WashU vs. UChicago Pritzker

[kkkdada321]

Hi everyone!

It has been a humbling experience and I have been accepted to 2 of the T20 schools and was wondering what you guys all think. I joined late to SDN and haven't contributed much but would love some advice from everyone!

I do not yet have any scholarships/financial aid but hoping to get something down the road.

I am particularly interested in surgery specifically general surgery, vascular/cardiothoracic surgery. I know the latter 2 is extremely competitive due to lack of enough positions for residency but I could also try for fellowship after general surgery so I feel like there are 2 chances for me. I would like to maximize my changes of getting into a GREAT general surgery residency or either of those 2 competitive surgical subspecialties.


WashU
Pros

• Regarded a bit more prestigious (?) than Pritzker in medicine
• Seems like they have a strong surgical training (would allow me to build relationships for letters, etc)
• Not that many general surgery match but match to surgical residency seems impressive.

Cons

• St. Louis.... never been but heard a lot about. Not sure about the location exactly.

UChicago Pritzker
Pros

• Lived in a suburb of Chicago so mentally more familiar with the area.
• UChicago is more well known in general than WashU (not medical school only but overall) but not sure if this is even important.
• Match list seems impressive (in terms of where they got matched not exactly more competitive fields though)

Cons

• Match list seems a bit less impressive than WashU especially in surgical field.
• Safety issues (South side of Chicago).
• My wife hates cold...

I would honestly appreciate any insights into these 2 schools/location/etc. Thank you for reading my post!

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[sousa7]

Both schools similar in reputation. I don't think safety around WashU is great, but UChicago is definetely worse. I'd lean WashU for this reason alone. In terms of cold, Saint Louis does get cold, but not as bad as Chicago.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

WashU for location

 

[BritainKittenMittens]

I personally like UChicago because you have relatively easy access to one of the most vibrant American cities. Never been to St. Louis, and there's a reason for that.
Prestige is as you assessed, WashU slightly better in Medicine, UChicago bigger overall in academia.
I hear UChicago is more into community service given its location, and also hear WashU selects for more of the gunner types because they prioritize stats over most everything else (as does UChicago to an extent).

 

[JohnJacobJingleheimer]

I personally like UChicago because you have relatively easy access to one of the most vibrant American cities. Never been to St. Louis, and there's a reason for that.
Prestige is as you assessed, WashU slightly better in Medicine, UChicago bigger overall in academia.
I hear UChicago is more into community service given its location, and also hear WashU selects for more of the gunner types because they prioritize stats over most everything else (as does UChicago to an extent).

Have not heard great things about WashU student body/ culture. Have heard that it’s full of gunners, as mentioned above.

Then again, UChicago is also known for having a very strange student body/ social scene lol. Pick your poison, I guess.

Honestly, both are awesome schools and just about as prestigious as it gets. Can’t go wrong w either one. Both will open nearly any door just as wide as any other school can; it’s up to you to prove that you should be the one that gets to walk through it, though. Can’t imagine any PD’s choosing a WashU applicant over a UChicago one based on alma mater alone; void of any preexisting bias, that is.

 

[deleted1114112]

I will just say please talk to current students at either location, but especially UChicago, before deciding. Safety is definitely something that is in the back of your mind throughout this process but trust me having bad things happen on campus or just feeling unsafe really affects students' headspace/mental health and ability to study/progress/do school. It's one thing when bad things happen but it's another when you can't fix them, or the school literally does not try to fix them (whether it is their fault or not).

 

[srirachamayonnaise]

Vascular is not competitive. I would pick WashU because BJ is a very strong academic hospital much more so than Chicago.

 

[deleted1065184]

Great options, both are schools I was considering last year. Chicago is a great city, St. Louis is also a great city. I've spent plenty of time in both (but am from neither), so I can give you a reasonably unbiased viewpoint. You know about Chicago so I won't talk about it, but St. Louis is an extremely underrated, super cheap city and the med school is located next to one of the best urban parks (if not THE best urban park) in the nation.

