Downstate vs. Upstate

[Asianqt79]

Hi =o) I was wondering if someone could tell me what it is like to live in Syracuse? I was accepted to both Upstate and Downstate, and I can't decide which one to go to. I'm from NYC, but the area around Downstate is really scary. I was wondering if it really is that dangerous? I heard that any med school is pretty much the same as any other, it's only the living conditions. I have to decide soon, so someone please help =o)

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[turtleboard]

The bat signal's up.

For anyone from New York City, the name "Syracuse" evokes images of a beautifully rustic suburban town, perfectly bucolic surroundings, and friendly people. The truth is the town of Syracuse is a dump -- people are moving out and the town's population is quickly dropping. It's a city that's in a crisis. It's not all that safe either. Crime is high in a part of Syracuse called "Skunk city," where something like 1 out of every three or four homes is vacant.

It's a far cry from East Flatbush, Brooklyn, that's a given, but at least you'll be close enough to New York City that you can run home whenever you begin to feel overwhelmed by the locals.

To be honest East Flatbush isn't a nice area. I wouldn't even consider living anywhere close to hear after med school, but it's really not as bad as everyone says it is. Sure the people are rude and they'd sooner spit on and harrass you before helping, but that's only during the day. If you so choose you can live in nearby Park Slope, which is probably one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in New York City.

Downstate's location will provide you an escape. Upstate's location will trap you and allow the local yocals of the 'cuse to gnaw away at your big-city attitude -- how can you live without it?

Whichever school you choose, good luck in your studies and congratulations! If you do attend SUNY for med school you'll be saving nearly $100,000 by the time you complete your MD. Cool, huh?

Tim W. of N.Y.C.

 

[caffeinegirl]

My bat signal's up too!
I live pretty close to Syracuse. Upstate NY is not all it's cracked up to be!!
Syracuse is cold, gray, and is located on the shores of the most polluted lake in the nation.
There is crime there, and there are also no interesting things to do whatsoever. Well, the list is very limited. You will feel cooped up after four years (even if you decide to go to Binghamton for the clinical years....that place is also pretty dead)
If you're coming from a city, then don't go to Syracuse...you'll really go stir-crazy! If you're from a small town, like me, well, Syracuse is bigger, but not that different.
Choose wisely..!
Plus, Upstate has unhappy competitive students (of course, there are exceptions to the rule)...

 

[Detroit Rock City]

I do not know caffiene girl but I would have to agree. Living in NYC the better part of my life and being forced to move to detroit have made me realize how lucky I was to live in the apple. I'll take traffic and pollution over this crap anyday. Having rotated in "the county" I'd choose downstate over upstate anyday.Even if you are from west podunk or wherever caffienegirl is from you really should take the opportunity to live in NYC. You may not like it much when you get there, but I guarantee there will be things that you will miss when you leave. They might have the orangemen, but we got the redmen (or to be politically correct, the red storm)
DRC
P.S. Tim, do you think you could send me some Patsy Grimaldi's?? Or how about some Luger's?

 

[libms3]

I was born and grew up in NYC. I came upstate for med school and am glad that I did. It really depends on what you're looking for in life. If you've never lived away from the city, it's going to be hard adjusting to life up here. That's true. The point is, if you're looking for a great social life, you won't find as much to do up here, as compared to NYC. But if you do look, there are still things to do here. In any case, you won't have that much in the way of extra time while you're in medical school, so it's a moot point most of the time. But if your entire family and all your friends are in NYC and you can't imagine life in a smaller city, then I think your choice is relatively simple. I have friends downstate, and so far none of them have been attacked as far as I know, if that's what you're worried about.

Since everyone else has emphasized the negatives of coming to school at Upstate, I thought I should at least try to explain why sane people would come here. The air is much cleaner up here, and the surrounding areas are very beautiful. You can actually drive your car around without worrying about the traffic or parking (okay, except for days when there's a basketball or football game at SU, but even then, it isn't that bad). People in general are really quite nice and friendly here. The crime rate is small compared to larger cities. The cost of living is ridiculous- you can get a nice apartment for $300-$500 a month. And if you're willing to live in a relatively small city in Upstate NY for 4 years, the education that you get here is really excellent, especially for the price. We have a University Hospital that is actually busy because it's the only major tertiary care hospital in the area.

