Albert Einstein AECOM

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ribsandbbqbeef

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I'm an alum from Albert Einstein med.

Would be happy to answer any questions you may have about the school, student life, location, reputation, or anything else you can think of (eg application process etc).

General med school Q's are welcome too. I'm currently an Emergency Med resident, so questions about that field are also welcome.

Good luck to all those waiting to hear from schools or still interviewing.

Addendum: I'm originally from Southern California & went to school at UC Berkeley in Northern California. Any questions about relocations, comparing life on both coasts, etc... are welcome as well.

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Originally posted by ribsandbbqbeef
I'm an alum from Albert Einstein med.

Would be happy to answer any questions you may have about the school, student life, location, reputation, or anything else you can think of (eg application process etc).

General med school Q's are welcome too. I'm currently an Emergency Med resident, so questions about that field are also welcome.

Good luck to all those waiting to hear from schools or still interviewing.

I have a question. If I want to practice/live in NYC for the rest of my life would it be wiser to choose UCSD or Einstein for my MD? In other words, even though Einstein's national reputation is lesser its regarded very highly among NY residency programs right?
 
If you plan on staying in NY, then Einstein would probably be the better choice. Einstein grads have an excellent reputation among all the residency programs in NYC & surrounding buroughs. Many of the residency program directors and attendings in leadership roles at hospitals in NY are from Einstein. We fare the strongest in medicine based specialties (medicine, fam med, GI, pulm, cardiology, radiology, Emergency med, etc...). We are among the strongest for internal medicine on the east coast.

However, I don't feel like we are as strong with surgical specialties. The school doesn't place as much emphasis on surgery skills & training in the curriculum for medical students than it does in medicine. However, Montefiore (Einstein's official university hospital) has one of the best surgery programs in the nation; however many of the residents are grads from other NY programs, and very few from California.

In addition, when you are here & doing rotations in NYC & working with NY attendings, you make connections for yourself so that when you apply to residency you have a one up over applicants from California who don't know anyone here.

It's funny how you mention UCSD's national reputation being regarded better than Einsteins. I'm oritinally from southern California & went to Cal for undergrad, so I know all the UC schols very well & know how good they are. But when you talk to people here who have lived all their lives in NY and/or have never been to California, many of them don't know the UCs very well (other than UCSF or Stanford). So in a way, if you bring up UCSD & Einstein's rep in an interview in NY, those attendings will tend to think Einstein as a better institution because they have heard of it, have worked with doctors from that institution, or perhaps worked at one of it's affiliate hospitals themselves. It's the same thing in California; when I was applying to med school; I didn't really know what any of the schools reputations were other than the big name ivy leagers, but if someone had asked me to compare UCSD & a comparable school in NY back then, I probably would have said UCSD is better because I have never heard of the other school. Just a thought & observation I made when I was interviewing for residency programs in both California & NYC.
 
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Originally posted by ribsandbbqbeef
If you plan on staying in NY, then Einstein would probably be the better choice. Einstein grads have an excellent reputation among all the residency programs in NYC & surrounding buroughs. Many of the residency program directors and attendings in leadership roles at hospitals in NY are from Einstein. We fare the strongest in medicine based specialties (medicine, fam med, GI, pulm, cardiology, radiology, Emergency med, etc...). We are among the strongest for internal medicine on the east coast.

However, I don't feel like we are as strong with surgical specialties. The school doesn't place as much emphasis on surgery skills & training in the curriculum for medical students than it does in medicine. However, Montefiore (Einstein's official university hospital) has one of the best surgery programs in the nation; however many of the residents are grads from other NY programs, and very few from California.

In addition, when you are here & doing rotations in NYC & working with NY attendings, you make connections for yourself so that when you apply to residency you have a one up over applicants from California who don't know anyone here.

It's funny how you mention UCSD's national reputation being regarded better than Einsteins. I'm oritinally from southern California & went to Cal for undergrad, so I know all the UC schols very well & know how good they are. But when you talk to people here who have lived all their lives in NY and/or have never been to California, many of them don't know the UCs very well (other than UCSF or Stanford). So in a way, if you bring up UCSD & Einstein's rep in an interview in NY, those attendings will tend to think Einstein as a better institution because they have heard of it, have worked with doctors from that institution, or perhaps worked at one of it's affiliate hospitals themselves. It's the same thing in California; when I was applying to med school; I didn't really know what any of the schools reputations were other than the big name ivy leagers, but if someone had asked me to compare UCSD & a comparable school in NY back then, I probably would have said UCSD is better because I have never heard of the other school. Just a thought & observation I made when I was interviewing for residency programs in both California & NYC.

Wow, thanks. This is what I have gathered from others I have talked to as well-- but my peers here in CA are CA biased and they give a different scope of opinions. I'm not interested in surgery really so that's not an issue, possibly gas or radiology or neurology ? Sounds like Einstein is a better choice in terms of applying for residencies in NYC, thanks.
 
Oh yeah and I'm in Northern CA so it woudn't be "staying in NY" it would be going! and I hope I get to go.
 
