Wright State (Full Tuition) vs Wake Forest

[indebtedsaddle23]

I recently got off the WL at Wake Forest and having a hard time deciding. I am leaning Wright State and want to do general surgery most likely.

Wright State

Pros:
Class size medium- 125 students
Faculty/staff/students seem very hands-on, helpful and want you to succeed
Free tuition
Pretty decent match list from what i could see

Cons:
In Ohio (lol)
“lower tier” but don’t know how much it should matter
No “home” hospital just affiliated hospital
Farther from support system

Wake Forest

Pros:
Higher ranked
Familiar with area (went to school in NC for undergrad)
Closer to support system
Home hospital

Cons:
HIGHER COST (~70k extra x 4= 280k)
Kind of want to explore a new area and not too big of a fan of Winston Salem

I am sure there’s more pros and cons I can list, but ultimately what I am really asking if Wake Forest is worth nearly 300k in extra debt over Wright State. Thanks for input!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Are you interested in competitive specialties?

 

[indebtedsaddle23]

Are you interested in competitive specialties?

I mean yeah I’m open to them (i know a lot of people change what they want to do during school). Do you think if I wanted to pursue ortho or something down the line, Wake is the way to go?

 

[Hollow Knight]

I mean yeah I’m open to them (i know a lot of people change what they want to do during school). Do you think if I wanted to pursue ortho or something down the line, Wake is the way to go?

In the old days, the advice was to go to the cheapest medical school. Nowadays since step 2 is the only real objective metric we have, research and ECs is becoming more important. Also, the debt is higher than it used to be.

If you probably want to do primary care, you need to avoid that debt.

If you probably want to do a ROAD specialty or Ortho or something, I'd probably go to Wake Forest.

The caveat is that the ultimate med school feature is free time. If one of the school has mandatory class, don't pick that one

 

[spongebobdoc]

If you can try to talk to Wake Forest to see if they can offer anything. If not, I’d take the 300,000 check lmao

 

[m1redsox]

Wake grad here. Absolutely love Wake. Can’t say enough good things about it. But is it worth $280k + interest and COL expenses more than another USMD program? Probably not. I’d take the money if you’re interested in gen surg.

 

[JungleTrouble]

Wake forest is good, but full tuition is always better imo

 

[LunaOri]

Take the full tuition! Graduating with significantly less debt will be a big plus if you (like most medical students) don’t go into a high-paying specialty.

 

[milly567]

Did you end up deciding on a school?

 

[thefirerisen]

In the old days, the advice was to go to the cheapest medical school. Nowadays since step 2 is the only real objective metric we have, research and ECs is becoming more important. Also, the debt is higher than it used to be.

If you probably want to do primary care, you need to avoid that debt.

If you probably want to do a ROAD specialty or Ortho or something, I'd probably go to Wake Forest.

The caveat is that the ultimate med school feature is free time. If one of the school has mandatory class, don't pick that one

Gonna have to disagree heavily here. 280k is an insane amount to pay if you have a full ride offer at another MD. Especially Wake Forest vs Wright State, both of which are established programs.

Wright State's match list is decent and if OP is a bright student, they'll be able to take advantage of opportunities to match to the specialty they want. Also, when it comes to general surgery, it isn't hyper-competitive so 100% would do Wright State for that. Even for ROAD/Ortho, like damn 280k with interest is going to be your whole year's salary as an attending (and that is if you end up choosing those specialties).

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

You take full tuition unless the other school is T20 or arguably T10

 

[Dr. Anonymouss]

Full tuition. Your medical education is dependent on you

 

[indebtedsaddle23]

Going to Wright State, thanks everyone!