2019-2020 SUNY - Downstate

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medskool2020 said:
I ended up getting a few pvt messages so I'm deciding to post here:
What I love?
1. NYC - this one is simple
2. Curriculum - already mentioned how much flexibility you have
3. Peers/Classmates - may class is honestly super duper collaborative and has been since day 1 meaning that everyone is sharing their study resources or things they think can be useful for exams and stuff. Besides the collaborative, I have found most of my classmates of being down to earth.
**It will be VERY important to surround yourself with amazing people no matter what school you go to** --> no one does med school alone.
4. Clinical experience - fantastic. You get experience taking blood pressure in the hospital during like the second week of school as a way to sort of get ur feet and it picks up slowly to the point where you are assigned to do patient interviews and presentations to attendings during second year (NOT graded) in preparation for third year.
5. Deans/Professors - love these people. Always available, so nice. can't say enough.
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Sounds amazing, really hope COVID-19 doesn't impact the fall semester because I would love to be in the hospital week 2. Thanks again for your input!
 
I just want to let those of you who are waiting to hear back: relax, breathe. It is a long process, nearly 30% of my class came off the waitlist in may but I do realize they have changed the application timeline since then. From what I know, there will be more acceptance on the way. Do NOT worry about what time someone got an acceptance email LOL... neuroticism is cray cray
 
medskool2020 said:
I just want to let those of you who are waiting to hear back: relax, breathe. It is a long process, nearly 30% of my class came off the waitlist in may but I do realize they have changed the application timeline since then. From what I know, there will be more acceptance on the way. Do NOT worry about what time someone got an acceptance email LOL... neuroticism is cray cray
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Thanks for this! I’m sure we all needed to hear this, haha.
 
medskool2020 said:
I just want to let those of you who are waiting to hear back: relax, breathe. It is a long process, nearly 30% of my class came off the waitlist in may but I do realize they have changed the application timeline since then. From what I know, there will be more acceptance on the way. Do NOT worry about what time someone got an acceptance email LOL... neuroticism is cray cray
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*looks at calendar to see what date I have to renew my lease by*
*worrying intensifies*
 
kb1997 said:
Thank you for being on here! I would like to ask about clinical and/or biomedical research. I guess I want to know if in your experience research is something you see a lot of Downstate, especially after the first year into second year. Correct me please if I am wrong, but I understand that a lot of students choose to spend time on community and organization work as opposed to research one could get in other academic schools. If you or other students you know are doing projects at Downstate, are faculty accessible to student goals and are students happy and excited about the research they are a part of?
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To the underlined point: I know people who did both! You have to realize there are different types of students coming into school. Some will want to do community work, some will want to do research, some will want to do both. As for research, everyone who wants to do research has more than enough opportunities to do research with people starting as early as Unit 2 (in November). You are recommend to wait 2 months (ie. Unit 1) before starting research to get acclimated to medical school. Dr. Barone, is the head for setting up students with researchers/mentors and he meets with the class as a whole who are interested in doing research. Afterwards, he will meet with you individually to find the best mentor/researcher for you based on your interests. There are also individuals who send emails to faculty and get on their research projects. Long story short, there is no shortage of research projects. Hope that helps!
 
medskool2020 said:
To the underlined point: I know people who did both! You have to realize there are different types of students coming into school. Some will want to do community work, some will want to do research, some will want to do both. As for research, everyone who wants to do research has more than enough opportunities to do research with people starting as early as Unit 2 (in November). You are recommend to wait 2 months (ie. Unit 1) before starting research to get acclimated to medical school. Dr. Barone, is the head for setting up students with researchers/mentors and he meets with the class as a whole who are interested in doing research. Afterwards, he will meet with you individually to find the best mentor/researcher for you based on your interests. There are also individuals who send emails to faculty and get on their research projects. Long story short, there is no shortage of research projects. Hope that helps!
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Wonderful! Thank you for this information, you rock!
 
medskool2020 said:
I just want to let those of you who are waiting to hear back: relax, breathe. It is a long process, nearly 30% of my class came off the waitlist in may but I do realize they have changed the application timeline since then. From what I know, there will be more acceptance on the way. Do NOT worry about what time someone got an acceptance email LOL... neuroticism is cray cray
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Just curious how did Downstate respond to the pandemic? Academically I mean. Did housing shut down and all classes move online? And how fast was the response?
 
golgibrain said:
Just curious how did Downstate respond to the pandemic? Academically I mean. Did housing shut down and all classes move online? And how fast was the response?
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I do not know about housing but all classes (esp MS1) did move online right around the time social guidelines were released by the governor. The response to the pandemic has been as great as it can be in unforeseeable circumstances (Downstate provided an inside look to CNN that was broadcasted primetime under "Insider the ER" about 2 weeks ago). Academically, MS2's and 3's can't do rotations like every other school in the country and I believe MS4's were given the option to graduate early.
 
