CUNY & Med School?

[krachenfels89]

Hello, I'm a senior and currently going through the process of applying to colleges. I'm interested in CUNY Hunter's Honors program which is basically a program that provides free tuition,a labtop, $ stipend, dorms, etc. I intend to become a radiologist when i grow up and I'm not very familiar with the med school admission process.

My real question is:
-How would a program like CUNY Hunter's honors program stack up against SUNY Binghamton or SUNY Cornell (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences). Am i severly hurting my chances for acceptances by attending a CUNY school?
-Also, do you feel there would be a noticable difference in GPA if one went in Hunter Honors, or Cornell and to med schools take that into consideration?

Any advice or imput is greatly appreciated.

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[nervousivy]

Hello, I'm a senior and currently going through the process of applying to colleges. I'm interested in CUNY Hunter's Honors program which is basically a program that provides free tuition,a labtop, $ stipend, dorms, etc. I intend to become a radiologist when i grow up and I'm not very familiar with the med school admission process.

My real question is:
-How would a program like CUNY Hunter's honors program stack up against SUNY Binghamton or SUNY Cornell (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences). Am i severly hurting my chances for acceptances by attending a CUNY school?
-Also, do you feel there would be a noticable difference in GPA if one went in Hunter Honors, or Cornell and to med schools take that into consideration?

Any advice or imput is greatly appreciated.

Just from what I've noticed while interviewing, schools love, love, love students from 'top schools.' I think the name recognition of your school helps you a lot. If you go to Hunter though, just make sure that you're pulling nothing but A's and A-'s...I heard Hunter has a great science dept., but if the adcoms are not familiar with the school, they may discount your grades b/c all they see is 'city university (re: public school).'

 

[Projectx]

Hunter Honor's program is a pretty good program, free tuition+laptop etc. etc.

But, if you plan on attending a top 20 Med. school, I suggest you stay with Hunter college for at least 2 years and then transfer out to a private university. Binghamton has a pretty good rep, but most pre-med students attend Binghamton and transfer out after 2 years as well. Cornell is a really great school, but I am unsure of SUNY Cornell, I know that Cornell University (Ivy) is a great school for pre-meds. (A 3.4 at Cornell is treated like a 4.0 at a CUNY College)

If you check on mdapplicants.com - A majority of the applicants that applied with a good GPA were rejected left and right even with post-baccs.

Also, be wary of your GPA. Some Honors courses tend not to be grade friendly and when Med. schools look at your GPA, they will take the applicant with a 3.8 GPA with a normal course rigor over a 3.5 applicant with a honors course rigor. If you still are interested in CUNY, check out City College's science department. City College is the best CUNY college, also has an engineering program.

*Goodluck, I am also with CUNY, But I am transferring out.

 

[krachenfels89]

That's what I'm worried about. While Talking to an admissions person for Hunter honors, He said the coursework and grades one receives would be very comparable to those one would get @ cornell (Also the SUNY part of Cornell is just a sub-college of IVY Cornell). So i Would most likely be facing simlar GPA's in a Ivy league for +35,000 a year, or a CUNY school for free (honors program, but a cuny nonetheless).
It is a good program but i dont think many people would know that.
-Also i already applied to Hunter, and i would prefer their dorms in manhattan over no dorms @ city univ.

 

[MeCord3]

I am guessing you're talking about the Cuny Honors College? If so I can give you some perspective as I graduated from that program just last year. Hunter is undoubtedly a good school, and going to that program will save you a lot of finaincial heartache. In addition, you will have access to plenty of research opportunities both on and off campus (there are many other research institutions you can turn to in Manhattan). I went to a(nother) CUNY school as part of the Cuny Honors College, and I have done just fine in terms of med school admissions. Several of my fellow CHC graduates are now in ivy and top tier med schools, so it is definately not out of the question. However it would be naive to completely discount the advantages offered by a more well known institute. The question to ask yourself is what, in addition to recognition, will you gain at those other institutes.

