UC Davis RURAL PRIME vs. Dartmouth vs. OHSU

[MedSchoolApplic]

I was accepted to UC Davis's Rural PRIME program, Dartmouth & OHSU, which has been an incredible and amazing surprise since I started the process just hoping to get in anywhere. Now, I'm not sure which one I should go to. I really liked Davis when I visited- all the faculty & staff seemed really supportive and the students I met all seemed like people I'd love to hang out with. As for Dartmouth, I really liked the students I met, as well as the campus & hospital, but I'm a CA resident who's nervous about being far/cold/massively in debt compared to a UC. OHSU is a great school that I felt somewhat uncomfortable at & would also be the most expensive but everyone keeps telling me what an amazing city Portland is.

I'm pretty sure I want to do my residency in CA & ultimately work in CA, and have been told Davis would be the better place to go for that but at the same time, if I'm going to spend the rest of my life in CA, I'd like to be able to go to med school somewhere else & experience that. Also, while I'm super excited about the RURAL-PRIME program, I've become increasingly attached to LA (where I've lived for the past 5 years) & wondering if I'd want to practice in an urban area.

This question has turned out to be a lot longer than I thought it would...I guess I would just appreciate any thoughts people may have & input from people who are currently at Davis, OHSU or Dartmouth?

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[ruraldr]

Hey there,

I've looked at 2 of your 3 and can lend my thoughts on those--although your post makes it sound like you are leaning towards Davis. Feel free to PM me for more thoughts.

Dartmouth:
I liked the small class size, rural location, and emphasis on good teaching here. I liked the access to hiking, skiing, etc.

OHSU: I liked the small class size, flexible integrated schedule, access to outdoors activities while still being in a great city with good food and activities.

Biggest differences I noticed between the two: 1) Dartmouth's students seemed alot younger. 2) Dartmouth seemed to have a more competitive culture. 3) East coast vs. West Coast--lots of differences in attitudes/culture., 4) OHSU seemed to be alot more concerned about their budget for next year than Dartmouth did. 5) OHSU seemed to serve a broader and more diverse patient population (Portland and Hanover are two very different locations) and OHSU had many more established "away" rotations than Dartmouth did.

Biggest similarities: Both these schools are small, cohesive communities. At both schools I saw lots of students who loved the outdoors.

with your decision--it's a lovely one to have!

 

[qmcat]

Congrats on your acceptances!

From my point of view, all of those schools allow you to have some rural medicine experience if you desire to do so, and are all excellent schools

Dartmouth:
Well you already know that it's cold and expensive here. The nice thing about Dartmouth is you have a wide range of options available when doing your rotations, but everything is so far away. All of the current med students I talked to here say you absolutely need a car for rotations. And, it's gotta suck to drive long distances to get to your rotation, let alone having to wake up early to scrape your car from the snow/ice and driving through snow and crazy weather. If you're interested in rural medicine though, DMS looks like it has a number of good ones... particularly the rotations in Maine.

You should also think about the living conditions here. Everything around Hanover/Lebanon, etc is kind of small and cramped. It's drastically different from living in a large city like LA.

OHSU:
Finances is always a problem here if you're OOS. I've heard that they have a required rural med rotation, which is nice since they really strive to give you a well-rounded education and exposure to working in different environments. I haven't researched much else about OHSU, and I haven't been here so I can't give you any more advice.

UC Davis:
I have a relative and tons of friends who went here for med school and really liked it. Obviously, the cheap cost for in-staters and the outstanding education is a strong plus. You have access to a reasonably large city here (Sacramento), lots of diversity (especially if you want Asian food or something), and there are plenty of things to do in the area. Sacramento weather is different from the rest of California though. It can get really hot in the summers and really cold in the winters. It's very different from LA, imo, so I don't think you'll be stuck in the same kind of California "environment" here.

Overall, I would say don't worry too much about trying to have a "new experience" for med school... especially when you have a huge price tag (state school vs. private) looming over your head. There are always opportunities to travel later on that will cost you less than the debt you acquire from going to an expensive private med school. Just pick the place where you will be the happiest and where you can succeed.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[scottyT]

As far as cost goes, have you applied for and received financial aid yet? OHSU is clearly going to be out of the question if you're concerned about the expense. Dartmouth, however, has pretty good aid available.

The PRIME program is 5 years, right? Do they have funding available to help you out with that 5th/master's year? Are you genuinely interested in getting an MS/MPH? You should weigh in the cost of that 5th year and the opportunity cost of not working for 1 year down the road to really look at the total expense of Davis. This is why I didn't apply to the PRIME program. I felt that I could reach my career objective without the fifth year and that it wasn't worth it to me.

Congrats on your acceptances though! I interviewed at Davis in the beginning of December and they still haven't told me squat.

 

[SallyD]

i'm actually making a similar decision now between a cheaper in-state public school & a higher ranked out-of-state private school. i really think i'd be happier at the school closer to home and med students keep telling me that's what really matters...have you talked to any doctors? for the people who've posted here, are there parts of med school where you're really unhappy & wishing you were someplace else but after it's over, you think "wow, it was worth it to tough it out & go to the more prestigious place?"

i dunno. i just wonder if maybe asking med students in the heat of things is like asking the right person at the wrong time. i think uc davis is a pretty strong school though so it may not be as big of a difference...

 

[oeste05]

i'm actually making a similar decision now between a cheaper in-state public school & a higher ranked out-of-state private school.

let's talk about this some more....

UC Davis vs. Dartmouth

bueller? and let's just pretend tuition was the same, just for giggles.

 

[AlbaMD]

let's talk about this some more....

UC Davis vs. Dartmouth

bueller? and let's just pretend tuition was the same, just for giggles.

I had to decide between Davis and Dartmouth last year. It was tough because these 2 ended up being my top favorite schools. Ultimately, cost aside, Davis is in California, which was a huge plus for me (lived in the snow when I was younger, hated the cold). Proximity of the hospital in Sacramento vs Dartmouth - you just cross the street and you are there. More patient population diversity at Davis vs. Dartmouth. The high number of outside clerkships that Dartmouth students do also was not a plus - I do like the stability of Davis where it's easy to do all 3rd and 4th year in the same place (it just seemed that Dartmouth was really encouraging the opposite). Plus, Davis atmosphere impressed me more than Dartmouth. With all that, Dartmouth was still a very close 2nd choice; I still have warm fuzzy feelings about that school.

 

[SallyD]

I think going away sounds pretty cool- does UC Davis not have the opportunity for away rotations? As far as residency goes, is there not a huge difference between the schools?

 

[AlbaMD]

I think going away sounds pretty cool- does UC Davis not have the opportunity for away rotations? As far as residency goes, is there not a huge difference between the schools?

From what I've heard, it's definitely possible to do away rotations at UC Davis. But you don't have to do them if you don't want.
Residency - I would love to do my residency right here in Sacramento, or elsewhere in Northern California, and Davis definitely gives a very good chance for that. So I guess there is a huge difference between Davis and Dartmouth in terms of that. But seriously, Davis has a great match list every year.