WashU or Pitt?

[SnoPearl]

I'm so sorry to start one of these threads, and I never thought I would, but I'm honestly having trouble deciding and reasoning things out so I'd appreciate any thoughts that you all have. Please don't flame me, I realize either option would be great, but that's exactly why I'm having trouble choosing...

So the situation is that I have a full-tuition merit scholarship from Pitt, and was completely set on going without any hesitations. I just got off the WashU waitlist and was offered a half-tuition merit scholarship after I sent in a letter to negotiate for money. The monetary difference between the two comes out to about 18K per year.

Curriculum:
I am not particularly picky about curriculum - I have reservations about both schools' grading systems, and I have no strong feelings for whether I have PBL or not. It looks like WashU and Pitt both have the single subject at a time curriculum for the first year, whereas WashU has multiple subjects the second year.

Clinical:
I'm not in a position to judge the clinical training really, but both schools have great hospitals. St. Louis probably has a larger indigent patient population than Pittsburgh, although patient population doesn't matter as much to me as the quality of attendings and residents and their willingness to teach. Don't know much about it at either school really. What are the strongest departments at either school?

Location:
I definitely prefer Pittsburgh to St. Louis, as it feels cozier and safer, and it is closer to my family in Massachusetts. However, I also have relatives living just outside of St. Louis that can help me if I need anything, whereas I don't know anyone near Pittsburgh. There also seem to be better living options around Pitt compared to the area around WashU. Maybe cheaper as well?


So the things left are reputation, student body, research... am I missing anything else?

WashU has a bigger reputation, but is it worth the extra 18K a year? I very strongly want to be on the east coast (more specifically, the northeast) for residency, and I wonder if it would be easier to do so coming from WashU versus Pitt. The student body, well the students I met at both schools were great, although none of them seemed to do much outside of school other than to "chill", which is fine with me I guess. So then research, WashU clearly has the advantage there. I'm huge on research, but I'm not sure how much time I'll have for it in med school, so again, not sure if it's worth the extra money.

Ack! I know nobody can make my decision for me, but do any of you have thoughts on what you would do in my situation? Or want to point out any pros and cons with either school that are important to you? I just want to be as informed as I can be when I make my decision, any help is appreciated!!! Oh and I apologize in advance to any Pitt students for the X vs Pitt thread

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[Raryn]

I'd go for the free education personally.

 

[chad5871]

Go with Pitt. It's free! And it's still an outstanding school.

 

[RoadRunner17]

Don't be silly. Pitt all the way... that's what I'd do in my own situation, especially if I got a tuition-free scholarship!

 

[iluvpuppies]

to be honest, i dont know if the difference in reputation is really that much. im from the east coast, and have heard a lot more about pitt than washu in terms of being a good med school. (prolly bc everyone knows it better here) i was surprised to see how high washu is ranked bc i hadnt heard nearly nearly much of it before i started applying.
obviously, washu is an awesome awesome school. my point is more to not underestimate pitt's reputation. depending where ur from ull hear more or less about certain programs. pitt has a great rep.
congrats to u--ull do great with either--both r fabulous

 

[cgbg]

hey sno, i interviewed at both. loved both. i liked wash u better (seemingly u did to or else there would be no decision). i would love to have u as a classmate. but i think that it would be crazy to turn down pitt. wash u is awesome, but pitt is great too and life without debt is special. lets be honest u will prob have a great 4 years at either place (if you think otherwise then ignore my reasoning). coming out of pitt u will probably have the same opportunities as wash u, u will in all likelihood excel on step 1. this seems like too much cash to pass on. if u decide on wahs u ill be thrilled, we can be classmates, but pitt is ofering u a pretty sweet deal. i would take it (if its worth anything i have 2 bros in medicine, both feel the same way). either way youll be happy with ur decision im sure.

 

[TheRealMD]

If these scholarships aren't including living expenses, then adding on an extra $72k (which will be $150k after you pay it back) doesn't make sense when jumping from a school like Pitt to WashU. Assuming you don't get much more out of WashU, I'd think the decision has already been made.

 

[flip26]

Follow the money...and your gut...

But if you want WashU, you may be able to convince them to cough up the rest of the money. You are in a "win-win" situation right now with nothing to lose by asking them to match the Pitt offer.

Good luck.

 

[artaxerxes]

hey, so have you decided? I voted for pitt, but then I'm biased, ha!

I had a similar concern with pittsburgh, but my huge issue was the location. If you like pittsburgh as a place to live and learn, you should definitely go there. 18K a year for 4 years is a lot of money, and with decreasing compensations coming up for future meds, thats not something to pass up.

