2013-2014 SUNY Downstate Application Thread

Getting into Med School is Hard? Not with BeMo.
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hey how fast did you folks receive your secondary? i've been complete for... 3 days and haven't received an invite yet. wondering whether it somehow went into spam or something.

thanks!

NVM- received!
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Anyone receive any news these past few days?
 
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Lucre said:
So far, I only know of one classmate commuting from LI by car and is approx. 1 hour away, I wouldn't recommend if your everyday commute is over 1 hour long (2 hours plus roundtrip). I don't think it would be beneficial to commute by LIRR. The transit system is very convenient and usually not a problem if you live near campus.
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get the LIRR to Atlantic terminal. Then subways from there to downstate
 
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II!!!! :)

3.8/37 IS ... was complete 8/28
 
Interview invite!
OOS
Complete Aug 28th
 
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Rescheduled to October 3rd (They were really nice about it!)

Ahhh so soon!!! :scared:

Anyone know where to look for useful interview prep?
 
anyone else get a request for fall grades??? received that email within 24 hours of being complete.

:scared:
 
eWaffles said:
anyone else get a request for fall grades??? received that email within 24 hours of being complete.

:scared:
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I got that, too. Don't worry though, while it is a weird request (and possibly a bad sign for that school), you'll be fine. SUNY was the first school to get back and request fall grades.. and I was super worried. But, I got IIs for other schools.
 
Can current med students comment on what's really different about the new curriculum? I'm trying to do a side by side comparison, but all I'm seeing is maybe a reorganization of the blocks.

What was up with the dissatisfaction seen earlier in this thread? Was it more PBL and less instructor led?

I have my interview coming up and want to be somewhat knowledgeable going in.
 
Does anyone know about the residence hall option for interviewees? According to the website, interviewees have to the option of staying in an residency hall. I didn't see anything about this in the email, but I'm highly interested in this option if this means I do not need to pay for a hotel.
 
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So about these fall grade requests... Anyone going to profs and asking for current projected grades? It's barely been a month of classes for me
 
Just got a request for Spring grades (complete mid August). Hmmm...we'll see how this turns out (at least my GPA went up that quarter :laugh: ).

jla9213 said:
So about these fall grade requests... Anyone going to profs and asking for current projected grades? It's barely been a month of classes for me
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I'm guessing they want final grades so you might have to wait until the term is over in December. I mean, you can always say "these are my grades right now but they won't be ready until the end of the semester" but I don't know how they feel about unnecessary information being emailed to them. I would call and ask I guess...
 
Hey guys, question about the letters of recommendation..if you have individual letters, is the max you can turn in 3? It seems odd that they would allow a letter packet with more than 3, but only allow up to 3 spaces to list names of faculty if submitting individual letters.
 
midnight0il said:
Can current med students comment on what's really different about the new curriculum? I'm trying to do a side by side comparison, but all I'm seeing is maybe a reorganization of the blocks.

What was up with the dissatisfaction seen earlier in this thread? Was it more PBL and less instructor led?

I have my interview coming up and want to be somewhat knowledgeable going in.
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I'm a current MS1 and the following is just my own knowledge/opinion based on what I've heard from both my classmates as well as upperclassmen so please take this information with a grain of salt.

I believe the old curriculum consisted of 16 blocks, with first year focusing primarily on normal human biology and 2nd year focusing more on pathology. The new curriculum consists of 8 units that are systems based, so both the normal function and pathology of each organ system should be covered side by side within each unit. The new curriculum is also pass/fail, with one exception. If you score 90+ on each of the 8 end of unit exams (each one is actually a series of exams over the course of one week), you get a "pass with distinction" which I believe they use for AOA (they will probably deny this but a number of upperclassmen I've talked to say that this will most likely be the case). The old curriculum used the traditional honors/high pass/pass/etc. system. We also learn clinical skills starting in the first week of MS1 as opposed to the beginning of MS2. In addition, starting in Unit 2 in the beginning of October each of us will be spending 3 hours every other week at a healthcare facility, which will most likely consist of us shadowing a physician and perhaps doing basic physical exams and taking histories (I'm just speculating about what we will actually do, they haven't really told us anything about this yet).

The earlier complaint by one of my classmates was primarily focused on the perceived lack of direction from the faculty in terms of what we are supposed to learn. I think this is true to some extent, but they have been improving this aspect of the curriculum, and I'm sure that some people at other medical schools may feel the same way about their curriculum. Ultimately, you just have to figure out the best way to study that will allow you to pass comfortably (unless you're gunning for AOA), which I don't think is that difficult for most people. Very few students failed out of the previous curriculum and from what I've gathered, most upperclassmen believe that the new curriculum is less stressful overall compared to their old curriculum.