Sweet! Glad to have you here. Welcome ! :clap:

Yeah, people get really defensive on this board really easily, esp concerning schools. I'm guilty of the same thing myself, very proud of the schools I went to; however as you go through the hurdles and see more, you really start to value the phrase "to each his own"

Let me know if you have any other questions.
:)
 
Hi ribsandbbqbeef,
I was recently accepted into AECOM and I would definitely like to hear anything you have to say about your experience there.
One of the things that interests me about Einstein is the international programs. Is it realistic to think that I will have a chance to do electives in Sweden or work in a clinic in country X? Did you do anything like that? Is it just something to think about if you are a top student or into research etc.?
How demanding is the research requirement? When should you start worrying about that?
Did you plan on going into emergency medicine or was that choice a result of your experience at AE?
Anything you wish you had known when you were in my shoes?
Thanks for doing this! I have read the entire AECOM website and have my little 1st year pen pal, but an experienced perspective is definitely a plus.
Sincerely,
The girl they accepted as a nod to geographic diversity! :D
 
Hello ribs,

Can you tell me more about the "5th free year?" I'm hoping to pursue an MPH degree during med school. I know AECOM doesn't have a school of public health, so how could I go about doing this? Does AECOM have some sort of affiliation with a school of public health in NYC?

Thanks a lot.
 
Originally posted by Chirurgien
Hello ribs,

Can you tell me more about the "5th free year?" I'm hoping to pursue an MPH degree during med school. I know AECOM doesn't have a school of public health, so how could I go about doing this? Does AECOM have some sort of affiliation with a school of public health in NYC?

Thanks a lot.

You can do your MPH at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health. I learned about that during my interview day.
 
Congratulations Kimmer & welcome to NY :)

You will definitley have the opportunity to do away electives or externships in other countries. There are 2 major opportunities at Einstein. Before you finish your first year, the school will have a list of international programs that have been popular with Einstein students in the past. The externships vary from Guatamala, Costa Rica, Mexico, and I think a few countries in Latin America. Many students do these externships during their first summer & take advantage of the time to learn some Spanish (which is very useful in any big city). However, you are not limited to just these programs. If you can find a program oversease elsewhere (Asia, Europe, etc), you can always apply for the schools approval & funding. It's not too hard to do. A couple of my collegues went to China & Japan for externships.

The second major opportunity you'll have is during your 4th year when you have up to 7 months worth of elective time. During those 7 months, you can do rotations at pretty much any hospital anywhere in the world. Some students in my year took all 7 months of electives in other states & countries and wasn't at Einstein for the majority of their last year. So you'll definitely have lots of opportunity during this year.

These are by no means restricted to top students or research students. These opportunites are open to all students; as soon as you get the school's approval & fill out the right paperwork, you're good to go!

The research requirement can be as demanding or as easy as you want it to be. Some of the students more serious about research have taken off a year to complete their research at top national institutions (NIH, Howard Hughes, Sloan Kettering, etc...). Other students not as interested in research have the choice of finding a few articles on a topic they're interested in and writing a review paper on the topic. You can take 1-3 months off for this or do it in your spare time during your light rotations. Some students finish the project during their first summer here. Other's hold off until the last few months of med school if they don't have time before that. I did a lot of bench research during college & was not as interested in doing more research during med school. So i picked a few articles & wrote a review in the second to last month of med school. So don't worry about the research thing too much, you'll have plenty of opportunities & choices as to what you would like to do.

I was actually interested in internal medicine during the first 2 years of med school because I really liked the variety of topics you can study. However when I did my internal medicine rotation during 3rd year, I didn't like the pace of the work. During 4th year, I did a couple of ER rotations and fell in love with it. I liked the variety & the pace. Many students start med school interested in a specific field for personal reasons. But a majority of the students change their minds during their 3rd & 4th year rotations when they see what it's REALLY like in those fields. So I wouldn't worry too much about specialties until 3rd year. Then, during 3rd & 4th year you should really look at which specialties fits your personality and has the kind of lifestyle you can live with.

Hope this helps & please feel free to ask anything else that you would like to know.

Good luck & congrats again,
-ribs.
 
Congrats to you Chirurgien & welcome to NY :)

CalBeE is correct. You can take a year off to pursue an MPH degree at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health. A couple of my classmates did that. When I left, the administration was trying to set up an official combined MD / MPH program as an option for Einstein's students. I'm not sure if that went through or not. If it did, either they worked something out with Columbia to make that a combined program, or they may have set up their own faculty & courses to fulfill the masters requirements. This is all I know about the MPH program at Einstein. Give the school a ring to confirm; please let me know if my info is incorrect.

Hope this helps. Congrats again,

-ribs

Addendum: By the way, the 5th year's tuition is waived I believe.
 
Hey Ribs,

I'm seriously considering Einstein too, so i'd like to ask a few questions. I dont know if you saw that other great thread about what you should look for when choosing the right school for you, but i was wondering if you could answer some questions about some of the points brought up in that thread. (i'll basically just cut and paste from the other thread)

How is the third year structured? How are the rotations structured in general? What is your role on the wards? Do you have a clear role Do you get your "hands dirty" alot, or is it alot of shadowing?

