Northwestern vs. University of Wisconsin

[What is up doc?]

Hi SDN, I'm just looking for people's perspectives regarding my decision between these two great schools.

Some info about my future goals:

- I want to go into academic medicine because I want to do research (not sure what field yet)
- Ideally, I would like to work at a medical center in a large, urban city with a diverse patient population
- Ideally, I would like to end up working in the east or west coast.
- I'm not sure what medical specialty I'll choose, but at the moment I think I would go into a subspecialty of IM

Let me know if there is anything else you need to know

Some pros and cons of each school:

Northwestern

Pros:
- Location: Chicago is a great city and meets the characteristics of the type of city I'd like to work in (except geographical location). I love that Feinberg is downtown and not in Evanston.

- I like that research is required during medical school and there is time incorporated into the curriculum for a ~4-year research project.

- Perhaps more prestigious than Wisconsin (#17 vs #25 in the latest US News rankings).

- Very happy students, and I feel I would be happy here as well.


Cons:
- Cost. COA is ~ $85,000 per year and I was offered a need-based grant of $60,000 ($15,000/year).


Wisconsin

Pros:
- Location: I love Madison.

- Cost. I was offered a full-tuition scholarship and living in Madison is cheaper than living in Chicago

- I've done research here in the past and have connections that could facilitate finding research mentors during medical school.

- Very happy students, and I feel I would be happy here as well.

- I like that they integrate public health in their curriculum

Cons:
-Madison is not a very diverse city

-Wisconsin has a "statewide campus" which means some of the clerkships will be done in a city other than Madison. This is a double-edged sword: I would not mind getting sent to Milwaukee for some clinical rotations, but I am not thrilled about the possibility of getting sent to rural Wisconsin. A lottery decides where you go.


Thanks for your help!

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[ephemeralsunshine]

Hi SDN, I'm just looking for people's perspectives regarding my decision between these two great schools.

Some info about my future goals:

- I want to go into academic medicine because I want to do research (not sure what field yet)
- Ideally, I would like to work at a medical center in a large, urban city with a diverse patient population
- Ideally, I would like to end up working in the east or west coast.
- I'm not sure what medical specialty I'll choose, but at the moment I think I would go into a subspecialty of IM

Let me know if there is anything else you need to know

Some pros and cons of each school:

Northwestern

Pros:
- Location: Chicago is a great city and meets the characteristics of the type of city I'd like to work in (except geographical location). I love that Feinberg is downtown and not in Evanston.

- I like that research is required during medical school and there is time incorporated into the curriculum for a ~4-year research project.

- Perhaps more prestigious than Wisconsin (#17 vs #25 in the latest US News rankings).

- Very happy students, and I feel I would be happy here as well.


Cons:
- Cost. COA is ~ $85,000 per year and I was offered a need-based grant of $60,000 ($15,000/year).


Wisconsin

Pros:
- Location: I love Madison.

- Cost. I was offered a full-tuition scholarship and living in Madison is cheaper than living in Chicago

- I've done research here in the past and have connections that could facilitate finding research mentors during medical school.

- Very happy students, and I feel I would be happy here as well.

- I like that they integrate public health in their curriculum

Cons:
-Madison is not a very diverse city

-Wisconsin has a "statewide campus" which means some of the clerkships will be done in a city other than Madison. This is a double-edged sword: I would not mind getting sent to Milwaukee for some clinical rotations, but I am not thrilled about the possibility of getting sent to rural Wisconsin. A lottery decides where you go.


Thanks for your help!

A full tuition scholarship sounds like an amazing deal to me. Coming out of medical school debt I heard can be really draining for some people. Personally, I wouldn't want to come out being a penny pincher, but that's probably because I didn't grow up in a particularly affluent family.

Congratulations on Feinberg, any tips?

 

[Mr. D.O.five]

I'd steal a lollipop from a child (at bare minimum lol) to get dat full-tuition scholarship.

 

[KungFuPanda123]

Many would consider me a fool, but even with the full-tuition scholarship (no stipend I'm assuming?), I'd choose Northwestern + its need-based aid over UWisconsin. But that's just me. I need a large city to be happy (and the amazing research opportunities, growth of the school, motivating student body, et.c to boot.).

 

[Slack3r]

Wisconsin. Madison is an awesome city (and this is coming from someone who's never lived in a city with less than 1mil people). The reputations are both very strong (#17 vs. #25 is negligible), and the cost difference is astounding.

Take it from someone with almost $400k in loans: paying $1000+/month of your ****ty residency salary while not even covering your accruing interest sucks.

 

[teafordays]

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[Frogger27]

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