USC or Pitt students:

[FamousPotatoes]

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I hate to be that obnoxious pre-med, but I've got a decision on where to attend coming up and was hoping to get some student input to help me decide between USC and Pitt.

I lived in LA for 10 years and I've spent a ton of time there since, so I know exactly what I like and don't like about it. I like Pittsburgh well enough, but I'm a westerner who has been stranded back east for 8 years and I think I'd be happier in LA. But Pitt's definitely got the edge on prestige and reputation, and I'm going to med school for an education, not 4 years of fun. When I visited both schools, everyone absolutely loved their school, which is great but didn't help my decision.

So for you Keck students:
Would I have enough free time to actually enjoy having non-medical friends around or hang out at the beach?
I've heard that the morning traffic on the 10 is bearable and living in Santa Monica is a viable option. Any of you actually do the commute, or does everyone really live in S Pasadena?
As a medical student do you really gain a lot from being at LA County? Or do you not get to see/do enough to really take advantage of its size/diversity?
What was up with so many people matching into radiology last year?
Are med students seeing any benefit from the money being dumped into those new research facilities?

And for the Panthers out there:
UPMC is known for being a spectacular hospital, but does that mean that they have enough doctors that med students don't get to do all that much?
Does all that NIH money translate into better teachers or does it just mean faculty that are great researchers?
I hate the Steelers, a lot. Will this be a problem?

Any other thoughts are welcome too. Thanks so much for helping me out.

 

[DoctorPLASTIC]

I hate to be that obnoxious pre-med, but I've got a decision on where to attend coming up and was hoping to get some student input to help me decide between USC and Pitt.

I lived in LA for 10 years and I've spent a ton of time there since, so I know exactly what I like and don't like about it. I like Pittsburgh well enough, but I'm a westerner who has been stranded back east for 8 years and I think I'd be happier in LA. But Pitt's definitely got the edge on prestige and reputation, and I'm going to med school for an education, not 4 years of fun. When I visited both schools, everyone absolutely loved their school, which is great but didn't help my decision.

So for you Keck students:
Would I have enough free time to actually enjoy having non-medical friends around or hang out at the beach?
I've heard that the morning traffic on the 10 is bearable and living in Santa Monica is a viable option. Any of you actually do the commute, or does everyone really live in S Pasadena?
As a medical student do you really gain a lot from being at LA County? Or do you not get to see/do enough to really take advantage of its size/diversity?
What was up with so many people match into radiology last year?
Are med students seeing any benefit from the money being dumped into those new research facilities?

And for the Panthers out there:
UPMC is known for being a spectacular hospital, but does that mean that they have enough doctors that med students don't get to do all that much?
Does all that NIH money translate into better teachers or does it just mean faculty that are great researchers?
I hate the Steelers, a lot. Will this be a problem?

Any other thoughts are welcome too. Thanks so much for helping me out.

I want to know too!

 

[indiamacbean]

Can only speak about Pitt from a 4th year perspective. I just matched at UCSF for residency and I think that coming from Pitt was a pretty solid advantage. Everyone loves the Steelers even people that don't like football. The town stops during steelers games. I didn't give a crap about the steelers but you will whether you like it or not by the time you leave. As to teaching, I think that Pitt is one of the limited number of good schools that PAYS people to teach medical students. ask around during your interviews. I thought my clinical experiences were amazing and my 2nd year teaching was great for the most part. 1st year was hard and involved a lot of small details but I think that is true of everywhere. I don't know much about USC hospital system other than I think that many of your rotations will be at underfunded county hospitals. The advantage of this is that you will see some crazy pathology probably at the expense of some scut/BS. UPMC is a monster. It is constantly expanding and at this point has something like 20+ hospitals in it. I have rotated at 7 hospitals by choice and enjoyed working at tertiary care, private, VA, childrens, womens hospitals. For the most part the ancillary services are great. I have never had to do a blood draw I didn't want to do, never pushed a patient to radiology, never really been scutted out by a resident. I think the clinical training here is amazing and the focus is on education rather than another warm body to get work done. The teaching is great. My feeling is pick where you think you will be happiest whether this is location, patient population, friends and family, prestige, whatever and then just go there. med schools are more the same than different. If you really really love the ocean like you need to be in the water surfing regularly, don't come to Pitt. there are a couple of kids in each class who are addicted to the water and the mon river just doesn't do it.

 

[Arsenic]

moving from allo to pre-allo

 

[BOOURNS]

usc is laid back

Most people live in s.pas/pas/alhambra/etc. Some live on the westside/santamonica/even s.bay. I am 2nd year; 1st 2 years have been quite easy for me. Plenty of spare time, to goof off, be a bum, have fun, whatever. If you like LA, keck is the place to be (ok, maybe UCLA)