Where do 3rd year evaluations come from? For every rotation do you have an attending directly responsible for evaluating you, or a preceptor?, etc.

How are medical students protected from scut work?

And i have a few not as important questions that im just curious about. About how many hours are you in lecture/lab a week? I'm not lookin for a specific number, but in general do you feel that you spent too much time in lectures/labs or did it feel just right? I know everyone learns their own way, but I myself tend to be a lecture person, so I will probably go to the majority of lectures, which is why im curious as to how long youre in there.

Also, is the schedule flexible enough to switch around the order of some of your clinical rotations in years 3 and 4? I ask this b/c on another forum I read that it's good to have done your rotation already in the specialty you wish to match into. Going in I have a strong interest in neurology, and I see that you don't get to that until the fourth year, and it could work out that i would be interviewing for that specialty without having had the rotation experience first. You know what i mean? this isnt a big concern of mine like i said, since my interests could and probably will change during school, but i just want to know how flexible the rotation order can be.

Thanks so much for your help. It's great to have people like you with experience help us out!
 
Hi spidermonkey11,

Congrats on being accepted at Einstein :) I'll cut and paste each question followed by my response below.

"How is the third year structured? How are the rotations structured in general? What is your role on the wards? Do you have a clear role Do you get your "hands dirty" alot, or is it alot of shadowing?"

3rd year has required rotations in Internal Medicine (11wks), Radiology (2wks), OB/GYN (6wks), Psychiatry (6wks), Surgery (8wks), Family Medicine (4wks), Geriatrics (2 wks), Peds (7wks). The order you take them depends on a lottery. Einstein has 8+ hospitals students can rotate through. At the end of your second year, you put your preferences on a form and a computer sorts everything out and gives you the best schedule it can. There are 1 wk blocks of vacation spread throughout the year. I think there were about 4 total.You spend the majority of the time seeing patients and working in the hospitals. Depending on the rotation, you may have lectures or conferences scheduled during the day at the hospital where faculty will show you how to do things or see patients with you or give you a lecture. On other rotations, there are dedicated days where you spend in the classroom & the rest of the time is devoted entirely to hospital work. Your role in the wards is not always well defined, which I found to be a good thing. On the rotations where I am weak on the subject or want to learn more, I can be more aggressive and ask to do more work; on the rotations where I'm not as interested in or where I feel I am strong enough on the subject, I can hold back a little and have a easier time. This is much better than a rigidly defined role where you cant change anything. Depending on which hospital you rotate through, your role may be different depending on that hospital's clinical director. For example, I rotated through Montefiore hospital (a big name in surgery) where I got to scrub in on cases of any subspecialty I wanted; we had dog labs where we did surgerys on dogs; we had suture lessons teaching us how to suture; we even had a laperoscopic lab with a tech who taught us how to do simple stuff with laperoscopy. At another hospital, their surgery dept was not as big and surgery was not it's "thing," the students scrubbed in on general surgery cases and didn't get to do much else (eg no cardiothoracic surgery, no ent surgery, no ortho surgery, no dog lab, no laperoscopic lab, etc). So students basically pick what they prefer. If you really like procedures, you can pick hospitals like the one I did where they let you do a lot. If you don't like it, you can pick the smaller hospitals and spend more time on the books. Up to you and your style of learning. Einstein students dont do much shadowing. Even in the first year, there is a course on how to take a medical history. The preceptor usually gives you some guidelines and you go straight out on your own to practice on real patients, taking their medical history. By 3rd year, you do a lot of the work yourself. You are assigned patients who you are responsible for rounding on in the morning, writing their progress notes, putting in their orders (cosigned by the residents of course), presenting to the attending, etc... I felt I was really well trained at Einstein because they give us so much autonomy. I'm a big procedure person, so even on rotations like internal medicine, I asked the residents to show me & let me put in nasogastric tubes, foleys, paracentesis, lumbar punctures, etc....If you're not as hands on, you can also be more passive and just follow the residents around. No one will force you to do anything you don't want. So some of the girls didn't like the body fluids...so some of them will decline if a resident asks them if they want to put in a foley (catheter in the urethra), etc... But overall, this school rocks with procedures & patient care training.

"Where do 3rd year evaluations come from? For every rotation do you have an attending directly responsible for evaluating you, or a preceptor?, etc."

There is an attending in charge of every rotation at every site you are at, at Einstein. Your ultimate grade & narrative report is written by the attending, NOT a resident. However, because students will spend a lot of time with residents, all rotation directors get evaluation forms and feedback from the residents you work with. In some rotations, you hand out eval forms only to the residents you want evaluating you. On other rotations, the attending will have a meeting with the "team" of residents you worked with and ask them what they think of your performance. But overall, the evals are fair and there is an attending overseeing every eval each student gets.

"How are medical students protected from scut work?"