In any case, I'm sure you'll make the right choice, whatever it is, because in the end, it doesn't matter where you go, only what you get out of it.

 

[turtleboard]

DRC,

Luger has a website and you can order everything on it: http://www.peterluger.com

As for Patsy's, I don't think they have a website, but if you really, really want something I'll look into shipping it for you.

Tim W. of N.Y.C.

 

[smedley]

I spent 5 long years in NYC and the happiest day of my life was when I moved back to Buffalo. Now, I am not saying Syracuse is anything like Buffalo, but I would say that UB is an excellent med school with very reasonable tuition, and I will never leave the area again -- eer--unless Hillary starts coming around.

 

[jaclyn]

So far I've been accepted to Syracuse, Buffalo, and Downstate (I haven't heard from Stony Brook yet)... And I'm really undecided between the three! I've lived in Upstate NY before and like it, but I'm living near NYC now and I really don't want to leave. So, my dilmena is that the students at UB seem really happy and I like that school the best. But, it's so far away from NYC and all my friends and family... Downstate is the only school close to NYC and has a very good reputation in the city... but the area really scares me. And then Syracuse is a compromise in terms of location b/c it's within driving distance to NYC (5 hours vs. 8 for Buffalo) but isn't as far as Buffalo or in as bad an area as Downstate. So, that's my thoughts-- any advice anyone????

 

[Hope88]

Jaclyn,
I'm in somewhat of a similar situation - I'm trying to choose between UB and Stony Brook (I got accepted to Syracuse but declined the offer). If you have any arguments for why you think one school is better than the other, I'd be interested to hear them. Let me know what you decide. Perhaps we'll be classmates next year!

 

[Detroit Rock City]

Thanks Tim, but I'm coming home to visit in a few weeks.
The luger's isn't the same if you don't eat it there!!

 

[annen]

I went to NYU as an undergrad. I really loved it at NYU and the village but I chose to go to Syracuse for med school for several reasons. First of all, social life doesn't depend on the city you live in, it depends on your friends and your social circle, there is a lot of stuff to do in Syracuse, but you have to go out there and find it. The tuition is very reasonable if anyone is trying to make a decision over a private school. Syracuse has one of the best clinical years than any of other SUNY systems. During third and fourth years a lot of my friends at Downstate did a lot of SCUT work. At Syracuse, there was minimal scut work, all med. students as a rule do some amount of scut, but the amount is farely reduced upstate, and overall the residents tried to teach the med. students. As a fourth year I did a lot of electives away from Syracuse, I did one in the city, the difference was the amount of SCUT. If you are willing to do scut work during third and fourth years and lead a miserable life of abuse then by all means you should choose downstate over upstate. Overall the first and second years are the same at all SUNYs and they are comprable to some of the private schools. The grads. from Syracuse do match well when it comes to residency positions, most people match within their first 3 choices. This year, there are atleast 20 of us from Syracuse who are applying for General Surgery, that by far is the greatest percent of graduates you will find at any of the SUNYs going into one of the competitive fields of medicine. Again, it depends on your priorities. Mine were simple; I wanted a social life without compromising my education and I got my goals met at Syracuse.

 

[Asianqt79]

This is going to sound really stupid...but what is SCUT work? And do you need a car in Syracuse? Because I went to NYU undergrad too, and I'm from the city, so I never got a license =o)

 

[libms3]

My definition of scut work is when you're doing little things on the wards like copying down the vital signs and lab values for the whole team, fetching X-rays that noone else can find, and other mindless things that don't add to your learning at all, yet need to be done. It's basically the feeling of running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

I actually didn't get my license either until after I went to medical school. You definitely don't need a car for the first 2 years. I went to Binghamton for my third year and didn't get a car until 5 months into it, but it was necessary then. If you stay in Syracuse for your third year, I don't think you absolutely need a car, but it depends on whether you rotate at an outside hospital. In any case, you can always change your preference for either campus up until your third year, so it's not engraved in stone. By the way, although Binghamton is touted as being big on primary care, a number of my classmates are going into specialties and subspecialties. Hope this helps.