It has a free zoo (really good one too), free history museum, free art museum, free science center...plenty of space to run, hike, golf, play tennis, etc. There are also tons of fun festivals in St. Louis, an incredible botanical garden, a good sports scene (excellent pro hockey and baseball teams). I think Chicago is awesome, but don't sleep on St. Louis either.

From a prestige perspective, agree that differences are negligible. But one thing to consider, which @srirachamayonnaise brought up, is the difference in hospital systems. Barnes-Jewish/St. Louis Children's are leaps and bounds ahead of UChicago/Comer Children's, and it's not even close. Part of it is that the only competition WashU has within a 4.5 hour radius in any direction is SLU, and WashU's medical center is much bigger and receives far more complex cases from a wide range of patients. In contrast, UChicago has to compete with several medical centers, most notably Northwestern and Rush, whose hospital systems are both better than UChicago's. I don't think this necessarily has to be a huge factor, but staying at WashU will boost your chances of matching in the BJC system but will not put you at any disadvantage in Chicago or elsewhere compared to UChicago.

The vibes from UChicago's administration were better imo, but student vibes felt the same.

Last thing I want to mention, which I always bring up (lol), is money. That should play a major role imo. I ultimately went to a school that gave more money than the rest, and I don't regret it one bit.

 

[srirachamayonnaise]

Central West End isn’t too bad.

 

[DZ2106]

Match lists are irrelevant with T20s

Chicago is a better city but you're in a bad area, and its ridiculously cold and windy. UChicago has a better layman's prestige. Also, UChicago has great additional degrees, like a top MBA program.

WashU has a better academic hospital, a milder climate, cheaper CoL, and is in the middle of the USA, so great for traveling to family.

I'd go with WashU unless you like big city life or you like the UChicago name

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Chicago is a better city but you're in a bad area, and its ridiculously cold and windy. UChicago has a better layman's prestige. Also, UChicago has great additional degrees, like a top MBA program.

WashU has a better academic hospital, a milder climate, cheaper CoL, and is in the middle of the USA, so great for traveling to family.

I'd go with WashU unless you like big city life or you like the UChicago name

Especially if the OP has any interest in finance. Gene Fama won the Nobel prize in economics, though I’m not sure an MBA is worth it for most med students unless it’s fully subsidized

 

[DZ2106]

Especially if the OP has any interest in finance. Gene Fama won the Nobel prize in economics, though I’m not sure an MBA is worth it for most med students unless it’s fully subsidized

I feel like MBAs can also definitely be useful if you want to do consulting on the side or are interested in entrepreneurship/business (like getting involved in biotech, being a CMO/CEO in a hospital, or even running your own clinic more efficiently). That's why I'm interested in an MBA at least

 

[JKars]

OP, given that your pros/cons revolve around prestige (which is practically a wash, both have the resources to help you match into anything) and location (which from my understanding are both actually pretty nice spots, even if the area around them isn't) I think you really owe it to yourself to get in touch with some students from both schools to understand their communities/class culture better, and perhaps try to see if either offers you a scholarship to make the decision easier.

I can't speak too much about WashU, but what draws me personally to Pritzker is how visibly tight knit and focused on community service the class is. The city itself is also just amazing, but you already know that. As is though, both are fantastic options and you can't go wrong either way!

 

[deleted1080469]

Have not heard great things about WashU student body/ culture. Have heard that it’s full of gunners, as mentioned above.

Then again, UChicago is also known for having a very strange student body/ social scene lol. Pick your poison, I guess.

Honestly, both are awesome schools and just about as prestigious as it gets. Can’t go wrong w either one. Both will open nearly any door just as wide as any other school can; it’s up to you to prove that you should be the one that gets to walk through it, though. Can’t imagine any PD’s choosing a WashU applicant over a UChicago one based on alma mater alone; void of any preexisting bias, that is.

can you elaborate on what you mean by strange student body / social scene at UChicago? I'm strongly considering them haha so this might be good for me to know.

