Hi everyone! If you have a few minutes, I would very much appreciate some advice.
I am very fortunate to be able to choose between 4 great options: BU, Tufts, Brown, and NYU. However, I'm having a difficult time choosing a school - partially due to lack of exposure (second look days will be key) and partially due to a limited understanding of the northeast medical community. Here are some of the main things that matter to me:
Location:
My boyfriend and I live in Boston, and moving out the city would be disruptive (although not entirely unmanageable). His strong preference is to stay in Boston, whereas I am more flexible. My family is also from Boston.
Money:
Essentially a wash, since FA packages haven't come out yet. BU did offer me a 10k/yr merit scholarship.
Strength of program with respect to location of residency matches:
My ultimate goal is to land a residency in the northeast. I am not sure what specialty I want to enter, so the ability of a program to send graduates to competitive residencies across specialties in the northeast is essential. My gut feeling is that this capacity is the same for all of the aforementioned schools, but I figured I'd ask.
Hospitals:
BMC vs Tufts vs Langone/Bellevue vs Rhode Island Hospital for 3rd/4th year rotations. Given that rotations are often glorified shadowing, is there that much of a significant difference between these locations to warrant special consideration?
Prestige:
My view of these schools with respect to prestige is largely influenced by my knowledge of their undergrad reputations, given that I am not very familiar with the northeast medical community just yet. From what I've read, BU, NYU and Brown seem to be on a level slightly higher than Tufts; however, my college health professions advisor (who went to Harvard med) told me that Tufts is often viewed higher than Brown and BU. I ultimately only care about prestige when it comes to influencing getting a solid residency in the northeast.
Thanks for making it through the post haha. As of now, I think I am leaning toward staying in Boston, and within Boston towards Boston University. I am looking for assurance that this will set me up to go where I want to go (assuming I crush medical school, of course) and not hold me back from having success getting into the competitive residencies in new england (MGH, BWI, BID, etc).
Thanks! I'm very excited for next year!
I am very fortunate to be able to choose between 4 great options: BU, Tufts, Brown, and NYU. However, I'm having a difficult time choosing a school - partially due to lack of exposure (second look days will be key) and partially due to a limited understanding of the northeast medical community. Here are some of the main things that matter to me:
Location:
My boyfriend and I live in Boston, and moving out the city would be disruptive (although not entirely unmanageable). His strong preference is to stay in Boston, whereas I am more flexible. My family is also from Boston.
Money:
Essentially a wash, since FA packages haven't come out yet. BU did offer me a 10k/yr merit scholarship.
Strength of program with respect to location of residency matches:
My ultimate goal is to land a residency in the northeast. I am not sure what specialty I want to enter, so the ability of a program to send graduates to competitive residencies across specialties in the northeast is essential. My gut feeling is that this capacity is the same for all of the aforementioned schools, but I figured I'd ask.
Hospitals:
BMC vs Tufts vs Langone/Bellevue vs Rhode Island Hospital for 3rd/4th year rotations. Given that rotations are often glorified shadowing, is there that much of a significant difference between these locations to warrant special consideration?
Prestige:
My view of these schools with respect to prestige is largely influenced by my knowledge of their undergrad reputations, given that I am not very familiar with the northeast medical community just yet. From what I've read, BU, NYU and Brown seem to be on a level slightly higher than Tufts; however, my college health professions advisor (who went to Harvard med) told me that Tufts is often viewed higher than Brown and BU. I ultimately only care about prestige when it comes to influencing getting a solid residency in the northeast.
Thanks for making it through the post haha. As of now, I think I am leaning toward staying in Boston, and within Boston towards Boston University. I am looking for assurance that this will set me up to go where I want to go (assuming I crush medical school, of course) and not hold me back from having success getting into the competitive residencies in new england (MGH, BWI, BID, etc).
Thanks! I'm very excited for next year!