Is Stony Brook friendly towards women getting pregnant while in med school?

[Goldenhair]

I am going to be an MS1, and I need to decide VERY promptly between Stony Brook and Downstate. I am an older student and am thinking about having a baby while in med school. I am trying to figure out if it is going to be possible at Stony Brook. (I was already told Downstate was good for it, but I am leaning towards Stony Brook overall).

How flexible is the administration? Is it possible to skip lectures or are they mandatory? How many days a week and hours a day will I HAVE to be there versus studying on my own? Will they allow to take a year off to have a baby? I really want to go to Stony and I hope they are flexible and understanding about this. Did you or anyone you know have a baby while at Stony? Please share your experiences.

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[stiffany]

I am going to be an MS1, and I need to decide VERY promptly between Stony Brook and Downstate. I am an older student and am thinking about having a baby while in med school. I am trying to figure out if it is going to be possible at Stony Brook. (I was already told Downstate was good for it, but I am leaning towards Stony Brook overall).

How flexible is the administration? Is it possible to skip lectures or are they mandatory? How many days a week and hours a day will I HAVE to be there versus studying on my own? Will they allow to take a year off to have a baby? I really want to go to Stony and I hope they are flexible and understanding about this. Did you or anyone you know have a baby while at Stony? Please share your experiences.

Personally, I'd contact both Stony Brook and Downstate and ask these questions directly instead of hoping for anecdotal information. That way you have a better understanding of school policy's directly from those who make them.

At my Stony Brook interview day, it seemed like students had a lot of flexibility in terms of whether or not they had to attend class. In fact, some of their (if not all?) exams could be taken online from home since they have an honor based system. To me, they seemed very much like a flexible, family-friendly place with a lot of commuting students.

 

[LowlyPremed]

Based on your post I'm assuming you wanted to have a baby during 1st or 2nd year. Lectures are not mandatory, you can skip and read the transcript or listen to the audio. Many of my classmates do this. First semester, you have to go to anatomy lab. Second semester has mandatory PBL type stuff. Your best bet is to check out our academic calander:

https://cbase.som.sunysb.edu/conet/...t/calendar/stud_mainFrame.cfm?school=Medicine

You can enter as a public viewer. There are people with kids in my class but I do not know of anyone that has had a child while in med school. I don't know about this specific issue but SB is very student friendly and understanding. You may want to speak with someone in the administration. Hopefully this helps somewhat.

 

[LowlyPremed]

In fact, some of their (if not all?) exams could be taken online from home since they have an honor based system.

That's not really true. Some exams are online and you take them more or less at a specific time in a classroom with proctors. It's only true for one class - Foundations of Medical Practice - and some minor quizzes in other classes.

 

[abeytt03]

Stony Brook is a very friendly place. The admissions people were super nice and extremely accomadating. I only eat kosher, and they jumped through hoops to find me kosher food on my interview day. I was very impressed by the helpful and caring atmosphere. I think they would be very understanding.