Wash U (St. Louis) vs Vanderbilt

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CornellPreMed

CornellPreMed

Cornell-to-WashU
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Sooo, I am lucky enough to have this option and it just so happens that the 2nd look weekend for both schools is the same. Wash U is ranked ridiculously high (3rd or 4th?) while Vandy is 18 on the list. But Nashville is so much prettier than St. Louis and the students are known to be the happiest. But then, Wash U is known to be amazing...

If you guys had to pick which 2nd look to go to (or which school for that matter) what would you do???

Thanks!
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well i say it depends on what school you still want to discover more about. if you feel that you left one with a firm understand of how life (classmates/curriculum/lifestyle/city/opportunities) would be like, then go to the one that you still want to learn more about.

you are definitely in a fortunate situation and i'm sure your medical education will be great regardless of where you end up. good luck with the process!
 
i would check out wash u. krebs went there!:D
 
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Vanderbilt. Nashville is a lot nicer than St. Louis, and Vanderbilt students are always ranked the happiest. Both match lists are great, but I would enjoy my 4 years at Vandy a lot more than at WashU.
 
Vandy, because they have a good basketball team.
 
seraph524 said:
Yea, but the guy who discovered cAMP, Earl Sutherland, was at Vanderbilt :D
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Thanks for the info (hehe I love how insanely nerdy that exchange just was lol) But, I see you also got into these two schools...Will you go to either of the 2nd looks??
 
Wash U. strongly leans towards academic medicine and research (or so I've heard). I know nothing of Vanderbilt.
 
If you really don't like research, maybe avoid Vanderbilt (and maybe WashU too) since they have a required research project called the Emphasis program where you are paired up with faculty and do some research on your interests.
 
pntgrd said:
If you really don't like research, maybe avoid Vanderbilt (and maybe WashU too) since they have a required research project called the Emphasis program where you are paired up with faculty and do some research on your interests.
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More like if you really don't like research, then definitely avoid WashU. Vandy is pretty research-oriented too I guess, but their focus is probably on equal footing compared to other top-tier medical schools. The Emphasis requirement can range anywhere from full-fledge projects to just compiling and analyzing other ppl's research

WashU, on the other hand, is very definitely more about research than most other schools
 
Pick Vandy so I can get off of WashU's waitlist! Pleaaaaaaaseeeee!
 
I had the same decision to make for 2nd look weekends, and am going to WashU over Vandy for that weekend.

I really wish that they weren't on the same weekend as I would've liked to have gone to Vandy's, especially since they pay for everything, including airfare (WashU covers most things, but not travel expenses).

I'm heading to WashU's 2nd look due to my perception of it as a research & academic medicine powerhouse, and due to my interest in finding out more about what it'd be like to attend a medical school focused on those aspects.

Vandy's an awesome school where students did seem quite happy, but there's a couple other schools that I think I'd be happier at for personal reasons, thus those schools make up the remainder of the 2nd look weekends that I'm going to.
 
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Thanks for the help everyone, although I am still very confused about this one...My head tells me Wash U and my heart says Vandy. Blahh! Quite frustrated.
 
go to washU's. it will pleasantly surprise you and knock any sterotypes out of the water. you already know you love vandy and i doubt you'll learn anything new about it over second look that might change your mind. but, WashU's second look in my experience was great and the students were awesome and it really made me drop my reservations and stereotypes. so i'm all for you going to WashUs plus they pull out all stops (Cardinal's game/orchestra/etc).
 
CornellPreMed said:
Thanks for the info (hehe I love how insanely nerdy that exchange just was lol) But, I see you also got into these two schools...Will you go to either of the 2nd looks??
Click to expand...

I withdrew from Vanderbilt, because WashU has the best research for me in the area of infectious disease.
 
I'm obviously biased, but I hope to see some of you at Vandy second look! If you have any questions about Vandy, let me know.
 
My unbiased opinion is that you should drop all acceptances and go to Vandy.
 
CornellPreMed said:
Sooo, I am lucky enough to have this option and it just so happens that the 2nd look weekend for both schools is the same. Wash U is ranked ridiculously high (3rd or 4th?) while Vandy is 18 on the list. But Nashville is so much prettier than St. Louis and the students are known to be the happiest. But then, Wash U is known to be amazing...

If you guys had to pick which 2nd look to go to (or which school for that matter) what would you do???

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I would definitely go to the WashU one like I did last year. I guarantee you will have a great time, with tons of free food/drinks (yes, alcoholic beverages) and activities to explore our campus and St. Louis. Yes its St. Louis, in the MidWest, but personally visiting Nashville a few times, I liked STL more. Plus, I guarantee you will be impressed by the campus, faculty, the students; and how much money and space they give us to do activities like this throughout the year.

A number of my classmates went to the second look weekend saying they weren't decided or thought they wouldn't attend. A bunch of those are my classmates now, in fact I met at least half of my class at second look.

If you have any questions be sure to send me a PM.
 
Whoa... I don't want to start a city war, but I think you would be in the minority claiming that 4 years in St. Louis would beat 4 years in Nashville (and no, you don't need to be a country music fan to have fun there)...

jbl16 said:
Yes its St. Louis, in the MidWest, but personally visiting Nashville a few times, STL kicks Nashville's *** no offense to anyone.
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As someone who has spent time in both cities, Nashville is a much much better place to spend four years. St. Louis is one of the bleakest big cities in the US, and its winter weather is worse than Nashville. Nashville is a city on the rise, St. Louis is not.
 
My head is spinning. Why is this sooo hard? I genuinely thought it would be much easier to pick a school, but I was really hoping to be able to go to both 2nd looks to clarify things. You all seem to have good arguments for both schools. But thank you to everyone who provided input. It's given me a lot to mull over.
 
I think when it comes down to it, is there really a wrong choice? You're going to be a great doctor either way, and chances are you're going to enjoy it either way too.
 
CornellPreMed said:
My head is spinning. Why is this sooo hard? I genuinely thought it would be much easier to pick a school, but I was really hoping to be able to go to both 2nd looks to clarify things. You all seem to have good arguments for both schools. But thank you to everyone who provided input. It's given me a lot to mull over.
Click to expand...

You can always pick one and arrange for a visit to the other one. I know its frequently done due to various second looks that are all around the same time. Its not an easy decision, I remember being in the same shoes around the same time last year. Either way your in a great position :) Good Luck.
 
pntgrd said:
If you really don't like research, maybe avoid Vanderbilt (and maybe WashU too) since they have a required research project called the Emphasis program where you are paired up with faculty and do some research on your interests.
Click to expand...

You can do whatever you want, many students don't do 'research' for their projects. Many use it as an opportunity to do medically-oriented travel and community-based service project...really the possibilites are endless. Emphasis is more of an academic endeavor than stereotypical 'research' for most students (only 15 or so of my class is doing a lab-based project this summer).
 
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