Mt. Sinai vs. Yale

[jkomsi]

Hello all,

I know this is definitely a late time to be posting vs threads, not too mention how annoying they may be, but I will be extremely appreciative of the help! I was all set to attend Yale this fall until I was hit with a full scholarship from Mt. Sinai (complete cost of attendance paid for) a couple of days ago. If I attended Yale, I would have to take out about $30k in loans every year. I have struggled over this every single hour since I found out and I have spoken with students from both schools.

I attend a public school in New York and I don't know if I will come to cherish the name-value that Yale will provide (I have some interest in academic medicine). Mt. Sinai is a great institution which I doubt will hold me back, but I wish to reap the maximum benefits of my hard work over the past four years. I wish I didn't have just one week to make this decision. Again I realize that these kinds of threads might be annoying to some, but they might battle with the same sincere indecision if they were in my shoes. Please any advice is appreciated!

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[FIREitUP]

The prestige of yale is not worth 120k plus interest. Go to MSSM

 

[Geekchick921]

$30K/year isn't too bad from a medical school debt PoV, but not having any debt is 1000 times better than that. You will be SO happy about that once you graduate. And I think I would choose NYC over New Haven in a hot second. There's not doubt Yale is a great school, but so is MSSM. You definitely couldn't go wrong with either, so why not live in a better place and be $120K (pre-interest) better off?

And thank you SO much for posting this in the right forum.

 

[anonymitas]

The research resources and name recognition of Yale is worth it if you plan to pursue academic medicine. Think about your long-term goals rather than the debt.

 

[Carbon inc]

This is a no brainer. Free medical education? Mt Sinai. No question. It's got a terrific reputation nation wide and it's not going to limit your opportunities to get into academic medicine. Honestly, this sounds like a pretty easy decision to me. Oh yeah and NYC > Connecticut

 

[Anonymous01]

The research resources and name recognition of Yale is worth it if you plan to pursue academic medicine. Think about your long-term goals rather than the debt.

Yes, yes...because neither then name recognition or research resources of the other option are worthwhile for academic medicine.

/sarcasm

Seriously, though, I would go where things are free. Not sure if you got a ton of financial aid or a scholarship, but in my experience, people with scholarships are treated much better than students without scholarships (of course, I can only say for the undergraduate level...no idea if this carries on into medical schools...).

 

[rjmn]

the research resources and name recognition of yale is worth it if you plan to pursue academic medicine. Think about your long-term goals rather than the debt.

+1

 

[naijaboi]

I would choose Mount Sinai in a heart beat. I may even pick it over Yale if both cost the same. NYC >>>>>>> New Haven. Free and in NYC - cha-ching. I doubt that MSSM will hold you back if you plan to go into academic medicine. The dean of my school went to Mt. Sinai.

PM me if you have any questions.

 

[jkomsi]

Thank you for your advice!!!! I was leaning towards NYC to be close to family also. It was very very helpful to get advice from unbiased parties (my family is adamant on Mt. Sinai )

 

[SodaScientist]

I attend a public school in New York and I don't know if I will come to cherish the name-value that Yale will provide (I have some interest in academic medicine). Mt. Sinai is a great institution which I doubt will hold me back, but I wish to reap the maximum benefits of my hard work over the past four years. I wish I didn't have just one week to make this decision. Again I realize that these kinds of threads might be annoying to some, but they might battle with the same sincere indecision if they were in my shoes. Please any advice is appreciated!

And you will. 120k is a lot of money, and Mt. Sinai is a fantastic institution...congrats.

 

[raltima07]

Would you mind telling us your general stats?

 

[jkomsi]

Would you mind telling us your general stats?

Hi raltima07, I've lurked sdn long enough to know when and how threads devolve...so I'll be general. I'm considered a URM, my stats are higher than the matriculating averages shown for mssm on wikipedia, and I'm currently a senior at a public new york school.

Hopefully that's good enough information , if you're still curious, pm me.

 

[Espadaleader]

I am a rising junior planning to starting applying for 2013 admission. These two schools are my top two, I was delighted to see this thread.

 

[Lil Mick]

Free counts for a lot, and, personally, the affordable student housing near Central Park beats New Haven for me (even though Yale seemed like it would be cool). Also, there's something to be said about being comfortable in an environment when you start school (why I chose my area of the country)...

 

[NeuroE]

Hello all,

I know this is definitely a late time to be posting vs threads, not too mention how annoying they may be, but I will be extremely appreciative of the help! I was all set to attend Yale this fall until I was hit with a full scholarship from Mt. Sinai (complete cost of attendance paid for) a couple of days ago. If I attended Yale, I would have to take out about $30k in loans every year. I have struggled over this every single hour since I found out and I have spoken with students from both schools.

I attend a public school in New York and I don't know if I will come to cherish the name-value that Yale will provide (I have some interest in academic medicine). Mt. Sinai is a great institution which I doubt will hold me back, but I wish to reap the maximum benefits of my hard work over the past four years. I wish I didn't have just one week to make this decision. Again I realize that these kinds of threads might be annoying to some, but they might battle with the same sincere indecision if they were in my shoes. Please any advice is appreciated!

