2025-2026 Stony Brook

Started by wysdoc
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Did any accepted students get an email from Mary Jean Allen yet about another financial aid application??? I still haven't gotten one and I even called their office like 5 times they weren't helpful about it.
 
blee.04 said:
Did any accepted students get an email from Mary Jean Allen yet about another financial aid application??? I still haven't gotten one and I even called their office like 5 times they weren't helpful about it.
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Not yet! I was accepted in late December and am still waiting. I tried calling the financial aid office and someone picked up and said they haven't started sending them out yet. This didn't make sense to me because people have been posting on this thread that they received financial aid packets already? They have a 3YMD info session happening next week so if anyone goes to that, it might be worth asking if there's room for general questions.
 
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alpacalover2024 said:
Not yet! I was accepted in late December and am still waiting. I tried calling the financial aid office and someone picked up and said they haven't started sending them out yet. This didn't make sense to me because people have been posting on this thread that they received financial aid packets already? They have a 3YMD info session happening next week so if anyone goes to that, it might be worth asking if there's room for general questions.
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Yeah I got accepted same time - I can't attend the info session do you mind asking about it and letting me know? I called like 4 times and even emailed Mary Jean directly and still got no response 😭
 
blee.04 said:
Yeah I got accepted same time - I can't attend the info session do you mind asking about it and letting me know? I called like 4 times and even emailed Mary Jean directly and still got no response 😭
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Yes! I'll try to make it (have work lol) but if I get the chance to ask I'll update here!
 
waterbender26 said:
Anything notably important that you could update us on from the info session? They said it would be recorded but I got no response on how to access the recording when I emailed ahead of time. Thank you!
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there was only one person there that was from admin I believe and she only worked with the three year MD program. Unfortunately did not think she was the right person to ask about financial aid. I did get an email with the health forms earlier today though (but not financial aid) so this feels like progress in the right direction!
 
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Hi! Current graduating fourth-year student at Stony Brook reminiscing about applying to medical school 🙂 I remember SDN being a great resource for me and I'd like to pay it forward. Happy to answer any questions about the school!
 
vanquish48 said:
Hi! Current graduating fourth-year student at Stony Brook reminiscing about applying to medical school 🙂 I remember SDN being a great resource for me and I'd like to pay it forward. Happy to answer any questions about the school!
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how did the two steps at once work out? I'm a bit worried about that
 
vanquish48 said:
Hi! Current graduating fourth-year student at Stony Brook reminiscing about applying to medical school 🙂 I remember SDN being a great resource for me and I'd like to pay it forward. Happy to answer any questions about the school!
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How was your experience rotating at the hospital in terms of people, learning and vibes in general? Any unexpected/not commonly known pros and cons of the school that you wish you knew? Thanks for your time!
 
tidalplanting said:
how did you like your experience? im an accepted student
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Congrats on your acceptance! Overall happy with my medical school education. Preclinical phase is 1.5 years and really will be similar wherever you go at this point since most learning is done with third-party resources anyway. A highlight where the school stands out is the MCS course which discusses various topics in medicine like law and medical ethics, patient experiences, narrative medicine and compassionate care. Also the anatomy course is true full body dissection as opposed to prosection which was more time-intensive but overall a good experience and good prep for surgical disciplines.

I felt like the clinical phase was particularly strong - there are lots of attendings who are invested in teaching and there is a good balance on all rotations between time spent at the hospital vs. time allotted for studying for shelf exams, so people here consistently perform above national average on shelf exams and step 2. The subinternship experiences in fourth year also afforded me and also peers, from what I hear, tons of autonomy and I feel ready for internship. Having the medical school attached to the hospital is huge and lets you get involved early with shadowing, practicing history/physicals on admitted patients, etc.