Haha, I wish I knew about scut work when I started med school. During many of the rotations, the attendings / rotation directors tell you & tell the residents that you are here to learn & not to do excess menial tasks (their way of calling scut). However, like at EVERY single hospital of EVERY med school, there are residents ranging from excellent to scums. Most residents at Einstein are pretty good about not scutting the med student out unless they want the work to practice skills. I had one intern tell me when I was in 3rd year that she hated people scutting her at her med school so she wont scut me at all. She kept her word & I loved her! Then there are the scums who blow off what the attending tells them and makes the med students look up labs for them all morning or something like that. However you'll see that at every hospital, I guarantee it. The thing that's important is for you to not let them push you around. You can help them out to a certain extent if patient load is crazy, but if they start telling you to do stuff you don't feel is right, tell them no. I've done it plenty of times and never got in trouble. Just tell them politely you have another patient to see, tell them you are busy with something else, or tell them you'll help them later if you have time....if you do that a few times, they get the picture you're not a pushover and stop scutting you out. Worse comes to worse, you can file a complaint with the rotation director, but it has never come to that.

"About how many hours are you in lecture/lab a week? I'm not lookin for a specific number, but in general do you feel that you spent too much time in lectures/labs or did it feel just right?"

During the first 2 yrs, most of your time is in lectures & labs. Usually the mornings are dedicated to lectures (8am-12pm) The afternoons depends on the subject. Sometimes you go to lab in the afternoon doing really cool & fun stuff (1pm-4/5ish) Other times you go to conferences to discuss what you learned in the morning (also 1-4/5ish). Labs and conferences are generally a good idea to go to and usually are required (attendence taken, but you can probably have someone sign you in). Lectures are completely optional. I went to every single lecture in my first year. But got lazy second year and studied almost completely at home. By the end of my second year, I don't remember going to any morning lectures at all. Basically, it's your choice if you want to go to lecture, but labs & conferences are required.

"is the schedule flexible enough to switch around the order of some of your clinical rotations in years 3 and 4? I ask this b/c on another forum I read that it's good to have done your rotation already in the specialty you wish to match into. Going in I have a strong interest in neurology, and I see that you don't get to that until the fourth year, and it could work out that i would be interviewing for that specialty without having had the rotation experience first."

Schedule is very flexible in both years. Even after you turn in your form with your preferred order of clinical rotations at your preferred hospitals, if you hear from your other classmates a certain place is better or doing a certain rotation first is better, you just walk over to the registrar's office and ask for your preference sheet, change it, and resubmit it. You can do this as many times as you like. The only condition is you have to do it one month before the rotation starts because the preferences are entered into the computer every month, one month before your actual rotation. As for the overall order of your rotations, if you don't like what the computer gave you and someone else with a better schedule likes yours, you two can trade. Fourth year is rediculously flexible. You have 4 required months & 7 electives that you can do anywhere, anytime, at any hospital you want. Thats what I call flexibility :)

Don't worry not getting to the rotation in the specialty you are applying to. I didn't do my emergency medicine rotations until the beginning of 4th year! And I still got my letter of recs in on time & did well. When you're close to the time of residency application you will find out the schedule of when things are due. Then you'll realize you actually have more time than you think. Some people try to cram an 2 wk elective in their 3rd year, but most do it their 4th year, and we match very well every year so it's not a problem.

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask anything else that's on your mind.

Good luck & congrats again,
~ribs.
 
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I cut & pasted one of my replies from another thread which has more "practical" info about Einstein you may want to know.

Cheers,
~ribs.

Einstein students come out with one of the strongest internal medicine foundations any program can teach. Another plus about Einstein are its tremendous number of affiliate hospitals which puts one foot in the door for you if you decide to apply to one of those hospitals for residency because they love Einstein students & we've rotated through there to make the connections.

1st two years are about the same at every institution. 3rd & 4th year at Einstein is awesome! You can rotate through LIJ in Long Island, Beth Isreal in Manhattan, Montefiore in da Bronx (mecca of medicine & surgery & peds), Weiler right next to the school, Jacobi (a county hospital which is the best if you are interested in emergency medicine; BTW, Jacobi has built a BRAND NEW hospital and will be moving in later on this year....ie modern top of the line facilities); In addition, Einstein students may also rotate through Flushing Hospital for peds (in Queens), Bronx Lebanon Hospital, Four Winds for psych (cushy hospital in Westchester).

These are the hospitals I can think of off the top of my head that Einstin students rotate through, but I think there are a couple more. So if you are really big into living in the city there are Einstein students who do practically ALL of their 3rd & 4th year rotations at Beth Isreal in Manhattan. Housing is free of course (hospital owned apts) =) Big plus for living in an expensive place like Manhattan. Some students at Einstein have lived in Manhattan all throughout 3rd & 4th year and did all their rotations in the city....so technically, you would only be living in the Bronx for 1st two years. That hospital is in Union Square! So in addition to Manhattan, there are so many other places you can rotate through to see all the different buroughs of NY.

Oh and one more great thing about the place is the size of the student apartments. They are real apartments, not dorms. Ranges from studio to 3 bedrooms. Living room, full size kitchen, bathroom, and huge walk in closets. Yes, they are a little run down cuz the buildings are old, but who cares? You'll only be here for 4 years. Rent is dirt cheap for living in New York. I only had experience living in a 2 bedroom and it was about $600/month. I don't think you can find anything like that in Manhattan. Plus utilities are paid for and maintenance / repairs are all free through the housing office.

