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Hey! I'm from Florida so some things to think about since you mentioned you're unsure what you're getting into at USF:
-Florida is overall very diverse, especially the central/south Florida area so I definitely wouldn't worry about that. I've lived in Florida since I've moved to the U.S. and have visited other places in the U.S. and I would definitely say Florida tends to be more diverse than most places. I'm willing to say the diversity is probably comparable to Boston/NYC in terms of different populations you'll get to see since we have tons of immigrant families (like mine), a wide variety of ages (since lots of people like to retire here), and a wide variety of socioeconomic groups varying from farmers in the more rural areas to celebrities who have vacation homes in Florida. Honestly idk how much any of that would even matter to you since you won't be doing your clinical training here.
-I would definitely put a lot of emphasis on the importance of the true P/F as I've heard from numerous students that it will drastically change your life in pre-clinical years in terms of stress. I was told "whatever you do, go to a P/F school" by most med students on the interview trail. Not sure where the USF system falls in that (obviously better than graded but arguably worse than a true P/F).
-I would talk to your friends at Tufts about why they don't seem fully satisfied there and see if USF has the same problems. From talking to friends who go to USF I know the traffic there is pretty horrendous and since they're in the process of building a new med building downtown, students are having to commute back and forth which is anywhere between a 30 minute drive and an hour drive depending on the time of the day/traffic. The select program of course has it's own advantages that may impact your residency application.
-I'd also take a look at the support system of the school when it comes time for step and factor that in. I've heard that was something students at USF were unhappy with but I don't go there so I obviously can't speak much to that. The residency director score difference is pretty big in my opinion and I think Tufts is much more known than USF in medicine for whatever that's worth.
Good luck! Sorry this turned into a wall of text lol
-Florida is overall very diverse, especially the central/south Florida area so I definitely wouldn't worry about that. I've lived in Florida since I've moved to the U.S. and have visited other places in the U.S. and I would definitely say Florida tends to be more diverse than most places. I'm willing to say the diversity is probably comparable to Boston/NYC in terms of different populations you'll get to see since we have tons of immigrant families (like mine), a wide variety of ages (since lots of people like to retire here), and a wide variety of socioeconomic groups varying from farmers in the more rural areas to celebrities who have vacation homes in Florida. Honestly idk how much any of that would even matter to you since you won't be doing your clinical training here.
-I would definitely put a lot of emphasis on the importance of the true P/F as I've heard from numerous students that it will drastically change your life in pre-clinical years in terms of stress. I was told "whatever you do, go to a P/F school" by most med students on the interview trail. Not sure where the USF system falls in that (obviously better than graded but arguably worse than a true P/F).
-I would talk to your friends at Tufts about why they don't seem fully satisfied there and see if USF has the same problems. From talking to friends who go to USF I know the traffic there is pretty horrendous and since they're in the process of building a new med building downtown, students are having to commute back and forth which is anywhere between a 30 minute drive and an hour drive depending on the time of the day/traffic. The select program of course has it's own advantages that may impact your residency application.
-I'd also take a look at the support system of the school when it comes time for step and factor that in. I've heard that was something students at USF were unhappy with but I don't go there so I obviously can't speak much to that. The residency director score difference is pretty big in my opinion and I think Tufts is much more known than USF in medicine for whatever that's worth.
Good luck! Sorry this turned into a wall of text lol
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Both are great options but I would personally choose Tufts, especially if your goal is to match into a competitive specialty and/or want to be in the northeast in the future. The P/F grading, much better reputation/match list, and familiar area would be more important to me than the extra tuition. Ultimately you should go with whichever school you think you'd be happier at.
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The only thing I know regarding the step thing is that people in Florida are skeptical that the curriculum doesn't really prepare students for step since they have one of the highest MCAT averages in the state and that doesn't seem to translate to step scores (not saying that I personally think there's a real correlation between the two, just passing along the sentiment that the curriculum doesn't fully prepare students). I heard they were in the process of changing the curriculum and things were a bit shaky, not sure if that's still true because that was a year and a half ago. I would look into what resources they have available for students in terms of step prep- I know some schools provide a study coach/someone to make you a study schedule and give more time for dedicated which are things you should be able to quantify between both places! Obviously step is like any other test in terms of the more you study as an individual the better you're going to do, but it's obviously nice to have support/resources from the school.
I will say the one person I know who goes there isn't my favorite human and it does seem that their process for selecting applications for interview/acceptance has more to do with numbers than most other places, which could contribute to them not having the nicest students since they aren't really selecting for that. I only know one person there though so I don't really think it's fair to judge the whole school based on one person as I'm sure there are not-so-liked people everywhere!
If you didn't vibe with the students/area then I'd definitely take that into consideration especially given that you already have a support system in Boston. That's really important and will be really useful to you when the going gets tough. As for wanting some adventure/somewhere new, I think life as we know it is going to change in medical school anyways so maybe Tufts won't seem so familiar!
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Im married so it just wouldn’t work for my relationship.
Other than cost, your cons for USF seem to outweigh anything else. Don’t underestimate P/F.
