Tufts or CU Denver MSTP

[testing121212]

Hi all,

I'm having a tough time deciding between these two MSTP programs. Maybe you can help? Maybe this will be a way to clear up my thoughts on the matter.

Tufts:
Pros--------------
-Near many of my good friends (I currently work at MIT but I am from Seattle)
-Excellent walkable city. The campus itself is in Chinatown. Very appealing.
-I have lots of academic Boston connections I'd like to maintain (MIT/Harvard/BCH/MGH). Potential collaborations there or with other Boston institutions.
-Tiny cohort size of five = high priority?
-Around three PIs I could see myself working with in microbiology. Micro is a well regarded department there.
-Serves diverse patient population downtown
-Private school (not sure how this impacts anything)
Cons--------------
-Further from my home (though neither place is close)
-Less grant funding (though it's about proportional for the number of faculty)
-Boston has a competitive culture in some ways

Residency Matches 2018-9 for Tufts MSTP: BCH, UCSD, Stanford, Northwestern, Stanford, UMass, Stanford, Brigham and Womens, Einstein

CU Denver:
Pros------------
-Somewhat closer to home (though it's still not close)
-Cheaper to live and great outdoors activities in the Rockies
-More potential faculty matches (closer to eight potential PIs and they are all doing pretty exciting stuff)
-Higher ranking. This probably doesn't matter too much.
-Strong Immunology and ID research. I would stick in those departments there.
-Big school serving a huge region. Tons of resources because of that and probably 8x the grant funding, though this is more or less proportional with the number of faculty.
-Students seem more relaxed
-Public school (not sure if this matters)
Cons------------
-More isolated. It is one of the only major academic hospitals in the region and there is less room to collaborate outside the institution.
-I don't have the connections in Denver socially or academically (yet)
-I don't like Denver as a city all that much, though I only visited for a couple days. The area just seems very spread out and lacks diversity.

Residency Matches 2018-9 for Denver MSTP: UT Southwest, BCH, U Colorado SOM, Postdoc, USC, U Colorado SOM, U Colorado SOM, UW, Yale, Columbia, Rochester, Duke, Stanford, U Colorado SOM, U Colorado SOM, UW, U S Alabama, Started a Biotech, Stanford

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[random14]

Long time lurker, first time poster.

I vote for Tufts. It is a better living environment with many more opportunities to connect with other places/students. UC Denver is much bigger, but Tufts overcomes any such issue there with the Boston ecosystem. And the UC Denver MSTP students don't seem to know each other very well -- something I found very odd. I'd consider if there are faculty you are excited about at Tufts and talk to them: are they accepting students? Is funding good? Then go for Tufts as 8 years is a long time to be somewhere you don't want to be. Depending on your geographic goals, the Tufts match list > the UC Denver match list.