Need help deciding: OSU vs. Jefferson vs. Temple

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shaggy alfresco

shaggy alfresco

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Hello all,

I have been fortunate neough to have been offered six interviews and have recieved acceptances at all of them. I've narrowed it down to three choices, and I would like people's opinions since I can't seem to make up my mind between the three.

The costs of all three are very similar over four years.


Jefferson
+ Close to home/family
+ Great area of Philadelphia
+ Good clinical school
+ Friday exams! (Weekends after exams free)
- Not a research 'powerhouse'
- Standalone school (eg, not associated with a university)

Temple
+ Close to home/family
+ Awesome new med school building
+ Option to do last two years in pittsburgh (close to my sister, philly is close to my prents)
- Bad area of Philadelphia

OSU
+ Highest ranked out of all the schools, and shooting up fast
+ Big research school
+ I enjoy the atmosphere of a big ten school/campus
- Far from family
- I have to take biochem instead of taking the summer off :(


Basically, when matching for residencies, will being from OSU make a substantial difference? I would probably rather stay near home (and not having to take biochem is a big plus...), but not if it hurts my chances later on.


I would appreciate any and all feedback from everyone - unfortunately, actual data is kind of hard to come by on most schools and I got a good 'gut feeling' at all of them, so I am not sure how to narrow it down further from here. I eliminated the three schools where I felt it wasn't for me, or I didn't like, but I did love all three of these schools when visiting.
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While Jefferson is not a research powerhouse, there are still plenty of research options and opportunities around here. It's definitely not hard to find a research gig for the summer between 1st and 2nd years.

About the costs being the same for all 3 schools...have you taken into account the fact that you can establish residency after first year at OSU and pay in-state tuition for the last 3 years? I think OSU would be cheaper since you're paying private school tuition at Jeff and Temple. Also, living in Philly is much more expensive than in Columbus. My sister had a 2-bedroom apt less than a mile from OSU campus for $400/month. You won't be paying that kind of price around Center City.
 
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Ilovewater said:
have you taken into account the fact that you can establish residency after first year at OSU and pay in-state tuition for the last 3 years?
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Are you sure of this? I didn't know they allowed that. If so, they might've just gone up a bit on my list of prospective schools. :D
 
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Ilovewater said:
While Jefferson is not a research powerhouse, there are still plenty of research options and opportunities around here. It's definitely not hard to find a research gig for the summer between 1st and 2nd years.

About the costs being the same for all 3 schools...have you taken into account the fact that you can establish residency after first year at OSU and pay in-state tuition for the last 3 years? I think OSU would be cheaper since you're paying private school tuition at Jeff and Temple. Also, living in Philly is much more expensive than in Columbus. My sister had a 2-bedroom apt less than a mile from OSU campus for $400/month. You won't be paying that kind of price around Center City.
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Yes I know - I calculated it with that in mind. While Columbus is cheaper, I'm close to home so certain other expenses are lessened. In all, they come out surprisingly close to each other.
 
Also, if I goto Temple and choose to spend two years at Temple, I will live with my sister who lives literally a block and a half from one of the hospitals, so that lessens costs considerably as well.

As I said, I ran through the expenses closely and unless one of them gives me scholarship or aid (unlikely), they will be very close to each other in expense so it's not really a reason to pick one over the other.
 
shaggy alfresco said:
Also, if I goto Temple and choose to spend two years at Temple, I will live with my sister who lives literally a block and a half from one of the hospitals, so that lessens costs considerably as well.

As I said, I ran through the expenses closely and unless one of them gives me scholarship or aid (unlikely), they will be very close to each other in expense so it's not really a reason to pick one over the other.
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as a Jeff student, I'd say go to OSU simply because it's likely going to be cheapest. I've got friends at both the other schools as well, and all seem happy enough. It just depends on if you prefer NFL to College football. (advantage to Philly in hockey. Soccer is probably a wash)

also if you go to OSU you won't have to just study biochem. you'll also have to spend the summer developing an irrational hatred of the state of Michigan.
 
Well, again, unless they give me more $$, it won't be cheaper.

How have your experiences been at Jefferson?
 
I suppose the question I really want to ask is this: will going to OSU over the others help me in residency placement?
 
bucks2010 said:
Are you sure of this? I didn't know they allowed that. If so, they might've just gone up a bit on my list of prospective schools. :D
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Yes, I'm sure. I know several people who go there. It's not very hard to get residency either.