One personal issue I have is with the PBL sessions. They take up a significant amount of time every week (~4-5 hours) and this is just my opinion but the amount of material that we learn doesn't really justify the amount of time spent in PBL. This might be dependent on the individual facilitators that each small group has so some people may understandably disagree with me when it comes to this subject. However based on my own experiences with PBL, I personally think that it would be a more efficient use of my time to just study the material on my own.
 
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How long to get a secondary just submitted a couple of days ago
 
AcutelyObtuse said:
I'm a current MS1 and the following is just my own knowledge/opinion based on what I've heard from both my classmates as well as upperclassmen so please take this information with a grain of salt.

I believe the old curriculum consisted of 16 blocks, with first year focusing primarily on normal human biology and 2nd year focusing more on pathology. The new curriculum consists of 8 units that are systems based, so both the normal function and pathology of each organ system should be covered side by side within each unit. The new curriculum is also pass/fail, with one exception. If you score 90+ on each of the 8 end of unit exams (each one is actually a series of exams over the course of one week), you get a "pass with distinction" which I believe they use for AOA (they will probably deny this but a number of upperclassmen I've talked to say that this will most likely be the case). The old curriculum used the traditional honors/high pass/pass/etc. system. We also learn clinical skills starting in the first week of MS1 as opposed to the beginning of MS2. In addition, starting in Unit 2 in the beginning of October each of us will be spending 3 hours every other week at a healthcare facility, which will most likely consist of us shadowing a physician and perhaps doing basic physical exams and taking histories (I'm just speculating about what we will actually do, they haven't really told us anything about this yet).

The earlier complaint by one of my classmates was primarily focused on the perceived lack of direction from the faculty in terms of what we are supposed to learn. I think this is true to some extent, but they have been improving this aspect of the curriculum, and I'm sure that some people at other medical schools may feel the same way about their curriculum. Ultimately, you just have to figure out the best way to study that will allow you to pass comfortably (unless you're gunning for AOA), which I don't think is that difficult for most people. Very few students failed out of the previous curriculum and from what I've gathered, most upperclassmen believe that the new curriculum is less stressful overall compared to their old curriculum.

One personal issue I have is with the PBL sessions. They take up a significant amount of time every week (~4-5 hours) and this is just my opinion but the amount of material that we learn doesn't really justify the amount of time spent in PBL. This might be dependent on the individual facilitators that each small group has so some people may understandably disagree with me when it comes to this subject. However based on my own experiences with PBL, I personally think that it would be a more efficient use of my time to just study the material on my own.
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Thanks for responding. That information is very helpful!
 
II for Oct 28th Today! OOS too! Also they were able to accommodate my in the area request even though they had previously emailed me saying that they wouldn't be able to!
 
II today for Halloween! So excited! This is one of my top picks! IS
 
Was complete 8/12. However, I'm pretty sure Downstate is one of those schools that randomly picks applications to look at
 
II for the 23rd, really excited about this school!
 
received my II here on 09/26 (it is scheduled for 10/31)

I was complete on 08/05

yay!
 
Question for anyone who interviewed here already... Did you receive a list of your interviewers before interview day?
 
Nope, they give you a folder with interviewers name and title on it as soon as you walk in though
 
Anyone know when the first acceptances are getting sent out this year?
 
eliteeli said:
Anyone know when the first acceptances are getting sent out this year?
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Just combed through last years thread and lots of people got their letters around Oct 22nd, and that was with Sandy causing a lot of problems over here in NY around that time.
 
SixStringPsych said:
Just combed through last years thread and lots of people got their letters around Oct 22nd, and that was with Sandy causing a lot of problems over here in NY around that time.
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Thanks
 
I interview next week!!!!

Anyone know how many individuals selected for interviews get accepted?
 
Finally able to contribute! Received ii this morning. IS complete 9/18. 3.8/30 :)
 
II this morning. OOS. 74 LizzyM. Complete mid August and got one of those transcript update emails late Sept.
 
Does anybody know what the interview style is for this school (MMI, one-on-one)? Also, for those who interviewed what were your impressions?
 
Hi everyone, there is something that was brought to my attention recently that I feel like I should address for everyone who is applying, especially for those of you who have already interviewed. Earlier this week, an interview tour group was brought through my MS1 carrel (a room in which we have small group sessions) when we were in the middle of doing something and I overheard the MS3s/MS4s leading the group explaining our curriculum to the applicants. I don't know if they were flat out lying or they just didn't know anything about our curriculum but a lot of what they said was inaccurate. A couple of things that come to mind: We do not get physical packets of lecture notes anymore; that ended with the class of 2016 (from what I've heard, they were borderline useless anyway). In addition, we do not get a week off before every week of unit exams to study (maybe they realized how much that sucked for us so there might be a remote possibility that they could change it for next year but don't count on it; I don't see how they could free up 6 weeks in the curriculum). We also currently do not have video recordings of lectures although I believe that is in the works. Finally, I heard one of them talking about us having a "block" curriculum even though it switched to a systems-based curriculum with my class (class of 2017).

