Harvard vs Stanford(full tuition) vs NYU(CoA) vs Columbia vs Hopkins(CoA) vs Perelman

[m_tsflame]

Apologies in advance for the long post! Finally heard back from all my schools so wanted to ask for help from the SDN community. My cycle has exceeded my wildest expectations and I'm currently feeling pretty overwhelmed. I've cut down my original list a bit, but am having trouble deciding between these last ones. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

General notes: A diverse patient population and student body is very important to me. Finances are somewhat of a large factor as I would like to graduate with little to no debt in order to help my family as soon as possible. I'm also interested in spearheading different diversity programs as a doctor (maybe as a Dean or head administrator) so school prestige could help with that
Specialty interests: Neurology, Psychiatry (Maybe Derm?)

Harvard
Pros

• Reputation+prestige
• Established social network/familiar with the area
• Insane amount of research opportunities
• Large amount of dedicated STEP
• Hospital network
• REACH scholarship (most likely full tuition)
• Good public transportation
• Consistently strong performance on STEP 1

Cons

• The administration seems kind of aloof

• Weather (tired of the NE cold)
• Kind of getting tired of Boston, a new city would be a nice change
• Sparse anatomy teaching
• Required lectures
• The vibe on my interview day wasn't that great
• Very large class size
• Will likely graduate with 60-100K in debt

Stanford
Pros

• Reputation+prestige
• Cali weather
• Also insane amount of research opportunities
• Very flexible curriculum (can take STEP whenever)
• Financial aid covers all of the tuition
• Supportive administration
• LHDP (cool pre-matriculation program for people interested in health disparities)
• Smaller class size

Cons

• Not a lot to do in Palo Alto
• Seems like the patient population skews to the higher SES end of the spectrum
• Terrible public transportation
• Student class doesn't seem to be as diverse as the other schools on the list
• High COL so will probably graduate with 120K in debt

Hopkins
Pros

• Reputation+prestige
• Close to extended family
• Also insane amount of research opportunities
• Non-mandatory classes
• Supportive administration
• Students seemed genuinely happy on their interview day
• Diverse patient population

Cons

• Not sure about Baltimore as a city (close to DC though which is nice)
• Iffy public transportation (within Baltimore)
• Student class doesn't seem to be as diverse as the other schools on the list
• Not sure about financial aid (would probably be the least out of the schools on the list though) ~80-100k debt

NYU
Pros

• Good amount of research opportunities
• Non-mandatory classes
• Supportive administration
• Diverse patient population
• Diverse student body
• Plenty of extra-curricular activities/social events in NYC
• Good public transportation
• Full COA scholarship

Cons

• NYC may be a bit overwhelming
• The class may be very competitive with the new free-tuition program
• Reputation not as established as the other schools on the list (minor, but may be important for my future career goals)

Columbia
Pros (basically same as NYU with a few differences)

• Reputation + prestige
• Insane amount of research opportunities
• Non-mandatory classes
• Supportive administration
• Diverse patient population
• Diverse student body
• Plenty of extra-curricular activities/social events in NYC
• Good public transportation
• High likelihood of matching NYU's offer

Cons

• NYC may be a bit overwhelming
• Very large class size

UPenn
Pros

• Strong reputation within the medical field (not as much for the lay person)
• Large amount of research opportunities
• Non-mandatory classes
• Supportive administration
• Diverse patient population
• Diverse student body
• High likelihood of matching NYU's offer
• Friends that go there now
• Consistently strong performance on STEP 1

Cons

• The first years seemed very stressed on interview day
• Not quite sold on Philly as a city

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[rball]

I dont think you can go wrong with any of the schools here. I’d perosnally go with Harvard if you want to stay on east coast or Stanford if west coast, but really you should focus on your gut feeling and whats best for you.

If you can get Penn or Columbia to match NYU offer, I’d move NYU off the table based on your preferences and the strength of the other programs (please note this is no way a knock on NYU, just a statement of strength for Columbia and Penn. NYU is still one of the best schools in the world and anybody should feel lucky to go there).

