I want to preface everything I am going to say with every medical school has their cons and a con for me personally may be a pro for you and vice versa. Picking a school is a deeply personal thing and it's ok to think about the same thing differently.
With that said, I have couple major hesitations mostly revolving around the newness of Mayo Clinic in Arizona. I'll start with the more light or neutral things bothering me and end with my biggest concern.
1. New campus = first class = figuring things out. I completely understand that it's based on Mayo in Rochester and as far as new schools go, it will be an easier transition than most, but even the most established medical schools don't have a perfect curriculum and being new will inevitably make things slightly rougher.
2. New campus = no clubs, support, etc. Now this may be a pro for you cause the first class can literally make whatever they want and be president of everything! lol. I actually had some thoughts about programs and stuff I would want to start, so this can be exciting, but, for example, having no interest groups or anything means we'll be starting everything, making those connections right away and spending valuable time that I could be spending attending these interest groups/ physician meet ups actually making them. It's just another hurdle to jump.
3. No established MD/MPH or MSPH. This is a big one for me personally. I do not want to get my MPH at ASU (and it's not even a formal agreement like many schools have) meaning I would have to find my own MPH to do, which while also not a big deal, means I have to do it myself. Moreover, since it's not integrated, transferring of units/ doing public health research/ everything that goes into making the MPH or MSPH worth it for me becomes more difficult and not as integrated. Again, this probably doesn't even apply to most of you.
4. First class ever. Now there are things that would make this transition easier, but Mayo is a class of 50 (super small for medical school) with no other classes, attached undergrad, or other graduate programs with the closest school being ASU which is 45 minutes away. A super vast majority of my friends in any graduate program (med school, dental, law, etc) have their entire social network based out of their respective schools regardless of where they are. It's hard to just make friends in the Scottsdale/Phoenix community, ESPECIALLY as a medical student who is incredibly busy. The idea of having my entire social network depend on 50 people is kind of terrifying to me lol. Once again, this is a personal problem and may not apply to you.
Now onto the more substantial topics and comparing Rochester to Arizona (I am making this comparison for a reason and I will explain at the end).
5. The research at Arizona is nothing compared to Rochester. During the interview day they were emphasizing all the growth they were going to make in the next 20 years in research and buildings and essentially making the Rochester version of Mayo in Arizona... but that doesn't apply to me at this time. The funding of research in Rochester to Arizona is something like 200m to 10-20m. It's massive.
6. What Mayo Clinic in Arizona is versus Mayo Clinic in Rochester.
http://www.mayoclinic.org/documents/mc2045-pdf/doc-20078949. In that document you'll see that there are over 2,000 physicians and almost 3,000 residents, fellows, and medical students at Rochester and 460 physicians and 260 residents/fellows at Arizona (this will rise as the medical school starts). What does this mean? Less people to work with, shadow, do research with, learn from the residents, be involved in the residency programs, etc. Some may interpret a more personal and individualized experience which is great! Once again, it's a matter of perspective.
7. And most importantly we have no idea how the match will turn out. We can speculate and have discussions for 4 years and all that, but the only fact that we can 100% is that we do not know. Now if this were a 5-10 year old campus and they could publish both match lists and say "look, our students, regardless of campus, perform the same" then sold. No questions asked. But now? While I think the match will be strong, I don't KNOW it will be. Moreover, I was discussing Mayo Clinic in Arizona with my mentor who's director of a fellowship program in her department at a highly ranked academic center and I asked her bluntly how she views residents coming from Arizona, Jacksonville, and Rochester and she confirmed there is a difference in how they're seen. I can only hope it won't be the same for the medical students, but once again, this all stems from the problem that I don't know.
So there you have it. Those are my hesitations. And I think these hesitations are born out of the fact that I am lucky enough to 1) have other amazing options and 2) have an option that'll similarly set me up for a good residency at a much cheaper price. The idea of paying full tuition for everything I'm hesitant about AND for an unknown just simply does not make sense to me given the options. Now if Mayo had given me a scholarship? Completely different ball game. If it were in 10 years, different ball game. If I had family in Phoenix, if I knew I wanted a Mayo Clinic residency, etc etc. The things that would sway me towards it can totally be true for you.
But I do want to emphasize how far the name Mayo Clinic will take you and for those that have chosen it, I do not think you're making a mistake whatsoever and your situation is 100% different than mine. I just thought I may as well be honest so we can have a dialogue and see how others respond. I really did love this school and my critiques of it are not born out of resentment for the school or because the school is terrible. Quite the contrary-- it's an amazing institution and I have been blessed with the curse of options, allowing me to dissect everything about my decision. There are so many pros, such as the culture, the student wellness, the physicians, the selectives, the rotations you can do in Rochester and Jacksonville, etc etc etc.
Anyways, that was long lol. If anyone has any questions or rebuttals or whatever, post 'em. Maybe I'm 100% off base on everything.