I just wanted to clarify these things because I believe it's fair for everyone applying to know as much as possible about the new curriculum since it appears that at least some of the upperclassmen who are responsible for explaining this information to you guys seem to have no idea what they're talking about. If anyone has any additional questions about what they were told during their interview day and would like to verify the information, feel free to ask although I can't guarantee that I will be able to respond in a timely manner.
 
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AcutelyObtuse said:
Hi everyone, there is something that was brought to my attention recently that I feel like I should address for everyone who is applying, especially for those of you who have already interviewed. Earlier this week, an interview tour group was brought through my MS1 carrel (a room in which we have small group sessions) when we were in the middle of doing something and I overheard the MS3s/MS4s leading the group explaining our curriculum to the applicants. I don't know if they were flat out lying or they just didn't know anything about our curriculum but a lot of what they said was inaccurate. A couple of things that come to mind: We do not get physical packets of lecture notes anymore; that ended with the class of 2016 (from what I've heard, they were borderline useless anyway). In addition, we do not get a week off before every week of unit exams to study (maybe they realized how much that sucked for us so there might be a remote possibility that they could change it for next year but don't count on it; I don't see how they could free up 6 weeks in the curriculum). We also currently do not have video recordings of lectures although I believe that is in the works. Finally, I heard one of them talking about us having a "block" curriculum even though it switched to a systems-based curriculum with my class (class of 2017).

I just wanted to clarify these things because I believe it's fair for everyone applying to know as much as possible about the new curriculum since it appears that at least some of the upperclassmen who are responsible for explaining this information to you guys seem to have no idea what they're talking about. If anyone has any additional questions about what they were told during their interview day and would like to verify the information, feel free to ask although I can't guarantee that I will be able to respond in a timely manner.
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Thanks AcutelyObtuse. Perhaps the right thing for you to do at this point is to convey this problematic situation to the Admissions Committee so that it doesn't happen again and so that ALL interviewees have the benefit of being providede accurate information, not just the folks who happen to read this posting.
 
AcutelyObtuse said:
Hi everyone, there is something that was brought to my attention recently that I feel like I should address for everyone who is applying, especially for those of you who have already interviewed. Earlier this week, an interview tour group was brought through my MS1 carrel (a room in which we have small group sessions) when we were in the middle of doing something and I overheard the MS3s/MS4s leading the group explaining our curriculum to the applicants. I don't know if they were flat out lying or they just didn't know anything about our curriculum but a lot of what they said was inaccurate. A couple of things that come to mind: We do not get physical packets of lecture notes anymore; that ended with the class of 2016 (from what I've heard, they were borderline useless anyway). In addition, we do not get a week off before every week of unit exams to study (maybe they realized how much that sucked for us so there might be a remote possibility that they could change it for next year but don't count on it; I don't see how they could free up 6 weeks in the curriculum). We also currently do not have video recordings of lectures although I believe that is in the works. Finally, I heard one of them talking about us having a "block" curriculum even though it switched to a systems-based curriculum with my class (class of 2017).

I just wanted to clarify these things because I believe it's fair for everyone applying to know as much as possible about the new curriculum since it appears that at least some of the upperclassmen who are responsible for explaining this information to you guys seem to have no idea what they're talking about. If anyone has any additional questions about what they were told during their interview day and would like to verify the information, feel free to ask although I can't guarantee that I will be able to respond in a timely manner.
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Hello, I do agree with AcuteObtuse in that only a handful of upperclassmen know what the current first years are going through. Even so, many things that are up and downs this year that MS2,3,4 know about, will be improved for next year as we have constantly improving it. Video recordings are in the works, but the process has a lot of background work in it, softwares, contracts, equipment usage, server load etc.
 
Knowing that traditionally acceptances go out via snail mail while rejections/waitlists come via email.. has there been any news from Downstate for anyone?
 
igeak691 said:
Knowing that traditionally acceptances go out via snail mail while rejections/waitlists come via email.. has there been any news from Downstate for anyone?
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No news yet :( Downstate is one of my top choicessssss
 
SixStringPsych said:
No news yet :( Downstate is one of my top choicessssss
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Perhaps at this point, no news is better than news.

I'm wondering if they sent out any rejections/waitlist emails yet.. if they do, I'm pretty sure they've at least mailed out the first batch of acceptances as well.
 
igeak691 said:
Perhaps at this point, no news is better than news.

I'm wondering if they sent out any rejections/waitlist emails yet.. if they do, I'm pretty sure they've at least mailed out the first batch of acceptances as well.
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Hopefully. I know last year the first batch of acceptances was post marked 10/18 and received on the 22nd. But that was with Sandy and everything so who knows. Wow I'm neurotic.
 
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