Yale. 120K isn't that much money especially if you go into a better paid specialty. Just think about it. Say you go into anesthesia and you're making 300K/year. Live like a normal middle income person for one single year and you could pay it all back. Also, if you want to go into academic at a super program Yale's name and the connections you'll have access to are better. If you just want to work at a university but it doesn't really matter which one, then it doesn't matter what school you go to. For anyone who might disagree with that, prove it. Go look at residency programs at the most prestigious programs and see how many people come from Yale vs Mt. Sinai.

Oh, and Yale is 1h40m away from NYC by train, so you wouldn't be far from family. Yes there's more to do in NYC. Whether or not that trumps opening up more career possibilities is up to you.

 

[COBuffs]

Yale. 120K isn't that much money especially if you go into a better paid specialty. Just think about it. Say you go into anesthesia and you're making 300K/year. Live like a normal middle income person for one single year and you could pay it all back. Also, if you want to go into academic at a super program Yale's name and the connections you'll have access to are better. If you just want to work at a university but it doesn't really matter which one, then it doesn't matter what school you go to. For anyone who might disagree with that, prove it. Go look at residency programs at the most prestigious programs and see how many people come from Yale vs Mt. Sinai.

Oh, and Yale is 1h40m away from NYC by train, so you wouldn't be far from family. Yes there's more to do in NYC. Whether or not that trumps opening up more career possibilities is up to you.

AHHHH silly premeds with no idea of how the real world works..... Both are very good schools and neither is gonna give you an extreme edge over the other- go for the free one! 120k is still a lot of money and you have to consider the fact that you won't start repaying loans until you are done with residency (you won't make enough in residency to pay them back)- so depending on the specialty you choose you will have between 8-10 years worth of interest accumulating on that 120K and all of the sudden the 120k is well over 200k..... you could instead use all the money you will save to buy a house, car, or a couple of vacations you will desperately need at the end of all this training.

 

[mmmcdowe]

OP clearly wants to stay in NYC and debt is an issue. If he or she does go into academic medicine, my guess is that he or she will be wanting to do it in NYC. Not going to be a problem from either school, nor will residency be a problem.

 

[5280]

unless you really, really, really like Jewish people, I'd head to Yale.

 

[mmmcdowe]

unless you really, really, really like Jewish people, I'd head to Yale.

First of all, . Second of all, do you really think there aren't a lot of Jewish people at Yale?

 

[RogueUnicorn]

First of all, . Second of all, do you really think there aren't a lot of Jewish people at Yale?

ferreal, they a have a dental school too, you know

i keed i keed. OP, 120K is going to be more like 200K when you pay it off. that's a house, or at least an apartment.

 

[5280]

First of all, . Second of all, do you really think there aren't a lot of Jewish people at Yale?

I didn't say there was something wrong with Jewish people or that I didnt like Jewish people, I implied that MSSM has a strong affiliation with Jews because they do. Secondly, yes, Yale has far less of a Jewish flair than MSSM - though thats not to say that don't have ANY. relax.

 

[mmmcdowe]

I didn't say there was something wrong with Jewish people or that I didnt like Jewish people, I implied that MSSM has a strong affiliation with Jews because they do. Secondly, yes, Yale has far less of a Jewish flair than MSSM - though thats not to say that don't have ANY. relax.

If you say so, but maybe you should reread your post.

 

[Anonymous01]

Go look at residency programs at the most prestigious programs and see how many people come from Yale vs Mt. Sinai.

Yes, lets look. http://www.hss.edu/files/Photos_of_Class_of_2015.pdf

Looks to me like neither of the schools being debated are listed. However, there are schools of all different calibers listed here. There's everything from the Ivy, to privates, to state schools. In other words, it doesn't look like it matters where you go...it looks like what matters is what you do where you go (and probably also who the administration in your school knows...which you won't really know until you get there, making this a useless factor...)

I would throw out other examples of this similar trend, but I don't know enough about other top ranked residency programs by field.

People on this website seriously overestimate prestige. You have very similar opportunities (if not the same...) at both of these institutions and the opportunity to save a ton of money by going to one of them.


PS. please don't throw sample sizing BS at me based on the link I posted. Obviously, this one one school, one year only.

NeuroE, if you're going to make a counterargument with another school and their residency program, please first show that the school that you choose is highly recognized in the field that you choose (how you're going to do this, I don't know...but hopefully you recognize why this is highly necessary...if you read through this forum, you'll see that Yale's surgery program has been...or maybe still is...regarded as malignant, meaning that a medical school's rankings and the rankings of residency programs in that school aren't necessarily correlated).

