UWSOM vs. Cornell

[confusedagain26]

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Would appreciate any advice!

UWSOM (University of Washington Seattle campus)

Pros:
- Better ranked (#11)
- Closer to family for support
- Could be cheaper by up to $80k (still cannot be determined precisely)

Cons:
- Focus on primary care, rural health, emergency medicine doesn't align with my interests
- The WWAMI network, a major selling point, doesn't really interest me. I have no interest in staying in WWAMI for residency or later
- School environment: I would rather be in a place where most first years are on campus so that there is more cohesion
- Location: not super preferred, but it is okay

Cornell

Pros
- Focus on specialties, including research opportunities in its large research network
- Location: NYC is where I want to be
- Student body: I actually like living on campus and having that sense of community
- Match list could not be more like what I would want for my future with many matches in top east coast hospitals

Cons
- Ranked worse (#21)
- Is it more competitive than UWSOM? Any current students' opinions at either school would be welcome!
- Likely more expensive in the future (again up to $80k not including interest)

Any advice would be welcome especially from current students! Background: I gave up a few schools for UWSOM a while ago, but was left feeling unsatisfied with my decision. I understand cost is important though, and I don't want to be mired in debt. Thank you.

 

[confusedagain26]

Add-on: any advice from those who are further along (residents, those in the latter stages of medical school, etc.) who can speak to:

- how medical school indebtedness impacted them personally
- any regrets they had or advice they knew when they were choosing schools
- how much the perceived "fit" of a school and whether you are excited about going really matters

would be greatly appreciated!

 

[DSM_302.0]

Go to Cornell. 80k is nothing over a career in medicine. Your first Tesla will cost more than that. Sounds like it's the better fit for you overall.

 

[confusedagain26]

Yep btuck. UWSOM = University of Washington, Seattle campus. I have edited the post for anyone who is confused!

 

[mega_]

I think of medical school as a stepping stone that you need to launch your career. It seems like Cornell will orient you more towards the career you want for yourself in location that you want for yourself.

I would not worry about USNews ranking. It seems like USNews are incorrectly down-counting research money for Cornell, which is understandable, since it has complex ties to NYP, Sloan, Rockefeller and HSS, making it hard to count research and clinical trials money, thus driving ranking down. Also, based on residency directors assessment Cornell has a slightly higher score than UW.

I would surmise that Cornell is probably less chill just based on the fact that UW is more primary care oriented, which I feel removes a lot of extra pressure from students.

80k seems to me like a substantial difference, especially with compounding interest. Essentially its like paying for extra year of med school. Whether you fine to pay extra depends on how much more you prefer to be at your desired location during the school

If your family is not in the immediate vicinity to you in Seattle, I would think that than its not such a big difference in terms of visiting them, if you need to fly in both cases.

In the end both are great choices, but given your goals for your career and preference of location, I would go with Cornell, however I am sure you would be able to match to east coast from UW as well.

 

[confusedagain26]

As someone with no experience about matching, do you believe that it will be easier for me to match back to the east coast from UW (since the school environment is less competitive and many people are not interested in specializing/going to the east coast)? Would that actually give me an advantage?

Also, I briefly looked at the US news rankings for specialties (like IM, radiology, etc.) and UW is ranked higher. Can anyone comment on how much this matters?

 

[TheVisionary]

As someone with no experience about matching, do you believe that it will be easier for me to match back to the east coast from UW (since the school environment is less competitive and many people are not interested in specializing/going to the east coast)? Would that actually give me an advantage?

Also, I briefly looked at the US news rankings for specialties (like IM, radiology, etc.) and UW is ranked higher. Can anyone comment on how much this matters?

Not one bit. Doximity is much better than us news for that stuff, but these rankings are not important. Yes, I've heard UW has one of the best residency programs in the nation. Still, UW and cornell both house top hospital systems and medical schools. In competitive specialties they both match to E/W coast locations without major differences. Imo you should make the decision on fit instead of prestige and cost differences, since both of these are small.

When it comes to getting an "advantage," I'd focus on where you see yourself being happier. From your original post, it sounds like cornell. The school seems stressful just for the first semester with weekly quizzes, but otherwise seems collaborative and not too stressful.

Full disclosure: On cornell WL and definitely not a current student

 

[MooberGoober]

I'd go Washington.

 

[trobinsonmd]

Would appreciate any advice!

UWSOM (University of Washington Seattle campus)

Pros:
- Better ranked (#11)
- Closer to family for support
- Could be cheaper by up to $80k (still cannot be determined precisely)

Cons:
- Focus on primary care, rural health, emergency medicine doesn't align with my interests
- The WWAMI network, a major selling point, doesn't really interest me. I have no interest in staying in WWAMI for residency or later
- School environment: I would rather be in a place where most first years are on campus so that there is more cohesion
- Location: not super preferred, but it is okay

Cornell

Pros
- Focus on specialties, including research opportunities in its large research network
- Location: NYC is where I want to be
- Student body: I actually like living on campus and having that sense of community
- Match list could not be more like what I would want for my future with many matches in top east coast hospitals

Cons
- Ranked worse (#21)
- Is it more competitive than UWSOM? Any current students' opinions at either school would be welcome!
- Likely more expensive in the future (again up to $80k not including interest)

Any advice would be welcome especially from current students! Background: I gave up a few schools for UWSOM a while ago, but was left feeling unsatisfied with my decision. I understand cost is important though, and I don't want to be mired in debt. Thank you.

I went to NYU med, which is 20ish blocks downtown from Cornell... anything in or around this area is super expensive and I definitely underestimated cost of living when I first moved to NYC. If you are lucky enough to get housing provided by the school at a fair rate, it's likely going to be pretty old and the size of a cupboard (not to be too negative)... getting around is convenient if you're cool with using the subway and there are obviously a lot of fun things to do for when you do have free time. I think the best part of NYC if you're in medicine is all of the research opportunities and world famous labs and facilities you have opportunities to work in. I'm from SoCal, so flying back home was kind of an all day affair and it was tiring and expensive. I was lucky and didn't graduate w debt, but I saw a lot of people who ultimately allowed the increased debt burden to dictate what specialties they would and would not consider... a few acquaintances of mine were bent on EM or FM and they ended up picking ortho, anesthesia, etc due to the pressure they felt bc of the debt...

with all of this said, I would still pick Cornell over UW. The difference in ranking does not really confer any additional benefit when it comes to matching (and like you said, Cornell has an awesome match list wrt your goals)... living in NYC (especially midtown e) as a med student is super fun... Like someone above said, $80k is a not a lot in the grand scheme of things when you're a doctor (as long as you're not in primary care, which doesn't sound like something you are interested in)... def Cornell if it was my decision.

 

[confusedagain26]

MooberGoober- would you like to explain your reasoning?