To the OP, it sounds like you really want to stay close to your relatives. And, if that's the case, I'd go to Jeff or Temple. Going to Jeff/Temple instead of OSU is not going to screw you out of any residency as long as you do well on Step 1, get good grades during rotations, and get good letters of recommendation. Go where you would be happy!
 
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seems like your cons for temple are not as bad as the others. the immediate area around temple is bad but you could live in the northeast, manayunk or center city.
someone i know at jeff does their clinical rotations all over southeast PA, not sure if that's by choice or not...just keep that in mind
 
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one of my best friends goes to Jefferson and I've spent a lot of time there and I like it quite a bit. It's in a decent part of the city and everything looks really nice. He likes it a bit but the only downside I see is that he has graded classes (I would prefer P/F) and pays $800+utilities/month for his apartment.

I can't really speak for OSU/Temple, but I think if I had it down to those 3 schools, I would pick Ohio State. I love the city but I also love not paying $800+groceries, utlities, and I like driving. The summer biochem is a real turn off, though. I am not in med school and only speak from what I've heard.

all in all, it's your choice. you've weighed the pros and cons now it's up to you to make the decision.
 
TACMON said:
seems like your cons for temple are not as bad as the others. the immediate area around temple is bad but you could live in the northeast, manayunk or center city.
someone i know at jeff does their clinical rotations all over southeast PA, not sure if that's by choice or not...just keep that in mind
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I'm partial, but I agree with this. The Temple police keep the area around both main campus and the health science campus really secure. They will also escort you to your car after hours if you don't feel safe. Like TACMON said, if you live in Manayunk, CC, NE Philly, or even Montco in Elkins Park or Abington, you have a really easy commute that involves no wandering through North Philly, either straight up or down Broad Street/611, or you drive a mile up Broad and get on the Boulevard.

OP, if you liked all three schools and they're all about the same price, it'll be a tough call. Maybe one will stand out if you go to any kind of Second Look the schools might offer. I don't think you could go wrong with any of them, but as a Philadelphia native myself, I only applied to the schools here and I'm staying here. You can't put a price on being close to family.
 
I find it hard to believe Jeff and OSU would cost you the same. I think you screwed the pooch with that math. You do realize it is almost $20,000 more a year in tuition. I would also think living in Philadelphia has a much higher cost of living than a college campus Ohio. The savings of living close to home are a few hundred dollars in traveling costs a year. Living with your sister in her apartment doesn't technically save money. The room in her apartment where you will be living could be home to a roommate for your sister, who would pay that part of the rent. So, it really would probably cost more since rent has to be more in Philly than a college campus. I would guess Jeff will end up costing you close to double.
 
If you look a osu and its CoA from their website, it comes out to 245k for 4 years, counting first year as oos and the rest as in state - this is because the 3rd year cost for OSU is 67k for in state (88k oos). So you'd be only saving money in the 2nd and 4th years.

In average indebtedness there is a 20k difference between the two schools, which makes sense. Is being close to family worth that much to you? It would be for me.

It's hardly twice as much......
 
IvyHopeful20 said:
If you look a osu and its CoA from their website, it comes out to 245k for 4 years, counting first year as oos and the rest as in state - this is because the 3rd year cost for OSU is 67k for in state (88k oos). So you'd be only saving money in the 2nd and 4th years.

In average indebtedness there is a 20k difference between the two schools, which makes sense. Is being close to family worth that much to you? It would be for me.

It's hardly twice as much......
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Take caution with the average debt statistics. Jeff has a lot of kids with parents paying their way. It's just the nature of East Coast schools to have a lot of rich kids to skew that number.
 
WingedOx said:
Take caution with the average debt statistics. Jeff has a lot of kids with parents paying their way. It's just the nature of East Coast schools to have a lot of rich kids to skew that number.
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Yea assuming full tuition, OSU comes out to 245k vs 275k for Jeff. That's assuming 3 is years at osu.

30k is not chump change but if you want to be close to family, it's not a straightforward decision....

I'd take proximity to family over 30k myself but that's just me.
 
IvyHopeful20 said:
Yea assuming full tuition, OSU comes out to 245k vs 275k for Jeff. That's assuming 3 is years at osu.

30k is not chump change but if you want to be close to family, it's not a straightforward decision....

I'd take proximity to family over 30k myself but that's just me.
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Glad to see you back. Hope the interview season has been going well.
 
Pons Asinorum said:
Glad to see you back. Hope the interview season has been going well.
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Thanks :). Going really well. Have acceptances so that's some pressure off. Haven't heard back from a lot of schools yet though.

