Hi there I've been reading these forums for months but need some serious advice here and I'm wondering if you can please help this lurker out 
I'm very lucky to have gotten into a couple of schools and I have narrowed it down to two: USC and NOVA. I'm OOS for both, interested in OMFS or ortho.
Total cost of attendance including all fees and living expenses: $365,114 for NOVA, $426,523 for USC. Difference of $61,409 which I guess will be $120,000 after interest.
NOVA pros: less expensive, a little closer to home, nicer facilities, somewhat friendlier atmosphere, can get better apartment closer to school, the area near the school is fairly nice and suburban.
NOVA cons: not as much name recognition which I suppose is important in specializing (I want to do OMFS). It's been a long time since I've interviewed there but I don't recall anything "special" to the curriculum, ie, no PBL, block scheduling. Also you have to do some community service project which I'm not really excited about. I heard about some problems getting patients in years past but it seems to have been resolved.
USC pros: more prestigious name, probably easier to get into OMFS coming out of USC. I like PBL and frankly I learn better and more efficiently teaching myself. More research opportunities. More free time (1 free day per week). Los Angeles is awesome but expensive. And no, USC is NOT in the ghetto ! The area is fine, and this is coming from a guy who lives in a good suburb.
USC cons: more expensive, more cutthroat and competitive atmosphere because the grading system is GPA based, facilities are old, tough to get good housing close to school for a decent price. Also I was not really impressed during the interview, no faculty came to talk to us and we got really cheap cardboard portfolios.
Can anyone think of any more pros and cons I overlooked ? Honestly if they were the same price I would go to USC mostly for the name and living in LA but is it really worth the extra 60K (120K with interest) ??? I don't plan on doing military and I already have 40K in undergrad debt.
Thanks.
I'm very lucky to have gotten into a couple of schools and I have narrowed it down to two: USC and NOVA. I'm OOS for both, interested in OMFS or ortho.Total cost of attendance including all fees and living expenses: $365,114 for NOVA, $426,523 for USC. Difference of $61,409 which I guess will be $120,000 after interest.
NOVA pros: less expensive, a little closer to home, nicer facilities, somewhat friendlier atmosphere, can get better apartment closer to school, the area near the school is fairly nice and suburban.
NOVA cons: not as much name recognition which I suppose is important in specializing (I want to do OMFS). It's been a long time since I've interviewed there but I don't recall anything "special" to the curriculum, ie, no PBL, block scheduling. Also you have to do some community service project which I'm not really excited about. I heard about some problems getting patients in years past but it seems to have been resolved.
USC pros: more prestigious name, probably easier to get into OMFS coming out of USC. I like PBL and frankly I learn better and more efficiently teaching myself. More research opportunities. More free time (1 free day per week). Los Angeles is awesome but expensive. And no, USC is NOT in the ghetto ! The area is fine, and this is coming from a guy who lives in a good suburb.
USC cons: more expensive, more cutthroat and competitive atmosphere because the grading system is GPA based, facilities are old, tough to get good housing close to school for a decent price. Also I was not really impressed during the interview, no faculty came to talk to us and we got really cheap cardboard portfolios.
Can anyone think of any more pros and cons I overlooked ? Honestly if they were the same price I would go to USC mostly for the name and living in LA but is it really worth the extra 60K (120K with interest) ??? I don't plan on doing military and I already have 40K in undergrad debt.
Thanks.
