Albany vs. SUNY Upstate

[jserallim]

Hello everyone! I managed to get off the waitlist at SUNY Upstate, and now I have to make a decision. I would appreciate any feedback!

Albany
Pros

• closer to home (2.5 hrs away)
• has MD with Distinction in Advocacy track, which I am very interested in. And Albany being the capital of NY makes this a promising opportunity
• managed to get a ~$2K scholarship
• 18 month pre-clinical
• smaller class size (~140)

Cons

• more expensive COA (~335 COA over 4 years)
• pre-clinical grading is Honors / High Pass / Pass / Fail.
• internal rankings (in tertiles)

SUNY Upstate
Pros

• cheaper COA (~ $315K over 4 years) that is assuming I live in on-campus housing. It can be lower if I choose to live off-campus.
• true P/F during pre-clinical
• 3rd year and possibly 4th year will be spent in the Binghamton campus, in a more community based setting. This will give me closer access to physicians and make it easier to make more personal relationships with them to hopefully get stronger LORs. Also would be first in assisting during births, surgeries, and more.

Cons

• farther from home (~4 hrs away)
• traditional 2-year pre-clinical
• larger class size (~170)

Both schools have Honors/High Pass /Pass/Fail for clinicals. I am not sure if Upstate does internal rankings. I am also not sure if lecture attendance is mandatory for these schools, so if you know I would love to know!

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[unicornsparkles85]

objectively, if SUNY Upstate is cheaper and has true P/F it sounds like the better choice to me. It sounds like it is farther away than home though so depends on your priorities.

 

[PseudoAmerican]

One thing to look into would be residency match rates for each school and where people match to. If there's a specialty you know you might be interested in, see where graduates in previous years have matched to when pursuing that specialty. If one school has students matching into more desirable residency programs than another, that could be something to consider!