Dartmouth, NYU, or Stony Brook (SUNY)??

Hi,

I am a student in Sophie Davis, which is a 7 year BS/MD program in NY.
This year, we need to apply to one of 6 medical schools for our clinical rotations (years 3 and 4 for MD degree). I am trying to decide among the following 3 med schools:

Dartmouth, NYU, and Stony Brook (SUNY). [i currently have no preference... I listed them in alpha order]

Can anyone please share their experiences/advice/stories/hearsay(lol) about any of these schools? I would appreciate any info that will help me decide...

Thank you!

 

Dartmouth, NYU, or Stony Brook (SUNY)?
*bump*

 

oh, okay. Thanks for letting me know, ti89!

 

Thanks, TheMightyAngus.

 

I guess that's one of my troubles... I'm not sure about what specialty I want to go into. At the moment I'm leaning toward academic medicine and away from surgeries, but beyond that, it's a huge plain to me...

Sophie Davis teaches us a lot about public health and the importance of primary care and I whole-heartedly support their goals, but I know they haven't shown us everything and I don't want to regret personal choices made in ignorance...

So what's a good med school for scouting out all the possibilities (using only years 3 and 4 since that's when I'll be there), and still having a good shot at residency if/when I decide?

 

Thanks, nicholasblonde! I didn't even see that forum. lol
Oh yeah, transportation might be an issue for me. Right now I'm totally reliant on the NYC public transportation system (and my legs lol). I'm kind of waiting for cleaner cars to be less expensive...

And thank you, Thewonderer. I also hear Stony Brook is very quiet. I like quiet too...

 

Heeey! haha ~resurrects my old, old thread~

Guess what?? I'm at NYU now, and I'm living in one of those apartments across the street from Tisch. ^_^ Now I'm pondering about specialties... lol

 

hahaha You're welcome.

If anybody here has questions about the 3rd year at NYU, or about Sophie Davis, feel free to PM me.

 

You sign a service commitment for providing 2 years of primary care service (paid) in an underserved area. These areas are designated each year by an agency I can't recall the name of... they look at the number of docs per person living in each area. Primary care = family medicine, general internal medicine, or general pediatrics. I think ob/gyn is also included (primary care for women!), but none of the subspecialties of any of these primary care fields are included.

It is highly preferred that you carry out this service agreement. You can do whatever you want after these 2 years. However, you aren't *forced* to do this if you truly feel passionate about a non-primary care field of medicine. A change of heart costs you the amount of money that the school/government invests in your interest in primary care.

We learn a lot about community research techniques and epidemiology, which are quite helpful in interpreting and conducting population-based research studies. If you have a healthy dose of ambition, I think you can become a great leader in public health through this program. There is talk about incorporating a MPH degree into the program too, but I have no idea if it will actually happen.

Even if you do end up specializing, I think the curriculum's emphasis on community based research and healthcare gives you useful training. All fields of medicine are related in some way. IMO, even as a specialist, you can help improve primary care by providing input about primary care practices like referrals and screening procedures.

The class sizes are pretty small, and we can get to know our classmates very well (which may be good or bad lol). We can get to know the professors very well, too. The area immediately surrounding the school is not very vibrant, but a train or bus ride can take you anywhere in Manhattan...

Sooo... in conclusion, if you are seriously thinking about practicing primary care in NY and/or doing public health work, you should consider applying to Sophie Davis.

/end plug

 

You're welcome. ^_^

Also, the curriculum has undergone much revision in the past couple of years and there is new leadership, so you should visit their website and try to talk to the students who are currently attending the school... which your friends have probably already done, so I'll just drop this link and be quiet now. http://med.cuny.edu

 

I personally thought the teaching was pretty good, overall. I'm happy with my Step 1 score (but I did take a Kaplan course, to help me navigate through the sheer breadth of information the USMLE covers). I don't feel like I had worse preparation... ANY med school will make people feel like they're being overwhelmed with information. If anything, at Sophie, spending 2.5 years on the preclinicals, having some classes in the summer, and having a biomedical focus from the beginning makes us more prepared. And the tutoring office has really taken off since I was there. I think they got a big grant or something... I also feel like we receive a superior education in statistics, epidemiology, and public health, compared to many other medical schools in which these topics are sort of just glazed over. But I haven't actually attended any lectures in any other med schools, so I could just be spinning cotton here.

I feel like we didn't have much opportunity to explore our clinical interests earlier on. Some of my current classmates joined student-run "specialty interest groups" in their 1st or 2nd years, but not surprisingly, no such groups exist in Sophie, which is geared toward primary care. Sophie gives you a lot of exposure to primary care! For better or worse... lol

There are probably students who graduate from here after barely passing everything... they probably are not very prepared for 3rd year and beyond, but who would be, at any school?

I honestly do not know what our average scores are, or how well we match. I think these are legitimate questions to ask the admissions office, or during your interviews. Some information about that should be in their brochures. I don't remember too well, but I don't think I was particularly worried about these things when I was applying to Sophie out of high school. I probably did find out about that from their brochures or something. Sorry, it was like 6 years ago for me... my memory of that awful, stressful time has gone all fuzzy... lol