Wash U (50k scholarship/yr) or UMich (80k scholarship/year

[alaskagirl1992]

Hi all! I've narrowed my choices to these two, I think, but could use your help and advice as I finalize. I’m an older nontrad (33) with a strong interest in health equity/working with underserved communities. Not 100% set on primary care but I would like to be in a place that has good opps and values primary care to some degree. Would love to work with Spanish speakers in my career, although neither of these schools is great for that. Priorities are cost, access to service-related/health equity work, and culture fit/happiness. I am not a competitive person and would like to be in a place that prioritizes collaboration/balance, although I know that's not something med schools are famous for. The two schools are equal distance from family, and I don't really know anyone in either place. Both have AOA.

Wash U (50k scholarship) remaining COA per year about 50k

Pros:
-Great access to research. Sounds like they basically throw it at you, in a nice way. I have a research background and would be interested in doing basic/wet lab research.
-16-month preclinical
-P/F clerkships -nice facilities
-STL is affordable and I’ve lived there before
-Smaller class size
-More prestigious? Only care about this if it genuinely will give me access to more resources/an edge in matching.

Cons:
-Unclear if they still have a free clinic students can volunteer at - sounds like it may have shut down? seems like generally less access to community engagement opps with underserved populations
-No family med rotation or home program (but they do have a home program in IM-primary care). I'm not attached to family med necessarily, but I want to be somewhere that doesn't push me into intense specializations
-slightly younger student population -STL can be a little harder to break into socially. A lot of people grow up there and have extended family, so it feels a little more insular.

Umich (80k/year scholarship, remaining COA per year about 35k)

Pros:
-I think Ann Arbor would be a good fit for me, as a smaller college town
-They have a free clinic, a street medicine program, and generally more opportunities to serve the community
-higher match rate into primary care
-slightly older student population (but not a huge margin)
-can do rotations in Ypsilanti clinic with a lot of Spanish speakers
-they have an outdoor orientation trip for incoming students which is my jam
-Admin and current students have been very communicative through the process

Cons:
-higher cost of living in AA
-1 yr preclinical (have heard mixed things on whether this is a con - slightly worried since I’m an older student and have been out of school for a while)
-Graded clinicals - they recently changed this to a criteria-based system so it's no longer a percentage of people who can get honors, but it's still graded.
-larger class size

Overall - my heart is saying Michigan, but I want to make sure I'm not missing relevant factors.

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[wysdoc]

Look at the WashU Match list, they had zero FM matches because they focus more on research & specialization.
2025 Match lists here: 2025 Match Lists

 

[DoneDone3451]

Michigan (obviously, I am biased, went there for undergrad). If you want to do a lot with the underserved, Ypsilanti (a nearby city) and then Detroit will offer extensive opportunities. I am fluent in Spanish myself, I worked as a medical interpreter at Michigan Medicine as well as at the Corner Health Clinic in Ypsilanti nearby. There is a massive need for bilingual physicians in the area, more so than what meets the eye. If you are interested in primary care, Michigan will set you up to place you at any program of your choosing. Michigan Medicine will cater to underserved patients throughout the entire state who travel to receive care. Feel free to PM if you have other questions.


Moreover, Ann Arbor as a town is one of the best places to live IMO, lots of cool shops, walkable, good restaurants, and a very safe town, I never felt unsafe walking late at night or had a single crime committed against me or any of my friends while I lived there.


I cannot comment on WashU, aside from obviously it is obviously a top medical school.

 

[garlic_hunter]

You can't go wrong with either program, but this is certainly a difficult dilemma.

I would argue that training in a major city as racially and socioeconomically diverse as St. Louis is a great asset to anyone wanting to enter primary care. I believe many WashU students volunteer at the Casa de Salud Clinic (Spanish and immigrant focus), the Interprofessional Pro Bono Clinic (low-income and uninsured), the street medicine program, and The Chinese Clinic (with SLU medical students) among others. I don't think the absence of a formal primary care program is a major concern, because you will largely be preoccupied with didactics and clerkship until MS4, by which time the curriculum allows for quite a bit of flexibility to participate in away rotations, health equity work and global health opportunities. I'm not going into primary care, but if I was planning on FM, I would be quite excited about training in a city as diverse as St. Louis and at an institution as globally interconnected as WashU.