The city is accessible via 2 subways stations (181st street & williamsbridge) or express bus (bus stop right in front of apartments). 45 minutes and you're in the city. Dont have to worry about parking, no expensive monthly garage fees, don't have to fight in traffic with the crazy taxi drivers.

Forgot to mention: Dont worry about library being closed for Sabbath. The brown brick building you went to for interviews has 4 floors of conference rooms that are open 24/7/365 for students to study. They are actually much more quiet than the library. When I was at Einstein, I almost never studied at the library because people talk way too much. Plus the conference rooms all have computers & online access. :)
 
hey ribsandbbqbeef,

I have not been accepted and am waiting for a post-interview response... but I just wanted to ask...

1) In order to get a studio apartment at AECOM is there a waiting list?
2) Can I sign up early?
3) What are my chances of getting a studio?
4) How much are the studios?
5) How many hours a week are classes?

Thanks!

~schoolboy
 
Thanks for all this info, ribs. I'm strongly considering Einstein, but also got into UPitt. Since I'm strongly interested in EM at this point, I really wasn't sure how Einstein stacked up to Pitt (one of the best from everything I've heard), and that is a deciding factor for me at this point. Although I would honestly prefer to stay in NYC.

As for a question. how much does transportation improve with a car at Einstein? It's really a pain to get to the west side of manhattan from einstein by public transportation, but I will have a car, so am I right in thinking that will make things quite a bit easier?
 
Hi schoolboy,

Good luck to you & best wishes. :)

1. there is a waiting list for studio apartments.

2. you can sign up as soon as you get in and accept the acceptance. Just call the housing office and tell them you are an incoming student and would like to get on the list.

3. It's been a few years since I applied so I don't know what it is like; but like you, I put my name on the waitlist after I moved to Einstein and got the studio in the middle of my second year. So the wait is about 1-1.5 yrs.

4. When I was living in a studio, it was $400, but every year they raise the rent by $10-15 so I imagine it's about $450-500 now. Still dirt cheap for an apt in New York!

5. Including conferences & labs, I'm estimating 30-40hrs/wk. This is just an estimate, and this is from 4 yrs ago so I don't know if it's still the same amount of lecture time. Before I graduated, I know the school had been adjusting the schedule from previous student's suggestions. You may want to check with the current 1st & 2nd years for more up to date info. Like I said in my previous post, most schools are pretty much the same for the first 2 yrs because everyone has to learn the same things. It's hard to cut down the lecture time without eliminating a topic. But that's just my personal view.

Hope this helps & good luck.

~ribs.
 
Hi Rendar5,

Congrats on being accepted at Einstein :)

I'm not too familiar with UPitt's program, so I am not going to compare it to Einstein. However, if you are interested in EM, I HIGHLY recommend Einstein. First off, an attending told me when I was in med school that the quality of EM training is based more or less on the number of patients you see & the variety of patients & problems you see. What other city other than New York would give you the sheer number of patients with the variety you will look for as a training EM resident? My advisors in med school told me that all residents trained in NY will be very competant and excellent EM docs because NY has so much diversity & culture, has EDs which are always packed with people, and generally attract a lot more academic MDs than other states. Secondly, Einstein's main EM program is the Jacobi(a county hospital)/Montefiore hospital combined program. If you check out the EM forum, there's a thread on the top EM programs. Guess what, Jacobi is on that list & many in NYC agree it is THE best EM training program in New York, esp for trauma. (On a side note, Jacobi built a brand new hospital which it will be moving to this summer or fall, so all the students & residents will have a brand new hospital to rotate through). If you go to Einstein and rotate through Jacobi/Montefiore for EM, you will already have one foot in the door for residency application. Lastly, because schools will always favor taking their own students at their own hospital programs, it is advantageous for you to go to a school with many affiliates to get connected with as many programs as you can before you apply to residency. At Einstein you'll get connected 3 EM programs (Long Island Jewish, Jacobi/Monte, Beth Isreal) right off the bat (with Jacobi being one of the best) instead of the usual 1 university hospital EM programs that most other schools are affiliated with. However, this is my personal opinion and I think it was great to have had so many hospitals to choose from in my own backyard.

For Manhattan, I personally prefer not to have a car. When I go to the west side, I just take the 2 train and it gets there in 40 min. I don't have to worry about parking or paying the crazy prices for a space. So if you are only interested in going in the city, I actually would recommend against getting a car. However, for all other places, it's really sweet to have a car. Because Einstein has so many affiliate hospitals all over the 5 buroughs, you can opt to drive yourself to work rather than taking the school shuttles on the days when you are on call, or when the shuttles are not running. You can also leave early and are not at the whim of the school shuttle schedule. On the other hand, you will pay for your own bridge tolls. I had a car during med school and it was great. I drove out to Queens, Long Island, Westchester, & New Jersey a lot for shopping, food, entertainment etc... I drove out to the city once and I hated the experience, the people on the roads, the traffic, looking for parking, and the price for a parking garage. Yuck. That's the major downside of Manhattan. Einstein has a parking garage that's $65/mo which is a great price for NY. Just to be fair though, these are all my own personal opinions. Many of my classmates drove to the city all the time and din't mind the traffic and they would circle around the city until they found parking no problem. So a lot of times I bummed a ride & helped pay the tolls.

