2016-2017 SUNY - Downstate Application Thread

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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peridotthecat said:
Are there any current students hanging around on this thread? I'm an accepted student, and I'd love to talk to a current student, especially an upper-classman, about the school!
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Started third year today! Time is scarce these days but I'll gladly answer any questions you may have.
 
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Emt2md23 said:
Started third year today! Time is scarce these days but I'll gladly answer any questions you may have.
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What is the minimum percentage needed to pass first 2 years? In 3rd and 4th years, what percentage of the class honors the rotations? And how much is physician evaluation/scores on exams weighted in clinical grades?

Thanks so much
 
yungspleen said:
What is the minimum percentage needed to pass first 2 years? In 3rd and 4th years, what percentage of the class honors the rotations? And how much is physician evaluation/scores on exams weighted in clinical grades?

Thanks so much
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For Foundations (the first year and a half; pre-clinicals), passing for the cumulative medical knowledge portion of your grade is 68% and for clinical skills, it is 72%. Can't speak to how it works once you get to rotations.
 
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Yeah so you're graded based on competencies in first year and a half. 68% cumulative in medical knowledge (which includes an anatomy/histo practical, essay exam, and nbme multiple choice test). Clinical skills grade is based on an osce, and a multiple choice test.

During clinical years it differs by rotation. For example, i'm on obgyn. The grade is based on 40% clinical (based on Evals from your attending), 40% shelf exam, 20% oral exam. Grade cutoffs for the shelf are based on percentiles so honors would mean you scored in the 85th percentile based on the national scores for that exam in that block (so if it's my first block, the national scores i'm graded against will be lower if that makes sense). Number of students getting honors differs per rotation as well. It's like 18% for obgyn. But 40ish percent for other rotations (95 for primary care)
 
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jk441 said:
For Foundations (the first year and a half; pre-clinicals), passing for the cumulative medical knowledge portion of your grade is 68% and for clinical skills, it is 72%. Can't speak to how it works once you get to rotations.
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Emt2md23 said:
Yeah so you're graded based on competencies in first year and a half. 68% cumulative in medical knowledge (which includes an anatomy/histo practical, essay exam, and nbme multiple choice test). Clinical skills grade is based on an osce, and a multiple choice test.

During clinical years it differs by rotation. For example, i'm on obgyn. The grade is based on 40% clinical (based on Evals from your attending), 40% shelf exam, 20% oral exam. Grade cutoffs for the shelf are based on percentiles so honors would mean you scored in the 85th percentile based on the national scores for that exam in that block (so if it's my first block, the national scores i'm graded against will be lower if that makes sense). Number of students getting honors differs per rotation as well. It's like 18% for obgyn. But 40ish percent for other rotations (95 for primary care)
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this is so helpful - thank you so much!

im curious about how you both feel with regards to step 1 resources/timing/preparation. do most students try to keep up with board review stuff throughout their classes in the first 1.5 years? (i.e. use first aid or qbanks) or does this become impossible due to the time constraints of the integrated curriculum?

also - with regards to research, do you find that the research mentors/PIs etc. are very active in pushing students to get published? are there specialty departments that seem to be more 'productive' than others at downstate? is it hard to get approval for a research year if you are simply just interested in research but are not applying to a specialty that demands productive research?
 
kb1900 said:
this is so helpful - thank you so much!

im curious about how you both feel with regards to step 1 resources/timing/preparation. do most students try to keep up with board review stuff throughout their classes in the first 1.5 years? (i.e. use first aid or qbanks) or does this become impossible due to the time constraints of the integrated curriculum?

also - with regards to research, do you find that the research mentors/PIs etc. are very active in pushing students to get published? are there specialty departments that seem to be more 'productive' than others at downstate? is it hard to get approval for a research year if you are simply just interested in research but are not applying to a specialty that demands productive research?
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As far as step 1 goes: you are basically studying for it since day 1 being as a huge part of your grade is based on the nbme. I studied using fa/pathoma/qbanks primarily. I felt very prepared going into my dedicated step 1 study time (downstate gives you 7 weeks off to study) but we will see when my score comes out. I can't speak on research opportunities but my colleagues have not complained.
 
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Emt2md23 said:
As far as step 1 goes: you are basically studying for it since day 1 being as a huge part of your grade is based on the nbme. I studied using fa/pathoma/qbanks primarily. I felt very prepared going into my dedicated step 1 study time (downstate gives you 7 weeks off to study) but we will see when my score comes out. I can't speak on research opportunities but my colleagues have not complained.
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Agree with this post - granted I'm still an MS1, but my study resources consist of First Aid, Pathoma, Kaplan videos and prep books, and BRS (these are all step 1 study resources), etc. more than anything else..since a majority of your medical knowledge grade each unit is based on an NBME exam.
 
