Northwestern vs. U Chicago vs. Wash U

[drumpf]

Hello! I'd love to hear input on where you would go if you were in my situation. I'm really interested in derm, but I know that's likely to change. If anyone who interviewed at these places had different perceptions or other important notes, I'd love to hear those as well.

Northwestern Feinberg
+ full tuition scholarship (COA ~120K)
+ amazing location
+ really really nice facilities
+ like the mixture of lecture and PBL
+ students seemed fun and really excited to be there
+ systems-based
+ early clinical exposure through IP/ECMH
- I've heard it's competitive there but I didn't get that vibe at all on interview day?? I'd love to hear other people's opinions on this
- ranked lowest, idk if that matters
- big class size

U Chicago Pritzker
+ very generous scholarship (COA ~140K)
+ diverse patient population
+ very big into student wellness
+ social justice kick amongst students
+ small class size (88)
+ no AOA or any sort of competition
- people didn't seem super excited to be there? It was really chill and relaxed but I thrive when people are a little more enthusiastic. The vibe I got just wasn't ideal.
- south side of Chicago is not the safest place

Wash U
+ closest to family (important to me)
+ could afford to have a car to get around, and I just generally love the location
+ fun student life
+ probably more prestigious than Northwestern or U Chicago
+ Barnes-Jewish is awesome
+ not in lecture all day long, time to pursue other activities
+ all student research gets funded, but not pressured to complete scholarly project
- no scholarship as of now (COA ~230K by my estimate)
- students seemed a biiiiit awkward, maybe a little snooty, but still generally happy to be there

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[Fortyfive]

On my interview day at Northwestern, Dr. Roopal Kundu introduced us to the Northwestern curriculum and I think she was also a dermatologist. She seemed like a really awesome mentor. I voted for Northwestern!

discloser: I am on the waitlist at Northwestern

 

[drumpf]

On my interview day at Northwestern, Dr. Roopal Kundu introduced us to the Northwestern curriculum and I think she was also a dermatologist. She seemed like a really awesome mentor. I voted for Northwestern!

discloser: I am on the waitlist at Northwestern

Yes I thought Dr. Kundu was awesome! Fingers crossed for you to get off the waitlist if that's where you're wanting to go.

 

[hubbsbubbs]

Based on reading your post alone, it seems like you favor WashU over the others, though the lower cost of Northwestern would be the biggest pull for me. I don't know that the difference in rank is very significant. You're looking at three great schools. Also I think Northwestern students also have a bit of a social justice kick

 

[citykid92]

Just wondering where you got that wash u COA? they give a lot of non-loan aid and the avg debt is quite low (~110k). Anyways I think a big thing to think about is teaching style during preclinical (I personally do not want pbl and prefer lectures, but everyone has their own preferences).

I personally wouldn't vote uchicago. You don't sound that enthusiastic and the south side is a tough place to be (I lived there for a year.. No thanks). Both NW and Washu are great choices. Seems like you like both locations and both schools, so you probably can't go wrong. cAn you go to both second looks?

 

[787593]

Wash U

 

[drumpf]

Just wondering where you got that wash u COA? they give a lot of non-loan aid and the avg debt is quite low (~110k). Anyways I think a big thing to think about is teaching style during preclinical (I personally do not want pbl and prefer lectures, but everyone has their own preferences).

I personally wouldn't vote uchicago. You don't sound that enthusiastic and the south side is a tough place to be (I lived there for a year.. No thanks). Both NW and Washu are great choices. Seems like you like both locations and both schools, so you probably can't go wrong. cAn you go to both second looks?

I estimated it by knowing my family's EFC, then putting that into Wash U's financial aid calculation (COA minus EFC, then half of that in loans and half scholarship, except all of my EFC would also be in loans because my family isn't contributing). So it's possible I could be surprised when I actually get my financial aid package.
I think their average debt is so low because they have a lot of full tuition scholarships--sadly I haven't been offered one of those! I think I'm going to Wash U's second look and Northwestern's.

 

[citykid92]

I estimated it by knowing my family's EFC, then putting that into Wash U's financial aid calculation (COA minus EFC, then half of that in loans and half scholarship, except all of my EFC would also be in loans because my family isn't contributing). So it's possible I could be surprised when I actually get my financial aid package.
I think their average debt is so low because they have a lot of full tuition scholarships--sadly I haven't been offered one of those! I think I'm going to Wash U's second look and Northwestern's.

Well if your family isn't contributing I thought they capped loans at something like 28k per year or something like that and gave the rest in grants but I could definitely be wrong about that.

Either way, I think going to both second looks is a good idea. I bet it's pretty clear where you want to go after those.

