case vs. mount sinai

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lookatme

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the two schools that I got accepted have the same rank on usnews.
Case has great hospital affiliations but is located in Cleveland and a bit more expensive.
I wanted to go somewhere in the east coast. I am leaning a bit more towards Sinai at this point....
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Isn't Case 8000 USD more a year than sinai?
 
yes. Plus, I will probably have to get a car if I go to case. so, I'd assume that it's ~10k usd more a year than sinai.
Handy388 said:
Isn't Case 8000 USD more a year than sinai?
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I definitely liked Sinai over Case. What attracted me to it bigtime was the "on campus" housing. The fact that you can wake up in the morning and walk across the street won me over.
 
bozz said:
I definitely liked Sinai over Case. What attracted me to it bigtime was the "on campus" housing. The fact that you can wake up in the morning and walk across the street won me over.
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You just described all the med schools located in cities. lol

I'd go for Mt. Sinai.
 
dynezxice said:
You just described all the med schools located in cities. lol

I'd go for Mt. Sinai.
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I literally mean across the street... meaning a 15 second walk. Not a 5 minute walk.
Case is in a city too :D but you've got yourself a good 10-15 minute walk atleast.
 
would you pay 10k MORE to go to a school that have recently lost monopoly at Cleveland clinic, can be pretty cold and is in Ohio over a school that's right on fifth avenue?

I have a feeling that Mt.Sinai is going to shot to the top as more emphasis is being put into care for the aging population, as well as its location
 
Handy388 said:
would you pay 10k MORE to go to a school that have recently lost monopoly at Cleveland clinic, can be pretty cold and is in Ohio over a school that's right on fifth avenue?

I have a feeling that Mt.Sinai is going to shot to the top as more emphasis is being put into care for the aging population, as well as its location
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What do you mean, Case "recently lost monopoly at Cleveland Clinic"?
 
Handy388 said:
ccclm.
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I'm not sure what you mean by that...Case students can still rotate at the Clinic...and technically, CCLCM is a subdivision of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Students that graduate from CCLCM get their degrees from Case.
 
Brock Samson said:
Case did not lose its "monopoly" with CCLCM. The possibility of CCLCM being associated with a different medical school (Columbia) was brought up last Spring but it never happened. Basically, from the article I read about the situation, it was just the new president of the Cleveland Clinic throwing a hissy fit over Case's increasingly close association with University Hospitals. Case has a great curriculum (16 hours of class/week and no class on Thursdays :love:). Plenty of time and resources for clinical and research opportunities.
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I swear I seen your user name in some online games, either team fortress 2 or battlefield 2, I think it was team fortress 2.
 
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Brock Samson said:
Case did not lose its "monopoly" with CCLCM. The possibility of CCLCM being associated with a different medical school (Columbia) was brought up last Spring but it never happened. Basically, from the article I read about the situation, it was just the new president of the Cleveland Clinic throwing a hissy fit over Case's increasingly close association with University Hospitals. Case has a great curriculum (16 hours of class/week and no class on Thursdays :love:). Plenty of time and resources for clinical and research opportunities.
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Exactly. There are two tracks at Case to get an MD, ours (College Program or CCLCM) and the main one (University Program). CCLCM is a joint program between Case and the Cleveland Clinic, and we are Case students. Case does not have any kind of monopoly on the Cleveland Clinic and never has. That's because Cleveland Clinic is a separate hospital and not part of Case.

lookatme, if the difference including cost of living is $10,000 a year, I'd go to Mount Sinai. As much as I love Case, $40,000 is a lot of extra debt to take on. It all adds up, especially when you consider the interest that you will accrue.
 
Current Sinai student here. There are dozens of excellent reasons to attend Sinai and only a handful of reasons to choose a different school:

1. You get into a top 15 school. Sinai is no Duke or UCSF.
2. It is significantly cheaper to go elsewhere.
3. You strongly dislike NYC, or big cities in general, or the East Coast, or prefer to be closer to home.
4. You are applying MD/PhD and get into a program with a stronger graduate school.

