UVA (Out of State) vs Indiana (In State)

[PreDeltaMed]

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Hello everyone! I am lucky enough to have a few medical acceptances so far, but so far I am really only considering UVA (Out of State) and IU (In State). I have not received my financial package from either school yet, as I am completing the FAFSA and individual school financial aid applications now and will be hearing back from them from mid-March to early April. I would appreciate any insight as I am pretty torn. I am currently interested in Dermatology and Ophthalmology (leaning towards ophthalmology) in case that helps with the advice you can give me.


UVA

Pros:

- Top 30 Med School (28 on Admit.org)
- No Internal Rank
- P/F Pre-Clinicals AND now Clinicals (became P/F for clinicals in the 2028 class and later)
- No MSPE Adjectives
- Optional Lecture Attendance with Recorded Lectures


Cons:
- The MONEY!
- Tuition (Out of State): $67,006 (Found for 2024-2025 M1 School Year)


IU

Pros:

- Top 50 Med School (53 on Admit.org)
- No Internal Ranking
- Much Cheaper than UVA!
- Tuition (In State): Approximately $35,000 (Found on IUSOM Website)
- Much Closer to Home


Cons:

- P/F Pre-Clinicals ONLY (Clinicals is H/HP/P/F)
- There are MSPE Adjectives
- Required Lecture Attendance


Other Factors for Both Schools:
Both schools have AOA and AOA Before Match. UVA has 1.5 years of Pre-Clinicals while IU has 2. Students at UVA also take Step 2 before Step 1 unlike IU and many other schools. Both schools have merit scholarships (IU’s has and application, which I completed, while UVA’s doesn’t)


There we have it, these are the main comparable differences between these schools (for now). I haven’t received my financial aid from either school yet, but I’m mostly torn on whether these differences are worth me going to a school that is twice as expensive as my in-state school. I still don’t know too much about either school, so I would appreciate all insight and advice about both schools!

 

[ClashRoyaleKing]

Go to Indiana, unless UVA offers you a good chunk of money. What are MSPE adjectives?

 

[thefirerisen]

Tuition difference is huge. As great as UVA is, going that much in debt for it is not smart. See if they'll match IU's tuition but if not, definitely go to IU. Otherwise you are right to think about grades, MSPE adjectives, and internal rank. They can be a pain. In terms of matching into Ophtho & Derm, I'm sure IU will do a fine job. It'll be how high you can score on Step 2 and your research resume. You can look into the departments at IU and see how strong they are but being a public medical school, I'm not worried that it'll be an issue for you.

 

[chilly_md]

Do you still have to wait to see which IU campus you'll be placed at? Or have they already told you?

 

[eyeeye_captain]

I won’t dig into the money stuff or curriculum stuff.

Assuming you actually do stick with ophtho or derm down the line, which with disclaimer usually people change their mind about at some point (or in the case of very competitive specialties, may not make the cut), why not Iowa? They’re a T10 ophtho program and borderline T10 derm program, and in small fields connections are big. Better programs will tend to have more research available as well. IU is middle tier for ophtho but pretty peds heavy. UVA is middle tier at the very best.

 

[PreDeltaMed]

Do you still have to wait to see which IU campus you'll be placed at? Or have they already told you?

They won’t let me know until May, which is after the deadline unfortunately.

 

[PreDeltaMed]

I won’t dig into the money stuff or curriculum stuff.

Assuming you actually do stick with ophtho or derm down the line, which with disclaimer usually people change their mind about at some point (or in the case of very competitive specialties, may not make the cut), why not Iowa? They’re a T10 ophtho program and borderline T10 derm program, and in small fields connections are big. Better programs will tend to have more research available as well. IU is middle tier for ophtho but pretty peds heavy. UVA is middle tier at the very best.

I had no idea about this. Where did you get this information? It would be much appreciated.

 

[eyeeye_captain]

I’m an ophthalmology attending. We all know the big time programs, and I’d say we have a general idea of program tiers. For derm I took a quick look at the Doximity residency rankings. They’re not perfect by any stretch, but they do tend to match up pretty well with reputations.

Maybe I was overly mean to UVA, but I think most people would say IU is the bigger name of the two. They’re both solid, but Iowa has a significantly bigger name in the field.

Again, it’s extremely common to change your mind on specialties. Going to a place where you are more likely to succeed/be happy beats a good home program in something you may not wind up doing.

 

[chilly_md]

They won’t let me know until May, which is after the deadline unfortunately.

Indianapolis and Bloomington should be fine if they say in-state students have a good chance of getting their preferences. I don't recall many details on how they decide.

 

[anonymousiguess]

I apologize if I'm wrong, but I believe IU does not have mandatory lectures. That is what I remember from my interview day at least.

 

[PreDeltaMed]

Tuition difference is huge. As great as UVA is, going that much in debt for it is not smart. See if they'll match IU's tuition but if not, definitely go to IU. Otherwise you are right to think about grades, MSPE adjectives, and internal rank. They can be a pain. In terms of matching into Ophtho & Derm, I'm sure IU will do a fine job. It'll be how high you can score on Step 2 and your research resume. You can look into the departments at IU and see how strong they are but being a public medical school, I'm not worried that it'll be an issue for you.

I actually got the math wrong (spoke to someone currently attending IU) and IU is more expensive than I thought. Would you say a COA difference (of all 4 years) of slightly less than 100k (95k) would be able to make UVA more worth? This is still without financial aid too, if I get max UVA financial aid it will be less than IU.

 

[chilly_md]

I actually got the math wrong (spoke to someone currently attending IU) and IU is more expensive than I thought. Would you say a COA difference (of all 4 years) of slightly less than 100k (95k) would be able to make UVA more worth? This is still without financial aid too, if I get max UVA financial aid it will be less than IU.

I would not be surprised if UVA is also higher. Even if the gap is less, that doesn't change the fact UVA will be 300k+ once you include rent. What kind of aid do you expect from UVA?