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Wow! I sure have missed a lot on here lately! Glad to see Shep, Jturk, and lrk have been holding down the fort. All of us will be spending a ton of time together as future classmates and I personally am quite happy that we have become friends over sdn and in real life! I agree with Brooother that we should try to remember that we are all med-cats together, even if we are separated by a couple hundred milesAlso, I would like to point out that having taken Dr. Fisher's anatomy class I can definitely say it was fanatastic course and she is an absolutely phenomenal teacher! Although, I have thought of pros and cons for each campus, many of them have been touched on already. I think the most important thing is that UA trains great docs and that hopefully many of them and others will decide to practice in AZ!
I'm also really excited to begin the year and meet each of you in person! The best part about SDN will be that - meeting online friends for real
So I'm up earlier than everyone in a hotel in Tucson, and decided I'd take the chance to post my Tucson/Phoenix Pros. It was a super hard decision, but after talking with people, reading online, reading your posts (thanks, btw), I realized that Tucson was the place for me. My decision came down to mostly personal reasons (you'll see that below). As has been mentioned, each campus has some amazing things to offer - much of which is identical.
I'm also glad to have created another vacant spot somewhere Tucson:
Pros:
- Smaller city – I'm from a small town, and like a smaller feel. I also did undergrad in a smaller city, where the university is an important part of the town, sort of drawing the whole community together.
- Slightly cooler – My hometown is pretty cool compared to either Phoenix or Tucson, but Tucson's a little cooler than Phoenix, especially at night.
- UMC connected to COM – I realize this doesn't offer for much diversity in clinical experience, but it means I don't have to lose more of my time driving around.
- Tons of resources nearby – The College of Public Health is right there, along with the College of Nursing, College of Pharmacy; there are also plenty of places to do scientific research (not that Phoenix doesn't have these, but again one has to drive to ASU or somewhere else to get most of this)
- Cool relatives in town – Though these relatives are on my wife's side, they're pretty sweet. I actually click with them better than my own peeps – partly because they're supposed to be my aunt and uncle, but are only 4 years older than my wife and me.
- Close to large mountains (Catalinas) – I love mountains and the outdoors. My hometown is just minutes from ponderosa pine, and an hour from much of the White Mountains. I did my undergrad in the shadow of some pretty sweet mountains. I guess I'm addicted to them – mountaholic?
- Good, established program – Not that Phoenix's program isn't good, or isn't mostly established, but this one has been around for decades (could be good or bad).
- Further from most of my family – This is obviously a con in many ways, but also a pro. We're a couple hours from most of our extended family, and 4 from our parents. I'd prefer to switch that around, but that's where I like it – we can make it to the important things like birthdays, etc, but our lives aren't getting run by family, and everyone gets excited when we/they visit
- Near my heritage – I have a couple of lines of ancestors from Pomerene, St. David, Tombstone, and who knows where else in southeastern Arizona. I was never told much about them growing up, so it's been fun learning about these places, and I want to learn more.
- Societies – This has pluses and minuses vs. Phoenix's LCE. What I like about it is the opportunity to work with and get to know a small group of students and a teaching physician.
Phoenix:
Pros:
- Awesome curriculum (capstone, intersessions courses, scholarly project, etc) – I can't say how much I like what I read and hear about these courses and the scholarly project. I think all of it is awesome!
- Nice hospitals in area – Phoenix has some great hospitals available to students, some at which I would love to do rotations at, or even residency.
- Nice places to live – Though it's not always true, I think one should be able to find nicer places to live here than in Tucson.
- Small class size – This might help offset the feeling of being in a sprawling metropolis with millions of people. My graduating class in high school was 135 strong and I didn't know everyone – I'd probably know and love all 47 of my med school classmates.
- Flexibility – The program is still taking shape, and allows for some personalization on the students' part.
- Really nice admissions/staff people – The admissions people at Phoenix do an excellent job of selling the program, and making applicants/students feel at home.
- Closer to most of my family – In many ways it would be nice to be close to all the extended family.
- Close to local and state government – I've taken an interest in public health policy, and would like to see if it's something I want to include in my career. Being close to governments would provide an awesome opportunity.
- LCE – This would be an awesome way to learn the art of being a physician. I like the one-on-one nature of it.
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