Western vs UPenn

[appa.la]

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Hello everyone!

Thank you for considering my post 🙂 As the thread suggests, I'm considering UPenn (OOS) and Western (IS). I know both schools are private so tuition costs are fairly marginal from each other (I know already that I should've applied smarter but here we are haha), but for Western I would most likely be living at home and commuting an hour to school, which would save me roughly 80-100k over the total four years with no housing or food costs to consider. However, I've researched both schools and found that overall UPenn fits my style of learning better and aligns with my tentative career goals (research, specialty, academia). Really, I'm just looking for advice on what factors I should be heavily considering. I so far have been greatly emphasizing cost and am leaning towards Western simply due to the number of individuals on this forum and in GP who've cautioned me against taking out a great deal of debt, and I'd technically save a substantial amount of money going there. On the other hand, I'm not sure how that weighs against other factors, like overall resources, networking, learning ability, faculty, NAVLE pass rate, and much much more. I've compiled a list of general pros and cons (not comprehensive) of the main details I've been considering during this process. Any advice is appreciated, or if any current Western or UPenn students have a take and would like to tell more about their experiences, please let me know. Anything to just help inform my decision. Thanks so much, and have the best day everrr!

Penn
Pros:
- integrative didactic learning with capstone
- broad opportunities in research with chances to connect with faculty (specifically within toxicology which I'm interested in and am currently studying in undergrad)
- teaching hospital
- urban area
Cons:
- cannot establish residency --> very high cost of tuition/cost of attendance
- far away from family
- the cold (I've only ever lived in CA and have never been to the east coast lolll)

Western
Pros:
- close to home, family, friends
- significantly cheaper than UPenn
- PBL style learning
- would be able to network with clinicians nearby to hopefully get a job in the area I want to settle down in
Cons:
- limited research groups
- no teaching hospital
- lower NAVLE pass rate
- not as much didactic learning
- hour long commutes that may hinder my experience and learning

 

[mw1356]

take this with several grains of salt bc i’m only a first year vet student but if you have any inkling that you might want to pursue a specialty i would pick UPenn. the clinicians in the hospital at my school are usually super welcoming to having preclinical students shadow - I’ve done some shadowing in small animal IM and pathology, and i have friends shadowing in large animal surgery, derm, etc. it gives you a lot of room to explore before clinicals and you have the chance to build relationships with faculty in your sphere of interest.

 

[appa.la]

take this with several grains of salt bc i’m only a first year vet student but if you have any inkling that you might want to pursue a specialty i would pick UPenn. the clinicians in the hospital at my school are usually super welcoming to having preclinical students shadow - I’ve done some shadowing in small animal IM and pathology, and i have friends shadowing in large animal surgery, derm, etc. it gives you a lot of room to explore before clinicals and you have the chance to build relationships with faculty in your sphere of interest.

Thank you so much! Regardless of you being a first year vet student, your advice is still valuable to me 🙂 and yeah I heard that western veterinarians don’t get exposed to many specialties (any western students please confirm or deny) and barely do any large animal work. Since I’m currently undecided on my career path, I want to go somewhere that introduces me to a variety of paths, so yes thanks for giving me perspective on that! 🙂