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask anything else.

~ribs.
 
Wow! What a resource you are ribs, thanks for starting this thread...I'm interested in both EM and international opportunities which is what made me even consider AE...How number *****-ish is AE? My BCPM is only a 3.1 and my overall from undergrad (Carleton College)is a 3.3, if they work in my grades from paramedic school (at a community college) I'll be up to a 3.5 cum. MCAT's a 30Q...If they look past the numbers I think I'll do well, but I'm concerned about getting screened out....any thoughts? Thanks

Liz
 
Hey ribs,

First off, thanks for answering our questions.

When I visited Einstein last summer, I wasn't too impressed with its immediate surrounding areas though I like the school itself. When I sneaked into the dorms, I didn't find it as an accomodation that I can imagine myself living in. I know I am spoiled. Aside from that, I would actually love to go to Einstein. I am leaning more towards Internal Med (hopefully cardiology) and I know Einstein's reputation in that field.

So my question to you is: Do alot of students live on campus? Is there other options (don't mind paying more) in terms of better housing? Like renting a townhouse and such around Einstein?

Thanks so much! :thumbup:
 
Hi everybody,

Sorry I haven't answered the last 2 Q's. Residency just started so I haven't been on the site for over a month now. =P Life is pretty good right now considering it's residency & I'm working with a lot of AWESOME collegues :D So feel free to ask anything about that too if you have questions.

~ribs.

Oh, I'm doing emergency medicine by the way :)
 
You're welcome Liz =)

Don't worry too much about the numbers. I felt that Einstein actually looked at the entire application files instead of applying computer filters for scores when I applied. Most east coast schools seem not to use filters as much as west coast (this also counts for residency applications).

If it helps, I got in with a 3.5 GPA overall and 3.7 science (something like that) with MCAT of 33 (forgot what I got on my essay). Your stats are pretty much comparable so I honestly think you have a good shot at it.

Plus your paramedic history really helps. I was an EMT while in college and they seemed to like that.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any other Q's :)

Good luck,
~ribs.

krebse said:
Wow! What a resource you are ribs, thanks for starting this thread...I'm interested in both EM and international opportunities which is what made me even consider AE...How number *****-ish is AE? My BCPM is only a 3.1 and my overall from undergrad (Carleton College)is a 3.3, if they work in my grades from paramedic school (at a community college) I'll be up to a 3.5 cum. MCAT's a 30Q...If they look past the numbers I think I'll do well, but I'm concerned about getting screened out....any thoughts? Thanks

Liz
 
hi ribs,

do you know whether Einstein is receptive towards international students, esp. Canadians?

thanks
 
Hey Doc Chiquita =)

I know what you mean. When I interviewed at Einstein; I was really turned off by the apartments and thought they looked like dumps. But after you actually move here and put in a little work, it's a pretty sweet deal. I lived in a 2 bedroom (my half of rent was $320). You can paint the walls whatever color you want, go to home depot and get wall to wall carpeting, get some chic furniture at Ikea and voila! You have yourself a pretty sweet apartment. AC, electricity, water, gas is free too. For that price, it's hard to beat.

A lot of my classmates lived off campus during their 3rd & 4th years when they were doing their hospital rotations. Many rented a really small apartment in Manhattan and did most of their rotations at Beth Israel Hospital. That was a pretty sweet deal as well cuz they got to enjoy all the conveniences of Mahattan life; although they paid for it in the price of rent.

As for the 1st two years, i don't remember many people living off campus only because it's a pain to commute to class every day. The school housing is literally across the street from your lecture hall so most students chose to live there, wake up 10 min before class, and not worry about traffic or finding parking.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

Best wishes,
~ribs.



Dr. Chiquita said:
Hey ribs,

First off, thanks for answering our questions.

When I visited Einstein last summer, I wasn't too impressed with its immediate surrounding areas though I like the school itself. When I sneaked into the dorms, I didn't find it as an accomodation that I can imagine myself living in. I know I am spoiled. Aside from that, I would actually love to go to Einstein. I am leaning more towards Internal Med (hopefully cardiology) and I know Einstein's reputation in that field.

So my question to you is: Do alot of students live on campus? Is there other options (don't mind paying more) in terms of better housing? Like renting a townhouse and such around Einstein?

Thanks so much! :thumbup:
 
I think that it was very nice of you to start this thread, ribsandbbqbeef :)
 
Absolutely =) I'm Canadian by birth !

There were 4-5 other Canadians in my class as well from Toronto and Vancouver, and maybe one from Calgary.

My class had students from Isreal, China, Canada, and Africa (sorry my geographical knowledge is not up to par so i don't know which countries in Africa they are from).

~ribs.

wends said:
hi ribs,

do you know whether Einstein is receptive towards international students, esp. Canadians?

thanks
 
YEA GO CANADA :thumbup: :love: :love:

where were you born ribs? GO VANCOUVER haha :p
 
Thanks NubianPrincess :D I aim to please :)

I remember when I was applying to med school I had no one to ask questions, and I don't think this forum existed yet. I hope everyone gets the chance to find out as much about the schools they apply to before they make such an important life decision.

