<p>Which one should I choose?</p>
<p>Background: </p>
<p>I've narrowed down my decision between WashU in St. Louis, Case Western, BU, UMKC, USC, and HPME to just the last two.</p>
<p>I live in Southern California, and it'd be nice to stay here... But, I think I would also appreciate living in some other part of the country as well. My only concern about HPME is the cold weather. Money is not a factor.</p>
<p>I greatly appreciate your feedback. Thank you for your time.</p>
<p>My $0.02 - go to HPME. It is a great undergrad institution in a great location and the Feinberg school is up there among the top med schools. Its downtown Chicago location is a plus too. The cold weather is certainly a factor, but you do get used to it and it becomes part of the environs after a while. Only you can decide if you will be happy leaving SoCal weather behind.</p>
<p>I agree with coquifrog.
“Only you can decide…”</p>
<p>With your impressive credentials, you should succeed no matter where you decide to go.</p>
<p>My daughter is in a similar situation.
She also is fortunate to be able to choose from three BA/MD programs.
She also is from southern California.</p>
<p>She wants to spread her wings and see how high and far she can soar.
She wants to explore what is out there.
Therefore, she plans to go to HPME.</p>
<p>May be you will join her at Northwestern?
It appears that you have the same spirit…“But, I think I would also appreciate living in some other part of the country as well.”</p>
<p>Congrats! I would probably pick HPME but since you live in So Cal USC Bacc/MD is a great choice too. You can’t go wrong with either one of these two.</p>
<p>WashU is also a great school and has a great premed program.</p>
<p>Avoid UMKC 6yr program at all costs.</p>
<p>just curious, what made you decide to turn down BU and Wash U?</p>
<p>Probably the ridiculous requirements for Wash U’s medical program.</p>
<p>And for bone-chilling weather, HPME>>>BU.</p>
<p>@ Hopeful88, what Torcher said. BU’s program was actually my “realistic” first choice throughout the application process, since I never expected to even get an interview from the other programs- I was elated when I saw my BU decision. However, it’s requirements and rankings are not as attractive as HPME or Bacc/MD, in my humble opinion.</p>
<p>I still can’t decide, but the deadline I made for myself was this evening. Thanks for the advice everyone. I really appreciate it.</p>
<p>I committed to HPME.</p>
<p>You’ve made your decision.
I’m doing a neuroradiology fellowship at U of Arizona.
A resident there went to USC. He loves the place and obviously had great training there. We also have a first year who did a surgical internship. She loves it too.
One of my attendings went to Princeton, then the University of Wisconsin. He has strong opinions and I trust them.
He has worked with many graduates from the HPME program. They are ill-prepared and he recommends avoiding that place if you can.
My daughter is applying next year, so I am in a quandary in advising her. Just wish she is lucky/good enough to be able to have great options like you do.
Good luck.</p>
<p>Thanks for your input.</p>
<p>During my decision-making process, I talked to numerous subspecialty residents that are graduates of either HPME or bacc/md, and they are very happy with the training, education, and experiences they’ve received through either institution/program. I’m sure your attending’s opinions may be valid and trustworthy, but I’ve never been one to make conclusions based off of just a single negative testimonial- “Ill-prepared” is quite a strong description. That said, I do appreciate his insight and your taking the time to post it.</p>
<p>Thanks again, and best of luck to your daughter!</p>
<p>I don’t see how HPME could leave you ill-trained. I could see how it could leave you less well rounded, but I wasn’t aware that HPME altered the course of the MD part of your degree. It would have to be a northwestern med problem in general and I have never heard that… Honestly it’s all pretty subjective too. A specific residency program will often have specific opinions on which schools it does and does not like for that specialty. It isn’t worth worrying too much about though.</p>
<p>^ Agreed. Can’t see why HPME kids would be singled out. Once matriculated into the med school, they are only 25-30 out of the 170 or so who graduate every year, and at that point in time they are Feinberg grads, not HPME kids…nguyentuan64 seems like a ■■■■■ to me.</p>
<p>^Totally. First and only post with such a strong opinion…definitely sounds like a ■■■■■.</p>
<p>Besides, USN has residency directors’ ratings and Northwestern has significantly higher rating.</p>