PM me if you have any questions, and best of luck. I was also considering Case and this is a tough but wonderful decision to have to make.
 
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In the big picture, I think the big pros for case are definately its having four big medical centers, and then its curriculum, pure pass/fail with simple testing done in blocks, only 5 times over the course of 2 years. Really independent-style learning, 2 hours of lecture three days a week since another 2 hours are pbl 3 days a week, every afternoon and thursdays off, clinical rotations start in march of second year. The pros for sinai are probably mainly related to its location which means alot, it definately trumps cleveland, it's also pass/fail but more completely lecture based and the standard for med schools.
 
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I would choose Case. During my interview, the people there seemed really laid back, outgoing and enthusiastic about the school. The curriculum is well structured and the clinical sites are world class (both UH and CCF). Just my two cents.
 
Sinai all the way. We're Pass/Fail, and it doesn't get better than that. Location is awesome, and housing is subsidized so much for Manhattan that it's ridiculous.

They're big into community service and geriatrics, and have a lot of approachable faculty for potential mentorship. Plus, no associated undergrad means no premeds. I'm a student here, if you hadn't figured that out, so take this advice how you will.
 
case and sinai are both pass fail... I would probably go with sinai purely based on location.

Interestingly most of the X vs Y threads that I've seen that aren't absurd seem to involve case...
 
Aynsl156 said:
Sinai all the way. We're Pass/Fail, and it doesn't get better than that. Location is awesome, and housing is subsidized so much for Manhattan that it's ridiculous.

They're big into community service and geriatrics, and have a lot of approachable faculty for potential mentorship. Plus, no associated undergrad means no premeds. I'm a student here, if you hadn't figured that out, so take this advice how you will.
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Im just curious, how much does housing cost for Sinai? Also, where is it? Midtown?
 
batman1983 said:
Im just curious, how much does housing costs for Sinai? Also, where is it? Midtown?
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I'm not the incomparable Aynsl156, but Mt Sinai is on the UES (100th St) and they have really awesome and cheap housing (~$800 a month IIRC)
 
My room's $530 a month on 98th and Madison.
 
lookatme said:
the two schools that I got accepted have the same rank on usnews.
Case has great hospital affiliations but is located in Cleveland and a bit more expensive.
I wanted to go somewhere in the east coast. I am leaning a bit more towards Sinai at this point....
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I'm wait-listed at both, and I loved both, so I'd be happy if you chose either!

:)
 
Aynsl156 said:
My room's $530 a month on 98th and Madison.
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Damn thats great deal. What kind of apartment is it? A real 2bdr or a conversion? I was paying $1200 for a room in a converted 1bdr apt in midtown west.

As for the issue of Case vs. Sinai, both are great schools. From my experience, I think Case's educational environment(curriculum, support, and maybe even resources) is probably better. However, given the same costs, I think the option of living in NYC vs Cleveland, would easily tilt the choice to Sinai.
 
lookatme said:
the two schools that I got accepted have the same rank on usnews.
Case has great hospital affiliations but is located in Cleveland and a bit more expensive.
I wanted to go somewhere in the east coast. I am leaning a bit more towards Sinai at this point....
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Sinai all the way! There are many many reasons to come to Sinai! Wonderful school & great location.
 
Handy388 said:
ccclm.
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=_= shows how much you know.

Yes because Cleveland is so small. A total of 190 students a year (160 from Case, 30 from CCLCM) really needs to fight over spots in 4 hospitals (Clinic, UH, Metro, VA).

Doesn't NY have 8 medical schools?


Back to the OP's question: yes, Sinai is in a much better location and I think you'll have more fun there. Life is quite expensive in NY, but after saving 10K a year I think you'll be able to afford to spend some. With that said, I think Case has a more relaxed curriculum, more opportunities for research, and less competition for attention and rotation.
 
littlealex said:
Back to the OP's question: yes, Sinai is in a much better location and I think you'll have more fun there. Life is quite expensive in NY, but after saving 10K a year I think you'll be able to afford to spend some. With that said, I think Case has a more relaxed curriculum, more opportunities for research, and less competition for attention and rotation.
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I'm not sure about the last point... Mt. Sinai does have it's own, very large research/teaching hospital that no other med students rotate at or probably do research at.

