UTSW (free tuition) vs NYU Long Island (free tuition)

[deleted1053890]

Hello,

[Edited for privacy…]

tldr; The main reasons I like NYU Long Island are the location, free tuition, and opportunities for my partner. The main reasons I like UTSW are the strength of clinical training, free tuition, and bigger class size.

Please share your thoughts and whether I missed anything about either school.

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[randompremed457]

You have some awesome choices first and foremost. Congrats on these achievements, it takes someone really special to have two full tuition scholarships awarded to them.

I’m a big advocate for using finances as a large factor to base a school decision on so I would take your COL into consideration. Normally I would say NYU Long Island would have a much higher COL than UTSW. However, since you’d only be attending for 3 years, it is very likely that NYU will end up cheaper or equivalent to UTSW despite the inflated cost of living in Long Island compared to Dallas.

So I’m gonna give extra points to NYU here.

Secondly, how extensive has your experience been with IM? Lots of people entering med school have this idea of a dream specialty and then the second they get to clinicals they realize they want to do something else. Granted some of this may be due to competitiveness deterring them, but it’s something to consider. If you’ve had a bunch of experience with IM, shadowing, working etc this may not be as important. But who’s to say you won’t fall deeply in love with psychiatry or something else.

I believe NYU LI is a Satellite campus so it’s name would carry the same weight as NYU Grossman, more reputable than UTSW as far as I know. Albeit both have great reputations.

I have a feeling a class of 24 would be quite close knit, so I wouldn’t be super worried about making friends. Some would argue it would actually be harder to have a good group in a larger school.

Honestly as much of a UTSW shill I am, if you’re set on IM then NYULI seems like the place to go. Better opportunities for your partner, especially if they commute to NYC, cheaper cost, more intimate teaching setting and faster training (assuming you’re 22, imagine being an attending by age 28) that would be awesome!

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

UTSW

 

[deleted1065184]

Your pros and cons balance each other out imo. Your partner doesn't have a city preference, but what about you?

 

[deleted1053890]

You have some awesome choices…

You hit my main two gripes with LISOM: the small class size and me not being 1000% set on IM. I don’t care much about any small COL difference between the two schools or the brand name.

I’m worried that if I don’t get along with a peer at LISOM, that it will color how the rest of the class perceives me because of how small the school is.

As far as specialties go, I’m 99% sure on IM. I’ve worked part time for two years in IM clinical research and shadowed a lot. Plus, IM let’s me pursue a fellowship if I eventually want to specialize further. But the common advice is that most people change their minds in medical school. At LISOM, I’d be pretty much stuck with IM unless I want to work myself to the bone to match into something else with a year less than every other applicant. The non-zero possibility of this happening worries me.

Your pros and cons balance each other out imo. Your partner doesn't have a city preference, but what about you?

I prefer Long Island because it would be closer to family and a better cultural fit for me as someone from [edited].



Thank you all for your input and advice thus far.

 

[srirachamayonnaise]

NYU LI is not NYU. And the residency program associated with LI is a community program, the level of which mostly attracts Caribbean IMG’s. If you want to do primary care, it doesn’t matter. But if you want to specialize later (as you mentioned fellowship), it’s a bad choice.

 

[deleted1053890]

NYU LI is not NYU. And the residency program associated with LI is a community program, the level of which mostly attracts Caribbean IMG’s. If you want to do primary care, it doesn’t matter. But if you want to specialize later (as you mentioned fellowship), it’s a bad choice.

That’s interesting, I haven’t heard that before. Do you know if there’s any list of current residents or other source for this information that I could look at?

 

[srirachamayonnaise]

That’s interesting, I haven’t heard that before. Do you know if there’s any list of current residents or other source for this information that I could look at to help me decide whether to wait for LISOM or just commit to Southwestern?

You would be trained at Winthrop Hospital which got purchased by NYU. Winthrop is far from being the academic center it claims to be. On Long Island, the big player is Northwell. Let me just give you an analogy. There’s NY Presbyterian at Columbia and Cornell, and there’s NY Presbyterian at Queens. The first two are top notch programs but the third one is almost exclusively for IMG’s. The same thing at Hopkins, there’s Hopkins harbor view which is a third tier program and there’s Hopkins Osler which is one of the big 4. All it tells you is that they are owned by the same parent non profit. But that doesn’t mean they are the same quality.

NYULI will lock you in primary care and your chance of good fellowship coming out of their residency is very slim.

 

[deleted1053890]

You would be trained at Winthrop Hospital which got purchased by…

I suppose that makes sense since the LISOM mission is to increase the number of primary care physicians. This is not a dealbreaker for me at all; my interest in fellowship is only a slight “possible” rather than a definite. I already like IM by itself.

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Overall, it seems that UTSW would give me more options than LISOM. And as someone with options, I see no obvious reason to attend LISOM and take away my freedom to choose.

I will reach out to students at both schools and see what they say. In the mean time, please feel free to keep sharing thoughts.

 

[MercifulCamper]

UTSW is an amazing institution and if you are interested in going into IM, UTSW seems to match very well in IM as well as many other specialties. Needless to say, it won't close any doors for you and it may be worth the extra 1 year to ensure a potentially better match in residency. Additionally, if you ever want to change from IM, UTSW basically has everything you will need to get exposure and learn from experts in those specialties. As far as opportunities for your partner, that is a huge consideration but my guess is that the DFW - one of the largest metroplexes in the country - will have job opportunities although they may not be as glamorous as the ones they may find in NYC.

I don't know much about NYU LI but if what @srirachamayonnaise is true, it would personally give me pause.

 

[deleted1053890]

After talking with my partner and to students at both schools, I decided to withdraw from LISOM. Thanks everyone!