futurist99
Full Member
- Joined
- May 20, 2023
- Messages
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Hi friends,
I am very grateful to be accepted at Duke and on the WL at Cornell. I am basically trying to decide whether or not to send a letter of intent to Cornell. I was originally leaning heavily towards sending the LOI to Cornell (mainly because of the location in NYC). However, I am having second thoughts after second look at Duke. I feel like prestige/opportunities/match list wise they are more or less the same, with a slight edge to Duke. COA is basically the same. I think what got me is how easy life is in Durham, and the students appear very happy with the full P/F + tight knit community. Also, I am very outdoorsy and Durham has lots of green space for hiking, running, biking, etc. On the flip side, I love living in NYC and feel like I may regret not doing my twenties in the city even if I am a med student. Given the waitlist is not ranked at Cornell I feel like if I don't send the LOI my chances are not great. I have it all written, but keep going back and forth on what to do.
Duke Pros:
I am very grateful to be accepted at Duke and on the WL at Cornell. I am basically trying to decide whether or not to send a letter of intent to Cornell. I was originally leaning heavily towards sending the LOI to Cornell (mainly because of the location in NYC). However, I am having second thoughts after second look at Duke. I feel like prestige/opportunities/match list wise they are more or less the same, with a slight edge to Duke. COA is basically the same. I think what got me is how easy life is in Durham, and the students appear very happy with the full P/F + tight knit community. Also, I am very outdoorsy and Durham has lots of green space for hiking, running, biking, etc. On the flip side, I love living in NYC and feel like I may regret not doing my twenties in the city even if I am a med student. Given the waitlist is not ranked at Cornell I feel like if I don't send the LOI my chances are not great. I have it all written, but keep going back and forth on what to do.
Duke Pros:
- Slightly more prestigious?
- Pass/Fail Clerkships
- Full year of research (potentially interested in more competitive specialties)
- Low COL
- Beautiful campus, easy living
- Students seem incredibly happy and tight-knit
- Non-urban patient population
- Further from home and SO (New England) and no family or friends nearby
- not NYC
- Diverse, urban patient population (if you make an effort to rotate outside of just the UES)
- Closer to family and friends (many friends in NYC, but still long distance with SO)
- Love living in NYC
- Only 6 months research, seems like everyone who goes into competitive specialty does a research year.
- NYC is expensive and as a med student won't have much money
- Internal ranking
- Graded clerkships
- Get the sense it is slightly competitive