UWashington (Idaho) vs Georgetown

[mittenz4blood]

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This decision has been eating me alive... I'm eternally grateful for anyone who's able to give some insight from a 3rd party point of view (not my family, or faculty from either school lol). Specialties maybe Internal Med, General Surgery or Peds.

UW WWAMI (Idaho):
Pros:
- West Coast (I want to do residency/work/raise a family on the West Coast)
- I love Seattle, where I'll spend most of years 3&4 doing rotations
- Cheaper (by ~100k, but not super important)
- New facilities (the anatomy lab is awesome), but only 2 small buildings
- Cheap, nice housing right across from school (for first 18 months)
- Faculty is extremely nice and welcoming
- High prestige! (I'm surprised that it seems to crush Georgetown there? Is this actually true?)
- Family wants me to go here

Cons:
- First 18 months in rural Idaho; not super long, I know, but I prefer diversity and city life. Worried I'll be bored/unstimulated socially :/ This town is like 4% non-white...
- few "urban underserved" opportunities in first 18 months (rural doesn't interest me)
- Student Body: only 40 people, and the class is not very diverse (all from Idaho, outdoorsy, etc)
- Moving around regions makes it harder to have a social network
- I want to raise a family somewhere like Seattle (near family on West), so I feel like I'd be "mailing it in" by not living somewhere else as a single person.

Georgetown:
Pros:
- Excellent 'fit': Policy & advocacy focus. I love medicine & politics, and this is the best place to blend those two.
- City life in DC. I want to spend my mid 20s living somewhere new that's rich with culture and excitement. Can also travel to new cities easily.
- 200 students per class, and pretty diverse
- Diverse patient population
- Great opportunities to work with underserved in DC.
- Great match list (Tho I think just 4 ppl ended up in Seattle in 2021)
- Petty & very minor: feels better being accepted to somewhere with a ~2% chance than somewhere with 30% chance (WWAMI in-state)

Cons:
- Far from West Coast residencies?? (If they have regional bias, this could be very bad. I gotta be back West Coast for family after med school)
- I haven't been able to tour, so I have NO idea on facilities/faculty
- In general more 'uncertainty'. Happiness would have a higher ceiling, but also potentially a lower floor.
- $100k+ more expensive (Money isn't huge, even though I'm ~40k in debt from undergrad and am covering it all myself. I definitely prioritize happiness>debt)
- Parents are pushing back a lot since I've been "very slightly leaning" here.*

*Parents want me to be happy, so they'll understand either choice I make. I think they're worried D.C. will be distracting & that Georgetown could be a let-down (UW is more of a 'sure thing' since we've toured it).

Spend more $$ and take a shot for higher happiness/fit, or do the more "sure-thing" and play it even-keel for the forseable future? I'm torn. What would you do??

 

[Banco]

Honestly, you want to be on the west coast/seattle, UWashington has a bigger name/awesome home residencies, and it's 100k cheaper. The decision is made right there. Yes the first 18 months might be less than ideal, but that time is a drop in the bucket.

GTown is a great school and I'm sure many of your pros are true but it's hard to overcome the fact that your long-term goal will be easier with Washington. You can definitely match to the west coast from here, but it'll be easier through Washington - mostly due to home program advantage.

With regards to the specialties I can only really speak to general surgery - Washington is a top program and more renowned; that being said, Georgetown is also strong. Regional bias may not apply to you because Seattle programs are going to see you grew up in the region. You can also do aways to demonstrate interest at specific hospitals.

Now if you really want to experience a new area because you want to be back to the west for good during residency and beyond, then you have to weigh that with 100k + a possibly lower chance of matching back to the west.

 

[m1redsox]

Cheaper, closer to family, and more prestige? UW is the clear move here. Congrats on being accepted to a more competitive program (application-wise), but other than that pride of knowing you could do it, there is no real reason to go to GT. Sure, more classmates would be nice, but that’s pretty low on the list in terms of overall importance.

 

[Idahomie]

I've been a similar dilemma (you posted on my x vs y thread). I'm now 95% set on going to UW.

Not a single door will be closed to you if you choose to go to UW. You mention you have interests in policy and advocacy and working with urban populations. The great thing about UW is that they have so many faculty. You will have no problem finding a mentor in Seattle with your exact same interests. At that point, you can have a personal 1 on 1 relationship with someone aligned with your interests. If you find someone with research projects related to those interests, you have options for living in Seattle for Triple I over the first summer. Thats another 3 months in Seattle, and you can definitely arrange it do you are working with your desired population and demographics.

