TL;DR – I'm a 4th year at Upstate who was Binghamton Campus. They are very different experiences, but equal opportunity to excel in both. Binghamton campus has people going for Derm, Rad Onc, Neurosurgery, Surgery, Anesthesia, and Ortho this year; so you are not limited to primary care. And remember you can come back to Syracuse for 4th year.
This got long, I tried to give my general impression of the experiences. If you have specific questions that interest you, ask away and I will try not to write a novella again.
While the school would like to claim the Binghamton and Syracuse campuses are the same, and the LCME would like to force the issue, the truth is they are not and honestly should not be. This is not to say that the differences are negative, it simply reflects the reality of having your clinical training occur in a community hospital setting rather than an academic hospital setting. I can provide some insight, however there are major curriculum overhauls occurring over the next couple years. Contrary to what a previous poster said about having met all the LCME requirements, we are not there; however the school is well on track to being there (at least on paper). As such, my experience may not exactly reflect what the next few years will bring.
1) Research – Syracuse wins. Traditionally if you wanted to conduct research you needed to stay in Syracuse. This is changing. A new dean was hired this past year at the Binghamton campus who has put an emphasis on opening opportunities for students to do research and she is actively seeking collaborations with physicians in the community and at other institutions. This year saw a number of students provided the opportunity to participate in research across multiple specialties and I would expect the opportunities to continue to expand. That said, Syracuse still offers more opportunities at the moment by virtue of being an academic center.
2) Family medicine – Binghamton wins. Family Medicine at Binghamton is a longitudinal course where you are in the office one afternoon a week for the entire year. Additionally, once a month you get together for some of the longest, least efficient lectures you will ever experience. The grading is based on in house exams and assignments. Don't get me wrong, it was a great experience and I wouldn't trade the opportunity to follow a single attending for an entire year for anything (excellent way to learn and to get a LOR); but the lectures are a tragedy (but easy so most of us read other material during them). Traditionally Syracuse just had one block of family medicine, and is just 8 weeks of outpatient medicine. Not better or worse, just different. I like the continuity of the year long course though.
3) Internal Medicine – I'm really not sure and think it is mostly who your residents are. In Binghamton we have traditionally rotated through Robert Packer hospital in Sayre, PA; a local hospital in Binghamton, and an outpatient office. In Syracuse I think you just spent the entire time in a single hospital. This rotation is hit or miss and really determined by who your residents are, to a degree who your attending are, and very much by how motivated you are. You might see more complicated cases at Syracuse; but this won't actually prepare you better for your shelf exams and you will have less time to actually learn the basics (more scut, more rushing to cover case load, more attitudes from what I hear).
4) Surgery – Depends on your goals. If you want to be a surgeon, Syracuse is probably best with Sayre next. If you just want to get through the rotation, Binghamton is the place. The rotation can be done at Binghamton, Sayre, or Syracuse. In Binghamton, you will mostly stand in a corner for 40 hours a week watching one or two specialties. In Sayre, you will be exposed to all specialties, be actively involved, and the surgeons are really nice people; but you will work no less than 60-70 hours a week (I often hit 90, but it was my own doing rather than being made to). Syracuse, I think they get you more involved, again more along the 60-70 hours a week, moderate exposure to specialties but may have to work to see something that interests you; however more traditional malignant surgical personalities exist here.
5) Ob/gyn – Very different experiences. I have heard extremely negative feedback from the Syracuse campus because of the physicians involved. That said, there is a new course director and you will gain more clinical experience. So, it may get better. In Binghamton, you need to explicitly request specific physicians if you want clinical experience as many are private practice and do not want to force students on their patients. This is particularly true if you are a male student, in which case you can go days without being let in a room. That said, I am a male, did learn a lot, did well on my shelf, and obtained extra experience by hanging around the hospital after office hours. So no real reason to complain about it. Not sure which campus has the advantage here.
6) Neuro – Syracuse wins. No further discussion needed. The neurosurgeons in Binghamton are great; but the neurologists want absolutely nothing to do with us. It will provide you the opportunity to study for your shelf for 2 weeks, but you will gain no clinical experience at all.
7) Pediatrics – Syracuse wins again. With Golisano hospital there is a drastically higher case load and dedicated pediatric faculty. In Binghamton, it is run by family medicine (with a number of malignant personalities involved) and depending on time of year there may be fewer than 2 pediatric patients in the hospital.
8) Psych – Binghamton wins. Literally, on day one you will be put into clinical situations. It is a shock to the system, but in retrospect it was amazing learning. The faculty is very supportive and time is carved out every day for dedicated lecture and case discussion. In Syracuse, they traditionally spent several weeks doing nothing but lecture. And after that they still had minimal clinical exposure. A new course director is in charge and this may change, but from last year, I did not hear one good review of the course including from students going into Psych.
9) Emergency Medicine - Syracuse wins. They have much higher case load, with faculty and residents that are used to teaching. In Binghamton, it is still very new and they were still figuring out how to handle it all this year. Nice guys, mean well, not a worthwhile experience.
10) Support Staff – Binghamton wins. Hard to explain, but once you've been in Syracuse for a while you will understand why they post the motto "Life is a do it yourself project". In contrast, Binghamton expects you to be self sufficient, but actively works to streamline the process and remove unnecessary complications from your path.