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jk441 said:
Agree with this post - granted I'm still an MS1, but my study resources consist of First Aid, Pathoma, Kaplan videos and prep books, and BRS (these are all step 1 study resources), etc. more than anything else..since a majority of your medical knowledge grade each unit is based on an NBME exam.
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And of course also qbanks
 
Thank you both! Would you say that the curriculum is more lecture based or is it mostly independent learning? Is collaborative learning a big component?
 
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Emt2md23 said:
Started third year today! Time is scarce these days but I'll gladly answer any questions you may have.
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Thanks so much! I'd love to hear your thoughts on the clerkships so far/anything you've heard from 4th years about their clinical experiences. Do you feel prepared for clerkships? Also, how hard is it to get your preferred site for rotations (aka, how many people are involuntarily sent to Staten Island)?
 
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holdingontohopemd said:
Thank you both! Would you say that the curriculum is more lecture based or is it mostly independent learning? Is collaborative learning a big component?
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I stopped going to lecture/paying attention to lectures after unit 3 and my grades improved lol. You'll have like 2 pbl sessions (with 12 classmates), 2 POPS problem solving sessions (with 3 classmates), and sporadic radiology/cs/histology sessions in classes of 24 (divided into 4 groups of 6) each week. This supplements the learning you'll do on your own
 
And if you do still want to listen to the lectures, the audio is posted online usually later that night.
 
holdingontohopemd said:
Thank you both! Would you say that the curriculum is more lecture based or is it mostly independent learning? Is collaborative learning a big component?
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Some of the smartest students follow every lecture. Some of the smartest students completely ignore lecture. It is all preference.

The people here are collaborative, so if you want to find a study group you can. The collaborative learning in the curriculum (PBL, POPs, histo) is usually an inefficient use of time. All schools have that stuff now though.

Clinical research was easy for me to find. I don't know what specialties are productive here, but I hear a lot about urology, ortho, health disparities, renal, sickle cell, and neurology from classmates and emails from professors looking for student researchers
 
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They'll send us the username and password for the 100 deposit today, I assume?


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Sorry if this is a super silly question, but does Downstate have two semesters per year? I'm trying to estimate my cost of attendance, and the website only lists the cost PER SEMESTER.

Thanks so much guys!


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lostintranslation said:
Sorry if this is a super silly question, but does Downstate have two semesters per year? I'm trying to estimate my cost of attendance, and the website only lists the cost PER SEMESTER.

Thanks so much guys!


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Yep, spring and fall.


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I also just got alternate listed today, but i had kinda assumed I was on it anyway haha. I interviewed 3/7. Is it bad that I was alternate listed this late in the game? I was kinda hoping to get some "yes" or "no" around 5/1...
 
crgirl said:
I also just got alternate listed today, but i had kinda assumed I was on it anyway haha. I interviewed 3/7. Is it bad that I was alternate listed this late in the game? I was kinda hoping to get some "yes" or "no" around 5/1...
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No the class filled up a few weeks ago so you would've been placed on the alternate list anyways since you interviewed late. They'll probably start accepting off of the alternate list in a couple of weeks
 
yungspleen said:
No the class filled up a few weeks ago so you would've been placed on the alternate list anyways since you interviewed late. They'll probably start accepting off of the alternate list in a couple of weeks
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Yeah what I'm saying is I assumed i was immediately gonna be on the alt list if anything, so I thought if I heard from them it would be news of a "yes" or "no" but way later haha.
 
Does anyone have last year's (or previous years') stats on the number of people on the alternate list and how many get accepted from it? Trying to gage percentages here.
 
Can anyone comment on how long it took to receive the acceptance letter/package via snail mail after we received the email of preliminary notif?
 
softball2344 said:
Are the majority of rotations done at King's County/ UHB?
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There are a ton of clinical sites throughout Brooklyn and even some in Manhattan and even Long Island and Staten Island. You rank your sites for each rotation and enter a lottery as to where you're placed. Certain sites are better for certain rotations. Kings/downstate are available for every rotation. And you can definitely end up doing the majority of rotations there but it varies. Personally I think it's nice to be able to see multiple different hospital settings.
 
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Did anyone hear back from downstate from the 4/10 interview about the alternate list?
 
Interviewed on 02/22 and haven't heard anything. Should I contact them or will that just annoy them?
 
Didn't feel like the school was a good fit for me. I've been deciding between downstate and upstate for a while now
 
Does anyone know if it's acceptable to ask to meet in person? I live in the area and thought it might be a good idea instead of writing a letter. I'm not sure if anyone's done this in the past
 
placed on alternative list today, the email stated that the class is currently full. I interviewed 3/16
 
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