I would say the largest drawback is not the school itself but the location, the downsides of which include high cost of living, needing a car to go anywhere and being 1.5 hr from NYC (it is farther out than you think though the LIRR is convenient). Research opportunities can also be spotty depending on what specialty you're interested in. If it is something more niche or ultra-competitive like dermatology you'll probably need to network a bit around the NYC area or elsewhere to find an extramural research mentor or do a research year. For specialties like IM, gen surg, anesthesia, there is more than enough research to go around. Finally this is a state school so money is not abundant - we have a couple of mostly student-organized formals with funding from the school but do not expect catered steak dinners or anything like that lol.

blee.04 said:
how did the two steps at once work out? I'm a bit worried about that
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It wasn't too bad, in fact it probably helped with step 2. There is a decent amount of overlap between step 1 and step 2 so you come into the dedicated period with a serviceable amount of knowledge for step 1 preparation already. I was able to take and pass step 1 after ~4.5 weeks of dedicated studying. I took a break between the two exams, and I did reach some burnout toward the end of step 2 studying but once it's over, it's a really good feeling! There is some flexibility in the schedule toward the end of dedicated period so if you feel like you need to push step 2, you have lots of capacity to work your schedule around that.

lucky_monkey_123 said:
How was your experience rotating at the hospital in terms of people, learning and vibes in general? Any unexpected/not commonly known pros and cons of the school that you wish you knew? Thanks for your time!
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I had a good experience rotating at SBUH. There is a strong teaching culture and people are generally quite friendly. It is easy to identify clinical mentors within your desired specialty and lots of residents/attendings even outside my desired specialty still say hi and check in with how I am doing. Some of the other clinical sites are not so well-run (NUMC, MSSN) and maybe the teaching is poor/vibes are off but I still think those experiences are quite valuable to have during medical school. You can also do all your rotations at SBUH if you prioritize location in the clerkship lottery during second year.

Unexpected pros:
- Medical school admin is absolutely fantastic and advocate for students in every way. They are super genuine and supportive and their door is always open if students have personal or professional issues. When you apply in fourth year, one of the deans will read every word of your residency application with you and offer suggestions
- We punch well above our weight in the match every year. We match students to just about every specialty and often to the top academic programs within those specialties. Stony Brook has a strong reputation within Manhattan/NYC area programs particularly if it is a long term goal of yours to end up there, this is reflected on the match lists
- We have a required neurology rotation, anesthesia rotation and radiology rotation which I believe are not standard at all medical schools. A lot of people apply into anesthesia because our rotation is such a positive/involved experience and the department sets you up with research
- Maybe a hot take but cafeteria is better than any hospital I've interviewed/rotated at

Unexpected cons:
- The facilities are a bit dated, especially the lecture halls and the hospital floors in the main towers which is the older part of the hospital. There is a newer part of the hospital/medical school but your preclinical time is spent 50-50 between the newer area (MART) and the rest of the school (HSC)
- To that point, the HSC is shared with all other health professions students and undergrads, so the library, while convenient, can be filled to capacity at some times and become quite noisy/rowdy when college classes are in session. In contrast it's really peaceful during school breaks. I believe admin is working on more medical student-only study spaces but I'd be surprised if that was completely finished by summer
- There is a bit of a turf war on LI between hospital systems. NYU has acquired a couple of hospitals near Stony Brook and Northwell is also rapidly expanding their footprint. I'm not sure what this practically means for Stony Brook in the next 4 years but I am worried these larger systems will eat into Stony Brook's role as the only academic center in central/eastern LI, so maybe less exposure to tertiary care, interesting cases, etc.
- SBUH does not do liver/heart/lung transplant but does have a moderate size kidney transplant program. You won't really manage these patients in training unless they are admitted to the hospital with some other unrelated issue
 
vanquish48 said:
Hi! Current graduating fourth-year student at Stony Brook reminiscing about applying to medical school 🙂 I remember SDN being a great resource for me and I'd like to pay it forward. Happy to answer any questions about the school!
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Congrats on graduating! I was wondering if there was a second look/admit day for accepted students to visit the campus before deciding?
 
Hi everyone - there is a groupchat now for accepted students on Instagram. Feel free to dm me if you want to join! If you prefer groupme as well, just let me know and I will try to create one soon if more people insist on that.
 
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IS II today !! I was following last year's thread, and it said the class was full by this time. Does anyone know how its looking this year and what my odds are here
 
how long can they keep you waiting man my interview was early December 😢. I read in another thread that it's better to just wait rather than sending an email, but I feel like an idiot just sitting here lol.
 
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