Cheers!
~ribs

NubianPrincess said:
I think that it was very nice of you to start this thread, ribsandbbqbeef :)
 
hey ribs,
i start aecom next week, and just reading this thread has made me pumped. i was definitely starting to feel anxious and nervous.

thanks for posting all this useful info
 
wends said:
YEA GO CANADA :thumbup: :love: :love:

where were you born ribs? GO VANCOUVER haha :p

The best place to live in Canada! I went to Killarney Secondary (Vancouver).
 
That's great! Are you from NY or out of state?

Ask around the senior students where to get a "guide" published by the students each year which has a lot of useful resources listed (eg how to get to the medical Barnes & Nobles, where the nearby restaurants are, where to study, etc). We got those in our first year and I helped put together the one for the year after us. I don't know if they are still doing that tho.

Best wishes,
~ribs.


doogiehowserfan said:
hey ribs,
i start aecom next week, and just reading this thread has made me pumped. i was definitely starting to feel anxious and nervous.

thanks for posting all this useful info
 
Sweet! I went to Sir Wilfred Laurier Elem...would have gone to Churchill High if I didn't move..... :D


Code Brown said:
The best place to live in Canada! I went to Killarney Secondary (Vancouver).
 
How is life out there at AECOM? Do you find time to do other things like maintaining a social life, working out often, partying, etc? I don't want to sound like some party-crazed frat boy, but I do like to have fun sometimes :D
 
Hehe, that would have been the first question I asked, actually, since the Bronx is not usually known for partying or "fun" activities.

You have tons of free time during your 1st, 2nd, and last half of 4th year. I worked out almost every other day during those years, and basically took every weekend off during 1st & 2nd year. I made sure I studied hard during the week tho so that I had the free time.

Third year is a b*tch and you can count on NOT having any free time (including time to work out or going out). First half of 4th year is hard only because you are trying to get your sub internship rotation out of the way (you'll find out what that is) and you're also applying for residency & going on interviews. Chances are, you'll probably be taking your second set of boards too. But once you get all that out of the way, you're home free from about february till the end of the year.

All upperclassmen tell the freshmen & sophmores to enjoy their first 2 years as much as they can cuz many in retrospect overkilled on the studying and became really burnt out during 3rd year. I'm not saying you shouldn't study, but make sure you do your fair share of partying =)

Have fun,
~ribs. :D

blz said:
How is life out there at AECOM? Do you find time to do other things like maintaining a social life, working out often, partying, etc? I don't want to sound like some party-crazed frat boy, but I do like to have fun sometimes :D
 
Ribs,

What can you tell me about AECOM's MSTP program? I am interested in neurology and wanted to know if you knew how strong the research there was,a nd how difficult it is to get into einstein's program. By the way, I attend AECOM's undergrad school, so I knw that might help in terms of getting an interview.

Thanks
 
Hi Ribs,
I'm starting my first year at Einstein and had a quick question. I'm currently finishing up my thesis and am coming back home to defend in Sept :( . I'm just concerned as to whether I'll have the time to work on my thesis and study for my defence during the first month and a half at school :scared: . It would be great if you could give me an idea as to how busy school gets in the first month and a half during the first year. Thanks:)
 
I was an MD student so I don't know much about the MD/PhD programs or how competitive it is to get accepted. But from what my MD/PhD collegues tell me, we have very strong research programs at Einstein in general. We get lots of NIH funding and is one of the nation's top for research.

I don't know specifically about neurology, but all of our MD/PhD neuro profs and neuro clinical profs really know their stuff so I get the impression that the program must be pretty good (but that's just my personal opinion). You may want to call the school's MSTP dean for more specific info. I think it's Dean Reichgott (call the school's general operator number from your application or acceptance packet and ask to be connected to Dr. Reichgott's office).

Having come from Yeshiva University will give you browny points, but I think they still look at your GPA & MCATs equally to other applicants. The school is actually pretty fair about this.

Hope this helps & best of luck,
~ribs.


dave613 said:
Ribs,

What can you tell me about AECOM's MSTP program? I am interested in neurology and wanted to know if you knew how strong the research there was,a nd how difficult it is to get into einstein's program. By the way, I attend AECOM's undergrad school, so I knw that might help in terms of getting an interview.

Thanks
 
Congrats on being accepted :)

How busy/hard the first 1.5 months really depends on your background. I'm not sure what field you do research in, but if you do a lot of biochemistry & molecular biology then you will breeze through the first year practically (except for anatomy which is hard for everyone). The first 3rd of first year if I remember correctly consists of a histology course & molecular bio/biochem mega course. My undergrad major was in molec bio & I did research in biochem so I didn't really have to study at all for that class. Just flipped through the syllabus 3-5 days before exam and passed it. Histo was pretty straightforward and the exam was based entirely on a very thin and easy to read textbook so all you had to do was read it a couple times and take the exam.

In general first year is pretty easy until anatomy starts in late fall/early winter. Then you will have to spend a lot more time studying that.