 

[phillySASer08]

You've probably decided by now, but I'd say that if your one of the select people who can honestly say they like Pittsburgh, I see no reason to turn down the full ride at Pitt. I got similar vibes from both places when I interviewed, and thought Pitt had nicer teaching facilities actually. WashU does do one year pass/fail which is nice, and doing some PBL and a thesis would be required of you at Pitt, but 18k/yr is a big difference.

I actually think Pitt may have the better infrastructure for getting its students into research. WashU is of course an elite research school, but Pitt has the infrastructure of the thesis and the PTSP/CTSP programs to ensure that it's students have time and a commitment to research. I've sometimes gotten the impression that WashU leaves much of the research to the MSTP students because their program is so big.

 

[SnoPearl]

Hey guys, thanks for all the insight! I thought about things a lot over this past week, and spoke with a lot of other people like my advisors, physicians I work with, and relatives in the medical field. The general consensus from them was that both are good schools, but that I should not be considering the money too heavily, because I will make it back eventually. They all encouraged me to choose based on where I felt I would be happiest. So I thought about it and I know that if neither school had given me any money, I would have chosen WashU over Pitt. I really loved WashU's brand new facilities, and with relatives living nearby, I think I will have an easier time in St. Louis (although Pittsburgh felt nicer to me based on the interview trip). I'm glad to have finally made the decision, it was a tough one for sure. WashU here I come!!

 

[flip26]

Hey guys, thanks for all the insight! I thought about things a lot over this past week, and spoke with a lot of other people like my advisors, physicians I work with, and relatives in the medical field. The general consensus from them was that both are good schools, but that I should not be considering the money too heavily, because I will make it back eventually. They all encouraged me to choose based on where I felt I would be happiest. So I thought about it and I know that if neither school had given me any money, I would have chosen WashU over Pitt. I really loved WashU's brand new facilities, and with relatives living nearby, I think I will have an easier time in St. Louis (although Pittsburgh felt nicer to me based on the interview trip). I'm glad to have finally made the decision, it was a tough one for sure. WashU here I come!!

I don't understand people who advise folks like you to not consider the money in the decision - who exactly told you this? Did you parents say that to you? Or some starry eyed pre-med friends? Or was it a faculty mentor? That is awfully easy for someone else to say...they aren't the ones who are going to have to pay back the extra debt...

I just read back through your MDApps, and I would encourage you to sleep on it one more night - your contemporaneous MDApps commentary seems to have taken a quite sudden and may I say "out of character" turn in the last few days...

Good luck either way - personally I would press Wash U to match the Pitt offer...

 

[se2131]

I don't understand people who advise folks like you to not consider the money in the decision - who exactly told you this? Did you parents say that to you? Or some starry eyed pre-med friends? Or was it a faculty mentor? That is awfully easy for someone else to say...they aren't the ones who are going to have to pay back the extra debt...

I just read back through your MDApps, and I would encourage you to sleep on it one more night - your contemporaneous MDApps commentary seems to have taken a quite sudden and may I say "out of character" turn in the last few days...

Good luck either way - personally I would press Wash U to match the Pitt offer...

Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with this. A full scholarship to such a great school is amazing. Even with the half-tuition scholarship to WashU, you will end up around $200K in debt by the time you graduate, consider that that translates to something like $20K/yr repayment for 25 years. If that cost is worth the four years of med school, then go for it. And I'm not being facetious here, it definitely can be justified if the differences to you are great enough. But money SHOULD be a factor

 

[artaxerxes]

Hey guys, thanks for all the insight! I thought about things a lot over this past week, and spoke with a lot of other people like my advisors, physicians I work with, and relatives in the medical field. The general consensus from them was that both are good schools, but that I should not be considering the money too heavily, because I will make it back eventually. They all encouraged me to choose based on where I felt I would be happiest. So I thought about it and I know that if neither school had given me any money, I would have chosen WashU over Pitt. I really loved WashU's brand new facilities, and with relatives living nearby, I think I will have an easier time in St. Louis (although Pittsburgh felt nicer to me based on the interview trip). I'm glad to have finally made the decision, it was a tough one for sure. WashU here I come!!

sorry about bringing up a decided issue already, but bummer that you won't be at pitt next year. Maybe they'll redistribute your funds? WEll anyways, dies been cast, Caesar's crossed the Rubicon and so fourth,

good luck and good times at WashU!

 

[cgbg]

well, I look forward to having you as a classmate sno. doesnt seem like there are many sdn waitlisters there, so we must band together!