Yale vs Northwestern vs Cornell

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Just considering Cornell and NU, which are two options I am between, I genuinely feel there is a negligible difference in prestige. If you're using US news for rankings, while Cornell is like 2 spots ahead this year, the year prior nu was 15 and Cornell was 20, which was also a case for a few years prior. Just throwing that out there because it likely switches between years.

I would also say another thing is really consider the major city you wanna live in, and specifically the part in them. If you go to NU, you can live in streeterville, which is the nicest, most "wow" part of Chicago, but it is also one of the most expensive. but you also have the opportunity to live in more youthful friendly and cheap areas like Old town and Lincoln park, which a ton of students do. If you pick cornell, you're practically locked into UES, but at least youre able to have extremely cheap rent. UES also is a very nice and calm area.

In terms of residencies and match lists, imo its really up to the individual candidate. a lot of students I know from nu are from the chicago suburbs, and thus wanna stay there, which impacts their residency choices. but they also send a decent amount of students to stanford/nyp-columbia and cornell, as well as mt sinai. obviously though if your ideal location is the east coast, cornell probably would be a better choice and along with it, Yale.

overall, us news rankings are extremely easy to have at the back of your mind for the decision (hence why cornell and nu are just as hard for me). but especially with NUs association with NMH, a t10 hospital, I dont necessarily think any of the programs blow each other out of the water.
 
IMO easily Yale + Yale system over Northwestern. Beyond the flexibility of the system, I'm quite sure they've kept true P/F clinicals in place, so on top of the yale system you also have true P/F over northwestern which still does not (and ranks students since AOA). I do also feel like your statements about the difficulty to stand out/matching competitive might be slightly misguided though....last year Yale matched 9 people into optho last year and 7 into derm...but obviously we don't know how many applied. Maybe someone else could chime in who is familiar with Yale internally.

Tbh based on your pros/cons list though, it seems like you'd be happier at Northwestern. I can't tell if this is sort of some reverse psychology to make you try to level the schools off (i.e. the "thesis" con just seems forced imo—it's not that big of a deal and NW has AOSC so it's sorta the same thing lol). New Haven vs. Chicago is just not even a question though—if you really truly care about that for 4 years, I think it's fair to put that high on your list.
 
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milesofmedicine said:
Just considering Cornell and NU, which are two options I am between, I genuinely feel there is a negligible difference in prestige. If you're using US news for rankings, while Cornell is like 2 spots ahead this year, the year prior nu was 15 and Cornell was 20, which was also a case for a few years prior. Just throwing that out there because it likely switches between years.

I would also say another thing is really consider the major city you wanna live in, and specifically the part in them. If you go to NU, you can live in streeterville, which is the nicest, most "wow" part of Chicago, but it is also one of the most expensive. but you also have the opportunity to live in more youthful friendly and cheap areas like Old town and Lincoln park, which a ton of students do. If you pick cornell, you're practically locked into UES, but at least youre able to have extremely cheap rent. UES also is a very nice and calm area.

In terms of residencies and match lists, imo its really up to the individual candidate. a lot of students I know from nu are from the chicago suburbs, and thus wanna stay there, which impacts their residency choices. but they also send a decent amount of students to stanford/nyp-columbia and cornell, as well as mt sinai. obviously though if your ideal location is the east coast, cornell probably would be a better choice and along with it, Yale.

overall, us news rankings are extremely easy to have at the back of your mind for the decision (hence why cornell and nu are just as hard for me). but especially with NUs association with NMH, a t10 hospital, I dont necessarily think any of the programs blow each other out of the water.
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To your point about the UES, a Cornell con would be having to live in dorm style housing the first year. Not the end of the world, but I'm used to living in a nice, roomy apartment all by myself haha. Thanks for your insight, and best of luck picking between the two!
 
ssf20000 said:
IMO easily Yale + Yale system over Northwestern. Beyond the flexibility of the system, I'm quite sure they've kept true P/F clinicals in place, so on top of the yale system you also have true P/F over northwestern which still does not (and ranks students since AOA). I do also feel like your statements about the difficulty to stand out/matching competitive might be slightly misguided though....last year Yale matched 9 people into optho last year and 7 into derm...but obviously we don't know how many applied. Maybe someone else could chime in who is familiar with Yale internally.