 

[metview]

Both are equal in terms of reputation and will allow you to match into vascular/CT surgery. Uchicago's undergraduate student body is strange/weird but the medical school is not like that. I know that WashU's medical student body is notorious for being super competitive. Uchicago also has a smaller class size (88), and you will likely be the only person applying into vascular/CT surgery, which means less competition for research and mentorship. In terms of weather, they are both frigid..don't think St. Louis is at all better than Chicago. In terms of city, Chicago >>> St. Louis.

 

[beepbeep197]

Disclaimer: accepted at WashU, WLed at UChicago

People are out here saying that STL weather is better than Chicago's, but honestly there's a point where it's all the same and STL winters are not balmy at all lmao. I know that WashU Med gets a bad rep for competitiveness, but I went to WashU for undergrad and the med students I met were genuinely kind and supportive people. Of course, I only attract the best company congratulations for such amazing options and I believe you can't go wrong! Feel free to send me any questions about living in St Louis I will be completely honest haha. Good luck making a decision!

 

[deleted1065184]

Both are equal in terms of reputation and will allow you to match into vascular/CT surgery. Uchicago's undergraduate student body is strange/weird but the medical school is not like that. I know that WashU's medical student body is notorious for being super competitive. Uchicago also has a smaller class size (88), and you will likely be the only person applying into vascular/CT surgery, which means less competition for research and mentorship. In terms of weather, they are both frigid..don't think St. Louis is at all better than Chicago. In terms of city, Chicago >>> St. Louis.

To be clear, they are not equal in terms of reputation in medicine. WashU is a school that has historically competed with Hopkins, Penn, and UCSF for reputation/prestige in medicine, but UChicago is well-regarded enough that the difference isn't important here. UChicago's med students were cool, but so were WashU's. There is more than enough research and mentorship at WashU that there isn't any competition for either. There's also, generally, a pretty big gulf in terms of biomedical research funding and opportunities, with WashU having far more. There won't be an issue finding funding, research, or mentorship at either school.

And lastly, the main reason I commented lol, is that there is an ENORMOUS difference in the weather between Chicago and St. Louis. Chicago gets far more snow, gets much colder, and also has the Great Lakes effect which just exacerbates everything. It's literally 4.5 hours Northeast of St. Louis. The idea that St. Louis weather gets anywhere near that bad is completely wrong. I know because I have spent plenty of time in both cities during the winter. Chicago has better summers, though, because St. Louis gets much more hot and humid.

 

[beepbeep197]

To be clear, they are not equal in terms of reputation in medicine. WashU is a school that has historically competed with Hopkins, Penn, and UCSF for reputation/prestige in medicine, but UChicago is well-regarded enough that the difference isn't important here. UChicago's med students were cool, but so were WashU's. There is more than enough research and mentorship at WashU that there isn't any competition for either. There's also, generally, a pretty big gulf in terms of biomedical research funding and opportunities, with WashU having far more. There won't be an issue finding funding, research, or mentorship at either school.

And lastly, the main reason I commented lol, is that there is an ENORMOUS difference in the weather between Chicago and St. Louis. Chicago gets far more snow, gets much colder, and also has the Great Lakes effect which just exacerbates everything. It's literally 4.5 hours Northeast of St. Louis. The idea that St. Louis weather gets anywhere near that bad is completely wrong. I know because I have spent plenty of time in both cities during the winter. Chicago has better summers, though, because St. Louis gets much more hot and humid.

I stand corrected. I did not account for the snow 😅 Stl gets only 1-2 big snows/season

 

[Dogruffle01]

Pretty even pick.

Both cities have roughly equal level of crime and prestige. Chicago is colder, but I wouldn't decide schools based on 4 months out of the year.
I think you should just wait on money and go wherever the dollar is. I think Pritzker is more liberal with aid.

I have heard Pritzker has an easier curriculum where a large percent of students get honors. They focus is more community service based while WashU has a more research based curriculum.

Either way, you can match CT from both, and I would give a slight nod to Pritzker since your from Chiraq anyway.