Wake Forest vs University of Arizona - Phoenix

[applepie1934]

So I've been lucky to have been accepted to both Wake Forest and U of A - Phoenix and I need to decide by Friday. I'm from Southern California, so one big thing is that I want to be able to match back to California for residency. Both schools seemed to have super supportive faculty and their classes were all really close

Wake Forest
Pros
+ Well established medical school
+ Nice new medical school building
+ The weather in North Carolina is nicer (imo)
+ I liked it a lot when I interviewed

Cons
- Far from home - don't know how often I can see my family
- Really different from California in terms of food and culture
- Winston Salem is small so there's not as much to do

University of Arizona - Phoenix
Pros
+ Close to home, so I can see my family a lot more often
+ Matches more in California (not sure if it's because people in Wake Forest don't necessarily want to match to CA)
+ Also nice new medical school building
+ Phoenix has more to do
+~10k cheaper

Cons
- School is a lot newer and it's not as established - not sure how this is gonna affect residencies with P/F STEP
- Phoenix weather
- Unranked

Any advice would be appreciated. I am very conflicted right now. Thank you so much for your help!

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[tessellations]

To me, it sounds like the pros for Arizona outweigh the cons more than they do for Wake Forest. For that reason I’d pick UofA!

 

[supsurfer]

They are both fine. I would personally go with more established school.

 

[drgoldenboy]

Disclaimer: on the WL for WFSOM.

If you want to match into a CA residency it will be easier to rotate through those programs for your 4th year clerkships if you are geographically closer. Either school will get you where you want to go if you work hard and do well.