 

[turtleboard]

Fellow NYU alumnus, alumna-to-be, and friends of SDN,

The strength of your third-year clerkships shouldn't be discounted. The general consensus is that Upstate DOES NOT have a strong clinical program -- even WITHIN the SUNY system. That's a ridiculous claim to make!

Downstate has the strongest clinical affiliations and has the strongest clinical program within SUNY. It arguably has as good a clinical program as NYU, which is in a similar hospital setting (a private, university hospital with a large municipal hospital). The main advantage of Downstate's clinical program is that you'll learn a lot, and everyone from residency program directors to med students at other med schools knows this.

Learning in the third-year is partly through doing stuff and through your resident/attending. Downstate's faculty is incredibly accomplished in many clinical areas, so you'll be learning from some of the biggest names in the field.

Don't get me wrong. I don't HATE Upstate. I think it's a pretty decent med school. I just don't think it should be a consideration when you've got another SUNY acceptance on hand. Upstate's plusses: prettier campus that Downstate, decent location, low-tuition.


Tim W. of N.Y.U. '99 (NOTE: Just a little friendly school rivalry)

 

[annen]

SCUT work as libms3 defined is mindless unskilled labor such as: photocopying a 700 page chart, delivering pizza for the entire staff, running down to the post-office to mail someone else's mail, waiting down at Radiology for hours to find a film from the 1900s. I agree with Turtleboard in that you do need to do some amount of SCUT but that should not be all that you do! Third year is an important year for you to consolidate the pathology you learned in second year and apply it clinically when you see it. This integral year shouldn't be mistaken for doing mindless errands or hanging out with Big Wigs with big names. What you need as a third year is good teaching, that necessarily doesn't have to come from a Big Wig or a well known professor. That being said, as a fourth year I mentioned that I did electives away from Syracuse, well I went to Northwestern, Sloan Memorial, and NYU ..... I did really well in my clincal grades there. Coming from Syracuse I felt adequately prepared to do well at these elite, academically "challenging" places, and my clinical grades in those rotations prove that, on top of it I had what turtleboard refers to as "famous physicians" write me couple of my recommendation letters for General Surgery. I had a better work ethic than the students at those places, and I knew more interms of clinical management than they did. I think Libms3 would agree with me on this since libms3 did rotations at Hopkins and Harvard. Furthermore, the best teacher I ever had was a third year resident in Internal Medicine, who sat down with my group and went through clinical situations step by step; not a Big Wig at a private institution. I would like to know where the evidence and or the stats. are coming from to prove that Upstate's clinical rotations are not comprable to Downstate's if not better! It is all perspective. And no turtleboard, it isn't obvious to choose from the SUNYs, a lot of my friends did choose Syracuse over Downstate, so maybe you should hook up with them? Let's deal with the facts okay?

 

[mikedemarco]

Let me just add my two cents...I visited Syracuse in November and it was a DUMP!!! Both the school and the location. The location was so depressing I won't even elaborate. If you can't see that for yourself, there's not much more I can add. Turtleboard is right in that there is NO ESCAPE from med school when you are up there - you are trapped. The only people you will be able to hang out with are med school classmates. There are not even decent grad schools up there, so your social options will be very limited. As for the school itself, you will get a decent education academically in the sense that they will teach you what you need to know to be a doctor (like any MD school in the U.S. except for a couple). But the facilities are really really run down. The biggest turnoff for me was the students. It seemed like everybody got in off the waitlist and it was their last - or only- choice of school. I have never met such un-intellectual people in my life. Everyone had gone to college at Rennsalleir Polytechnic Institute or SUNY Binghamton or some little upstate college or engineering school. No well-rounded humaniteis types at Syracuse, that's for sure. Our tourguide was such a meathead I couldn't believe that he was going to be a surgeon....I was thinking that I would not let him operate on me in a million years. He reminded me of John Travolta in saturday night fever. I expect a doctor to be a bit more professional. All of the students that we met told us they wanted to go into surgery or a well-paying field, but to say in our interviews that we were "all about primary care" because that's what the interviewers want to hear. There was no respect for patients and our same tourguide told us these "funny" stories about all of the old, sad patients at the VA hospital that he had to deal with every day and how they were so annoying. I got out of there on the first Amtrack train in could.

