- Joined
- May 17, 2014
- Messages
- 4
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Dear SDN Family,
I have spent more time engrossed in these threads over the years than I could ever recount. I have vicariously triumphed through your narratives of amazing successes and anguished through your accounts of hard luck, setbacks, and defeat. On myriad occasions, your candidness, encouraging words, and tacit concern, joy, and empathy for perfect strangers has inspired me.
I have a been faced with a decision that, at surface, seems straightforward and simplistic, however, I cannot help but be somewhat conflicted. I would deeply appreciate your invaluable insights and words of wisdom so that I can proceed more confidently.
First off I want to state, this cycle was amongst the most humbling experiences of my life. I was blessed with acceptances that I did not dare think I would hold, and had the opportunity to meet people that have indelibly impacted my life, updated my perception of my peers, and improved me as a person.
As of April, I have been set on matriculating to Duke. I love the people, faculty and students alike, I am a huge fan of the curriculum, the facilities are topnotch, and I received a full-tuition scholarship.
Fast forward to yesterday, I was accepted off 3 wait lists: UCSF, Stanford, and Mayo.
While Mayo was arguably my top choice at some point in this cycle, I would no longer attend it over Duke.
So now for the crux of my dilemma. I have lived in California my entire life. While I have no qualms venturing from for the West for the next 4-5 years, I ideally would like to match back to California. I am most interested in neurosurgery, and granted the sparse number of nx residency seats in CA, I do not want to forgo UCSF or Stanford should they confer any less-than-marginal advantage to matching into a west coast nx residency over Duke. In terms of the intangibles such as students, faculty, cirrocumuli, & setting, I do not foresee any gained or relinquished happiness points in selecting Duke; in fact, I believe that I may actually feel slightly more at home at Duke.
So please, I would immensely appreciate your forthright take on, granted my desire to match out West (Barrow, UCLA, UCSF, Stanford, Cedars, etc.), whether it is advisable to stay the course with Duke or redirect myself to UCSF or Stanford.
Thank you so much for you time and valuable opinions.
I have spent more time engrossed in these threads over the years than I could ever recount. I have vicariously triumphed through your narratives of amazing successes and anguished through your accounts of hard luck, setbacks, and defeat. On myriad occasions, your candidness, encouraging words, and tacit concern, joy, and empathy for perfect strangers has inspired me.
I have a been faced with a decision that, at surface, seems straightforward and simplistic, however, I cannot help but be somewhat conflicted. I would deeply appreciate your invaluable insights and words of wisdom so that I can proceed more confidently.
First off I want to state, this cycle was amongst the most humbling experiences of my life. I was blessed with acceptances that I did not dare think I would hold, and had the opportunity to meet people that have indelibly impacted my life, updated my perception of my peers, and improved me as a person.
As of April, I have been set on matriculating to Duke. I love the people, faculty and students alike, I am a huge fan of the curriculum, the facilities are topnotch, and I received a full-tuition scholarship.
Fast forward to yesterday, I was accepted off 3 wait lists: UCSF, Stanford, and Mayo.
While Mayo was arguably my top choice at some point in this cycle, I would no longer attend it over Duke.
So now for the crux of my dilemma. I have lived in California my entire life. While I have no qualms venturing from for the West for the next 4-5 years, I ideally would like to match back to California. I am most interested in neurosurgery, and granted the sparse number of nx residency seats in CA, I do not want to forgo UCSF or Stanford should they confer any less-than-marginal advantage to matching into a west coast nx residency over Duke. In terms of the intangibles such as students, faculty, cirrocumuli, & setting, I do not foresee any gained or relinquished happiness points in selecting Duke; in fact, I believe that I may actually feel slightly more at home at Duke.
So please, I would immensely appreciate your forthright take on, granted my desire to match out West (Barrow, UCLA, UCSF, Stanford, Cedars, etc.), whether it is advisable to stay the course with Duke or redirect myself to UCSF or Stanford.
Thank you so much for you time and valuable opinions.