It also seems like you’re torn between being “sold on a city” vs serving a diverse patient population. Just keep in mind that you cannot have it all - Baltimore may not be the best place to live, but you can’t really beat the diversity of patients you will see there for example. Typically a higher income SES neighborhood is going to provide you a more comfortable living experience at the cost of some patient diversity. Philly would probably be the best comprimise in this regard.

I also want to clarify some misconceptions about Stanford-yes it is located in Palo Alto, but you will see a tremendous diversity of patients as a student there. The bay area is incredibly diverse and does have a wide SES range, and you will see that at many of the hospitals Stanford has you rotating at and at student run free clinics. It may not be an abaolute strength of theirs, but it is not a weakness as some posters are suggesting. It is a bit silly to think that being a medical student at Stanford will limit one’s ability to do meaningful work with a diverse/underserved patient population, even when compared to other schools on this list.

 

[m_tsflame]

I'll offer a slightly different perspective. First of all, I agree with everyone that these schools are all excellent institutions that will provide you with a great education. You'll come out an excellent physician no matter where you go. Be proud of you accomplishment and know that whatever decision you make, it'll be a good one.

My second point is I disagree with the notion of just follow the money. You're in the fortunate position of having the option of attending many of these schools with no tuition. I don't think cost of living is a significant enough difference that I would base it as the most important factor in my decision. Choose the place that will either make you happier and/or help you achieve you career goals better.

So how does one make this decision? Reflect on the factors that are most important to you.

In your original post you mentioned "A diverse patient population and student body is very important to me. Finances are somewhat of a large factor as I would like to graduate with little to no debt in order to help my family as soon as possible. I'm also interested in spearheading different diversity programs as a doctor (maybe as a Dean or head administrator) so school prestige could help with that"

As far as diverse patient population I definitely think that attending some of these schools offer a better opportunity for that. Baltimore and Philly are very diverse cities with real health disparities and underserved populations. If that's really important to you I couldn't recommend attending Stanford.

As far as a diverse student body, if we're being truly honest all of these schools do a terrible job of that. Perhaps Penn might be slightly better?

As far as financials, unless Penn offers a full cost of attendance scholarship I think this is a moot point. Some schools are in higher cost of living areas. You'll have to decide how important that is to you.

Finally, regarding the desire to become a Dean/head administrator. I definitely agree that prestige is really important here. Of all these schools, NYU offers the least prestige likely. I think the rest of these schools offer a lot of prestige in academic medicine. Some will be more recognizable to the lay person but I'm not convinced how important that will be in the real world. Perhaps you could look up people who are in your current position of interest and see their background/experiences.

I recommend attending as many second looks as you can. Sadly many of these schools will have overlapping second looks. You can try splitting second looks or make the best decision between which places you are considering more seriously.

Good luck!

Telling someone not to consider Stanford because you feel that there's no opportunities to deal with diverse patient populations, "real health disparities" and underserved populations here is just straight up garbage, and you're either being willfully ignorant about what clinical training is like here, or are parroting talking points you've heard elsewhere that have had no basis in reality.

I dont think you can go wrong with any of the schools here. I’d perosnally go with Harvard if you want to stay on east coast or Stanford if west coast, but really you should focus on your gut feeling and whats best for you.

If you can get Penn or Columbia to match NYU offer, I’d move NYU off the table based on your preferences and the strength of the other programs (please note this is no way a knock on NYU, just a statement of strength for Columbia and Penn. NYU is still one of the best schools in the world and anybody should feel lucky to go there).

It also seems like you’re torn between being “sold on a city” vs serving a diverse patient population. Just keep in mind that you cannot have it all - Baltimore may not be the best place to live, but you can’t really beat the diversity of patients you will see there for example. Typically a higher income SES neighborhood is going to provide you a more comfortable living experience at the cost of some patient diversity. Philly would probably be the best comprimise in this regard.

