benignbovine
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hi everyone! i am super grateful to have just gotten off the waitlist at VCU School of Medicine. I originally planned to enroll at Penn State College of Med.
I am having a lot of difficulty choosing between the two as their curriculums are quite similar, so I was wondering if anyone had any input based on my pros/cons list or insider information about either of the schools. both are about the same financially, VCU being slightly more expensive for me. I am unsure about specialty but think I would be interested in EM, anesthesia, ortho, and PMNR. but i want to learn about new specialties too, and am not married to any specialty.
Penn State
Pros:
VCU
Pros:
I am having a lot of difficulty choosing between the two as their curriculums are quite similar, so I was wondering if anyone had any input based on my pros/cons list or insider information about either of the schools. both are about the same financially, VCU being slightly more expensive for me. I am unsure about specialty but think I would be interested in EM, anesthesia, ortho, and PMNR. but i want to learn about new specialties too, and am not married to any specialty.
Penn State
Pros:
- close to home (2.5 hr drive)
- great match list
- housing is less expensive
- suburban/less to do = less distractions when studying and low stress environment
- strong research
- more "well-known" in the NE
- better ranked hospital
- level 1 trauma - adult and peds
- less to do around hershey
- part of my work has been community/city medicine, would not be able to do as much
- likely less diverse of patient population
- I was hoping to do EM work in a city, unsure if I should consider that as perhaps I will match into a city residency later
VCU
Pros:
- richmond has greater diversity
- more to do in the city + can continue city/community med harm reduction efforts
- meaning, it aligns with what kind of work I want to do
- has similar structure/curriculum as penn state
- partner lives closer/can more likely find employment here than in hershey
- level 1 trauma - adult, peds, and burn unit
- farther from home (4.5 hr drive)
- slightly less strong research than penn state
- slightly less strong match list than penn state
- expensive-er housing (but not by thattt much)
