I live in NY and I've noticed that Albany is just about the most expensive medical school in the state. When you get there do you feel like your getting a 50k+ education? As in is the campus updated and state of the art? Also what is the general feel of the campus. For some reason Albany seems to be one of those schools that fly under the radar and I really can't find much about. Thanks for your insight.
You have to realize, when it comes to getting into medical school, tuition is sometimes the last thing you consider. If you have the option between Albany and a cheaper state school, then that is definitely something to keep in mind and will most likely sway you to going to the state school. But first you have to HAVE that option.
The campus is real nice and the auditoriums are pretty much state of the art. We have 4 auditoriums all stacked on top of one another in a cool set-up. We haven't started anatomy yet so I can't tell you much about the anatomy labs. The campus feels fine and Albany itself has some cool places to visit (Lark Street, Downtown, etc)
I agree that cost of medical school is a big issue, and I certainly wouldn't have chosen to pay 50k a year if I could have avoided that. But as hockeyhy said, you'll have to see what your options are in the end and take everything into consideration.
I disagree that the campus is "real nice". No offense hockeyhy, but you've only been here 3-4 weeks. Maybe seeing the building anatomy lab is in in a couple more weeks will show ya what I mean! I loved anatomy, but that room has definitely seen better days!
😉 It's in one of the older buildings, and there are some AC/ventilation issues going on in there. I mean, it was fine and you get used to the smell of anatomy lab, (which you're going to get everywhere no matter where you go) but there is some ghost living in the fans in that room or something because I have no idea what was up with the controls sometimes.
The cost is something students often complain about. Our student council has had conversations with administration asking for more transparency, because a lot of the time it feels like we have no idea where our money is going. The way I see it is we're at a small school, so we just don't have the numbers to cover overhead like you would at a larger school where many people are pooling resources. There's no undergrad that is helping to fund us, I don't know that our alumni are providing any sort of large endowment (I've been at private schools with nice endowments and it definitely feels a lot different), and I think administration has admitted in the past that the medical school is a money-losing endeavor and the hospital is making up for it.
I went to a small undergrad, too, and while small schools don't have resources/critical mass, I have enjoyed them because the staff is accessible. When I have taken outside classes at larger universities, the bureacracy is frustrating, and it's easy to get lost in huge classes, but easier to get individualized attention if you need it at smaller schools.
I can't speak to the clinical experience yet, but if you can get some 3rd or 4th year opinions, that would be my best bet for distinguishing medical school experiences. The information you learn in the preclinical years has to at some level be all the same anyway, by the nature of the information and the board exams. Where you go to complete that part of your education shouldn't matter too much. A lot of it ends up being self taught, I feel. Sometimes you start to wonder why you're paying 50k to sit at home and study, but I only half-jest there. So seriously, go ask on the interview trail about how clinical rotations are set up, how much hands-on exposure you get vs. a glorified shadowing experience, ask any students who have done away rotations (or have heard from residents) how students at the schools you're interested in compare clinically to students at other schools.
Since you were asking about resources originally, here's my take:
You're required to get this tablet laptop when you come here. I think they're just building into fees/tuition now. I had a tablet before I got to med school, so I will be the first to say it's fantastic for taking notes. Anyway, the lecture halls have big long tables and outlets for every seat. This is far better than desk style setups because you potentially have lots of space to spread out.
They finally upgraded the computers in the lecture halls to Windows 7 at the beginning of this year (just in time for Windows 8, right? Although I <3 XP, so I see why IT was slow about switching). Lectures are recorded, though sometimes Adobe is a pain, but that's an outside issue. The projector bulbs could use some work, but they provide us all the slides so if the images don't have as much detail as you might like on the big screen, it's there in your pdf.
The lecture hall computer has a stylus. Some lecturers are more successful with this than others (it lags a little and the resolution isn't as great, but if the lecturer knows to compensate for this it's quite nice to have on the recording if you're watching lecture later.) Same thing goes for the old-style projector/document camera thingie; a couple of lecturers have used this really well.
A lot of the small classrooms have Smartboards. (Although the internal medicine staff is still a fan of the old "chalk talk" and despite all the chalk dust getting everywhere, this is just as effective)
There is a brand spanking new simulation center. This thing is pretty sweet. Just opened in time for us last year, I believe. Lots of new toys are rolling in all the time. One side is exam rooms that first years get to use to practice doing a history with standardized patients (and they're working on opening it up more so we can practice in their on our own). Your interactions are recorded so you can watch them online later. [This is awkward, but very educational.] The other side is mock ORs and the like. I went to a workshop with an Anesthesia attending there. Yes, you can tell it's all dummies, but I find the simulations to be really helpful teaching tools. It was nice getting used to the space we'd have on the anesthesia end of the table, reading values off the monitors, working through all the beeping going on, and the attending clearly stated how things would be different with a real patient (e.g. intubating a plastic mannequin supposedly is actually harder than a real person due to the non-flexible airway) which I felt was an excellent use of the sim suite. Lots of half-mannequins for targeted learning... heart sounds, labor and delivery, etc.
They just remodeled our student lounge. It's not officially open quite yet (supposedly they're going to do a grand opening bash this upcoming week or so), but my friends who have snuck through there say it looks nice.
By the time you get here, the new wing of the hospital should be open. It was supposed to open in time for next school year when I hit the wards, but I think, as with all construction, it may have been slightly delayed. But by the time you're on the floors, it should definitely be running. There's lots of expansion going on all over the place, from what locals say, so I take it they are keeping things updated.
I hear our library is rather dreary. I don't study in there myself, I prefer being at home or at coffeeshops with friends. But the library staff is really helpful and responsive and interested in fitting the needs of the students. Online resources seem pretty good, they've got a lot of online textbook subscriptions, journals, online search tools/databases, and they just started piloting loaning out iPads with useful medical education apps a couple of weeks ago.
So, there are a lot of cool resources, but the buildings are definitely are older, and a lot of upperclassmen have a feeling that we're getting a bit nickled and dimed at times, but such is the cost of life, my friends, No such thing as a free lunch!
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