 

[Thenewguy02]

I'm in at Uchicago and WashU (didn't apply to Northwestern), and I've got the same worries that you have about WashU. My solution is to go WashU's second look weekend to meet the students, and if I didn't like it go to the other school (I am not considering Uchicago atm, I really liked the school, but I just don't think I would be happy in Chicago). I also think you might have estimated your COA wrong. WashU has one of the lowest graduate debts for a reason.


As for the EFC, don't use your FAFSA EFC. WashU expects nothing from parents until past the 100k cap. If your parents make under this your COA is 28k times four.

 

[efle]

This can't be answered until you have your WashU financial aid

 

[drumpf]

This can't be answered until you have your WashU financial aid

Would you say there's a difference between Northwestern and Wash U, career/residency-wise? I don't imagine it would be significant

 

[efle]

Would you say there's a difference between Northwestern and Wash U, career/residency-wise? I don't imagine it would be significant

I think washu and maybe Michigan have a little edge over northwestern and Chicago, but if you think you'd like to match to one of the Chicago systems for residency and not Barnes, or liked other things significantly better, don't hesitate. The difference isn't huge. I was just saying wait for washu aid because they are famously generous

 

[calimed2017]

I would say all these med schools are essentially within the same tiers. I think you should heavily consider finances and fit. I can tell you that Northwestern is really aggressively trying to become a top tier school and has funneled many resources on creating new buildings, hiring faculty, increasing research expenditure, and increasing their matriculation rates. My understanding is that Feinberg is going up/will go up in ranking and UChicago is going down.

 

[efle]

I would say all these med schools are essentially within the same tiers. I think you should heavily consider finances and fit. I can tell you that Northwestern is really aggressively trying to become a top tier school and has funneled many resources on creating new buildings, hiring faculty, increasing research expenditure, and increasing their matriculation rates. My understanding is that Feinberg is going up/will go up in ranking and UChicago is going down.

Feinberg was ~19-20 a decade ago so if there is a trend, it is veeeeery gradual. But yeah their facilities were incredible and downtown chicago right around the school is much better than south chicago or st louis in most people's opinion.

 

[flyingeagle]

Feinberg was ~19-20 a decade ago so if there is a trend, it is veeeeery gradual. But yeah their facilities were incredible and downtown chicago right around the school is much better than south chicago or st louis in most people's opinion.

Don't forget about the new biomedical research building (tallest in the world) that Feinberg will be completing very soon! I predict that all the money being put into bringing new faculty to that building and funding more research will increase Feinberg's ranking, but who knows how much it will make a difference.

 

[efle]

Don't forget about the new biomedical research building (tallest in the world) that Feinberg will be completing very soon! I predict that all the money being put into bringing new faculty to that building and funding more research will increase Feinberg's ranking, but who knows how much it will make a difference.

Hey man if NYU can do it, Northwestern certainly can

 

[flyingeagle]

Hey man if NYU can do it, Northwestern certainly can

Haha very true

 

[voteknope]

Not sure if this is helpful, but the current students I met at my UChicago interview day were loads more enthusiastic than the students I met at Northwestern. In general, I thought the vibe seemed more laid back and the students seemed less stressed at Pritzker. To be fair, I think the Northwestern M1s had a test coming up around when I interviewed.

The vibes on interview day went like this for me: Pritzker>>Northwestern>/=WashU

Don't think you can really make a wrong choice here! Congrats on the options!

Full disclosure: I've been admitted to UChicago and Northwestern and will likely be waitlisted/rejected at WashU soon.

 

[calimed2017]

Don't forget about the new biomedical research building (tallest in the world) that Feinberg will be completing very soon! I predict that all the money being put into bringing new faculty to that building and funding more research will increase Feinberg's ranking, but who knows how much it will make a difference.

Hey man if NYU can do it, Northwestern certainly can

Yeah that's true. Plus, Northwestern (for better or for worse) is a state powerhouse. They highly value MCAT/GPA and I'm sure this will help them in the next few years. This is being really petty but UChicago fell from 8 to 15 this year in rankings; although, Feinberg stayed the same.

 

[efle]

Yeah that's true. Plus, Northwestern (for better or for worse) is a state powerhouse. They highly value MCAT/GPA and I'm sure this will help them in the next few years. This is being really petty but UChicago fell from 8 to 15 this year in rankings; although, Feinberg stayed the same.

The rankings are mostly driven by research funding (net and per capita among faculty). The residency director reputation scores are much more static and in that regard Northwestern comes in slightly above U Chicago

Also worth embedding, imo, is the table sorted by residency director ratings (exact values not shown, must pay for that). Schools contained within thick borders are equivalent (e.g. WashU = Stanford). The big takeway here is what you've surely seen a bunch of times on SDN already: US news rankings are often a poor way to judge reputation. For example, if you tried to use the US news ranks to compare Cornell and Yale, or Emory and NYU, etc you would be led astray!