 

[Asianqt79]

Thank you all for your insight and opinions =o) I have pretty much decided where to go, and now I'm just wondering if the dorms at Downstate are really horrible, and if I would be better off getting an apartment?

 

[turtleboard]

Alumna,

There will be a Second Look Day at Downstate sometime in mid to late March. You'll be able to take a look at the dorms when you're there.

My take on them: they're horrible and if you're within commuting range, I'd commute. Some students who don't have that option live in nearby Park Slope, which is an area a lot like Greenwich Village (NYU-town). Rents run between $1,000 (studio) to $1,200 (one bedroom) if you're lucky.

Hope to see you in the Fall.

Tim W. of N.Y.C.

 

[turtleboard]

Annen,

You're right, I apologize. Facts only.

Do you have Upstate's most recent match list on-hand?


Tim W. of N.Y.C.

 

[mikedemarco]

Turtleboard - thanks for all your info on downstate. you seem to know a lot about the school. i am 90% sure I will be going there in the fall...I just have some questions about what the previous posters on this thread wrote about scutwork. Could you tell me what year you are at Downstate? have you personally done any clinical rotations yet? I would like some people's info on the amount of scutwork done by downstate students. I have only heard great things about downstate's clinical experience. Obviously if it is such and hands-on experience, you will be doing lots of stuff...but have there been times when you felt you were being abused by higher-ups, such as delivering people's mail, ordering food, etc? Thanks.

 

[turtleboard]

I'm a second-year at Downstate.

No, I haven't rotated at all in any of Downstate's hospitals but know a lot of MS3s and 4s who can attest to doing scut.

BUT the definition of SCUT that we use is a little different from the scut the Upstater's post. In no way is a med student at Downstate EVER asked to get coffee, buy donuts, sweep the floor, or do anything like that. That's ridiculous! I don't think any med school would have its students do things like that! Heck, and even if your attending wants you to get him a cup of coffee -- SURPRISE -- there's really no place to get one. Hahaha...

Scut, as defined here at Downstate, is doing stuff that sometimes the ancillary staff can do. Drawing bloods, starting IVs, making sure the labs get back before the week's up.

How much scut you do depends on which affiliate you're rotating through and on what service. For example OB/GYN (now called Women's Health) at DMC/Kings County is NOTORIOUS for the amount of scut the MS3s go through -- the residents make them do EVERYTHING. There's also a busy call on OB when you're at the County. But OB at some of our other affiliates is not hectic at all and there's not as much scut.

You'll learn to do the most when you rotate through the County and DMC since there's severe understaffing at Kings County Hospital. That's good and bad. Good because you'll learn how to do a lot of stuff and bad because you'll be doing a lot of stuff. Teaching in the MS3 year is through your resident and attending, just like it is at other med schools.


Tim W. of N.Y.C.

 

[riverweb]

OK, Turtleboard. I live in the dorms at Downstate and like it just fine! I have no problems rolling out of bed 15 minutes before lecture; and I don't pay $1200+/per month for rent in Park Slope. I also have a single studio, but hey, they exist.

BTW, I have never had a problem in the East Flatbush area, and I'm a woman. I'm just careful, as I would be anywhere in NYC or Syracuse.

Another thing to consider about Upstate vs. Downstate is the curriculum: Downstate is Organ-System based and Upstate is traditional. I was also accepted at both schools, and I chose Downstate, mainly because of the curriculum and clinical exposure. I prefer to do the "Scutwork" that we are famous for getting to do (and I have also heard that it is as Turtleboard describes). Why? Cuz I'm gonna be a doctor, and it's great experience!!!

