Yale Med vs UofT Med

[scooby]

I was very fortunate this admissions cycle to get into two of my dream schools UofT and Yale. I have to soon make a decision between the two and was looking for some advice. 

Pros I see for UofT (in no particular order):

- Significantly Cheaper.

- A great school, lots of research opportunities, lots of other resources.

- It's the school I did my undergrad at and so I have lots of ties to the community here and I have lots of friends here.

- I love Toronto.

- Easier to find residency in Canada is I go to a Canadian medical school.

 

Pros I see for Yale Med (in no particular order):

- Many more opportunities than UofT, such as an option to take a 5th year for research, the ability to pursue a dual degree etc etc.

- The prestige.

- Incredible match list, more people end up matching to their top choice program than at UofT. I don't have stats for that but I have heard from a few Canadian friends of mine at Yale.

- A smaller class size.

- The Yale System which promotes self-directed learning.

 

If it were only these factors then maybe I would've chosen Yale but I also have some concerns:

- Very Very Expensive.

- Concerns about matching back into Canada. 

- Concerns about matching into the States as an International student.

- The current political climate in the US towards immigrants and non-citizens.

- To a lesser degree, New Haven is not as fun as Toronto.

 

Any input, feedback or suggestions will be helpful.

PS I also made a post about being rejected at med school this cycle. Please disregard that as that was a bit premature and I was fortunate to get a late interview at Uoft and then get an offer.

 

 

[JohnGrisham]

Assuming non-troll, stick with UofT as you seem to want to be in Canada for residency etc anyways. No reason to add extra-hurdles. 

[Monkey D. Luffy]

It depends what your goal is.

If you want to match to Canada and work in Canada = U of T

If you want to work in the US = Yale

If you want to do things outside of medicine like business, pharmaceuticals, management in hospitals, research at big name institutions = Yale

This is all assuming you can afford the tuition. If it means you have to live like a peasant for the next few years, I'd just go to U of T and enjoy. You'd be at home, be able to visit family/friends, not stress about money, and not worry about USMLE.

Congrats on the offers! You can't make a bad decision here as you are going to have a great life either way. 

[la marzocco]

Congrats first of all. If you foresee yourself settling/staying in Canada after med school, then U of T is the path of lesser resistance. However, if you may have other aspirations, which may lead you to the US, note that your academic pedigree matters in the US. Hence, your Yale med degree may give you better access to more competitive specialties, non-traditional jobs such as healthcare consulting, VC, etc. But, personally, the crushing debt that will need to be incurred really deterred me from applying to US school. Sure, it's an option, but the tuition, compounded by the poor exchange rate means it's going to be a double whammy. 

[Edict]

9 hours ago, scooby said:

I was very fortunate this admissions cycle to get into two of my dream schools UofT and Yale. I have to soon make a decision between the two and was looking for some advice. 

Pros I see for UofT (in no particular order):

- Significantly Cheaper.

- A great school, lots of research opportunities, lots of other resources.

- It's the school I did my undergrad at and so I have lots of ties to the community here and I have lots of friends here.

- I love Toronto.

- Easier to find residency in Canada is I go to a Canadian medical school.

 

Pros I see for Yale Med (in no particular order):

- Many more opportunities than UofT, such as an option to take a 5th year for research, the ability to pursue a dual degree etc etc.

- The prestige.

- Incredible match list, more people end up matching to their top choice program than at UofT. I don't have stats for that but I have heard from a few Canadian friends of mine at Yale.

- A smaller class size.

- The Yale System which promotes self-directed learning.

 

If it were only these factors then maybe I would've chosen Yale but I also have some concerns:

- Very Very Expensive.

- Concerns about matching back into Canada. 

- Concerns about matching into the States as an International student.

- The current political climate in the US towards immigrants and non-citizens.

- To a lesser degree, New Haven is not as fun as Toronto.

 

Any input, feedback or suggestions will be helpful.

PS I also made a post about being rejected at med school this cycle. Please disregard that as that was a bit premature and I was fortunate to get a late interview at Uoft and then get an offer.

 

 

Wow, amazing options to choose from! I would choose Yale if I were you and could afford it. 

I would disregard the issue about political climate. As a medical student at Yale from Canada, it fairly or unfairly won't affect you. 

Essentially, this boils down to: Where do you want to do residency? If it is in Canada, then stay in Canada, if it is in the US, then stay in the US. 

With that being said, it is always easier to go from the US to Canada than it is the other way around. There are people from the US who will rank only their preferred choices in Canada and apply to the US as a backup. The other way around doesn't work because Canadians in med cannot use Canada as a backup for the US. This is because the Canadian match happens first every year and matching to Canada automatically withdraws you from the US. 

You are right though that New Haven will be nowhere near as fun as Toronto, so that is a factor to consider.

If you want to be a researcher or super sub-specialist, or you want to be a big shot academic one day, or if you just want to keep that option open for now, go to Yale. However, if your goal is to make a good living near home and have a good lifestyle etc., Toronto is probably the better choice for that. Community medicine is probably a way better time in Canada than it is in the states.  

 

 

 

 

[bearded frog]

What medical school you attended is a lot less important the farther you get out of residency. I would say your residency/fellowship institutions are much more important than your medical school in terms of career. Say you went to U of T/Yale and then came back to U of T and did a 5 year general surgery residency. At the end of that 5 years, employers and whoever else are not going to care about where you did your medical school, it will be all about residency performance, with the exception if you did some unique stuff during medical school. So if Yale meant that you did some impactful research during medical school or gave you a unique resume building opportunity I think that would be the only long term advantage.

[DermJuly2018PGY1]

There's a guy from Yale that matched into derm in Canada at U of T