USC (Keck) vs. Yale vs. Mayo [Arizona]

[BigOldChungus]

Overview: SoCal native potentially interested in diagnostic radiology/ophthalmology, hoping to match back to SoCal for residency and eventually practice here

USC (Keck) [75K/year COA]
Pros:

• No housing costs, will be commuting from home
• Full support system (parents, relatives, friends from HS/UG, current MS1/2s at Keck)
• Full familiarity (have lived in SoCal for practically my whole life, went to USC for UG as well)
• Easier match into CA residency?
• Excellent clinical training sites (Keck, LA General, CHLA)
• Awesome weather
• Overall, it seems like the path of least resistance if I want to eventually practice here

Cons:

• Limited opportunities for exploration/personal growth
• May be harder to match into competitive specialties like ophtho w/ Keck name, especially within CA

Yale [115K/year]
Pros:

• Love the Yale System
• Faculty & students seemed very supportive and chill
• May be easier to match into competitive specialties w/ Yale name
• Greater opportunities to branch out into healthcare-adjacent fields if I desire
• Explore a new area & meet new folks

Cons:

• Very expensive option
• Harder to match back to CA?
• Limited support system (no relatives nearby, friends in NYC med schools)
• Not familiar with East Coast
• Not acclimated to cold weather
• Have heard that New Haven location is not ideal
• Difficult commute (have to fly to NYC or Hartford & then Amtrak)
• May not have time to visit family

Mayo (Arizona) [55K/year, ~70% tuition scholarship]

Pros:

• Scholarship is sweet (cheapest option)
• Faculty & students were very kind and supportive
• Will be somewhat close to home (1 hr flights)
• Have the flexibility to rotate at Rochester campus
• Excellent clinical training
• Have been to Phoenix several times & enjoyed the weather/atmosphere
• Small class size (~45)

Cons:

• Match list is ambiguous for AZ campus
• Harder to match back to CA?
• Limited support system (no relatives/friends nearby)
• Heat is pretty brutal for ~3 months

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[Frog333]

Disclaimer: I'm on the Yale wait-list.
If Yale doesn't give you a good financial aid offer, I would go with the cheapest option that's closest to home and the region you want to match into. 460k in loans is no joke especially with interest rates this high. From what you're describing you seem to really like USC Keck. Matching into competitive specialities from a school like Keck is more about the effort you put in rather than the school itself.

 

[Mr. Macrophage]

I would absolutely go with Mayo here. Match list is very strong, and this year there were tons of California matches across the board from both AZ and MN! There were 12 California matches from AZ and 10 from MN.

It’s also the cheapest option by a good margin, is far more insulated from the current administration targeting institutions, and has an incredible class size that will allow you to get much more individualized attention than elsewhere.

Keck has AOA and internal ranking which makes it a much more competitive atmosphere. USC in general is also currently suffering from multiple lawsuits that will deplete funds:
1: FAQ Regarding George Tyndall Global Settlement in State Court – Commitment to Change
2: Students Score a Victory Against USC as Court Gives Approval for Discovery in Class Action Lawsuit to Move Forward — Project on Predatory Student Lending
3: Cook v. University of Southern California

Mayo is also Mayo—everyone and their mother knows the name (same with Yale but with that cost it shouldn’t even be a consideration). As the legendary toastedbutter said on my own X vs. Y: “ Mayo residencies are top tier nearly all the way across the board meaning the people you do research with, rotate with, and interact with are more renowned in their field, may have more research funding and connections to editors in journals/conference organizers, and more weight/pull when they pick up the phone in 2028 fall to call program directors on your behalf. If you want to go into private practice, saying you are Mayo-trained will carry more weight with the layperson…. These are all minor points, but when push comes to shove these formalities are what add up.”

Congratulations on fantastic options!

 

[Brownies_15]

Coming from someone on the Mayo WL, mayo is the best way to go!!

Yale is simply too expensive in this case to justify the difference and Mayo will help you match in any speciality in any location. And given that this is the AZ campus, doing aways in SoCal, proximity, will help u match in Socal!!

Mayo also gives you a 2.5-3k stipend to do research at their other campuses and gives you Uworld (i think) so more ++ in that category

 

[Meloye]

Crawling out of my SDN hibernation to comment yay wow! I’ll just compare Keck and Mayo here, I don’t have much insight to add on Yale.

Either way, I think you’re facing a difficult decision given your circumstances. For some background, I’m originally from Arizona, and I attended undergraduate in Southern California as well, so I like to think I’m well positioned to speak about the differences between the two.

Regarding location/weather/travel/support system considerations, I cannot possibly emphasize enough how easy it is to get between PHX and ANY airport in the Socal area (LAX, SNA, LGB, BUR etc). On the airline I frequented, there were at a minimum 6-8 flights a day, and that’s just one airline. I’d imagine you can find a flight to and from Southern California with extreme ease. Flights averaged ~80-100 round trip if you booked in advance (admittedly can climb to 140-200 if you’re a last minute person). Even when I had family emergencies, I was able to book a flight, pack, board, land, and walk in the front door of my childhood home in a 3 hour time span. Drive is also 5.5 hours, which IMO is not bad, but different people have different levels of comfort with driving, so do what you want with that information. Very doable to go home for the weekend (or during those really fun selective weeks that Mayo has, where you could opt to take virtual selectives from your couch, or do activities in socal)!

