BU vs. Stony Brook

[mcrobbit]

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Long story short, my cycle is over and I'm having a really hard time deciding between med schools, and any outside opinions would be greatly appreciated. I've asked friends, family and mentors, and everyone has told me different things. I have a choice between two schools, BU and Stony Brook.

Cost Wise: with my financial situation (will not disclose, but I'm not rich, just worked hard and got lucky) and at current interest rates, I would graduate BU with ~158,000 in debt. Stony Brook would leave me with ~111,000 in debt. On one hand, 47k is a lot of money (that could be a down payment on a houseor a very nice car). On the other hand, is a 47k difference significant in the grand scheme of things once I start being able to pay it off in a meaningful fashion?

Location Wise: IMO, BU is in a much better place in terms of things to do and enjoy, BUT Stony Brook would put me very close to my support system of friends and family. I guess you can say that I'm afraid of the change, but Boston seems like a more interesting place. On the other hand, my parents are older than most and I would like to spend time with them outside of major holidays/breaks.

Prestige: BU is ranked higher than Stony Brook, if that means anything. BU also got more name recognition than Stony Brook when I asked around. But from glancing at years of match lists it seems that BU matches more people into more prestigious residencies. I imagine that there would be more big name faculty at BU than Stony Brook as well.

Opportunities: BU and Stony Brook both have strong research opportunities available, so I don't know if it's correct to compare them on this metric, but if anything BU has slightly more research available. BU in my opinion wins out in terms of clinical education however, because of BMC and it's larger size/more diverse patient population in comparison to Stony Brook. Again, that's not to say that Stony Brook's clinical experiences are bad.

Curriculum: BU is 2 years P/F unranked and Stony Brook is switching to 1.5 years H/P/F ranked. I've heard H/P/F vs. P/F is a trivial thing because pre-clinical grades don't matter as much. I have heard however that ranked classes can stress people out and encourage cutthroat competition (which I had enough of in pre-med haha). I've heard 1.5 year pre-clinical curriculum allows more elective time and more time to think about what field of medicine you want to enter, which would be appreciated. I've also heard that 1.5 year pre-clinical curriculum schools tend to have higher board scores, which is also a big plus.

Fit: I think it's amazingly hard to judge fit based on interview day and second looks. Both student populations I saw looked happy and loved their respective schools. The one difference I did notice was that BU students seemed to be more pressured by their debt. How do people get "gut feelings" about one specific place? It's amazingly difficult to me, I liked both schools a lot!

Wow, this turned out to be much longer than I intended. In any event, I appreciate any and all responses I get! This is going to be a tough choice.

 

[bambam92]

I vote BU, Boston is an amazing city! The hospitals there including Mass General, Dana Farber etc. are some of the best in the nation! And BU is definitely more of a prestigious school than stony brook.

 

[GoPelicans]

If you are set on eventually practicing in NYC or Long Island, Stony Brook is a viable choice. Good luck with your decision, this is a nice problem to have.

 

[Patros]

I have never seen BU, so I won't comment on its strengths or weakness. I am intimately familiar with SBU however, so I'll give you some info you might find useful:

-Stony Brook is in a very sleepy, quiet neighborhood. Suffolk county has suburban and rural areas, with a largely working-class, white demographic. The school itself is an isolated place. If you have a preference for bustling city vs quiet town, keep this in mind.
-The cost of living in Stony Brook, or nearby towns like Port Jeff or Mount Sinai isn't as cheap as you might think (due to proximity to NYC). Expect about $1k/month for an apartment, or $600-900 for a house-share. However, I am sure its much cheaper than Boston.
-SBUMC is directly adjacent to the undergrad campus, and all of its amenities. On the plus side, you can use their gym and food courts. On the minus side, you have to deal with undergrads.

Overall, I think at BU you will have a more diverse and memorable experience in Boston. SBU is rising through the ranks and it may be at the top-tier level within 10-20 years. But for the time being, I think BU is better in most ways.

 

[Lya]

It sounds like the cost issues at BU are not as worrisome to you as other typical students. With that said, my vote goes to BU.

 

[Chir0nex]

If you are thinking about practicing outside of NYC, it might be a good opportunity to try living in a different city. Boston is awesome, and it is quite possible to return to NYC for a weekend or break.

Personally I think P/F is great. Beyond there not being any competition I think there is also a psychological effect where it is much easier to put down your books and stop studying when you don;t feel like you need to strive for Honors. That being said, the 1.5 year curriculum is something that realy appealed to me when I was deciding as well.

Ultimately, I think BU would be a more interesting experience, and sets you up better to network and meet world class doctors that literally are all over downtown Boston. While cost is a consideration, I personaly decided on a more expensive school because I felt it was a much better fit for me, and as a result medical school has been a great experience.