 

[JimJamJimmy]

Should you end up attending the CUNY Honors College, I seriously suggest you do ePermit and take your Chemistry courses at CCNY. The Chemistry Department here is unbelieveable, with notable resources and professors that actually encourage undergraduate research - my Orgo professor kept me in her office for almost an hour just to talk about working in her Medicinal Chemistry Lab.

Prior to attending CCNY, I never considered majoring in a science, and now I'm a Chemistry Major. So yea...

 

[Projectx]

The thing is, a CUNY student does have the possibility of getting into an Ivy Medical school, but the student who went to a private university will have a bigger shot. Like I stated before, www.mdapplicants.com so you can see the stats and compare schools.

City college does have dorms actually, and their school is well known for providing scholarships for grad. school.

Like I said, it depends what med. school you plan on attending. SUNY Schools love to accept CUNY students for their med. school. Private schools love to accept Private school students for theirs.

 

[Cirrus83]

Speaking of Hunter's Honors program...they actually have some sort of linked program with Cornell Weill, so that Cornell Weill takes like 2-3 kids from Hunter Honors each year. I don't have the exact details, but there is such a program since my friend just got into Cornell Weill through it (she did have like a 3.9x GPA anyway).

I don't know if the other CUNY Honors programs have something like that, but you should probably ASK them!

Anyways, I'm sure Hunter has such a program so it wouldn't surprise me if the other CUNY Honors also had similar things.

Of course I suppose if you didn't get into that linked program you might have a tougher time getting in anywhere.

Anyways she almost made me regret going to private university lol

 

[Projectx]

I have never heard of such a program.

It is the difference between having less than a 2% chance of getting into Cornell if that program even exists and having a normal shot anywhere by being able to compete against other private university grads.

Public vs. Private...the Private school benefits outweight the Public ones.

 

[Mantis05753]

Brooklyn College is another highly regarded CUNY school, and I am pretty sure they have some sort of linkage program with SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn. I think the better CUNY's like Hunter and Brooklyn are highly regarded and if you can get a high GPA and MCAT scores, going to a CUNY school won't hurt your chances of getting into the med school of your choice. Med schools like some diversity in their class, and most of them have more than enough Ivy League graduates.

 

[Projectx]

Brooklyn college has a linked program with SUNY Downstate or Upstate, unsure. Brooklyn and Hunter are not highly regarded outside the SUNY/CUNY system, and Med. schools do like diversity but the private university kind not the public college kind.

 

[tkdusb]

The first year class at Stony Brook Med has atleast 5 people who came from CUNY schools, so it's very possible to go to a CUNY and go to a great med school. The class also has a dozen or so students from Cornell, and there's no sign that either group is more capable than the other.

 

[Projectx]

In reply to the above comment:

Stonybrook is publicly funded and they are known for accepting NY State residents. Like I stated before, it depends on what med. school you want to attend.

CUNY to SUNY Med. school=Possible
CUNY to Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Columbia, Stanford etc. med schools= Not as likeley and CUNY graduates can't compete against other Private Univ. grads.

 

[Dookter]

Brooklyn college has a linked program with SUNY Downstate or Upstate, unsure. Brooklyn and Hunter are not highly regarded outside the SUNY/CUNY system, and Med. schools do like diversity but the private university kind not the public college kind.

Sad, but true. However, that only is to a certain extent. Medical schools do like having kids from big name schools. But when it comes to diversity, they want diversity in their students. And you definitely have a greater chance statistically of going to medical school from Harvard. But that is turning you into a statistic, which is not exactly how the application process works. It does not really matter, if you rock, schools will want you. You just have to rock a little more coming from a public school [assuming it is not one of the highly ranked public schools in the country] to even out the differences between you and a good student from a big private school. I did it, and it worked out great for me. So do what works for you. I could never have gone to an Ivy L. school or really any big private school b/c I could not pay for it. I had the stats coming out of high school to get into really competitive/good private schools, but I did not have the money. So I did what worked in my situation. Don't feel bad if you can't go to a big name private school.

