Hello! I need help deciding between two medical schools, somewhat confounded by a lack of complete financial information from either one and the fact that I don’t really know what kind of doctor I want to be yet. Any advice would be much appreciated!

~220k UMSOM (University of Maryland)

Pros:

Currently live in Baltimore, LOVE it here

Low cost of living, in-state tuition

Great program, supportive faculty, strong medical network in the DMV area, access to high acuity cases

Students seem really happy

very service-oriented with deep ties to the Baltimore community

Curriculum emphasizes health equity and integrates it well into clinical care

Renowned shock trauma unit (I am interested in trauma/EM/crit care potentially)

Family lives in the northeast, I’m pretty close to my family

Partner lives in Baltimore

Cons:

Graded, 2yr pre-clinicals 

~350k DGSOM (UCLA)

Pros: 

P/F everything (!!)

1.5 yr pre-clinical, early clinical exposure

HEALS curriculum integrates health equity into all four years

Service-oriented, supportive faculty

More prestigious program

Students seem really happy

6 month discovery period for research development in the 3rd year, lots of high-impact research

Visited LA, it’s beautiful and could see myself loving it there

Cons:

LA is expensive AF

On the opposite side of the country from family and partner