decided

[HopefulPremed1233]

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[m1redsox]

UW, and if you want something competitive, it’s not close. Having a home program in the specialty of your choice is irreplaceable for surgical subs.

A general rule of thumb is if the cost difference is <$100k, then it’s honestly just a drop in the bucket. I’d go to UW and not look back.

 

[BattalionX]

Edit: Apparently UWSOM meant Washington, not Wisconsin. Whoopsie. University of Washington still wins, by an even larger margin than Wisconsin...

 

[m1redsox]

UW also wins in terms of location (imo). Madison is an absolutely stunning town to live in, and there's a good mix between college town life and actual city life, albeit smaller city life. In terms of prestige/program quality for competitive residencies, it also wins. I'd say it's worth the extra money.

I believe UW in this case is U of Washington, not U of Wisconsin

 

[quinone1234]

Congrats on the acceptances. I think UW will be your best bet here.

Also, where did you hear about the new P/F for 3rd year?

 

[Bizarre_Animation]

Congrats on the acceptances. I think UW will be your best bet here.

Also, where did you hear about the new P/F for 3rd year?

Curious about this as well!

 

[HopefulPremed1233]

Congrats on the acceptances. I think UW will be your best bet here.

Also, where did you hear about the new P/F for 3rd year?

Thank you! During my interview day experience with UW a few months back someone asked about grading in clinical years during the curriculum presentation and someone on the curriculum team mentioned that UW was working on transitioning from their tiered grading system with honors, high pass, etc to fully P/F. At this time they said that they weren't certain if it would take effect for our class, but they were hopeful. After finding out about my acceptance a few weeks ago I reached out to see if there were any recent updates and it does sound like the change has been approved by the curriculum team and they are currently working on the final touches before they're ready to announce it more broadly. But from the response I received, it sounds like they are almost certain that it will be ready in time for the class of 2028!

 

[17protons]

Hello everyone, I have been incredibly fortunate this cycle and I have three acceptances to some great programs that I'm having a very difficult time deciding between.

UWSOM
Pros

• Ranking - Its UW, so of course in terms of raw prestige attending may help me match more competitive specialties (thinking about Derm, ortho, plastics atm)
• Vast clinical opportunities - would have an opportunity to spend one week in downtown Seattle at Harborview and the very next week be seeing patients in rural Wyoming or Alaska. This is admittedly one of the biggest draws of the program for me as I think the exposure to such diverse patient populations will help me become the best all around physician I could be by the end of med school
• Our class will be the first to experience 3rd year as fully pass/fail. This could be a pro or con but personally I like it because I've heard 3rd year is terrible (lol) and the idea of being able to take a breather and focus on learning clinical skills rather than honoring my rotations is kinda appealing

Cons

• Cost (around 53K/year in tuition)
• The constant travel during 3rd and 4th year means I will be spending lots of time away from my significant other. This isn't a dealbreaker and she is very understanding but of course this still stinks.
• Worries about a potentially more competitive environment vs collaborative one due to prestige

WSU
Pros

• Significantly cheaper than any other school I've been admitted to (40k/year tuition). I come from a super low income household so cost of attendance is a huge factor for me.
• Every interaction I've ever had with anyone from WSU has been a positive one. Everyone is seriously so kind whether its faculty or students.
• Environment seems collaborative and students seem like they have free time outside of school.

Cons

• Newer program than UW so less connections
• WSU has been doing fantastic with their matches so far but they've only graduated (I think) 4 classes at this point. I'm worried this could make it more difficult to match into the hyper competitive fields come match day.
• Very few home programs compared with other top institutions like UW so this may make research and faculty relationships more difficult in my desired speciality.

TCU
Pros

• An opportunity to explore a new area. I also much prefer warm and sunny climates so weather-wise a climate like the one in Texas would likely keep me much happier over the 4 years of med school than the cold and dark winters in Washington
• The curriculum seems really awesome and students have an opportunity to do lots of stuff for the community around Dallas/Fort Worth
• My parents currently live on the east coast, so I would be significantly closer to them in Texas than I am currently

Cons

• Since TCU is private the cost is significantly higher (around 60k/year in tuition). Again, cost is a huge deal for me and I don't want to be buried in debt if possible
• Newer program. Similar deal to WSU, TCU's first match last year was incredibly impressive but they have less connections since they are so new.
• I don't know anyone in Texas, so even though I would be closer to my parents, I'd be leaving the family that I do have in Washington

Congratulations on your options!!

As a student from Washington, I have interviewed w UW (Spokane, waiting to hear back still) and have WSU coming up so I know a decent bit about both.

It seems like UW would be the top option here. I am interested in surgery as well, and I think that program prestige is important in the specialties you are interested in, especially since STEP 1 has gone pass/fail and classes and clerkships are going that way as well. WSU does seem friendly, but I would share your same hesitations with them being such a new school.

To address some of the cons you talked about with UW:
- you will have to take out more loans and that isn't something you should take lightly, but I do think you need to think about the long run and the opportunities that the UW name and physicians who write your residency LORs will be able to give you. I think those benefits could outweigh the financial costs of UW vs WSU. UW is ranked #1 for primary care and even if you go surgical, this is huge.
- UW does have great opportunities for traveling but if you are worried about time away from your SO, I think you have more flexibility inf determining your rotations than you might realize. I have an MS3 friend at Spokane and I expressed my worry at possibly having to move every 6 weeks and on board at a new hospital etc. They told me that they requested the majority of their time in Spokane, one rotation in Seattle, and another rotation in another Western Washington area and that is exactly what they got. Maybe you could do some rotations elsewhere if you want the experience, but be able to spend more time with your SO than you might've thought
- I would talk to current med students about this! I think UW offered us a sheet of med students who were willing to be contacted on our interview prep website. The med students on our panel said that they always felt like things were collaborative, but it wouldn't hurt to get more opinions.

I'm counting out TCU because of the cost increase and the fact that they are also a relatively new program that would not match up to UW's reputation. You would be closer to your parents, but still not that close and it seems like you already have a support system in place with your SO.

Best of luck with everything!! Maybe we will meet someday