That said, take everything said above with a grain of salt. I don’t think the main lens with which you should be evaluating a medical school is “ease of transport to hometown”, and it doesn’t appear that you do either, given the very existence of this post. I do think it’s a good practice to push yourself out of your comfort zone, especially with each passing year. While having a support system in medical school cannot be overstated, I don’t necessarily think that moving to Phoenix would rid you of that same support system you rely upon right now. You will inevitably meet new people at any location you end up at (even at Keck), and these types of fringe experiences will, as cheesy as it sounds, make you a better person and physician. Moving away from home was one of the best choices I made, and it has done nothing but strengthen my relationships with my parents and siblings. I’d encourage you to really consider this as an opportunity, not an obligation.

With past experiences in southern California, I doubt you’ll have issues matching back to USC (or southern California in general), and you already have some of the connections to facilitate this path. I’d echo what Mr. Macrophage said about match outcomes from the Arizona Campus, especially regarding CA matches. While we’re at it, Keck’s internal rank and AOA is certainly also of note. Aiming for Ophtho or DR/IR from Mayo is a shoe-in, especially at academic centers.

I’d be happy to talk more about other things mentioned in the post (Arizona heat, COL in the two locations, general culture differences, degenerative behavior regarding match list comparisons, etc), but I want to save you and others the time spent reading a small novel written on an online forum. Feel freeeee to reach outttttt.

 

[misanthropeGalore]

I would say go to Mayo (AZ) in this case. It's the cheapest option, and they do match frequently back into California, which is closer to home.

 

[HobbyDoctor]

Don’t live the same year 75 times and call it a life 🙂

Moving away from what you know can be scary, but Yale is amazing and Mayo, at least from the pros and cons you describe, seems like the perfect in between.

Choose where you think you’ll be happiest, but know that you’ll be amazing and end up where you need to be no matter where you go. Congrats on the great options!

 

[Dragonite7]

Mayo is also Mayo—everyone and their mother knows the name (same with Yale but with that cost it shouldn’t even be a consideration). As the legendary toastedbutter said on my own X vs. Y: “ Mayo residencies are top tier nearly all the way across the board meaning the people you do research with, rotate with, and interact with are more renowned in their field, may have more research funding and connections to editors in journals/conference organizers, and more weight/pull when they pick up the phone in 2028 fall to call program directors on your behalf. If you want to go into private practice, saying you are Mayo-trained will carry more weight with the layperson…. These are all minor points, but when push comes to shove these formalities are what add up.”

Congratulations on fantastic options!

This applies more to the Rochester campus than the AZ campus. The AZ campus is still a good school, but it definitely has less research funding and PDs do know the difference. The AZ match is noticeably worse than MN (OP, the real match list will be buried somewhere in the portal if it's like last year. The public one that is published on their website doesn't include everyone). That said, there are still great matches in there so I don't want to sound too harsh.

 

[Mr. Macrophage]

This applies more to the Rochester campus than the AZ campus. The AZ campus is still a good school, but it definitely has less research funding and PDs do know the difference. The AZ match is noticeably worse than MN (OP, the real match list will be buried somewhere in the portal if it's like last year. The public one that is published on their website doesn't include everyone). That said, there are still great matches in there so I don't want to sound too harsh.

I have both their 2024 and 2025 full match lists and they are very strong! AZ may be a bit worse than MN, but this year’s still has 2 plastics, 2 orthopedics, 2 urology, 1 ophthalmology, 1 ENT, 1 dermatology, and 1 neurosurgery from AZ alone, which is a fourth of the class in super competitive specialties. Many of the less competitive specialties were to very highly ranked locations as well, such as emergency medicine to Stanford and Vanderbilt and internal medicine to UCSF.

 

[misanthropeGalore]

I have both their 2024 and 2025 full match lists and they are very strong! AZ may be a bit worse than MN, but this year’s still has 2 plastics, 2 orthopedics, 2 urology, 1 ophthalmology, 1 ENT, 1 dermatology, and 1 neurosurgery from AZ alone, which is a fourth of the class in super competitive specialties. Many of the less competitive specialties were to very highly ranked locations as well, such as emergency medicine to Stanford and Vanderbilt and internal medicine to UCSF.

Hi Mr. Macrophage, would you mind DM-ing me the 2025 full match lists? I was only able to find a partial length list, and it would really help me in making my decision between mayo and baylor

 

[Mr. Macrophage]

Hi Mr. Macrophage, would you mind DM-ing me the 2025 full match lists? I was only able to find a partial length list, and it would really help me in making my decision between mayo and baylor

Sure thing!

 

[Mr. Macrophage]

Could you send my way too haha -- thank you in advance!

I am not able to DM you! You’ll have to DM me