 

[Izzy77]

Hey Asian,
Contrary to what the resident expert Tim W. has to say about Syracuse, its not that bad of a city. Sure clubs and bars don't stay open until 4, but the "locals" here are actually friendly and personable. Your main concern should be the caliber of the institution you plan to attend. SUNY Upstate has recieved accolades state-wide for their ability to produce exceptional, well-rounded doctors. I worked in a few of the hospitals in NYC and Long Island that had residency programs, and the directors of said programs expressed to me their delight in the strength and ability of the interns coming from Upstate.
So, in a nutshell....
Syracuse, while not exactly being the jewel of New York State has enough fun stuff to keep you occupied.
Brooklyn is Brooklyn.

And I have to get back to studying.

P.S. I am originally from LI, and grew up in Queens.... I like living up here

 

[a real med student]

if you ask me, i would say that all suny med schools are wack. how can anyone beleive that downstate has better prgrams than nyu cornell columbia and mssm!?

 

[turtleboard]

No one ever said SUNY's program was better than any of the schools you mentioned.


W.

 

[Izzy77]

SUNY Schols are "wack." I must have missed that word in my SAT class. Perhaps you should check and see if all the SUNY schools are accredited, which they are, much to your surprise, I'm sure. As the old saying goes, med school is med school... and that holds true almost anywhere in the U.S. I have no problem attending school where I will recieve a very competitive education and paying less than I did for my undergraduate education. So before you call a set of schools "Wack", maybe do a little research to cure that touch of ignorance, chief.

Izzy

 

[turtleboard]

To my ignorant colleague at one of New York's "other" medical schools,

Purely from an academic standpoint, the State University of New York medical schools have been involved in many of the discoveries and research that you're probably learning at the moment.

You can call SUNY a piece of junk as far as state systems are concerned, but its accomplishments in medicine and the sciences would prove otherwise.

I got my bill for school the other day. Looks like they want $5,000 more of my money for the ENTIRE THIRD YEAR of MEDICAL SCHOOL. What's your bill? Five, six times more?

That's OK. My brother's going through the same thing at a private school in the city.


W.

PS- You better NOT be a New York Medical College student or there will be hell to pay.

$45,000 a year? Riiiiiiiiiiight... Good choice big man.

[This message has been edited by turtleboard (edited 02-28-2001).]

 

[mr_sparkle]

What is wrong with New York Medical College?

 

[Asianqt79]

Well it's really nice to know that so many people at Downstate have so much pride in their school... hopefully I'll be lucky too and get a single studio and not have to pay insane rent... but I just wanted to thank everyone for their feedback, and I'll see some of you at Downstate next year! =o)

 

[PaddingtonBear]

Since Downstate is the only school I have been accepted into (waitlisted at NYU) I will probably be going there next year. It would be cool to meet some of my future classmates, so if any of you are out there just post a message.

 

[turtleboard]

Sparkle,

Nothing, to be honest, just the price tag.

qt,

See you Monday if you're attending the Second Look day.

Padbear,

I wouldn't give up on the waitlist at NYU. You may be surprised. One of my classmates here was taken off the waitlist sometime in the summer after he interviewed at NYU in December/January. He ultimately decided not to attend, but he got in. I'm sure you will too.

But if you don't mind attending the East Flatbush School of Medicine, or perhaps wanna take that second look at the campus (not much of one, I know), register for the second look day.

Later,

W.

 

[Titus]

Born in Buffalo--attended med school in NYC--additional training at Harvard--came back to Buffalo for residency.

Let's be realistic--weather in the North East is weather in the North East!! I don't care if you're in Mass, Vermont, New Hamp, Conn, NJ, Penn, or Up/Downstate NY...if you're planning on packing your winter clothes away before you leave for med school in any of these states--you're in for a big surprise (the only difference between NYC and Buffalo/Syracuse; is that Upstate is better equiped to remove snow from the streets...they're both cold in winter).

I loved attending school in NYC--I had countless great experiences--but if you think you're going to have time to take advantage of all NY has to offer while you're in Brooklyn...think again.