New York has Cornell, AECOM, Columbia, Sinai, NYU, and Downstate in the city but also has 15 times the population of Cleveland.
 
the area around sinai isn't THAT great. The blocks right around it look pretty run down, if u go 2 blocks south, that is where the rich people live. if you go two blocks north, you are in the projects. I always see this one panhandler with 2 teeth around sinai.

its a great school and i would love to attend it, but you guys are making the area around sinai sound like it is in the middle of manhattan with a lot of things going on.
 
thethethe said:
the area around sinai isn't THAT great. The blocks right around it look pretty run down, if u go 2 blocks south, that is where the rich people live. if you go two blocks north, you are in the projects. I always see this one panhandler with 2 teeth around sinai.

its a great school and i would love to attend it, but you guys are making the area around sinai sound like it is in the middle of manhattan with a lot of things going on.
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I guess, it's only a ~5-10 minute subway ride from downtown, so it's not like it's really inconvenient to get anywhere... keep in mind we're comparing it to CLEVELAND...
 
littlealex said:
=_= shows how much you know.

Yes because Cleveland is so small. A total of 190 students a year (160 from Case, 30 from CCLCM) really needs to fight over spots in 4 hospitals (Clinic, UH, Metro, VA).

Doesn't NY have 8 medical schools?


Back to the OP's question: yes, Sinai is in a much better location and I think you'll have more fun there. Life is quite expensive in NY, but after saving 10K a year I think you'll be able to afford to spend some. With that said, I think Case has a more relaxed curriculum, more opportunities for research, and less competition for attention and rotation.
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In 2008, Sinai actually had more NIH funding than Case (I believe Case's total includes CCLCM, but I could be mistaken) : see http://www.brimr.org/NIH_Awards/2008/NIH_Awards_2008.htm

I would argue that student research opportunities at the two schools are comparable, but focused on different areas. Sinai's research strengths are in Geriatrics, Psychiatry, Neuroscience/Neurology, IM (particularly GI, Cards), Rehab, ENT, Global Health, and Health Disparities.

Sinai also has a relatively relaxed curriculum--almost all exams and quizzes are online, can be taken anywhere with internet access, and are usually open from Thursday - Sunday. Few lectures are mandatory, most are videotaped, and 1st year classes usually start at 10 am, Fridays rarely have anything scheduled past noon during 1st year.

Sinai is located between the UES and East Harlem, offering exposure to two very different populations. It is ~20 mins to get downtown on the subway (much better than Columbia or Einstein). On campus housing is very affordable <$600 for singles and I can get from my door to the classroom in 5 minutes at most. Central Park is also less than 5 minutes away, with the Guggenheim and the Met within walking distance.

But I would have to agree that Case's facilities and affiliated clinical sites are superior to Sinai's affiliated programs. Case also has a better national reputation, although Sinai has a strong reputation on the East coast. Your experience will be very different depending on which school you choose--Sinai is a very unique program due to the HuMed program, its location, its culture, etc. Case also has many strengths. Good luck!
 
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thethethe said:
the area around sinai isn't THAT great. The blocks right around it look pretty run down, if u go 2 blocks south, that is where the rich people live. if you go two blocks north, you are in the projects. I always see this one panhandler with 2 teeth around sinai.

its a great school and i would love to attend it, but you guys are making the area around sinai sound like it is in the middle of manhattan with a lot of things going on.
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That's the beauty of it! Sinai in my opinion is in a very central location and provides exposure to two very distinct patient populations. Spanish harlem is a few blocks away as well as my favoite museums. Central park is across the street. I personally enjoy the diversity of the neighborhood.
 