 

[krachenfels89]

I can see the truth in this to an extent, but it seems weird that your acceptance is based (somewhat) on the prestige of your school, but hopefully that prestige amounts in more than a name, maybe for more intelligent classmates, hurting grades you could say with curves and grading, and then it may be easier to make up for that slack in prestige by working just as hard and getting a higher gpa, and mcat which isnt really influenced by the school.
Thank you for pointing out both the positives and the negatives of attending each.

-Would you also consider choice of medical school just as important for a job, as your college is to medical school?

 

[Projectx]

Don't get confused with the old CUNY by the way, before CUNY used to have prestige and was well known for sending grads to Ivy Leagues and top Univs. for grad school. Now things have drastically changed and they are not the same as before. Sad thing is that if you work hard at a CUNY you will probably tackle the same work at a private university so your gpa will be about the same if not more but it is all just about the name.

Medical schools are important depending on what residency you want to be placed in. For example, if you want to go into Primary care it won't really matter what school you go to. If you want to go into surgery, dermatology, or any other field the competition will be fiercer and from what I hear, for residency they give priority to #1 Ivy Leagues, #2 Private Med. schools, #3 Public, #4 International so your chances will be a bit slimmer. It is possible, but it depends what you want to specialize in and other factors etc.

 

[Dookter]

Don't get confused with the old CUNY by the way, before CUNY used to have prestige and was well known for sending grads to Ivy Leagues and top Univs. for grad school. Now things have drastically changed and they are not the same as before. Sad thing is that if you work hard at a CUNY you will probably tackle the same work at a private university so your gpa will be about the same if not more but it is all just about the name.

Medical schools are important depending on what residency you want to be placed in. For example, if you want to go into Primary care it won't really matter what school you go to. If you want to go into surgery, dermatology, or any other field the competition will be fiercer and from what I hear, for residency they give priority to #1 Ivy Leagues, #2 Private Med. schools, #3 Public, #4 International so your chances will be a bit slimmer. It is possible, but it depends what you want to specialize in and other factors etc.

Your assessment of medical school admissions is right, but once again, only to an extent. First of all, Ivy L. medical school will not be given higher status simply b/c they are Ivy L. If you little list was correct, UCSF, UCLA, UTSW, etc., would not be sending students into top programs, which they obviously do b/c they are wonderful [public] schools. You're right about that fact that what medical school you go to makes a difference, but Ivy L. med schools absolutely do not have an advantage over schools that are in essense "better" school than them. [If you look at rankings, which is really a stupid way of decided which schools are better, you will see schools ranked high, sometimes much higher, than Ivy L. med schools.] And in the end, it all depends on how you do anyway. This top has been beaten to death on these forums, but I just wanted to point out that Ivy L does NOT necessarily = better for medical school.

 

[ny skindoc]

Don't get confused with the old CUNY by the way, before CUNY used to have prestige and was well known for sending grads to Ivy Leagues and top Univs. for grad school. Now things have drastically changed and they are not the same as before. Sad thing is that if you work hard at a CUNY you will probably tackle the same work at a private university so your gpa will be about the same if not more but it is all just about the name.

Medical schools are important depending on what residency you want to be placed in. For example, if you want to go into Primary care it won't really matter what school you go to. If you want to go into surgery, dermatology, or any other field the competition will be fiercer and from what I hear, for residency they give priority to #1 Ivy Leagues, #2 Private Med. schools, #3 Public, #4 International so your chances will be a bit slimmer. It is possible, but it depends what you want to specialize in and other factors etc.

I would say your analysis is simplistic.Going to a prestigious med school is certainly a big boost for a residency applicant.However this is true for a relatively small number of med schools perhaps the top 20 or so.After that that it is far less critical.There are many average private med schools and there are outstanding public schools.A look at the residency lists of many top hospitals indicates that their residents come from a wide variety of medcial schools.So how well you perform in the med school you actually go to will be the primary indicator of what your options will be.
As far as the CUNY system,in the 1970s and 1980s its reputation did suffer due to an open admissions policy.However in the past 5 years with the institution of the CUNY honors programs and higher standards overall admission to the four year CUNY colleges has become competitive.All of the med schools in the New York area have many CUNY students.Outside of NYC the schools are less well known but the stronger applicants do fine nationally.

