Best SUNY School

Started by thamsenman
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thamsenman

thamsenman

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Upstate, Downstate, Stony Brook, or Buffalo?

Which school would you attend if you had acceptances at all four? Consider quality of life, cost, matching (if you care), class size, friendliness of people, etc.

I hear usually Upstate or Buffalo wins. (I don't hold an acceptance at either.)
 
thamsenman said:
Upstate, Downstate, Stony Brook, or Buffalo?

Which school would you attend if you had acceptances at all four? Consider quality of life, cost, matching (if you care), class size, friendliness of people, etc.

I hear usually Upstate or Buffalo wins. (I don't hold an acceptance at either.)
Click to expand...

Best to worst in my opinion:

Stony Brook
Downstate
Upstate
Buffali
 
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I lived literally 2 blocks from upstate for a year after undergrad. I know nothing about the academics, match lists, etc for upstate. People in cuse are upstate new yorkers. They are much nicer than downstaters IMO. The pace of life up there is slower as well. Syracuse is sort of becoming a "Flint, MI." Industry is leaving...and sometimes it has a lonely ghost town type feel. People who live in cuse are "lifers." Their grandparents are from cuse, their parents, all their brothers and sisters live in cuse....that sorta thing. Youve got a decent showing of bars and nightlife. SU is right there with their 30k+ students and all the stuff that goes with that. Parking is a b1tch... There is a mall which is pretty big...and getting massively bigger if they ever finish the destiny usa project (think mall of america sized). If you are an outdoorsy person you drive 30 minutes in each direction and you are in absolute cow country. Lots of fishing and that sort of thing. Anyone want to throw down about the academics? I am clueless about that...
 
the thread linked to above is mine....for simplicity here is what i thought after interviewing at all four schools last year:

skinMD said:
so now that i've visited all four schools i think i've decided on stony brook and would rank them in this order from best to worst:

SB > Upstate > DS > Buffalo

To elaborate (from worst to best)

Buffalo gets an A- for effort in my book but it is still the SUNY i'd least like to go to. They're proud of what they have and are working hard to improve their facilities and curriculum. It's unfortunate that Buffalo has become such a sh*thole. biggest turn off though was that it seems that almost every student is there because it is the only place where they were accepted.

DS looks like a make-shift med school. To say their facilities (except for the anatomy lab) were disappointing would be an understatement. It seems like they upgraded the anatomy lab to try to dupe incoming students into thinking their facilities are nice. The students didn't seem too happy and generally seemed to have little to say about DS other than "they have great clinical experience". The clinical experience isn't THAT important though since you can easily get similar experience by rotating through hospitals in underserved communities during your elective period. It is in a rough neighborhood but what concerns me is the shockingly lax security and lack of visible law enforcement compared to Columbia, for instance, which is in an equally rough neighborhood. Living expenses are still really high, especially since you'll probably choose to live in a nicer neighborhood. The most positive thing i found was that they have a pretty impressive match list and send alot of graduates to NYC hospitals.

Upstate has hands down the nicest students. It seems like the administration really cares and has a great support system in place. The facilities are also very nice. Shipping part of the class off to Binghamton during the third year in my view is a minus. Syracuse was alright but too far upstate for my taste. You don't get access to Syracuse U. The match list wasn't very strong.

SB has gorgeous top-notch high-tech facilities. The students are friendly and seem to have a good relationship with each other. Seems like there is a good support system. The school is well regarded and has an impressive match list. Lots of basic research opportunities, a bit weaker in clinical research but still decent. 4 students per cadaver for anatomy is similar to private schools (like NYU). Living expenses seem low and it isn't terribly far from NYC (about an hour drive). A car is basically mandatory though and it is the suburbs though with the undergrad and other schools nearby it should be livable.

If anyone has anything to add or disagrees feel free to chime in. i feel like this thread can be really helpful to NYS residents who apply in the future.
Click to expand...

it seems strange that you would pick upstate or buffalo....the culture in upstate ny vs. downstate ny is extremely different so that might be where you are coming from.

now an amendment...after being at stony brook for over a semester now i've noticed that i underestimated the cost of living. while of course it is nowhere near as bad as it is in NYC it is still not cheap....rend is about 600-800 for a decent place after utilities whereas you can get by with much less in buffalo or syracuse.

EDIT: i noticed from your MDapps and your post in the stony brook thread that you are still undecided on where to go. if you have any questions about stony brook or the app process in general feel free to shoot me a PM and i'll be glad to answer any questions you may have
 
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Just my opinion, I have posted on the topic before but I will sum up my perspective again. Upstate would be my top choice. Then Stony Brook. No offense intended but if Downstate was uprooted from NYC and planted somewhere else it would not carry nearly the same prestige. Upstate is ranked 8th in the NATION for placing its grads in academic positions! (mind you Downstate is also impressive, ranked 11th for academic placements.)Also, some of its specialty residencies are rated among the best (eg Neurosurgery ranked 19, right under Cornell by NIH in 2005! Who knew right 😱). They are also aiming to become the next USMLE testing center with for they have huge (awesome too) simulation practice facilities. All in all if you switched Upstate with Downstate in terms of location Upstate would be heavily sought after (even more so then it already is). The tuition is unbeatable and the people are SO FRIENDLY. Oh and BTW, Upstate serves the largest population (number of patients) of any NY medical school!

That being said. You can not count out location. I like Upstate over the rest but that is just me. You need to really see them for yourself! Again, just my opinions backed by some interesting facts. 🙄
 
I say clinical: Downstate >>>>> Buffalo > Upstate > Stonybrook

And research: Stonybrook > Buffalo > Downstate = Upstate

I think Buffalo might be the best overall package, but it really depends on what you're looking for. Are you going to do lots of research? Pick Stonybrook. Are you going for awesome clinical experience? Pick Downstate.

BUT I think you should also consider the growth and future development of the schools. Buffalo is the only one out of the four that is building an entire new campus to move its five medical schools to the downtown area. Downstate, Upstate, and Stonybrook do not even have a project that compares to Buffalo's 2020.

(here's a very short video showing how big this thing is going to be: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIu0cb4VfxQ the brown buildings with no details are planned buildings and on land already owned by UB)

There's real potential in Buffalo. Healthcare is the largest employer there, and it's only going to get bigger. You have a small "large" city that basically serves as the overflow for a good chunk of the population of Canada.

What this could mean is Buffalo might end up being a much better medical school by the time you get out of residency.
 
NIH ranked the research funding for the Neurosurgery Dept 19 in the country. Right under Cornell. I dont see any other state school on that list. Pretty impressive.
 
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