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myladyisthesea said:
@medskool2020 are there certain areas of the city where many students choose to live based on proximity to the school/rotation sites/price/etc?
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Most people live in crown heights about 10-15 mins away from the school. Some live in neighborhoods that are a bit nicer but further away and we do have a few who still live in the city (were either living their before school started or just love manhattan)
 
AnonymousDoctorGuyPerson said:
To roll off this, I currently live in a part of Queens that's about an hour or so away - have you had any classmates do the same, and how do you think it affected them?
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I know some people who live in Queens about an hour away and have done fine. It's usually a problem closer to exam time but people usually crash with friends for those couple of days if need be.
 
medskool2020 said:
I know some people who live in Queens about an hour away and have done fine. It's usually a problem closer to exam time but people usually crash with friends for those couple of days if need be.
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Do a lot of students live in the dorms?
 
medskool2020 said:
I know some people who live in Queens about an hour away and have done fine. It's usually a problem closer to exam time but people usually crash with friends for those couple of days if need be.
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Thanks for the input!

Do your exam week days start early / go most of the day?

Sorry for all the questions, it passes the time in this void.
 
medskool2020 said:
I just want to let those of you who are waiting to hear back: relax, breathe. It is a long process, nearly 30% of my class came off the waitlist in may but I do realize they have changed the application timeline since then. From what I know, there will be more acceptance on the way. Do NOT worry about what time someone got an acceptance email LOL... neuroticism is cray cray
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THANK YOU for this and for all of your insight. Super helpful & we appreciate your time.
 
techytechy said:
You’re killlingggg meee . Jk, I’m hella anxious too. If we don’t hear anything today, I’ll be numb to everything, haha
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If we don't hear today you can take comfort in that there's like a 99.89% chance we'll hear /something/ within 2 weeks.

With traffic day being only 7 days away I can't imagine decisions not going out shortly after it, heck I'm gonna say we will /definitely/ hear something within the next 8-11 days.
 
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Welp DS is the only school who really gave me love and I am insanely anxious because my mcat is sad and I might have to retake to apply again. But I'm registered for the mcat on June 5 and the odds of it being canceled are HIGH because covid. I wanted to push it back but the MCAT registration tools has been down for WEEKS. WHY. And if it's pushed its likely going to be at the end of September/October since the canceled April tests were pushed to Sept 30. Meaning my app is going to be delayed. WHY. And DS hasn't responded in WEEKS since my jan interview. WHY. So I am on the struggle bus and everything is crazy and my brain is just...

 
BiologyNerd23 said:
Welp DS is the only school who really gave me love and I am insanely anxious because my mcat is sad and I might have to retake to apply again. But I'm registered for the mcat on June 5 and the odds of it being canceled are HIGH because covid. I wanted to push it back but the MCAT registration tools has been down for WEEKS. WHY. And if it's pushed its likely going to be at the end of September/October since the canceled April tests were pushed to Sept 30. Meaning my app is going to be delayed. WHY. And DS hasn't responded in WEEKS since my jan interview. WHY. So I am on the struggle bus and everything is crazy and my brain is just...

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I definitely can't imagine what you're going through, and I know how rough it is right now especially in this very uncertain time period but you got this. What you're feeling right now is also 100% valid. Definitely take a step back and breathe, and know full well that at the end of the day you will be a doctor. Downstate thought so enough that they invited you out to interview, a pretty incredible feat in it itself!
 
1d0416739c31389a56dafaf0a2e8cf79.png

me when 2:09PM hit and I got no new emails
 
AnonymousDoctorGuyPerson said:
I definitely can't imagine what you're going through, and I know how rough it is right now especially in this very uncertain time period but you got this. What you're feeling right now is also 100% valid. Definitely take a step back and breathe, and know full well that at the end of the day you will be a doctor. Downstate thought so enough that they invited you out to interview, a pretty incredible feat in it itself!
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Thank you. I'm also waitlisted at a DO school rn so let's see. Shoutout to everyone else on the struggle bus in the grey zone- I've got my fingers crossed for us all. <3
 
AnonymousDoctorGuyPerson said:
It's just that they had a post-II R wave last Thursday baha.

It's looking more like we wont hear until April 30th/May 1st though now.
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Ohhh I get it lmao. Yeah it seems like a lot of med schools are doing that April 30th thing.

Makes me feel like all the med schools are in an old time western standoff Lol
 
LarsWorld said:
Ohhh I get it lmao. Yeah it seems like a lot of med schools are doing that April 30th thing.

Makes me feel like all the med schools are in an old time western standoff Lol
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It is a rule set by AMCAS. You need to AT LEAST plan to enroll to only one medical school by April 30th. You risk your acceptance being rescinded if you don’t do this.
 
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