Hopkins vs WashU vs Cornell

[alex.jl1994]

Hey guys! I feel super lucky to have been admitted to med school and to have a choice to make. I've got a full list of pros/cons with more personal factors that I'm taking into account (how much I like the curriculum, location, student body, etc.) and the COA of all 3 schools is going to be pretty much equal for me, so I guess the only factor that I'm iffy about is whether a specific school might make it a little easier for me to achieve future career goals.

Obviously I don't know what specialty I'm going to prefer after a few years in med school, but I would like to match into a residency/eventually work somewhere in New England, hopefully in academic medicine. In terms of that, would any of these schools offer a perceptible boost over the others? Thanks!

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[Skenti]

Hey guys! I feel super lucky to have been admitted to med school and to have a choice to make. I've got a full list of pros/cons with more personal factors that I'm taking into account (how much I like the curriculum, location, student body, etc.) and the COA of all 3 schools is going to be pretty much equal for me, so I guess the only factor that I'm iffy about is whether a specific school might make it a little easier for me to achieve future career goals.

Obviously I don't know what specialty I'm going to prefer after a few years in med school, but I would like to match into a residency/eventually work somewhere in New England, hopefully in academic medicine. In terms of that, would any of these schools offer a perceptible boost over the others? Thanks!

In terms of reputation Hopkins > WashU > Cornell. If they're all the same price go Hopkins unless you hated it or Baltimore, or fell in love with one of the other two. I think Hopkins would open more doors than the other two, although obviously not by enough to be miserable. Go where you loved, but if you liked them all go Hopkins.

Someone can correct me if I'm out of line, but I actually think the gap in reputation between Hopkins and WashU is probably larger than the gap between WashU and Cornell. You could make an argument for Hopkins being the very top, or at least being 2nd place behind Harvard. It's a huge opportunity for sure. I know people who went Hopkins over huge scholarships at other top 10 schools.

 

[Amba]

In terms of reputation Hopkins > WashU > Cornell. If they're all the same price go Hopkins unless you hated it or Baltimore, or fell in love with one of the other two. I think Hopkins would open more doors than the other two, although obviously not by enough to be miserable. Go where you loved, but if you liked them all go Hopkins.

Someone can correct me if I'm out of line, but I actually think the gap in reputation between Hopkins and WashU is probably larger than the gap between WashU and Cornell. You could make an argument for Hopkins being the very top, or at least being 2nd place behind Harvard. It's a huge opportunity for sure. I know people who went Hopkins over huge scholarships at other top 10 schools.

Lol no. I recently ventured back in to pre-allo just because I was curious what it's like, and now I remember that it's basically the blind leading the blind.

That being said, if your goal is to match back out east, OP, then choose Cornell or Hopkins. Not that you can't match there from WashU (many people do), but it would probably be easier for you if you're already going to school out east.

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

@Amba You last sentence is a bit confusing

 

[Amba]

@Amba You last sentence is a bit confusing

Didn't intend it to be confusing. OP won't have a problem matching out east from WashU (look at the match list, plenty of people do). But it might be easier if s/he goes to medical school out east since there are definitely regional biases in the application process.

 

[Willy38]

In terms of reputation Hopkins > WashU > Cornell. If they're all the same price go Hopkins unless you hated it or Baltimore, or fell in love with one of the other two. I think Hopkins would open more doors than the other two, although obviously not by enough to be miserable. Go where you loved, but if you liked them all go Hopkins.

Someone can correct me if I'm out of line, but I actually think the gap in reputation between Hopkins and WashU is probably larger than the gap between WashU and Cornell. You could make an argument for Hopkins being the very top, or at least being 2nd place behind Harvard. It's a huge opportunity for sure. I know people who went Hopkins over huge scholarships at other top 10 schools.

WashU and Hopkins are more similar than Cornell in my opinion. Barnes is amazing and washu residencies are on par with Hopkins in most fields. Cornell is great too but if you're splitting hairs I'd split this way rather than the way you mention.

 

[efle]

In terms of reputation Hopkins > WashU > Cornell. If they're all the same price go Hopkins unless you hated it or Baltimore, or fell in love with one of the other two. I think Hopkins would open more doors than the other two, although obviously not by enough to be miserable. Go where you loved, but if you liked them all go Hopkins.

Someone can correct me if I'm out of line, but I actually think the gap in reputation between Hopkins and WashU is probably larger than the gap between WashU and Cornell. You could make an argument for Hopkins being the very top, or at least being 2nd place behind Harvard. It's a huge opportunity for sure. I know people who went Hopkins over huge scholarships at other top 10 schools.

I'll be another voice saying WashU is way up there on the short list, not closer to Cornell/Vandy/Northwestern. If someone pays a lot for JHU over a full ride to somewhere like WashU or Penn they are just being dumb. And even comparing top 5-10 to a school in the teens is not major. Nobody is going to pass over a residency app because the person "only went to Cornell" or some such.

OP are you going to one of the second look weekends? That might help you fall in or out of love with one of these.

 

[alex.jl1994]

I'll be another voice saying WashU is way up there on the short list, not closer to Cornell/Vandy/Northwestern. If someone pays a lot for JHU over a full ride to somewhere like WashU or Penn they are just being dumb. And even comparing top 5-10 to a school in the teens is not major. Nobody is going to pass over a residency app because the person "only went to Cornell" or some such.

OP are you going to one of the second look weekends? That might help you fall in or out of love with one of these.

Yup, I'll be at Hopkins this weekend! I think it's down to Hopkins or Cornell at this point. Hopkins was my dream school and it really would have been an automatic decision for me (for personal reasons as well as what was pointed out above about hopkins/wustl being slightly 'more prestigious' than cornell) if it weren't for the location. Hopefully I'll get a chance to fall in love with Baltimore a bit more during second look!

 

[efle]

Yup, I'll be at Hopkins this weekend! I think it's down to Hopkins or Cornell at this point. Hopkins was my dream school and it really would have been an automatic decision for me (for personal reasons as well as what was pointed out above about hopkins/wustl being slightly 'more prestigious' than cornell) if it weren't for the location. Hopefully I'll get a chance to fall in love with Baltimore a bit more during second look!

We will probably be meeting each other later this week then! I was actually expecting the area around Hopkins to be a lot worse than it was. I think it's improved a lot? Was expecting a The Wire type vibe

 

[alex.jl1994]

We will probably be meeting each other later this week then! I was actually expecting the area around Hopkins to be a lot worse than it was. I think it's improved a lot? Was expecting a The Wire type vibe

I keep hearing about that tv show but I haven't seen it so I wasn't sure what to expect of Baltimore lol. But anyways, I guess I might see you at SLW then! During interviews, I kept wondering whether any of the other interviewees were people I'd talked to on SDN haha