Weill Cornell vs NYU vs UCLA

[dr_baltar]

Hi guys,

I'm incredibly fortunate to have been accepted to these wonderful schools, and as things get down to the wire I'm having a lot of difficulty deciding between my options. I don't know what specialty I'm interested in, but I'm not interested in primary care, public health, or global health. Location is extremely important to me and I have narrowed things down to NYU, Cornell, and UCLA since I want to be in a major urban area.

My number one factor for deciding between schools is how much the school will help me match into a competitive specialty, should I decide to pursue one. I would like to match in an urban location on the east or west coast, which I know can be particularly difficult in competitive fields.

I’m originally from New York and will have many friends as well as my family nearby should I decide to attend school here. Total cost of attendance after financial aid is close enough between schools that it will not affect my decision.


My initial thoughts on each school:

NYU

• Really enjoyed meeting current students at revisit weekend
• It’s in New York and in a great location in Manhattan
• All hospitals students rotate through are very close together in Manhattan
• Bellevue is very hands on and students get a lot of freedom with patients
• 1.5 year preclinical is a plus
• School appears to be on the rise in terms of rankings
• 3-Year pathway students take a significant amount of NYU residency spots away from 4-Year students (potentially serious con)
  • based on recent match results it seems in certain specialties NYU students only match at NYU or lesser schools which means the three year pathway may make it significantly harder to match in competitive fields
  • opt-in component of the three year pathway also creates competition between first years

Cornell

• Students seemed nice enough but didn’t seem to have as much fun as students at NYU
• Greater proportion of older students (slight con as I’m a traditional applicant and get along better with people my age)
• Exceptional research opportunities through affiliations with Rockefeller, HSS, and Sloan-Kettering
  • Students pursuing ortho and oncology likely have a great advantage because of HSS and Sloan-Kettering
• Cornell gives students 6 months dedicated to pursuing research, which can help with matching into competitive specialties
• 1.5 year preclinical is a plus, but the curriculum was recently restructured and still has some problems according to current students (including regular tests on Mondays which ruin weekends)
• Again also in New York, though in a slightly worse location
• Though ranked lower than NYU, the Cornell name still carries more prestige and Weill is harder to get into
• Hospitals students rotate through are dispersed throughout New York so students sometimes have to do a lot of travelling for rotations in the boroughs (con)

UCLA

• Students seemed nice and fun (though I didn’t attend revisit)
• Traditional 2 year curriculum (con)
• Ronald Reagan hospital is amazing
• I will have significantly less friends on the West Coast, but this may be my one chance to seriously explore the West Coast (I have been told I have a West Coast personality and think I would enjoy living there)
• I have heard it’s difficult to match on the West Coast if you have no ties to the region, so attending UCLA would likely give me the greatest opportunity to match both on the West and East coast, since I’m originally from New York
• Average Step 1 score is pretty low compared to Cornell and NYU, but students still match spectacularly

What would you guys do if you were in my situation? Are there any other factors I should be considering that I haven’t mentioned?

Thank you!

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[Bethany555]

You said your #1 factor is matching into a top program. I pulled the USNews residency director ratings for you:
NYU: 3.8
Cornell: 4.3
UCLA: 4.3
Do you want to match on the east or west coast? If you want to match on the west coast, UCLA would have the edge. If you want to match on the east coast, Cornell would. As you mentioned in your post, you have a big advantage applying to your home residency programs. Overall, if your family and friends are in NY, I would go to Cornell. Good luck!

 

[Slack3r]

You can match competitively from any of those schools. They're all top 25 schools with national reputations. Pick which one you like better.

 

[drwoofs]

UCLA or NYU imo. UCLA is probably the cheapest.

 

[neurotroph]

You seem to be leaning towards NYU so I voted that, but I don't know how much of an issue the 3-year thing really is. Maybe try to get into contact with some 4th years (or I guess 3rd years) to see what their matching experience was.

 

[calimed2017]

to add to this, UCLA recently matched with 7 derm. and, UCLA is ranked the highest (11)