I also want to clarify some misconceptions about Stanford-yes it is located in Palo Alto, but you will see a tremendous diversity of patients as a student there. The bay area is incredibly diverse and does have a wide SES range, and you will see that at many of the hospitals Stanford has you rotating at and at student run free clinics. It may not be an abaolute strength of theirs, but it is not a weakness as some posters are suggesting. It is a bit silly to think that being a medical student at Stanford will limit one’s ability to do meaningful work with a diverse/underserved patient population, even when compared to other schools on this list.

Thank you for your input! I'm attending most of the second looks for these schools so I think I'll be able to get a better sense of things then. I'll definitely look more into the opportunities to work with low-income/underserved patients when I go to Stanford's second look.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

Mother of god.... did you cure cancer?

Come on, he might be a veteran with a Nature paper...or a former professional athlete who started an international nonprofit and served in the Peace Corps...or possibly a NASA rocket scientist and physics PhD with top-tier journal publications who turned down offers of tenured professorship at MIT to attend medical school.

 

[deleted962973]

Come on, he might be a veteran with a Nature paper...or a former professional athlete who started an international nonprofit and served in the Peace Corps...or possibly a NASA rocket scientist and physics PhD with top-tier journal publications who turned down offers of tenured professorship at MIT to attend medical school.

Why do you do this on every post

 

[m_tsflame]

Quick update: Just received my financial aid from Hopkins and I was super fortunate to receive a full COA scholarship. Based on that I'm most likely (90%) choosing Hopkins unless Harvard comes with a similar package. Thank you to everyone for all the help so far!

 

[TempuraOreos]

Quick update: Just received my financial aid from Hopkins and I was super fortunate to receive a full COA scholarship. Based on that I'm most likely (90%) choosing Hopkins unless Harvard comes with a similar package. Thank you to everyone for all the help so far!

Dang playa!

 

[m_tsflame]

Dang playa!

Haha was not expecting this at all. This app cycle has been full of surprises.

 

[Knibl]

How did you end up receiving full CoA at Hopkins? I got my award and I had $0 in parental/student contribution, but I still had $17,500 in loans. I called and they said that's the unit loan this year, so I'm confused and wondering if they changed something this year to add merit aid

 

[TempuraOreos]

How did you end up receiving full CoA at Hopkins? I got my award and I had $0 in parental/student contribution, but I still had $17,500 in loans. I called and they said that's the unit loan this year, so I'm confused and wondering if they changed something this year to add merit aid

This dude's a legend!

Side note: what if I don't take the unit loan?

 

[tanbrucewayne]

Quick update: Just received my financial aid from Hopkins and I was super fortunate to receive a full COA scholarship. Based on that I'm most likely (90%) choosing Hopkins unless Harvard comes with a similar package. Thank you to everyone for all the help so far!

Congrats!!

 

[deleted962973]

Quick update: Just received my financial aid from Hopkins and I was super fortunate to receive a full COA scholarship. Based on that I'm most likely (90%) choosing Hopkins unless Harvard comes with a similar package. Thank you to everyone for all the help so far!

Amazing! Congratulations!

 

[m_tsflame]

How did you end up receiving full CoA at Hopkins? I got my award and I had $0 in parental/student contribution, but I still had $17,500 in loans. I called and they said that's the unit loan this year, so I'm confused and wondering if they changed something this year to add merit aid

I'm not too sure. I received something called the Conway Scholarship, and I think that's separate from Hopkin's traditional aid. That may be why I didn't have a unit loan.

 

[m_tsflame]

Congrats!!

Amazing! Congratulations!

Thank you!!

 

[m_tsflame]

This dude's a legend!

Side note: what if I don't take the unit loan?

Not sure. Maybe you have to provide some other means of funding?

 

[TempuraOreos]

Not sure. Maybe you have to provide some other means of funding?

I'm not gonna turn it down but will definitely talk to financial aid advisor during second look.

 

[m_tsflame]

Hey, everyone, I ended up deciding on HMS because they came through with the REACH scholarship which will end up covering tuition+a slight stipend. Plus I already have friends and extended family here as well. I just wanted to thank everyone again for all the advice throughout the cycle. I really appreciate it.