A little while ago I was in the following position: I had been accepted to Penn, Hopkins, NYU, and Columbia for med school. Penn, Hopkins, and Columbia would have all cost around $350k-$400k and NYU would have cost 0$ due to a scholarship. I am interested in neurosurgery and was pretty torn about this decision considering Hopkins and Columbia, in particular, seem to match so amazingly in neurosurgery (and I guess pretty much everything else). I ended up going with NYU because I just couldn't justify spending that much more money for med school. I also thought that even though NYU is currently considered less prestigious than these other schools it seems to be rising in the rankings and still has a pretty good reputation. Do you guys think I made the right choice? NYU grads seem to match pretty well into neurosurgery but I can't shake the feeling that going to a place like Hopkins would have really given me a leg up when residency application time comes around.
Definitely no downside to choosing NYU. Very strong department with the potential to get letters from nationally recognized faculty such as Golfinos and Kondziolka.
shoulda gone to Hopkins, but there's nothing you can do now. i don't see the point of this thread tbh
Even going into neurosurgery, I think it's hard to overstate the value of coming out of med school debt-free. Med students match well in neurosurgery from all of those institutions, and NYU has a good department with a well-connected chair and ample opportunities for a med student to get involved with research. You will also get a well respected and debt-free medical education so that finances shouldn't be a factor in your ultimate specialty choice and you will have the pedigree to match into any specialty if the rest of your application is in order. The rest is what you make of it; you made the right choice.
a neurosurgery sub-i at NYU will prepare you better than the 2s or 3s at every single institution you listed, plus you put $400k in your pocket. this is a no brainer bro