I thinnk you will do fine. Good luck on your defense & thesis. The great thing is you'll have gotten your research requirement out of the way for graduation :D

Best wishes,
~ribs.

happylimt said:
Hi Ribs,
I'm starting my first year at Einstein and had a quick question. I'm currently finishing up my thesis and am coming back home to defend in Sept :( . I'm just concerned as to whether I'll have the time to work on my thesis and study for my defence during the first month and a half at school :scared: . It would be great if you could give me an idea as to how busy school gets in the first month and a half during the first year. Thanks:)
 
Thanks ribs!!!!!!!!
That's good news for me since my major in undergrad was biochem and my project right now is very biochemical based.
by the way, just wanted to thank you for setting this thread up. it has been very, very helpful and i now know that there will probably be other fellow canadians at AECOM:)
wanted to also give a big hello to all the other canadians who've posted previously on this thread :p
 
ribsandbbqbeef said:
I was an MD student so I don't know much about the MD/PhD programs or how competitive it is to get accepted. But from what my MD/PhD collegues tell me, we have very strong research programs at Einstein in general. We get lots of NIH funding and is one of the nation's top for research.

I don't know specifically about neurology, but all of our MD/PhD neuro profs and neuro clinical profs really know their stuff so I get the impression that the program must be pretty good (but that's just my personal opinion). You may want to call the school's MSTP dean for more specific info. I think it's Dean Reichgott (call the school's general operator number from your application or acceptance packet and ask to be connected to Dr. Reichgott's office).

Having come from Yeshiva University will give you browny points, but I think they still look at your GPA & MCATs equally to other applicants. The school is actually pretty fair about this.

Hope this helps & best of luck,
~ribs.

Yes it does! Thanks again.
 
hey how much emphasis does this school place on mcat vs gpa? i.e. if you have lower gpa and higher mcat, is it more or less helpful than other schools, on average?
also what are the stats for their mstp program?
thanks
 
pip00 said:
hey how much emphasis does this school place on mcat vs gpa? i.e. if you have lower gpa and higher mcat, is it more or less helpful than other schools, on average?
also what are the stats for their mstp program?
thanks

We tend to place more emphasis on if u'll be a good doctor in terms of personality than on gpa and mcat. (not restricted to that, i was just told that that is a major facet that they look at once u're interviewed). Sorry pip00, if u are who i think u are (bor/iamlonely/iiii), that means u're out. (thankfully. who in their right mind switches from pre-dental to pre-med cause a girl thinks that doctors are cooler than dentists)
 
Rendar5 said:
We tend to place more emphasis on if u'll be a good doctor in terms of personality than on gpa and mcat. (not restricted to that, i was just told that that is a major facet that they look at once u're interviewed). Sorry pip00, if u are who i think u are (bor/iamlonely/iiii), that means u're out. (thankfully. who in their right mind switches from pre-dental to pre-med cause a girl thinks that doctors are cooler than dentists)
hey *******, every single school is looking for "personality". but then they also have "academics". i asked how they split the academics.
 
pip00 said:
hey *******, every single school is looking for "personality". but then they also have "academics". i asked how they split the academics.

just don't apply to my school :mad: obsessive stalkers are not allowed.

EDIT: everyone else besides pip00/bor/iamlonely/iiii, please feel free to ask me questions about AECOM and i'll answer to the best of my ability. if anyone wants my real answer to the question he posed, I really don't know which is weight more heavily. Never paid much attention to it or asked my friends what their gpa's and mcats were.
 
Rendar5 said:
just don't apply to my school :mad: trolls and obsessive stalkers are not allowed. (w/ the exception of funny trolls).
i dont care if you're bitter because you got rejected from columbia. if i do happen to go to your school, which i doubt, i certainly wouldnt associate with you.
 
pip00 said:
i dont care if you're bitter because you got rejected from columbia. if i do happen to go to your school, which i doubt, i certainly wouldnt associate with you.

rejected from columbia? huh? I was wait-listed and then withdrew like a year and a half ago. What's that have to do with being horribly annoyed with you for being a stalker and asking an insane number of stupid questions over and over again (what should i read so people will think i'm smart)? And for treating medicine or dental school as a way to get blonde girls who are 10's (cause patients are easy targets to hit on,u've suggested) and impress people?
 
Rendar5 said:
rejected from columbia? huh? I was wait-listed and then withdrew like a year and a half ago. What's that have to do with being horribly annoyed with you for being a stalker and asking an insane number of stupid questions over and over again (what should i read so people will think i'm smart)? And for treating medicine or dental school as a way to get blonde girls who are 10's (cause patients are easy targets to hit on,u've suggested) and impress people?
so how many indian girls have you met off this site?
 
pip00 said:
so how many indian girls have you met off this site?

hmm...3 or 4. (Out of 20 or so lounge SDNers I've met) None of which I've been interested in or pursued. I'm not an internet stalker like some people. :thumbdown:
 
Rendar5 said:
hmm...3 or 4. (Out of 20 or so lounge SDNers I've met) None of which I've been interested in or pursued. I'm not an internet stalker like some people. :thumbdown:
sorry, i should stick to the mstp forum
 
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