Finally succumbed to the WashU post-II silence and assigned myself a waitlist so I could get on with making this.

I think I'll be deciding between Penn and Duke, and I would love to hear people's insights based on the pros/cons. I'm fortunate that finances are not a major player for me (although if any school out there wants to give me a full scholarship, hey). Thank you in advance, this website's community has been incredibly helpful for me on this journey :)

Clerkship grades
- Penn has graded clerkships while Duke is P/F. I've heard mixed feedback on how important this is to people. Some people say having graded clerkships is a good way to differentiate yourself for residency and that the grading tends to be pretty high overall at Penn. But also, I can definitely see the merits to Duke's ungraded clerkships

Curriculum timing
- Duke has a 1 year pre-clinical and rotations happen during M2, whereas Penn is quite standard with the M3 clerkship year and a 1.5 year pre-clinical. I have to ask more people at these schools how this translates to the timing of taking STEP + having publications out/ready in time for residency apps. Duke's completely open third year for research is very appealing to me (plus they have a whole Medical Humanities Third Year program that I'd love to pursue if I were there), but I'm also very aware that Penn has amazing research as well. Just not sure how to compare such different structures with equal quality resources at both schools.

Mission fit

- This is a bit more fluid, since I think the larger academic centers are going to overlap a lot when it comes to mission, but I do know that Duke does not have any student-led clinics (students, to my knowledge, tend to volunteer at a non-Duke-affiliated free clinic in the community), whereas Penn seems to have abundant student-led opportunities within the Philly community. I would love to be at a school where I can contribute to the community during my time there, having a lot of EMT experience and a community programming background in the arts.

Geography and Matching (less important/not something I'm heavily considering as a major factor in my decision)
- I'm from New England and would love to stay/return here for residency. Philly is a 4 hr-ish drive from my family and Durham is only a short flight away. Penn and Duke both have great match lists, and I'm pretty sure I'm someone who'd go for IM and be interested in doing a hem/onc fellowship after, but also I'm still open specialty-wise. I've never been to Durham but will be able to visit soon, and honestly, it looks beautiful. I went to college in a very nature-y, quiet area, and would also enjoy that for medical school if that ends up being my environment! But Philly also looks like a great city to live in, and admittedly, probably has more to do. I believe I am required to get a car at Duke, but not yet sure if that's the case for Penn (not a huge fan of driving, but I'll live).

Miscellaneous (and things I can only gauge once I do SLW)
- Strong mentorship, opportunities in the humanities, and leadership opportunities