 

[BigEast55]

Yes, lets look. http://www.hss.edu/files/Photos_of_Class_of_2015.pdf

Looks to me like neither of the schools being debated are listed. However, there are schools of all different calibers listed here. There's everything from the Ivy, to privates, to state schools. In other words, it doesn't look like it matters where you go...it looks like what matters is what you do where you go (and probably also who the administration in your school knows...which you won't really know until you get there, making this a useless factor...)

I would throw out other examples of this similar trend, but I don't know enough about other top ranked residency programs by field.

People on this website seriously overestimate prestige. You have very similar opportunities (if not the same...) at both of these institutions and the opportunity to save a ton of money by going to one of them.


PS. please don't throw sample sizing BS at me based on the link I posted. Obviously, this one one school, one year only.

NeuroE, if you're going to make a counterargument with another school and their residency program, please first show that the school that you choose is highly recognized in the field that you choose (how you're going to do this, I don't know...but hopefully you recognize why this is highly necessary...if you read through this forum, you'll see that Yale's surgery program has been...or maybe still is...regarded as malignant, meaning that a medical school's rankings and the rankings of residency programs in that school aren't necessarily correlated).

Seriously overestimate prestige? The link you just listed has students from the #2, #5, #10, #17, #22, #26, #36, and #63 ranked (research) medical schools. I'd say that the link you posted kind of emphasizes that prestige is pretty important, there is one person there from a school that isn't widely regarded as top-notch, and its a girl who is matching into ortho.

Yale vs. MSSM, probably little to no difference, but the argument that prestige doesn't matter at all, NRMP directors ranked it 9th ahead of pre-clinical grades IIRC, which to me says it means something.

 

[QQm]

Yale. 120K isn't that much money especially if you go into a better paid specialty. Just think about it. Say you go into anesthesia and you're making 300K/year. Live like a normal middle income person for one single year and you could pay it all back. Also, if you want to go into academic at a super program Yale's name and the connections you'll have access to are better. If you just want to work at a university but it doesn't really matter which one, then it doesn't matter what school you go to. For anyone who might disagree with that, prove it. Go look at residency programs at the most prestigious programs and see how many people come from Yale vs Mt. Sinai.

Oh, and Yale is 1h40m away from NYC by train, so you wouldn't be far from family. Yes there's more to do in NYC. Whether or not that trumps opening up more career possibilities is up to you.

Not to be cynical and assuming of my fellow premeds, but...

If you're going to argue for Yale over Mt. Sinai, it's probably not a good idea to have an MDapps link showing that you have a waitlist spot at Mt. Sinai.

 

[Anonymous01]

Seriously overestimate prestige? The link you just listed has students from the #2, #5, #10, #17, #22, #26, #36, and #63 ranked (research) medical schools. I'd say that the link you posted kind of emphasizes that prestige is pretty important, there is one person there from a school that isn't widely regarded as top-notch, and its a girl who is matching into ortho.

Yale vs. MSSM, probably little to no difference, but the argument that prestige doesn't matter at all, NRMP directors ranked it 9th ahead of pre-clinical grades IIRC, which to me says it means something.

Should have clarified, but I meant that specifically in the context of this thread. The prestige difference between the two schools being discussed is negligible.

Regardless, even looking at the numbers of the schools, half of the current residents come from schools not ranked in the top 20. So why all the desire for the top 20?

 

[Reaction]

MSSM lol.. full ride + one of the top med schools. Take it!

 

[Carbon inc]

Not to be cynical and assuming of my fellow premeds, but...

If you're going to argue for Yale over Mt. Sinai, it's probably not a good idea to have an MDapps link showing that you have a waitlist spot at Mt. Sinai.

Pwned!

 

[Eastern Blot]

Where is the love? Nothing but hate here. OP, great job on these accomplishments. I think you'll do great no matter where you choose to matriculate.

 

[mmmcdowe]

Not to be cynical and assuming of my fellow premeds, but...

If you're going to argue for Yale over Mt. Sinai, it's probably not a good idea to have an MDapps link showing that you have a waitlist spot at Mt. Sinai.

Lol, reminds me of a UCLA thread two years ago. Funkymonkdoc or something like that.

 

[jkomsi]

Living in apartments overlooking Central Park is very very attractive. I'm ambivalent about living in dorms in my late 20s. Part of my trouble is being new to the country; I'm not as familiar with schools/hospitals without the big names. I'm ambitious, but I don't have to get into the #1 residency program for my chosen specialty.

 

[FIREitUP]

unless you really, really, really like Jewish people, I'd head to Yale.

Unless you really, really, really, like Jewish people, I wouldnt go into medicine.

 

[mdeast]

Unless you really, really, really, like Jewish people, I wouldnt go into medicine.

Amazing.

 

[Orthodoc40]

Cheaper, definitely.
If I could decide again, I would hands down chose the cheapest option, regardless of perceived reputation or anything else.

 

[jkomsi]

Cheaper, definitely.
If I could decide again, I would hands down chose the cheapest option, regardless of perceived reputation or anything else.

Thank you all for your advice! I'm going to Sinai.