creighton vs nymc vs albany

[nmbutah]

hey everyone, looking for feedback/thoughts/gossip or whatever is to be had on which school I should choose, here's my pro con list so far

Creighton
Pros:
-everyone seems to absolutely love it and talk about what a great supportive environment it is
-small town, few stresses, few distractions
-tons of extracurriculars, volunteer at homeless clinic, in dominican republic, etc.
-I kinda like that its a religious school, not that I'm looking for religion, but they seem focussed on human values rather than purely tech.
-option of going to phoenix, only 2 years of flat lands
-good patient population

cons:
-I think I was in a bad mood at the interview but it seemed like all people could talk about was football, seemed kinda jockish, I'm looking for more of a hippyish vibe if we're going for stereotypes.
-Omaha...cant think of anything too great about Omaha, I'll miss mountains, I live to ski
-hospital seemed not so great
-I'm nervous about doing the phoenix track since its new

Albany:

pros:
location...noone says that about albany, but at least its near mountains, kinda a priority for me

cons:
campus/vibe seemed not very special, it seemed like it was everyone's only choice, the school seems perfectly adequate, but nothing stands out. not sure about extracurriculars/student culture etc.

NYMC:
pros:
-dorms, less stress about where to live first year
-nice campus
-near nyc, but not in nyc
-pretty good vibe from students

cons
-its kinda the opposite of creighton, I only hear about how unhappy students are at NYMC, although that wasn't the impression I got when I interviewed there
-the whole touro merger, probably fine, but does it mean change/instability/problems
-like albany nothing special jumped out to me about extracurriculars/culture
-like albany it seemed like it was alot of people's last/only choice
-New York kinda scares me

and then there's the wild card, Rocky Vista (D.O.) school

pros:
LOCATION: There is no where in the world I'd rather live than Colorado, mountains make me happy, especially skiing, and rural colorado, where they have some rotations is pretty much the best. hard to say no to that but...

cons:
D.O.
-I want to do general practice so does it really matter
-new
-for profit
-my parents would be pissed if I went DO vs MD, even though I think they'd both get me where I want to be...

so what do y'all think. are my assumptions correct? am I missing things? what would you choose

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[willen101383]

I know nothing of the schools but I grew up in Albany until I left for college. It seems like you are into outdoorsy stuff, as am I. The place is teeming with outdoor activities. The largest state park in the US (adirondack state park) is about 1.5 hours north of Albany...with all the world class hiking/fishing/hunting etc you coud ever want. Within a 2 hour radius you have the best skiing the east coast has to offer. Gore Mtn is just about an hour fifteen door to door..and it is likely one of my favorite mountains out there. Albany medical center is the only level one trauma center for quite a ways...so you will definitely have some cool opportunities there IMO.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Moving to the School-specific forum.

 

[Justforkicks4]

I haven't had the opportunity to visit either the Albany or NYMC campuses, but as a Creighton undergrad I can say that I've had a great time in Omaha. I'm originally from the Chicagoland area and was worried that there wouldn't be much to do in the Big O, but I've been more than impressed. The Old Market area is close and ever expanding, there's a huge new apartment/bar/restaurant/movie theatre complex only a block from the hospital (close enough that they'll be providing Creighton wireless access) and the living is CHEAP compared to the Northeast. You can live in the nicest loft apartments in the city for $550 with a roommate. Also, with the new College World Series stadium being built a couple blocks from campus there have been a couple of new bars that have opened up within walking distance from my apartment.

If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me.

 

[Moobs]

NYMC:
pros:
-dorms, less stress about where to live first year
-nice campus
-near nyc, but not in nyc
-pretty good vibe from students

cons
-its kinda the opposite of creighton, I only hear about how unhappy students are at NYMC, although that wasn't the impression I got when I interviewed there
-the whole touro merger, probably fine, but does it mean change/instability/problems
-like albany nothing special jumped out to me about extracurriculars/culture
-like albany it seemed like it was alot of people's last/only choice
-New York kinda scares me

I'm a student at nymc so I thought I would give you my take on your pro/cons list.

First, I wouldn't really say students are unhappy. For the most part, everyone seems to get along with everyone else and there always seems like there is something to do on the weekend, unless a test is on the loom. I will admit, at times I wish we had a straight up P/F system, but you will soon learn not to care about honoring unless you are a gunner. Maybe this causes undue stress to some students, but not me. Also, there are so many extra curricular activities and groups to get involved in that it actually gets annoying how many emails I get. If you want to join a group to help babies with HIV in Africa, you can. If you want to be in student government, you can. If you want to just play football and softball, you can. If you want to do research, you can. etc. etc.

I still don't know what to think about the touro thing. I know we will get a few more Jewish holidays off and we will get out of school early on Friday so that's kind of sweet. From what I hear, most of the people running things will still run things....they will just have more money to do it.

As far as culture, you will have the chance to live in and rotate through hospitals in quite possibly the most diverse city in the world your third and fourth year. It is a good deal because if you decide the city isn't for you, you can just rotate at westchester medical center. If you decide you love the city your first two years, you can move to brooklyn or manhattan and schedule all of your rotations for in the city.

About it being a safety school....of course it is a safety school. Most students at the school went to ivey league undergrads, scored above average for medical students on their mcats and had high gpas. Most of the students thought they would get into a more elite school. For some reason or another, nymc seems to take a lot of students who just for some reason or another didn't fare too well in the app process. The reason behind it being seen as less elite, is that it does not have an undergrad. Most of the medical school prestige builds from the undergrad. It has been around 150 years, but for some reason a medical school that has been around for 5 years with a well known undergrad will be seen as more reputable to pre-meds and the general public. I mean if notre dame or princeton created a medical school right now, it would instantly be seen as a better school just because the undergrads are known.

With that being said, nymc does have a very good match list. We matched 10 students into ortho and 28 students into radiology. 28 students into radiology is almost unheard of so if you by any chance you want to go into radiology, nymc would probably be your best choice.

Anyway, like everyone always says, go where you will be happiest. If you like the mountains a ton, stop debating and go to albany. If you do good at any of those schools, you will have a shot to land a decent residency. I would advise you against the D.O. school though. Going to any M.D. schools, you could have a shot at landing a prestigious residency position; however, going to a D.O. school will severely limit your options.

 

[whoknows2012]

+1...98% of the information on SDN about NYMC are just straight up not true and usually posted by pre-meds NOT students...there are about 5 or 6 of us that actively post and if you need clarification on anything (even if it has nothing to do with NYMC and just the decision process in general) you can PM any of us. There is a pretty tight knit community here, and most students are generally happy, and again I advise anyone against believing everything you read/hear on SDN and instead finding out for yourselves either from students like myself, or other knowledgeable posters on SDN.

 

[nmbutah]

thanks for all the great information guys! much to think about