Virginia Tech Carillion vs TCU

[spanishbiologist]

I have been blessed to be accepted to both of these schools and am on the waitlist at a few more. In the time being, I am trying to decide which program I would attend if I were not accepted off of any waitlists. I really like both options and they are very similar in a lot of ways. I included a lot of pros and cons for each school but the main differences are price, location, social scene, and match data. I will be moving from out of state with my wife either way, and we think we will be happy at either school.

Similarities between both schools

• Relatively new schools (Virginia Tech est. 2010 and TCU est. 2018)
• Integrated research time. You choose a project that you pursue for 4 years with mentorship from physicians or PhD’s.
• Small class size
• NBME exams. No in-house exams.
• Flip classroom based learning (Case based learning in small groups)
• Mostly pass/fail

Virginia Tech Carillion (VTC)
Pros

• $50,000 cheaper over 4 years (both have relatively low costs of living)
• Facilities are SUPER NEW AND NICE;
• Biggest hospital in Virginia with really diverse patient populations
• Pass/Fail first two years and High honors/honors/pass/fail years 3-4
• small class size (49 students); very collaborative class and tons of one on one time with faculty
• Ever since the first graduating class in 2014, only one student has failed to match
• Every 8 weeks there is 1 week of exams and then one week OFF of classes
• Outdoor scene (hiking, biking, climbing) is incredible (very important to me)
• Even though they haven't had a ton of people match in optho (my specialty of choice), they are 4/4 out of those who tried to match in optho
• 100% step 1 pass rate

Cons

• PBL roughly 3 times a week, need to make presentations to present to your small group (students said this can be annoying)
• Research is probably less clinical (most students end up doing basic science or bench research although they promote both so it is hard to tell)
• Expensive to fly into Roanoke
• Social scene is not the best (increasing # of young people but not nearly as many as Fort Worth)
• Not every specialty is represented at the hospital (i.e., optho…although they are 4/4 for optho matching)

TCU
Pros

• Extremely early clinical exposure
• Very close mentorship (coaching program from day 1 with faculty)
• Awesome hospitals nearby with every specialty represented x1000
• The dean is very involved and is absolutely incredible (super nice and this is the second MD school he has started; also served as residency director at Yale for years)
• 1st year pass/fail; years 2-4 honors/pass/fail
• Research can be anything so lots of clinical opportunities for research
• small class size (60 students which is 11 more than Virginia); very collaborative class and tons of one on one time with faculty
• Easy to fly into
• Social scene is better and tons of young people (DO school right next door)

Cons

• No mountains and very limited outdoor activities nearby
• Very new school (no graduating class yet; this is a pro in some ways but it is also scary)
• $50,000 more expensive over four years
• No match data (no graduating class yet) so it is difficult to know how that will go
• Classes are in a temporary facility (I am told it still very nice) for the next few years while they build the new buildings
• No step 1 data

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[chilly_md]

I’d go for the somewhat more established Virginia Tech and the save the money. Some of the cons are annoying, but paying more for flights and buying a laptop doesn’t move the needle much since that’s much smaller of an amount compared to the overall cost of attendance. I think you’ll find a lot of other people who also are big into hiking, camping and outdoor activities. So that should help on the social scene.

Carilion clinic seems to have had a good number of clinical research opportunities as opposed to only traditional basic science/wet lab work.

 

[effectedtag]

I have been blessed to be accepted to both of these schools and am on the waitlist at a few more. In the time being, I am trying to decide which program I would attend if I were not accepted off of any waitlists. I really like both options and they are very similar in a lot of ways. I included a lot of pros and cons for each school but the main differences are price, location, social scene, and match data. I will be moving from out of state with my wife either way, and we think we will be happy at either school.

Similarities between both schools

• Relatively new schools (Virginia Tech est. 2010 and TCU est. 2018)
• Integrated research time. You choose a project that you pursue for 4 years with mentorship from physicians or PhD’s.
• Small class size
• NBME exams. No in-house exams.
• Flip classroom based learning (Case based learning in small groups)
• Mostly pass/fail

Virginia Tech Carillion (VTC)
Pros

• $50,000 cheaper over 4 years (both have relatively low costs of living)
• Facilities are SUPER NEW AND NICE;
• Biggest hospital in Virginia with really diverse patient populations
• Pass/Fail first two years and High honors/honors/pass/fail years 3-4
• small class size (49 students); very collaborative class and tons of one on one time with faculty
• Ever since the first graduating class in 2014, only one student has failed to match
• Every 8 weeks there is 1 week of exams and then one week OFF of classes
• Outdoor scene (hiking, biking, climbing) is incredible (very important to me)
• Even though they haven't had a ton of people match in optho (my specialty of choice), they are 4/4 out of those who tried to match in optho
• 100% step 1 pass rate

Cons

• PBL roughly 3 times a week, need to make presentations to present to your small group (students said this can be annoying)
• Research is probably less clinical (most students end up doing basic science or bench research although they promote both so it is hard to tell)
• Expensive to fly into Roanoke
• Social scene is not the best (increasing # of young people but not nearly as many as Fort Worth)
• Not every specialty is represented at the hospital (i.e., optho…although they are 4/4 for optho matching)

TCU
Pros

• Extremely early clinical exposure
• Very close mentorship (coaching program from day 1 with faculty)
• Awesome hospitals nearby with every specialty represented x1000
• The dean is very involved and is absolutely incredible (super nice and this is the second MD school he has started; also served as residency director at Yale for years)
• 1st year pass/fail; years 2-4 honors/pass/fail
• Research can be anything so lots of clinical opportunities for research
• small class size (60 students which is 11 more than Virginia); very collaborative class and tons of one on one time with faculty
• Easy to fly into
• Social scene is better and tons of young people (DO school right next door)

Cons

• No mountains and very limited outdoor activities nearby
• Very new school (no graduating class yet; this is a pro in some ways but it is also scary)
• $50,000 more expensive over four years
• No match data (no graduating class yet) so it is difficult to know how that will go
• Classes are in a temporary facility (I am told it still very nice) for the next few years while they build the new buildings
• No step 1 data

I am considering VTC as well and I have no idea what to do. I also feel like VTC missing home programs like ortho, optho is concerning. I am also concerned about opportunities for clinical research since nowadays it really is the quantity of research published over quality most of the time.

They really emphasize bench research but that is hard to get published and I fear it might be hard to match to the specialties like ortho etc, where publications matter. I also checked out those who matched competitive specialties at VTC home programs, such as plastics, and they did not have much-published research which is concerning. It makes me think they developed great connections with faculty, had an in-depth research project over 4 years that was impressive, but if not matching at the home program or the home program decided to not take a VTC student that year, or more than one VTC student wants the same specialty, I am not sure how that little research productivity would allow them to match someplace else. Just some of my thoughts as I try to make a decision.

How did you find out they were 4/4 on optho matching since they only had 4 optho matches over the 8 years of match lists?