 

[SN12357]

In your situation I think I would end up choosing stony brook due to the proximity to family, cheaper cost, and 1.5 year curriculum (I don't know if you interviewed at other schools with 1.5 year preclinical curriculums, but all the 4th years at the ones I visited seemed VERY happy with that structure).

On the other hand Boston is an amazing city and definitely wins on the non-family location factors. You've got a good problem to have, for sure.

 

[tantacles]

I'm from Boston, and I live Boston, but I think being close to family should be a huge consideration. In addition, a 1.5 year preclinical curriculum gives you more time to do away rotations in your fourth year; this might give you some extra insight into where you want to practice and might help you get the residency of your choice. The cost is also a winner.

Cost of living near BU is high - Studio apartments can go for around $1,300 (assuming you're not going to live in the crappiest of the crappy. Your price difference could thus end up being higher than you expect.

Rank isn't of paramount importance, and I would strongly suggest you go in-state.

 

[sbEMT33]

Having family nearby is a huge plus. But the debt problem is completely what you make it. If you're going second guess yourself every time you look at that tuition bill, you shouldn't go there if you have cheaper options. If you feel that both are equal educations, the cost should be the tie breaker

 

[RogueUnicorn]

I have never seen BU, so I won't comment on its strengths or weakness. I am intimately familiar with SBU however, so I'll give you some info you might find useful:

-Stony Brook is in a very sleepy, quiet neighborhood. Suffolk county has suburban and rural areas, with a largely working-class, white demographic. The school itself is an isolated place. If you have a preference for bustling city vs quiet town, keep this in mind.
-The cost of living in Stony Brook, or nearby towns like Port Jeff or Mount Sinai isn't as cheap as you might think (due to proximity to NYC). Expect about $1k/month for an apartment, or $600-900 for a house-share. However, I am sure its much cheaper than Boston.
-SBUMC is directly adjacent to the undergrad campus, and all of its amenities. On the plus side, you can use their gym and food courts. On the minus side, you have to deal with undergrads.

Overall, I think at BU you will have a more diverse and memorable experience in Boston. SBU is rising through the ranks and it may be at the top-tier level within 10-20 years. But for the time being, I think BU is better in most ways.

play it right and this can be a mega positive in more than one way...

 

[ducksau5]

Go to Stony Brook. The facilities are beautiful and they match well. IMO the difference in rep isn't big enough to merit the huge debt you'll get into from going to BU

 

[cookiemonsters]

play it right and this can be a mega positive in more than one way...

IE you will be a worldly 20-something year old medical student with your choice of college girls to slay.

 

[Bulbasaur]

I definitely think BU is the better school. In your case though, you will have to discern if BU is worth the extra $

 

[Chir0nex]

Cost of living near BU is high - Studio apartments can go for around $1,300 (assuming you're not going to live in the crappiest of the crappy. Your price difference could thus end up being higher than you expect.

BU has apartments next to the school for all 1st and 2nd years which I think are cheaper than the average for the area and are quite nice.

 

[tantacles]

BU has apartments next to the school for all 1st and 2nd years which I think are cheaper than the average for the area and are quite nice.

Somewhat of a game changer! Still, though, I say go Stony Brook.

 

[lazyindy]

I actually attend Stony Brook as an undergrad but I usually study in the Health Science Center Library (basically where the medical/nursing students study). As others have said the surrounding area is extremely quiet and suburban. Usually you will run into rich snobs or just straight up awkward/weird people. The architecture looks ridiculous imo seems like they were trying too hard. The faculty here do not care about you and are only concerned with what's in your wallet. Overall the atmosphere is extremely depressing and I am literally counting down the days till graduation so I can get my B.S. and peace out of here for good hopefully.

Hope this helps lol

 

[Azimuthal431]

Your mdapps indicates that you are 21. Not sure if you attended college in-state, but I would suggest that it would be time to start branching out and gaining life experience. Boston is not that far from NY, so you can visit your friends/family after a quick bus/train ride. Bottom line is that BU will open more doors for you than Stony. BU wins with their curriculum, clinical experiences, research, etc. You will be glad to go to a school with less internal competition.

 

[sbEMT33]

BU has apartments next to the school for all 1st and 2nd years which I think are cheaper than the average for the area and are quite nice.

stony brook also has apartments right across the street from the hospital/medical school

 

[darkjedi]

I personally wouldn't be able to live in a non-city, but that's just me. BU's facilities are pretty new and Boston Medical Center sees a lot of really crazy stuff. You will likely get better clinical training at BMC than SBUMC.

 

[orphanblack13]

I vote BU, Boston is an amazing city! The hospitals there including Mass General, Dana Farber etc. are some of the best in the nation! And BU is definitely more of a prestigious school than stony brook.

Just to clarify, Mass Gen and Dana Farber are both Harvard teaching hospitals in addition to Brigham and Women's and Beth Israel, so if OP goes to BU, he won't be rotating there unless it is for "audition" rotations for residency. I have lived in the Boston area for 5 years, work at one of these hospitals and am familiar with most of the other area hospitals. This is not to say BMC and its affiliates aren't excellent facilities, I just don't want the OP to mistakenly think he/she will be rotating at these places.