Tbh based on your pros/cons list though, it seems like you'd be happier at Northwestern. I can't tell if this is sort of some reverse psychology to make you try to level the schools off (i.e. the "thesis" con just seems forced imo—it's not that big of a deal and NW has AOSC so it's sorta the same thing lol). New Haven vs. Chicago is just not even a question though—if you really truly care about that for 4 years, I think it's fair to put that high on your list.
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Oops, you're right about P/F clinicals for Yale, I just edited the original post to reflect that. I've taken a look at all the match lists, and Yale definitely matches well, but part of me wonders if that's in part due to the research year a lot of students take. The thesis con is due to my own personal hell with producing a thesis in undergrad and grad school lol, so that's just my personal baggage. My impression of the AOSC is that it's a little less intense than a full thesis.

Yeah, I'm having trouble letting location be such an important deciding factor but I really don't see any way around it for me. Here's hoping I'll somehow magically fall in love with New Haven when I go for second look haha. Thanks for your thoughts!
 
sfsgmedstud said:
Oops, you're right about P/F clinicals for Yale, I just edited the original post to reflect that. I've taken a look at all the match lists, and Yale definitely matches well, but part of me wonders if that's in part due to the research year a lot of students take. The thesis con is due to my own personal hell with producing a thesis in undergrad and grad school lol, so that's just my personal baggage. My impression of the AOSC is that it's a little less intense than a full thesis.

Yeah, I'm having trouble letting location be such an important deciding factor but I really don't see any way around it for me. Here's hoping I'll somehow magically fall in love with New Haven when I go for second look haha. Thanks for your thoughts!
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Let me preface this by ive lived mostly in the midwest besides a few years in the east coast. IMO, i don’t think in the realm of medicine, Yale’s name is a great enough individual factor enough to overcome the difference in location (i.e. small city versus big), little alone one as great as Chicago
 
Hello! Made this decision last year.

I am best equipped to tell you about Yale and counter some of your negatives (feel free to DM me) but I will also tell you why I chose against Northwestern (and Cornell).

  • Location: See note above about location. This is truly the only factor stopping me from committing to this program 100% - Not going to pretend New Haven is better than Chicago but it's perfectly fine for me. I've lived mostly in big cities and am doing completely fine. Med school takes up more time than you think and you can get to NYC and Boston so easily.
  • The yale system: I feel like I would do fine with the flexibility but also wouldn’t mind a more structured program. Because there is no AOA/clinical grades you HAVE to distinguish yourself with a ton of extracurriculars and research to match well (optho and derm are on my list) - I think you might have a little misconception here - you're going to have to do a ton of extracurriculars and research at any program to match those two programs (especially with Step P/F). Plus I think the Yale name gives a little boost that probably outweighs the perceived negative of no AOA/definitive ranking. We would have some ranking if our students needed it to match well.
  • Required thesis: I would rather forego the yale system and not have the chronic stress of this thesis looming over my head for four years than the reverse. Again, you're going to have to do research for any competitive specialty. The research you do becomes your thesis - it's not really any extra work.
  • Optional 5th year: sold as “optional” but 50 - 75% of the class takes this year and I have absolutely no intention of doing so. Wouldn’t want this to affect my chances at matching in the specialty and program I want. It is optional - it's a symptom of the opportunities here, not a necessity. People match CT surgery, derm, anything in 4 years. I thought the same thing when I was trying to make a decision last year but I promise you it is not forced upon you or necessary in any way.
  • Really did not enjoy my interview day (was via Zoom, so take this with a huge grain of salt lol) but this was the only program out of like 10 where I felt this way. Come to second look - still not a perfect indicator but will give you a better idea than Zoom.
I agree with the other poster that it sounds a little like you're trying to convince yourself to go to Northwestern. If you really want to go there, you aren't going to have significantly worse anything. But I don't think your cons are the best for Yale (aside from desiring a more structured program - that's fair, I will say though most everyone realizes the tyranny of structure once you're teaching or reteaching yourself 25-75% of the material from 3rd party resources wherever you go).

Feel free to DM me because I also had a hard time letting both of your other options go (along with some other city options).
 
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