UChicago vs. NYU MSTP?

[pandasandsheep]

Trying to decide between these two schools that are almost equally positioned in my mind... Sadly second look visits overlap on the same weekend!

Uchicago
Pros

• Near major city
• Campus is in a more suburban location - better for long-term housing options
• Research at the moment meshes more with my interests
• Integrated graduate campus
• Within driving distance of home to visit family more easily
• Greater focus on community activism and outreach
• Diverse patient population in South-side of Chicago

Cons

• 1-4-3 schedule means I won't really be clinically involved for another 5 years
• Recent decline in ranking? Online forums have suggested is because of lack of funding and not as much "progress" as others (not sure what this means)

NYU
Pros

• In a great location within Manhattan - I've mostly lived in suburban areas so far, and could love the new city life (could also be a con)
• Flexible curriculum options with clerkships available prior to PhD phase means I can get some clinical experience to take into PhD phase
• Higher amounts of total NIH funding and funding per investigator
• Lots of recent growth - hiring tons of new faculty and adding new building/research centers to the campus
• Diverse patient-population through Bellevue

Cons

• Not as many faculty of interest
• Housing is likely just going to be student dorms for the next 8 years
• Farther from home

If anyone has any ideas for how to get more information about the schools without being able to directly attend the second looks, let me know!

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[TempuraOreos]

Current NYU student here so obvious bias (MD only though). Definitely reach out to current MSTP students to get more info about the school. You should've received emails for the liaison program from our Admissions Ambassadors which would match you with a current student based on your interests.

While our second look has been cancelled, we'll be working on putting together virtual second look weekend which may help you in deciding too.

Good luck!

 

[imbesrs]

I am not a mdphd student/applicant, but I can only imagine how much of your happiness relies on the fact that youre pursuing research that match your interest as best possible. That + better housing for the next 8+ yrs makes me lean towards UChi

 

[TheDataKing]

I looked up NIH funding by medical school for 2019. NYU comes in at #25 with $107,607,857 through 219 awards while UChicago comes in at #33 with $86,643,822 through 176 awards. Link here. Compare that to 2018 and UChicago was ranked #45 while NYU was ranked #31 (see here). I’m not sure why people are saying UChicago is going down in funding when the data shows the opposite?

It sounds like you’ll do great at either so I’d look into the department you’re interested in and see what research they have going on and if you’d rather be involved at certain labs at one school over the other. UChicago is closer to home which would provide you with a support network that will likely prove invaluable as medical school inevitably gets difficult. Hope that helps!