But interviews are all done. Yay!
 
mitchlucker said:
one of my best friends goes to Jefferson and I've spent a lot of time there and I like it quite a bit. It's in a decent part of the city and everything looks really nice. He likes it a bit but the only downside I see is that he has graded classes (I would prefer P/F) and pays $800+utilities/month for his apartment.
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By graded, I'm assuming you mean A/B/C/F. Jefferson has the H/P/F system.
 
Reference Jeffereson... I was unaware there was a nice area in Philly...
 
IvyHopeful20 said:
If you look a osu and its CoA from their website, it comes out to 245k for 4 years, counting first year as oos and the rest as in state - this is because the 3rd year cost for OSU is 67k for in state (88k oos). So you'd be only saving money in the 2nd and 4th years.

In average indebtedness there is a 20k difference between the two schools, which makes sense. Is being close to family worth that much to you? It would be for me.

It's hardly twice as much......
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Are you saying tuition costs are $67 or COA for third year?
 
anfleisch said:
I find it hard to believe Jeff and OSU would cost you the same. I think you screwed the pooch with that math. You do realize it is almost $20,000 more a year in tuition. I would also think living in Philadelphia has a much higher cost of living than a college campus Ohio. The savings of living close to home are a few hundred dollars in traveling costs a year. Living with your sister in her apartment doesn't technically save money. The room in her apartment where you will be living could be home to a roommate for your sister, who would pay that part of the rent. So, it really would probably cost more since rent has to be more in Philly than a college campus. I would guess Jeff will end up costing you close to double.
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I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I can add :p.

In Philly, my cousin lives within walking distance from Jefferson. He owns a condo and has an extra room that is sitting there (he doesn't want the hassle of renting out) and he will rent it to me for $250/mo.

My sister owns, and there is a guest bedroom that is not for rent, and that will be free for me.

I wasn't kidding - I did use all of my second grade addition skills and figured out the costs :p.

For practical purposes, they are all equivalent, I am not sure why people don't believe me. :laugh:


In any case, my question was only this: will OSU result in better residency opportunities. The answer seems to be no, which answers my question :)


Thank you for the help :).
 
shaggy alfresco said:
I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I can add :p.

In Philly, my cousin lives within walking distance from Jefferson. He owns a condo and has an extra room that is sitting there (he doesn't want the hassle of renting out) and he will rent it to me for $250/mo.

My sister owns, and there is a guest bedroom that is not for rent, and that will be free for me.

I wasn't kidding - I did use all of my second grade addition skills and figured out the costs :p.

For practical purposes, they are all equivalent, I am not sure why people don't believe me. :laugh:


In any case, my question was only this: will OSU result in better residency opportunities. The answer seems to be no, which answers my question :)


Thank you for the help :).
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In that case, I think the answer depends somewhat on the residency you are interested in or will be interested in. In general, there won't be a difference. But schools do have major strengths in certain areas, which will be a boost with their residency connections.
 
anfleisch said:
In that case, I think the answer depends somewhat on the residency you are interested in or will be interested in. In general, there won't be a difference. But schools do have major strengths in certain areas, which will be a boost with their residency connections.
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I have absolutely no clue whatsoever what residency I want to do. :laugh:
 
shaggy alfresco said:
I have absolutely no clue whatsoever what residency I want to do. :laugh:
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If that's the case, disregard that incite. It seems like you are unconsciously pushing yourself towards Jeff anyway. And I don't blame you seems awesome. But maybe wait to make a final decision for when second look weekends come in like March/April.
 
esrever said:
Reference Jeffereson... I was unaware there was a nice area in Philly...
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stone-cold-laugh-o.gif
 
Still can't decide so I'm going to take the advice and attend all three second looks, and wait for all three financial aid packages.

I don't think I can make a 'bad' choice, so that relieves some anxiety :). All three are great schools. My main worry was hurting my chances of residency if attending lower 'ranked' schools (I don't care about rankings otherwise), but everyone I spoke with thinks its a minor issue at best.
 
Google the latest NRMP survey of PD's. "School attended" ranked like 8 or 9th, well below things like Step 1, clinical grades, AOA, LORs, publications, etc.
 
shaggy alfresco said:
Still can't decide so I'm going to take the advice and attend all three second looks, and wait for all three financial aid packages.

I don't think I can make a 'bad' choice, so that relieves some anxiety :). All three are great schools. My main worry was hurting my chances of residency if attending lower 'ranked' schools (I don't care about rankings otherwise), but everyone I spoke with thinks its a minor issue at best.
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wait, is there really a significant difference in ranking between the 3 of them? I'd say they're all about equal in reputation.
 
