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- Feb 18, 2017
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I’ve been lucky enough to be offered admission at two schools: Wayne State and Drexel. Its a really hard choice for me: Wayne is cheaper (in-state tuition) and i think the clinical training might be better, but Drexel was a much better “click” with me, and i feel that Drexel might open up doors that Wayne would not. The price difference is sizable, but I can’t help but feel it might be worth it. Here’s a pro/con breakdown of the schools.
Wayne State:
Pros:
Pros:
Wayne State:
Pros:
- cheap (in state) tuition (like 120kish cheaper than Drexel)
- Maybe better clinical experience. I have a lot of interest (and background) in working with low income and homeless populations. As far as I can tell, all of Wayne’s clinical sites offer lots of direct exposure to these populations. They also seem to offer a very hands on style of training. It seems like the work of medical students is actually valued here, as opposed to them being in the way or seen as a liability.
- My mom lives in Detroit. We’re not super close, and there are honestly some challenges posed by living near her, but she is supportive and it would definitely be nice to live near her in some ways.
- Some of my oldest friends live in Detroit, but they all have plans to leave around the end of my MS1.
- It seems like the administration is less than good. In most interactions I’ve had with them they’ve been less than helpful. Example: they told us they’d release financial aid info by April 30th. Crickets from them. Not even a “sorry, we’re working on it” email. On second look day they dodged most of the questions asked, and repeated canned responses ad nauseam. They seemed annoyed that people kept asking very reasonable questions that they really should have been able to answer. These experiences combined with their reputation for being disorganized and disinterested left a bad taste in my mouth and make me really concerned about their ability to support me as a medical student in my education and career development.
- it’s Detroit. I’m from there (although I’ve spent a lot of time recently living in other places) so I don’t mind SO much, but still. It ain’t philly...and I really love philly.
- They send a very large proportion of their students to residencies in Michigan and in the Great Lakes region. I don’t want to end up in Michigan or the Midwest for residency. I don’t want to live there long term. I know that many Wayne students self-select for nearby Midwest/Great Lakes residency programs, but I can’t help but feel that this trend will contribute to a decrease in my chance of matching in programs in other locations, because those programs might be less familiar with Wayne state grads.
- I didn’t feel so much of a connection with Wayne medicine students. They all seem nice enough, but I just didn’t “click” with any of them (no offense to any Wayne students reading - I’m sure you’re awesome, it was just a feeling I had on interview and second look day).
Pros:
- Instant “click”. On interview day I immediately felt comfortable at the school, and felt that the administrators, faculty, and students I interacted with had a positive attitude, and that I’d really enjoy working with them. I was especially impressed by how candid they all seemed in answering our questions, and how earnestly they welcomed us and shared their feelings about Drexel. It just seemed like a really positive environment, and I got the sense that everyone I interacted with genuinely enjoyed being at Drexel.
- It’s in philly! I really loved this city and I know that I would absolutely love living there.
- I can’t help but feel that being located in philly would afford more opportunities for career development. There’s so much medical infrastructure there, and it’s such a large city with so much going on.
- Drexel sends its students to residency programs all over the country. Looking at the match list, I feel like I’d have more options coming out of Drexel. I like big coastal cities and I think Drexel could help me land in one for residency.
- Drexel also presents lots of opportunities to work with underserved, especially if I get to rotate at Hahnemann hospital. However, I do worry about how likely that is (see con below)
- I’ve heard that Drexel’s relationship with Hahnemann hospital is somewhat precarious. Everyone assured me not to worry but I can’t help worrying. I don’t want to get stuck with rotations at some suburban hospital. Which I suppose is a possibility even if the situation at Hahnemann is stable. (I’d really appreciate insight on this from current students at Drexel).
- Drexel has an online only lecture system. I always liked going to class in undergrad, and I worry about my ability to feel connected to the school, the material, faculty, and my fellow classmates if all the lectures are online. However, it does sound like there are a lot of on campus requirements that might assuage this concern somewhat.
- THE PRICE. At 120k more, it’s significantly more expensive.
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