In terms of exposure to different types of patients, I think both schools would offer similar experiences. I guess it factors down to which city you would like to live in, and given that Sinai has subsized housing so that cost isnt an issue, I think its a pretty easy choice.
 
enigma85 said:
Sinai is a very unique program due to the HuMed program
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Please elaborate - what is this program, and how does it uniquely shape the experience at MSSM?
 
Thanks everyone for your reply.

I plan to attend MSSM's second look weekend, but have not received an invitation or any information regarding it. I just remember reading the second look weekend dates on the email-version of my acceptance letter.

Does anyone know if it's still on? I need to purchase plane tickest asap...
 
flip26 said:
So how many matriculants enter MSSM through this program?

Do traditional applicants see this as a plus or minus having fellow classmates who got in this way?

Does it affect the curriculum and course content / pacing in any way?
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I'm not positive but when I interviewed I think they said it was on the order of 20 - 30 students. I don't think it effects course content or pacing in a significant way. HuMed students start classes the summer before "real" classes start to catch up on the basic sciences and anatomy.

I think most MSSM students see the program as a positive. It's very unique and probably brings people into medicine that would otherwise not be there. Diversity and all...
 
zpiff said:
I'm not positive but when I interviewed I think they said it was on the order of 20 - 30 students. I don't think it effects course content or pacing in a significant way. HuMed students start classes the summer before "real" classes start to catch up on the basic sciences and anatomy.

I think most MSSM students see the program as a positive. It's very unique and probably brings people into medicine that would otherwise not be there. Diversity and all...
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Any nontrads here who got accepted to MSSM but not through this program? Just curious if this program "fills up" the non-trad slots, or if the overriding philosophy of having humanities people extends to the rest of the matriculant pool, too.
 
While Cleveland isn't as vibrant as NYC (what other city is?), Case isn't exactly in the middle of nowhere. Cleveland itself has about 450,000 people, but the county has 1.3 million, and the metro area is somewhere between 2 and 3 million. There are things to do -- theater district, night life, arts (Cleveland Orchestra, etc.), professional sports. It's just on a smaller scale.
 
lookatme said:
Thanks everyone for your reply.

I plan to attend MSSM's second look weekend, but have not received an invitation or any information regarding it. I just remember reading the second look weekend dates on the email-version of my acceptance letter.

Does anyone know if it's still on? I need to purchase plane tickest asap...
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Hey, so info on the MSSM second look was sent out this morning by Jessica Maysonet. It's scheduled for 3 pm Fri, April 24th to 5 pm Sat, April 25th. Hope this helps!:p
 
maybe you could also look at match lists as another way to help you decide. or if rank is important to you, you could wait for the new edition of usnews coming out in april before you decide :D

good luck!!
 
cheese4u said:
maybe you could also look at match lists as another way to help you decide. or if rank is important to you, you could wait for the new edition of usnews coming out in april before you decide :D

good luck!!
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I advise you to not consider these factors heavily in your decision. Even if Sinai is ranked higher or has a better match list this year, it will not make you a happier or better medical student to attend Sinai. Go to both revisits, talk to current students, and also strongly weigh finances, location, culture, curriculum, etc.
 
Like the midwest? Go to Case.

Like Manhattan? Go to Mt. Sinai.

Otherwise, go to the cheapest school after finaid.

Just a quick, unscientific way to think about things.. since it seems like the main difference between the two are location and possibly cost, depending on finaid. They're both great schools in my mind.
 
As a Case student from NYC who almost went to Sinai, I agree with most of this thread regarding how similar the schools are. My take is: Case has better research and clinical opportunities (the NIH data posted above is wrong, case was ranked 12th nationally & sinai was 18...and Sinai's hospitals do NOT compare to the combo of Case/University Hospital, Rainbow, our VA, Metro, and the Cleveland Clinic). That said, I think you can do great research and have good clinical opportunities at sinai too...basically, I think sinai's pretty good in these areas but case is great. However, there is a huge difference in the cities - most people would say nyc is great and cleveland is terrible. I personally prefer cleveland to nyc, but I'm just not a big city person. So in the end, I do think it comes down to geography more than clinical/research opportunities... (and of course financial aid packages).
 
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