Help me decide between Wake Forest and University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Greenville

[pankofries]

I got into both and struggling to decide between them. What do you guys think?

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[m1redsox]

Disclaimer: graduating from Wake on Sunday

Are you IS for USC-Greenville? Where is your support system? Do you have a specialty preference yet?

I absolutely loved Wake, but the pricetag is bad. Need some more info from you to maje an appropriate recommendation.

 

[pankofries]

Disclaimer: graduating from Wake on Sunday

Are you IS for USC-Greenville? Where is your support system? Do you have a specialty preference yet?

I absolutely loved Wake, but the pricetag is bad. Need some more info from you to maje an appropriate recommendation.

Hey, I have a full ride at Greenville, and my support system is here! I am unsure about specialty choice and have no clue what Wake is like. Also congrats on graduating!

 

[JungleTrouble]

Hey, I have a full ride at Greenville, and my support system is here! I am unsure about specialty choice and have no clue what Wake is like. Also congrats on graduating!

Seems like Greenville is the way to go then. Money and family are there.

 

[m1redsox]

Yeah USC-Greenville is definitely the answer. If you had said you really wanted neurosurgery, ophtho, ENT, etc then maybe it’d be worth going to a school with a home program, but most people know they want those specialties (or know that they want to do surgery of some kind) ahead of time. But, you should not turn down a full ride to a program near your support system, and USC-Greenville actually has quite a few home residency programs.

 

[pankofries]

Yeah USC-Greenville is definitely the answer. If you had said you really wanted neurosurgery, ophtho, ENT, etc then maybe it’d be worth going to a school with a home program, but most people know they want those specialties (or know that they want to do surgery of some kind) ahead of time. But, you should not turn down a full ride to a program near your support system, and USC-Greenville actually has quite a few home residency programs.

Sounds good thanks! Yeah the only surgical specialties I think I might be interested in are urology, ENT and orthopedics but by the time I graduate, Greenville will have started their home programs for ENT and urology, and ortho is already there. Do you think this changed your recommendation at all?

 

[m1redsox]

Sounds good thanks! Yeah the only surgical specialties I think I might be interested in are urology, ENT and orthopedics but by the time I graduate, Greenville will have started their home programs for ENT and urology, and ortho is already there. Do you think this changed your recommendation at all?

What makes you think they are starting uro and ENT programs?

 

[pankofries]

What makes you think they are starting uro and ENT programs?

I’m not 100% sure but speaking to some med students there. They are trying to start one

 

[m1redsox]

I certainly would not bank on them starting both a uro and an ENT program by the time you graduate, but nonetheless, you shouldn’t pay more to move away from family unless there is a really good reason, and I don’t think having a home program is a good enough reason.

 

[TennCare]

I’m not 100% sure but speaking to some med students there. They are trying to start one

I certainly would not bank on them starting both a uro and an ENT program by the time you graduate, but nonetheless, you shouldn’t pay more to move away from family unless there is a really good reason, and I don’t think having a home program is a good enough reason.

Holding experience working in GME before starting med school I can tell you @pankofries that it is entirely possible for your school to gain approval for two ACGME accredited residency programs at the same time. Ideally, the departments are doing more of the leg work than the actual GME office. Greeneville sounds like an exciting opportunity, and you should definitely attend. Congrats

 

[chsbasketball7]

Wow. What type of person would even consider turning down a full-ride scholarship to be 400-500k in debt? Most people won’t ask this question in the first place. It’s just illogical and comes off as ungrateful. Maybe you should value money a bit more. This is possibly the most perplexing question I’ve ever come across in three years of searching SDN. If I was in your shoes, I’d personally feel very ashamed if I ever considered choosing Wake ( and you should too if you haven’t already).

 

[TheDataKing]

Wow. What type of person would even consider turning down a full-ride scholarship to be 400-500k in debt? Most people won’t ask this question in the first place. It’s just illogical and comes off as ungrateful. Maybe you should value money a bit more. This is possibly the most perplexing question I’ve ever come across in three years of searching SDN. If I was in your shoes, I’d personally feel very ashamed if I ever considered choosing Wake ( and you should too if you haven’t already).