At the end of the day you should pick the program where you think you would be the happiest. The graded clinicals might make the culture at UMichigan feel more competitive and cutthroat, but you know best given your experience at the second-look weekends. If you want the college town experience, go to Michigan. Note you will have to be around college kids and frat bros, which I as an older non-traditional student would find unbearable, but not everyone feels that way. If you want the big city experience, go to WashU. Wish you all the best.

​

 

[alaskagirl1992]

Michigan (obviously, I am biased, went there for undergrad). If you want to do a lot with the underserved, Ypsilanti (a nearby city) and then Detroit will offer extensive opportunities. I am fluent in Spanish myself, I worked as a medical interpreter at Michigan Medicine as well as at the Corner Health Clinic in Ypsilanti nearby. There is a massive need for bilingual physicians in the area, more so than what meets the eye. If you are interested in primary care, Michigan will set you up to place you at any program of your choosing. Michigan Medicine will cater to underserved patients throughout the entire state who travel to receive care. Feel free to PM if you have other questions.


Moreover, Ann Arbor as a town is one of the best places to live IMO, lots of cool shops, walkable, good restaurants, and a very safe town, I never felt unsafe walking late at night or had a single crime committed against me or any of my friends while I lived there.


I cannot comment on WashU, aside from obviously it is obviously a top medical school.

Thank you! This is super helpful. I might PM you about bilingual care!

 

[Iron Man23]

Michigan- cheaper and amazing program.

 

[cbum]

Michigan sounds like the better fit and an 80K difference isn't something to sneeze at when both programs are top tier. Only if STL > AA in your book, then I would consider WashU more.

- A to WashU but won't be attending, didn't apply to UMich

 

[hydroflaskhomie]

You can't go wrong with either program, but this is certainly a difficult dilemma.

I would argue that training in a major city as racially and socioeconomically diverse as St. Louis is a great asset to anyone wanting to enter primary care. I believe many WashU students volunteer at the Casa de Salud Clinic (Spanish and immigrant focus), the Interprofessional Pro Bono Clinic (low-income and uninsured), the street medicine program, and The Chinese Clinic (with SLU medical students) among others. I don't think the absence of a formal primary care program is a major concern, because you will largely be preoccupied with didactics and clerkship until MS4, by which time the curriculum allows for quite a bit of flexibility to participate in away rotations, health equity work and global health opportunities. I'm not going into primary care, but if I was planning on FM, I would be quite excited about training in a city as diverse as St. Louis and at an institution as globally interconnected as WashU.

At the end of the day you should pick the program where you think you would be the happiest. The graded clinicals might make the culture at UMichigan feel more competitive and cutthroat, but you know best given your experience at the second-look weekends. If you want the college town experience, go to Michigan. Note you will have to be around college kids and frat bros, which I as an older non-traditional student would find unbearable, but not everyone feels that way. If you want the big city experience, go to WashU. Wish you all the best.

​

I think this is a really great summary and wanted to +1 it.

FM is effectively the amalgamation of IM, Peds, OB/GYN, and subspecialty stuff like Sports Med and Addiction Med - I am confident that WashU will give you excellent training in all of these areas and you do not have to go to a school that has "excellence in primary care" to learn how to do it well.

Michigan is a great school, but I did hear a lot about how competitive it was, not sure if the clinical grading changes have solved that since my friends have since graduated. That being said, if you're headed into primary care, you don't need to be worried about getting straight honors.

That being said, I think the vibe of Michigan is really attractive - a small beautiful town with college students, yeah, but also a ton of grad students and fun cultural events. With the cost savings edge, I would probably pick Michigan here if WashU cannot come down on price.