Go to jeff.
I got in there.
Everyone is nice and you can get any residency you want as long as you perform well bc their name is great.
It seems like a place where everyone is really happy, and a lot of people stay there.
 
WingedOx said:
wait, is there really a significant difference in ranking between the 3 of them? I'd say they're all about equal in reputation.
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OSU = 27
Temple = 52
Jeff = 59

I'd say any ranking difference greater than 10 is significant. But they're all great schools and none of them will hold you back. OSU has the best national reputation of the three, but if you plan to stay in philly for residency/practice, then there's def. an advantage to attending Temple or Jeff.
 
Yea, my only concern was if I wanted to do a competitive residency (or a non-competitive residency in a competitive place), assuming board scores, clinical grades, etc were all the same - would going to OSU give me a big advantage in matching?

The answer seems to be no.
 
I would say no, the advantage is small. The only factor would be if you care about academics, it might be a good idea to head to OSU because the research opportunities are better. Temple probably wins out if you want to do private practice EM or any kind of underserved care. I don't know too much about Jefferson but I have a friend that goes there, he is happy and it seems like a great school. Good luck making a decision
 
shaggy alfresco said:
Yea, my only concern was if I wanted to do a competitive residency (or a non-competitive residency in a competitive place), assuming board scores, clinical grades, etc were all the same - would going to OSU give me a big advantage in matching?

The answer seems to be no.
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I don't know about a "big advantage", but assuming identical board scores, etc. it seems very plausible that going to a school with a bigger national reputation provides an inherent advantage.

Just look at the match list of any top 20 school and compare to the match list of a school ranked in the 50's, 60's, or 70's.

The idea that the school you go to "doesn't matter" is a fallible assumption I always see propagating around SDN. Of course your board scores etc. are signficantly more important than school name. And for a lot of sensible people, factors like cost and location are going to be bigger considerations than differences in rank when choosing schools.

Finally, if you're interested in pursuing an academic career, then going to a higher ranked school (more NIH money, more research) becomes a more significant advantage.
 
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SoundofSilver said:
I don't know about a "big advantage", but assuming identical board scores, etc. it seems very plausible that going to a school with a bigger national reputation provides an inherent advantage.

Just look at the match list of any top 20 school and compare to the match list of a school ranked in the 50's, 60's, or 70's.

The idea that the school you go to "doesn't matter" is a fallible assumption I always see propagating around SDN. Of course your board scores etc. are signficantly more important than school name. And for a lot of sensible people, factors like cost and location are going to be bigger considerations than differences in rank when choosing schools.

Finally, if you're interested in pursuing an academic career, then going to a higher ranked school (more NIH money, more research) becomes a more significant advantage.
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Just to be the devil's advocate, I feel that higher-ranked schools having better match lists has to do with the fact that their students have higher GPA and MCAT scores and better resumes even before they get to med school. In other words, if a student who got into Penn decides to go to their local state school because they got a full scholarship there, I don't think their chances of matching at an amazing residency will be significantly reduced. That being said, I do think there is some value in the increased resources and research opportunities that many top schools provide for their students. Stanford probably has an amazing match list, but part of that is probably because they allow their students to take extra years to get additional degrees, research experience, or other professional training.
 
SoundofSilver said:
I don't know about a "big advantage", but assuming identical board scores, etc. it seems very plausible that going to a school with a bigger national reputation provides an inherent advantage.

Just look at the match list of any top 20 school and compare to the match list of a school ranked in the 50's, 60's, or 70's.

The idea that the school you go to "doesn't matter" is a fallible assumption I always see propagating around SDN. Of course your board scores etc. are signficantly more important than school name. And for a lot of sensible people, factors like cost and location are going to be bigger considerations than differences in rank when choosing schools.

Finally, if you're interested in pursuing an academic career, then going to a higher ranked school (more NIH money, more research) becomes a more significant advantage.
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I agree with this. Another myth propagating on SDN is that undergraduate school doesn't matter for med school admissions, yet if you talk to just about anyone that went to an unknown undergrad that went through the process they'll tell you that their undergrad name did put them at a disadvantage. Maybe the same doesn't apply to residency applications (and I can see why it wouldn't, considering the relatively small number of med schools out there), but I'm skeptical of what I see spread around on SDN.

And I agree with your last sentence as well. The higher ranked schools I interviewed at blow the lower ranked schools out of the water in terms of resources, opportunities, etc.
 
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