If I may, I will humbly offer some meager advice. If you were raised in a suburban setting, Downstate will scare the @#%$ out of you (it's hospitals are located in the inner city). If you grew up in a city...then you know what to expect from Brooklyn.
Make sure you are very aware of where the downstate hospitals are located before you commit--you will be shocked if you were raised in a peaceful Buffalo suburb! Take a walk through King's County Hospital, and then make your decision. DOWNSTATE IS NOT MANHATTAN!!! However, it is in an area that--if you are truly serious about contributing to humanity--needs compassionate and dedicated physicians in training. In view of that, medschool can be stressful enough without transplanting yourself into an unfamiliar environment.

If you have the opportunity to attend school in nyc, don't hesitate--you'll love it. However, several friends of mine were ill prepared for the drastic lifestyle change of Brooklyn (which they erroneously thought was synonymous with Manhattan).

Having said all that, I returned to Buffalo because of family, friendly people, beautiful country, and a great training program at UB--so I'm 100% for Buffalo if you're going Upstate (my biased opinion)!!

 

[turtleboard]

Titus,

You do realize that this thread deals with Downstate Medical Center vs. Upstate Medical University (what you may probably know better as SUNY Health Science Center at Syracuse), don't you?

UB was never part of the discussion. It is now, I suppose. As for the only SUNY medical school WITHOUT its own hospital, why would you recommend UB and not Rochester? I think Rochester's program is stronger.


W.

 

[libms3]

TB,
Titus was only giving some sound advice about "Upstate" vs. "Downstate" in terms of living conditions, which is what asianqt originally wanted to know. As you have already stated yourself, SUNY's low tuition rate is what makes it attractive over pricier private schools. There should be no debate that Rochester and other private schools in NYC are all worth the higher price for people willing to pay it. We do not pretend that SUNY Upstate or Buffalo are better schools than Rochester. It seems to me, however, that you think that Brooklyn and NYU are equivalents of one another. Come back down to earth with the rest of us, please.

 

[turtleboard]

Do I really? That's not my intention, and I apologize if I've mislead anyone in thinking that.

While I don't think the private schools in New York are necessarily better than a SUNY for the simple fact that it's public vs. private, I don't think Downstate lives up to NYU academically. I only mentioned that NYU is probably the only other med school in New York City which comes close to offering a similar clinical education to Downstate. Does that mean equivalent? I didn't think so, but perhaps it does.

W.

 

[PaddingtonBear]

turtleboard, I was really pissed that the "Second Look at Downstate" program was cancelled this past monday. I was really looking forward to meeting my future classmates.

Anyway I was wondering if you like the organ/systems based curriculum at Downstate.
Also I undertsand that students get a lot of freedom at kings county hospital. However, because it is under staffed, how much supervision do they get? Are they cowboys, or do they have someone to go to when they have a question and want to confirm there diagnosis/treatment with?

 

[turtleboard]

Padbear,

The Second Look program will be rescheduled. It was cancelled because of the predicted Nor'easter headed into the New York Metropolitan area. I don't know if you're from around these parts, but weather people were predicting up to three feet of snow. Sounds ridiculous? Sure did to me, but the President decided it was enough to close down all the academic activities of the university.

Anyway, it'll be rescheduled so check your mailbox soon.

I think organ systems-based curricula don't tend to work so well in the first-year, but are wildly competent in the second-year (pathology) course. I have a sort of love-hate relationship with the program, and would like to have experienced a traditional curriculum.

All Downstate rotations sites are structured programs, like they are at any halfway decent medical school. The idea that there's a lot of "freedom" is sort of misinterpreted, I think... Anyway, gotta meeting to get to. Write more later.


W.

 

[turtleboard]

To all accepted applicants to the Downstate College of Medicine: SECOND LOOK DAY IS RESCHEDULED FOR APRIL 2, 2001. Call 718-270-2446 for more information.

Back to the idea of "freedom" at the County. It's not freedom that you get, but a structured learning environment where you get to do a lot as a medical student. The great thing about having a hospital like the County as a major rotation site is that, because there is an understaffing in terms of physician labor, the medical student is given the opportunity to do much of what an intern or a somewhat more senior resident might do. While the County is one of our best sites, and I think every MS3 is going to do at least 50% of his rotations at the County, we have other affiliates, both private and public hospitals. The medical center's University Hospital is supposedly a good site, as is the Staten Island University Hospital, Lenox Hill Hospital, etc. You can find our affiliate list on AMA-FREIDA (www.ama-assn.org/freida), but note that not all hospitals with which we have an academic affiliation will serve as your MS3 site.

