- Joined
- Dec 11, 2016
- Messages
- 48
- Reaction score
- 7
Hi everyone,
Feeling incredibly fortunate and lucky to be in the situation that I am currently in! I'd appreciate any feedback or discussion on these MSTPs! For context, my current research interests include cardiovascular biology, immunology, metabolism, and genomics. But I also want to keep an open mind so I'm also pretty interested in cancer biology, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, and maybe BME. (lol I guess I like everything). I am aiming to go into academic medicine, and hope to match (don't roast) to a top internal medicine program and then cardiology or oncology or some other IM subspecialty fellowship. Below are my options:
WashU
Pros:
-Seems to be strong in all research areas, especially immunology. But also pretty strong in cardiovascular research.
-Faculty I interviewed with are really nice.
-Program is large and well-supported.
-Great reputation in general, pretty good in all specialties
-St. Louis would be a nice change of pace from where I am currently at.
Cons:
-New curriculum change, into its 2nd cohort I think? Though I like the changes that were made, such as the 1.5 year preclinical curriculum.
-Maybe the student community isn't as tight-knit because of the size? Not sure tbh.
Northwestern
Pros:
-Decent cardiovascular research, any other strong areas?
-Awesome location in Chicago
-Program is also decently large and well-supported
-Good reputation
-Heard the students were pretty tight knit
Cons:
-Time to graduation is kinda long I heard.
-Curriculum is pretty traditional but integrated.
-I guess Chicago living is pretty expensive.
UNC:
Pros:
-Very strong cardiovascular research
-MSTP student community is tight-knit and super nice. Definitely, the most cohesive student community I've seen on the trail so far.
-Program size is good as well
-Chapel Hill is a nice area and cheap to live.
-Seems to get a lot of NIH funding for students.
Cons:
-Not as reputable as the others
Case Western
Pros:
-Decent cardiovascular research, especially paired with the Cleveland Clinic
-Students seemed really productive coming out of the program
-Cleveland is an ok area, not bad.
Cons:
-Not as reputable as the others
-Students didn't seem as tight-knit as other places
Duke (caveat: waitlisted):
Pros:
-Decent basic science cardiovascular research, but not as strong as some of the other choices.
-Love the curriculum of 1 year pre-clinical, numerous ppl graduate in 7 years or spend 5 years in their PhD and still graduate in 8 years.
-MSTP leadership is the best out of all the ones I've interviewed at.
-Great reputation
-Durham is a nice area, affordable.
Cons:
-I'm not sure lol!! I guess waitlisted haha.
As you can see, I don't really see many cons in any of my choices. Could anyone provide insights on the strength of the research areas that I am interested in for these schools? I'm currently going off by reputation and research and I don't know much about the unique aspects of each program as I should. Any feedback and insights into student life, research, match success, academics, etc would all be welcomed and appreciated. Thank you guys so much!
Feeling incredibly fortunate and lucky to be in the situation that I am currently in! I'd appreciate any feedback or discussion on these MSTPs! For context, my current research interests include cardiovascular biology, immunology, metabolism, and genomics. But I also want to keep an open mind so I'm also pretty interested in cancer biology, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, and maybe BME. (lol I guess I like everything). I am aiming to go into academic medicine, and hope to match (don't roast) to a top internal medicine program and then cardiology or oncology or some other IM subspecialty fellowship. Below are my options:
WashU
Pros:
-Seems to be strong in all research areas, especially immunology. But also pretty strong in cardiovascular research.
-Faculty I interviewed with are really nice.
-Program is large and well-supported.
-Great reputation in general, pretty good in all specialties
-St. Louis would be a nice change of pace from where I am currently at.
Cons:
-New curriculum change, into its 2nd cohort I think? Though I like the changes that were made, such as the 1.5 year preclinical curriculum.
-Maybe the student community isn't as tight-knit because of the size? Not sure tbh.
Northwestern
Pros:
-Decent cardiovascular research, any other strong areas?
-Awesome location in Chicago
-Program is also decently large and well-supported
-Good reputation
-Heard the students were pretty tight knit
Cons:
-Time to graduation is kinda long I heard.
-Curriculum is pretty traditional but integrated.
-I guess Chicago living is pretty expensive.
UNC:
Pros:
-Very strong cardiovascular research
-MSTP student community is tight-knit and super nice. Definitely, the most cohesive student community I've seen on the trail so far.
-Program size is good as well
-Chapel Hill is a nice area and cheap to live.
-Seems to get a lot of NIH funding for students.
Cons:
-Not as reputable as the others
Case Western
Pros:
-Decent cardiovascular research, especially paired with the Cleveland Clinic
-Students seemed really productive coming out of the program
-Cleveland is an ok area, not bad.
Cons:
-Not as reputable as the others
-Students didn't seem as tight-knit as other places
Duke (caveat: waitlisted):
Pros:
-Decent basic science cardiovascular research, but not as strong as some of the other choices.
-Love the curriculum of 1 year pre-clinical, numerous ppl graduate in 7 years or spend 5 years in their PhD and still graduate in 8 years.
-MSTP leadership is the best out of all the ones I've interviewed at.
-Great reputation
-Durham is a nice area, affordable.
Cons:
-I'm not sure lol!! I guess waitlisted haha.
As you can see, I don't really see many cons in any of my choices. Could anyone provide insights on the strength of the research areas that I am interested in for these schools? I'm currently going off by reputation and research and I don't know much about the unique aspects of each program as I should. Any feedback and insights into student life, research, match success, academics, etc would all be welcomed and appreciated. Thank you guys so much!