 

[Caristra]

I'm another non-Hunter CHC student. I am graduating in June and currently applying. I am having a great app cycle so far and I applied MD/PHD. So far my CHC cohort this year is doing quite well acceptance/interview wise.

I would like you to note that the 2007 MDapps profiles that are being added are only visible if you uncheck the "exclude incomplete icomplete profiles". I think you'll find that is a more comprehensive list and has plenty of applicants with good GPA's & MCATs who are NOT "being rejected left and right".

There are a lot of things to consider when making this decision. If you think you are the kind of applicant that needs the extra points that going to an ivy undergrad confers then go that route. If you have other ways to distinguish yourself and finances are an issue then go the CUNY route. Most of all, don't make this decision based on what a few people on an anonymous internet forum think. Go visit the schools, talk to their students and your family. See which school feels right for you. CUNY, even CHC, is not right for everyone. Neither is Harvard. You need to decide what school you would be happiest attending/can also afford.

 

[Projectx]

All of the med schools in the New York area have many CUNY students.Outside of NYC the schools are less well known but the stronger applicants do fine nationally.

That's true, like I stated you will have a good shot with public med. schools in NY but your chances will be a bit lower for out of state. It depends on what Med. school you wish to attend.

Picture it this way, which would you accept?: 3.6 from a CUNY school or a 3.6 from Tufts or BU or any other private university. It is true that it depends what kind of student you are and how bad you want it, still if you can achieve a 4.0 in CUNY then you can achieve a 4.0 at a private university which will give you a leg up. Of course, take cost into consideration and see if the place suits you. I wouldn't recommend going to a school you didn't like just because the name.

If you just want to get into Med. school CUNY is fine for an undergrad, if your dream is to attend a med. school in the top 5 and if you need that extra push to make you stand out, go to a private university if you can.

(You can go to Hunter for 2 years, test the waters, if you like it stay and if not transfer out.)

 

[Cirrus83]

I decided to google up what the hell I was talking about, and here's some better details:
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/arts_sci/preprofessional.shtml

The Premedical Program has 3 Linkage Programs, one with SUNY Stonybrook, one with Weill Medical College of Cornell University, and one with SUNY Downstate. Please note that these programs are open only to prospective medical students.

I think if you're hardcore enough to get into medschool elsewhere, going to Hunter isn't going to kill your chances (honors anyway).

But yes, if you want to apply to a top school other than Cornell you might have a tough time.

But hey, so would I! and I went to a private university

 

[Projectx]

Yea, but let's be honest, if private universities did not have their benefits then almost everyone would just attend their public colleges and get into top tier medical schools. Im not saying any private university graduate is a kick in at every school, but it seperates him from other applicants. Alot of CUNY students transfer out after their second year.

It's like saying....who would get into a top MBA Program, a Wharton graduate with a 4.0 or a Queens college graduate with a 4.0, be honest, who would get in?

 

[ny skindoc]

Yea, but let's be honest, if private universities did not have their benefits then almost everyone would just attend their public colleges and get into top tier medical schools. Im not saying any private university graduate is a kick in at every school, but it seperates him from other applicants. Alot of CUNY students transfer out after their second year.

It's like saying....who would get into a top MBA Program, a Wharton graduate with a 4.0 or a Queens college graduate with a 4.0, be honest, who would get in?

If its between a Wharton grad and Queens grad with the same grades then I would agree..but this is not usually the situation ..if its between Queens College and
90% of other colleges public or private the name of the school itself will not be the key factor.As for the those 10% top name schools ...YES go to them if you can it will help you for sure!

 

[krachenfels89]

I understand you saying to attend the better one, which can be done with student loans, but for $30,000 more, I'm not sure if it's worth it.

 

[Projectx]

If you can not get a scholarship to cover the costs, than by all means just stay with CUNY, I would do the same if it meant paying 30k in tuitions yearly.

Also, don't let financial reasons restrict you from some schools. A majority of them offer scholarships to cover the costs if you are financially needy.