OP, you also may want to consider that BMC is a safety net hospital while from your description, the patients that you would encounter at Stony Brook seem to be fairly well off, so you should strongly consider what kind of demographic you would like to work with. I personally would choose BU, but I like Boston and have been living 1000+ miles from my family for the past 5 years.

 

[Patros]

I actually attend Stony Brook as an undergrad but I usually study in the Health Science Center Library (basically where the medical/nursing students study). As others have said the surrounding area is extremely quiet and suburban. Usually you will run into rich snobs or just straight up awkward/weird people. The architecture looks ridiculous imo seems like they were trying too hard. The faculty here do not care about you and are only concerned with what's in your wallet. Overall the atmosphere is extremely depressing and I am literally counting down the days till graduation so I can get my B.S. and peace out of here for good hopefully.

Hope this helps lol

I went through some of your posts and I see you have quite a bit of resentment to your alma mater. I can't disagree with your criticisms, but it may help to keep in mind that the fault doesn't lie with the school but with the huge number of premeds at SBU. It seems to me that the school tries very hard to keep the undergrads happy, but eventually the constant, heavy competition stretches the school's resources to its limits. I know that doesn't change your situation, however.

I don't think any of that has much bearing on the medical school, though. Based on my interview day at SB Med, it seems like the medical school environment is more pleasant.

Edit: And yeah, the architecture is ridiculous. The HSC looks straight out of star-wars, literally a cube on stilts.

 

[docterjew]

Just to clarify, Mass Gen and Dana Farber are both Harvard teaching hospitals in addition to Brigham and Women's and Beth Israel, so if OP goes to BU, he won't be rotating there unless it is for "audition" rotations for residency. I have lived in the Boston area for 5 years, work at one of these hospitals and am familiar with most of the other area hospitals. This is not to say BMC and its affiliates aren't excellent facilities, I just don't want the OP to mistakenly think he/she will be rotating at these places.

OP, you also may want to consider that BMC is a safety net hospital while from your description, the patients that you would encounter at Stony Brook seem to be fairly well off, so you should strongly consider what kind of demographic you would like to work with. I personally would choose BU, but I like Boston and have been living 1000+ miles from my family for the past 5 years.

Stony Brook University Hospital serves the entire Suffolk County. You have your rich white snobs (who are too far away from NYC to be really rich or snobby, that's Nassau County), but you also have sizeable populations of Blacks and Hispanic migrant workers and their families. Volunteer at the free clinic here and you'll be speaking Spanish 3/4 of the time.

 

[Reckoner]

play it right and this can be a mega positive in more than one way...

 

[RogueUnicorn]

🤣

 

[Ismet]

Moving to school-specific discussions

 

[orgostar]

hey mcrobbit, we're in a very similar situation. I'm deciding between Stony Brook and Vanderbilt. I have the same location issue as you- with SB being close to friends and family and similar difference in price and overall debt. With that being said, I think that BU is the best choice here- 50k is of course a very significant amount of money- but it will be well worth it for the enriching and enjoyable experience you will have at BU. I think the price difference is well worth the time spent in a fun city and at a prestigious school with great opportunities and probably a lower stress atmosphere.

 

[Endure]

While I know very little about BU, I can give you my perspective on Stony Brook.

The aspect that stood out to me most about Stony Brook was the class's small, supportive environment. I'm looking for a place that will serve my needs academically, but it's also important to me that I'm in a manageable environment. SB gave me that vibe. It also appeared as though it were a research institution climbing the ranks, which appealed to me as a place where I could flourish. Research is a priority for me, however, so I'm not sure how relevant that is to you.

If your primary reason for staying in the SUNY system is because you're afraid to leave, however, then I recommend BU.

hey mcrobbit, we're in a very similar situation. I'm deciding between Stony Brook and Vanderbilt. I have the same location issue as you- with SB being close to friends and family and similar difference in price and overall debt. With that being said, I think that BU is the best choice here- 50k is of course a very significant amount of money- but it will be well worth it for the enriching and enjoyable experience you will have at BU. I think the price difference is well worth the time spent in a fun city and at a prestigious school with great opportunities and probably a lower stress atmosphere.

Interesting to find someone in my position!

I'm torn between three financial "tiers": Vanderbilt (most expensive), SB (moderately expensive) and Rutgers (least expensive). Despite not hearing about financial aid yet, I'm 95% sure I'll be attending Vanderbilt. I loved it way too much to let cost steer me elsewhere. Perhaps the OP will feel the same way on Second Look!

 

[JJMrK]

The difference in prestige is negligible IMO. BU has better name recognition by the average layperson, which means less than nothing.

I would choose SB in your situation due to cost, proximity to family, and better curriculum.