MS2 here. Thought I'd come on and offer a response to these posts, especially that I've encountered similar concerns in recent lunches with applicants.
We've cut our interviews down from about 1000 to about 500. From my class and from the current MS1s, I will tell you that almost the entire class (certainly more than 75%) had Hofstra as either their first or second choice post-interview. A lot of self-selection is involved in this; the people who work well as independent learners and are interested in collaborative learning immediately love the place. The people who are all about throat-cutting and grades and being left alone tend to not like it.
I'll also tell you that it's really obvious to everyone when an applicant is uneasy with the school being "new" (we've matched, we're accredited. we've got several years of killer Step 1 scores. Our health system is powerful. Our faculty are incredibly well established), no matter how well they try to hide it. To be honest, I have no doubt that it comes across in the interviews, too. I'd encourage anyone that is interviewing to read this article on why being at a new medical school may be a better choice for your patients (which, ultimately, is what really matters) than being at one that is historically highly ranked:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/health/17chen.html?_r=0.
I'll tell you all that, as a first year at Hofstra, you will be a better doctor that most schools' MS3s. You'll be able to walk into a room, talk to a patient, do an exam, figure out their problems, and discuss why they aren't adherent to their medication. Sure, you may not be able to recognize the fungal infection which a patient comes into the ED with, but that's not the expectation for you, yet.
On the other hand, as far as stats go (another really common question), the MS2 class was a 34/3.62, and the MS1 class is something like a 34-35/3.7. (We were told this at one point, but I cannot remember what the exact numbers are for their class). This info is somewhere on the SOM page, but I don't know where.
Long story short, if you're excited to come hang out with us and learn some stuff about keeping people alive, we're excited to have you!