I'll agree that Moscow isn't too diverse, although the med students are usually a more diverse group than Moscow as a whole. The good news is that it really isn't much time there. If you do your triple I in Seattle, thats 9 months in Moscow, 3 months in Seattle, then another 6 months in Moscow. After that, you're done and you never have to see that town again if you don't want to.

I'll also add that I'm actually looking forward to being in a smaller class. There is no chance that you'll be just another face in the crowd with only 39 other students. There are definitely benefits to that. And I don't think finding friends will be a problem. Definitely parts of M3 and 4 will be isolated if you are rotating at WWAMI sites, but in general you should be able to find people to socialize with. I've also found from other experiences in life that some of my best friends have come from "forced" scenarios in small groups. When you have less choice in who your friends are, you end up socializing with people who you normally wouldn't want to be friends with. However, I have found that some of the most enriching friendships are with people I didn't think I would get along with at first. Who knows, you might have some great friends during M1 and M2.

There is no doubt that for an education, UW is pretty much fantastic, and you will have an amazing experience there. I'm sure that is true at Gtown too, but since this is where you want to end up long term, UW can't really be beat. If you want more experience with urban populations, you can also do that during residency, where it is more relevant to your career. Look at UW match lists for IM, Peds, and Gensurg. Plenty of students go into fantastic urban programs, so you will not be limited on residency options.

Lastly, I know exactly what you feel like about getting into a more "selective" school. I had the chance to talk to a few current and former students who all chose UW over other top tier medical schools. Those conversations were very reassuring to me. If you choose to go to UW, you also know that there will be other students there who picked UW over other options too.

Either way, both are good choices and will provide all the resources you need to succeed in your career goals. Also the debt difference is nothing to sneeze at. My decision was pretty much finalized once I got my financial aid packet back from my other school. Good luck, and on a personal note, I hope to see you next fall!

 

[mittenz4blood]

I've been a similar dilemma (you posted on my x vs y thread). I'm now 95% set on going to UW.

Not a single door will be closed to you if you choose to go to UW. You mention you have interests in policy and advocacy and working with urban populations. The great thing about UW is that they have so many faculty. You will have no problem finding a mentor in Seattle with your exact same interests. At that point, you can have a personal 1 on 1 relationship with someone aligned with your interests. If you find someone with research projects related to those interests, you have options for living in Seattle for Triple I over the first summer. Thats another 3 months in Seattle, and you can definitely arrange it do you are working with your desired population and demographics.

I'll agree that Moscow isn't too diverse, although the med students are usually a more diverse group than Moscow as a whole. The good news is that it really isn't much time there. If you do your triple I in Seattle, thats 9 months in Moscow, 3 months in Seattle, then another 6 months in Moscow. After that, you're done and you never have to see that town again if you don't want to.

I'll also add that I'm actually looking forward to being in a smaller class. There is no chance that you'll be just another face in the crowd with only 39 other students. There are definitely benefits to that. And I don't think finding friends will be a problem. Definitely parts of M3 and 4 will be isolated if you are rotating at WWAMI sites, but in general you should be able to find people to socialize with. I've also found from other experiences in life that some of my best friends have come from "forced" scenarios in small groups. When you have less choice in who your friends are, you end up socializing with people who you normally wouldn't want to be friends with. However, I have found that some of the most enriching friendships are with people I didn't think I would get along with at first. Who knows, you might have some great friends during M1 and M2.

There is no doubt that for an education, UW is pretty much fantastic, and you will have an amazing experience there. I'm sure that is true at Gtown too, but since this is where you want to end up long term, UW can't really be beat. If you want more experience with urban populations, you can also do that during residency, where it is more relevant to your career. Look at UW match lists for IM, Peds, and Gensurg. Plenty of students go into fantastic urban programs, so you will not be limited on residency options.

Lastly, I know exactly what you feel like about getting into a more "selective" school. I had the chance to talk to a few current and former students who all chose UW over other top tier medical schools. Those conversations were very reassuring to me. If you choose to go to UW, you also know that there will be other students there who picked UW over other options too.

Either way, both are good choices and will provide all the resources you need to succeed in your career goals. Also the debt difference is nothing to sneeze at. My decision was pretty much finalized once I got my financial aid packet back from my other school. Good luck, and on a personal note, I hope to see you next fall!

Hey mate. I'm assuming from your words that you're attending UW and that's incredible!! I was offered a generous aid package from Georgetown which tipped the scales for me, so I'm withdrawing from Moscow. Thanks for all of the back-and-forth and spitballing we did; you're going to make a great classmates for the others in Moscow! Enjoy your journey, future doctor.