W.

 

[PaddingtonBear]

Turtleboard:

Do you live in the dorms at Downstate? I understand the majority of rooms are doubles. Do you find having a roommate is a problem while in medical school. I only live 15 minutes from Downstate (in area called millbaisin) and my parents suggested that I live at home for at least the first year. Being out of the house for 5 years I find that living at home again may be a problem.
I also think that by living at home I will be isolating myself from my fellow med students. I know I do not like having roommates, I had a bad experience my freshman year of college and every year after that I have a had a single room. If you have any advice for me I would appreciate it.

 

[Asianqt79]

I was also wondering about the dorms, because I was looking at the floor plans and they look kind of...crappy. I'm not familiar with Brooklyn, but at my interview our tour guides said that they lived in Park Slope which was a short walk, but my friend said that Park Slope was a short train ride away. Like Paddington said, any help about dorms/apartments is helpful. Sorry to keep bothering you!

 

[turtleboard]

Yes, I do.

If you think the floorplans look crappy, wait until you see the real thing! It's a matter of convenience for most of us who choose to live in campus housing, but if we had a choice, we wouldn't.

Park Slope is a short TRAIN ride away. You can walk it in about 45 minutes, but you're gonna be passing through some rough neighborhoods on the way in and out.

A subway ride is about 20-25 minutes, depending on the day.

Most of the rooms are designed to be doubles, and you're told as first-years that it's tough to get singles. This simply isn't true. I know a ton of first-years who have singles. Because the rooms are on the small side, most studnets opt for singles to give themselves some space.

Mill Basin isn't too far away. If living at home isn't a problem, as you've indicated that it might be, I'd live at home. Living in campus housing honestly won't bring you any closer to your classmates. The dorms aren't very social dorms. At some colleges there's the social, social dorm where everyone on a floor knows each other and there's the really introverted dorm where no one knows anyone else. Our dorms are like the latter rather than the former, for the most part.

I've heard that only about 60% of the MS1 class lives in campus housing. Almost everyone else lives in Park Slope. I know you think commuting to med school is ridiculous, but when you consider the alternative, commuting doesn't seem so bad!

The one thing cool about the dorms is that you can roll outta bed and be in class within 10 minutes. But is that worth the price tag? The frequent elevator breakdowns? The hot-water being turned off without much advance notice?

You'll get to see the dorms for Second Look day. If you haven't already, I'd try to set up a sleep over with someone to see what the dorms are like. You won't be disappointed that you did.


W.

 

[PaddingtonBear]

I suppose I will just live at home, for at least the first year. This way I can concentrate on scholl instead of worrying about food, cleaning, laundry etc.

 

[superso]

Donwstate is NOT dangerous. It might seem that way at first b/c people grow up with certain typecasts. The fact is that the neighborhood is full of decent, hard working west indians, many recent immigrants. I used to do research there for junior and senior years of high school and I usually walked from downstate to the train station (b/c the bus may take 45min or so around 11pm). That's about a 15 min walk if your a fast walker. The streets are faily quiet at night though people sit around on stoops til late night. I am a guy though so a girl should probably walk with another or with a guy. Remember, after you get off the walking part and get to the train station, any train station can be dangerous but I never noticed any murders around there, except maybe twice in 2 years. Basically, its not that bad, during the day its as safe as anywhere else in the US

 

[Garuda]

I wouldn't want to live my whole life in one town. Syracuse might be a nice change for you. Upstate New York is a place of spectacular natural beauty. A lot of the people that go to upstate New York schools come from the NYC area, and they go there for a change, not to spend their whole lives there.

I used to live in Suffolk County, and all the money in the world wouldn't get me to live on the western end of Long Island. My Dad did his residency and fellowship at SUNY Stony Brook. He used to do some rotations in NYC as well. He always used to tell me, "You do not want to work in a New York City hospital." And this was based on his experiences in Manhattan. Your 3rd and 4th years in the hospitals of Brooklyn will be scary.