Chill, bro. It’s tough when you’re looking at P/F step 1 and name brand matters more and more for where you match and what you match into. Having strong home programs and going into debt (that you can pay off) or leveraging your financial aid package — asking Wake to match it, isn’t off the table. Keep it civil and don’t resort to telling somehow how you’d feel if you ever considered choosing Wake, especially if it’s with such harsh descriptors.

 

[chsbasketball7]

Chill, bro. It’s tough when you’re looking at P/F step 1 and name brand matters more and more for where you match and what you match into. Having strong home programs and going into debt (that you can pay off) or leveraging your financial aid package — asking Wake to match it, isn’t off the table. Keep it civil and don’t resort to telling somehow how you’d feel if you ever considered choosing Wake, especially if it’s with such harsh descriptors.

this question is absurd and considering many of us are working minimum-wage jobs and can barely support ourselves, 400k is life-changing. Obviously this clearly isn’t the case for pankofries, Otherwise he or she wouldn’t be posting this question. They clearly have no sense of what being in debt means, and yes I was purposely harsh. Some people just need to learn to count their blessings. Also, Wake is not an Ivy League school. If pankofries is from South Carolina, MUSC should be the top choice. Even without leveraging the scholarship it’s cheaper than Wake and is of similiar prestige/ has home programs

 

[m1redsox]

this question is absurd and considering many of us are working minimum-wage jobs and can barely support ourselves, 400k is life-changing. Obviously this clearly isn’t the case for pankofries, Otherwise he or she wouldn’t be posting this question. They clearly have no sense of what being in debt means, and yes I was purposely harsh. Some people just need to learn to count their blessings. Also, Wake is not an Ivy League school. If pankofries is from South Carolina, MUSC should be the top choice. Even without leveraging the scholarship it’s cheaper than Wake and is of similiar prestige/ has home programs

You should at least read the post before bringing such harsh criticism. OP is debating between USC-Greenville and Wake. USC-Greenville has few home programs and is ranked 118-130 on USWNR compared to Wake which is a T50 with nearly every possible home program, and in most cases, it has 2 home programs with Charlotte Medical Center becoming a home hospital. @Dataking is right to suggest that OP should ask Wake to match financial aid packages.

Yes, many of us were making minimum wage before med school, but we are going to be physicians. Not one of us will make less than $200k after this, and PSLF has become an amazing, viable option to go to any school without need to pay back even a quarter of what is owed.

People aren’t stupid just because they don’t agree with you or because they consider options that you wouldn’t consider.

 

[chsbasketball7]

Listen m1redsox. Some choices in life are stupid no matter how you look at it. If someone else decided to fight a grizzly bear with 400k strapped to their chest does that make it a viable option? No. It’s not about agreeing with me. It’s just that 99%, would tell you that want to complete med school without financial risk. I repeat there are stupid choices in life. Nobody is going to tell you fighting a grizzly bear is smart. Maybe you don’t agree with your friends about it and travel to Alaska to find the elusive creature by hiking in the unforgivable wilderness. At the end of the day you will end up in the hospital because you considered that option, couldn’t take criticism from your buddies, and the thrill of fighting a grizzly bear was too much to pass up on.. Good and bad choices exist, and it is for that reason I question whether pankofries actually needs his or her scholarship. It seems they have no worries of financial risk and maybe that scholarship should have went to someone else. And also, from the date of this post I’m assuming pankofries got into Wake off the waitlist out of state and at that point there is no leveraging the full-ride for scholarship money. Pay full or they will pick someone else from the list. PSLF is the way to go for those of us that have to pay, but you can’t find a person who will tell you they want to be on loans.

Also, Go Yankees!

P.S. Yes I was harsh I know, but it’s too late now and I have no regrets.