any match list reservations you might have. Kirby Bland runs a gigantic surgical enterprise here, and many of the members of the surgery team here, especially in vascular and transplant, are awesome here (Pacifico, Kirklin, Vickers, etc.). The match list at UAB may only "look" like its worse only because about 50% stay in Alabama, with most of the others staying in the Southeast. Your MGH or UCSF Surgery matches are few and far between only because people just don't want to go there, not because they can't match there. Again, if you're looking only at match lists to make a comparison between schools, I'd urge you to look at some of the other debates regarding match list ranking on this forum.

Some of these threads may also assist you: you don't have to take my word for it that UAB has a top-notch surgery department.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=31734
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=63696
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=77499

Best of luck on your decision; I don't think you can go wrong with either institution, but I'm not willing to see my school lose out on good applicants 😀.

Yours,

 

[jessetig]

thanks for the links JPaikman. any other thoughts?

 

[perambulate]

Sounds like you are in-state at UAB? Well, I am most likely headed to UVA (I'm in-state and absolutely love Charlottesville, just waiting to hear about financial aid from another school before deciding), but if you're looking at paying $100,000 more to go UVA, I would choose UAB. Both are good schools, and I don't think there is sufficient difference between the two schools to justify the extra $100K. It sounds like you're looking for a change, and the relative financial freedom (i.e., $100K less debt) post-graduation will reduces your stress level during internship and residency.

 

[VCMM414]

The match list at UAB may only "look" like its worse only because about 50% stay in Alabama, with most of the others staying in the Southeast. Your MGH or UCSF Surgery matches are few and far between only because people just don't want to go there, not because they can't match there.

This is perhaps the most sensible point yet made about matchlists. It's clear that many people on this forum argue the relative merits of different matchlists without realizing that not everyone (or even most people) wants to match at JHU or MGH. This is especially the case at many of the quality state schools (like OP's UAB and UVa) and private schools that has strong regional ties (eg. USC, Emory, Baylor etc.).

 

[seev99]

yo playa u should go to UVA cuz UVA is a more famous school in all areas; UAB is only known for its med school...plus UAB is not in a serene area like c-ville...but UAB does have a taco bell near campus...holla!

 

[Doctor&Geek]

yo playa u should go to UVA cuz UVA is a more famous school in all areas; UAB is only known for its med school...plus UAB is not in a serene area like c-ville...but UAB does have a taco bell near campus...holla!

That said, I will admit it, Virginia undergrad women are on the whole really high on the attractiveness scale.

Or is it that the grass is greener on the other side?

 

[jessetig]

yet there is something charming about a southern belle's sweet nature....

 

[celticmists18]

UAB is a great school and if you go there you will get a good education. My dad graduated from UAB and he matched at Stanford in peds. Granted that was a while ago, but the school had only gotten better since then

Its great to look at rankings and such but in the end and U.S. med school will prepare you for residency. If you do well and score well on your boards you can go anywhere you want . . . so don't base your decision soley on those factors. Good Luck!

 

[jessetig]

...plus UAB just gave me a small scholarship to make the decision even harder...

 

[jessetig]

any more thoughts??????????