Einstein Vs Hofstra

[Foodie5]

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Could someone help me weigh the pros and cons of both schools? I really appreciate the help!

Einstein
Pros

• Better reputation
• Better match list? (Unsure of how to interpret match list)
• Better research opportunities
• Recorded lectures

Cons

• Don't get to meet my classmates
• Facilities are not as new
• Probably won't get as much individualized attention from staff due to it being an already established school

Hofstra
Pros

• Amazing group I interviewed with
• Amazing facilities
• Everyone seemed to love it
• ~100K scholarship
• Smaller class size
• Faculty and staff are more invested in your success because it's a newer school
• Higher step scores by about 4 points for step 1 and 2

Cons

• Only essay tests
• Mandatory classes?

I believe both schools are true pass fail but please correct me if I am wrong. I think at the end of the day I will probably be happier at Hofstra but I don't want to limit my opportunities by going to a newer and lower ranked school. Do you think that this is a valid concern since Hofstra is relatively new and ranked lower than Einstein? How much does rank truly matter? Also I am unsure how I feel about the curriculum and I don't know if there will be recorded lectures or anything. Also I don't know if I could possibly turn down that much of a scholarship too.

 

[RockMcat520]

I think at the end of the day I will probably be happier at Hofstra

I think you answered your own question 🙂
You will be happier at Hofstra plus that 100k will save you a lot a lot of money. If I was you, I would go to Hofstra due to being happier there, plus the cost. LIJ is amazing too!

 

[Foodie5]

I think you answered your own question 🙂
You will be happier at Hofstra plus that 100k will save you a lot a lot of money. If I was you, I would go to Hofstra due to being happier there, plus the cost. LIJ is amazing too!

Thanks for answering! So you don't think that it would potentially limit my options for residency? That's the only thing I'm concerned with because I'm unsure what specialty I want to go into and I want to keep my options open.

 

[docr3]

Hey my friend, I’m in a very similar situation. Got the same scholarship offer as you as well. Also live close enough to not need housing so would save a lot of money. I’m choosing between pitt Einstein and Hofstra and I’m leaning towards Pitt or Einstein because of the possibility of doing a competitive specialty. Looking at Hofstras match list this year and there drop in ranking is very concerning to me, so that’s part of my decision. If your not considering a competitive specialty I’d say take the money. Both are great choices congrats!

 

[RockMcat520]

Thanks for answering! So you don't think that it would potentially limit my options for residency? That's the only thing I'm concerned with because I'm unsure what specialty I want to go into and I want to keep my options open.

what can limit your options for residency is not doing well on your step 1, have crappy LOR, and have no research. YOU can only determine how competitive you are for residency.

Edit: here their match list for 2018 : https://medicine.hofstra.edu/images/students/students-match-day-2018.jpg

You can see some students match into Johns Hopkins, NYU, Cornell, Columbia, etc.

 

[docr3]

what can limit your options for residency is not doing well on your step 1, have crappy LOR, and have no research. YOU can only determine how competitive you are for residency.

This is true, but school name certainly matters for matching to the best programs and most competitive specialties. A kid with a 235 step 1 and comparable research from Einstein will match much better than someone with the same stats/research from Hofstra that’s just the facts

 

[RockMcat520]

This is true, but school name certainly matters for matching to the best programs and most competitive specialties. A kid with a 235 step 1 and comparable research from Einstein will match much better than someone with the same stats/research from Hofstra that’s just the facts

Did you look at Hofstra's match list? Students matched into very competitive programs. Your situation is diff since you have Pitt acceptance in hand. anyways, those were my 2 cents OP. Good luck and congrats on your scholarship.

 

[Foodie5]

Hey my friend, I’m in a very similar situation. Got the same scholarship offer as you as well. Also live close enough to not need housing so would save a lot of money. I’m choosing between pitt Einstein and Hofstra and I’m leaning towards Pitt or Einstein because of the possibility of doing a competitive specialty. Looking at Hofstras match list this year and there drop in ranking is very concerning to me, so that’s part of my decision. If your not considering a competitive specialty I’d say take the money. Both are great choices congrats!

They dropped in ranking? I thought the research ranking was the one that mattered and they went from 71 to 70. But their primary care ranking went from like 50 to rank not published. What are you going to do then?

 

[docr3]

Did you look at Hofstra's match list? Students matched into very competitive programs. Your situation is diff since you have Pitt acceptance in hand. anyways, those were my 2 cents OP. Good luck and congrats on your scholarship.

Yes for anesthesia the match list is amazing for sure, one gunner matched Hopkins neurosurg but for the most part the programs they matched in highly competitive specialities aren’t the best. I see your point though.

 

[Foodie5]

what can limit your options for residency is not doing well on your step 1, have crappy LOR, and have no research. YOU can only determine how competitive you are for residency.

Edit: here their match list for 2018 : https://medicine.hofstra.edu/images/students/students-match-day-2018.jpg

You can see some students match into Johns Hopkins, NYU, Cornell, Columbia, etc.

Thanks for the input! I think you are right in that it is up to me to decide how competitive I am but I guess I was debating if it would be easier to be competitive at Einstein or Hofstra if that makes sense.

 

[docr3]

They dropped in ranking? I thought the research ranking was the one that mattered and they went from 71 to 70. But their primary care ranking went from like 50 to rank not published. What are you going to do then?

For me, I’m still waiting to see what need based aid I get from Hofstra before deciding. I haven’t received any aid information/scholarships from Einstein or pitt so I can’t say for sure what I’m gonna do but I’m leaning towards Pitt, due to the fact I’m considering Ortho/Oto. Your situation may be different than me. If you don’t think you’d be going into the highly competitive specialties I’d say Hofstra is a great option for you

 

[Foodie5]

For me, I’m still waiting to see what need based aid I get from Hofstra before deciding. I haven’t received any aid information/scholarships from Einstein or pitt so I can’t say for sure what I’m gonna do but I’m leaning towards Pitt, due to the fact I’m considering Ortho/Oto. Your situation may be different than me. If you don’t think you’d be going into the highly competitive specialties I’d say Hofstra is a great option for you

I think that's the part I'm struggling with. I have no clue what specialty I want to go into but I don't want to potentially limit my options. For example, I don't think I want to do a competitive specialty like Derm but I haven't experienced it yet and I'm worried that I will love it during the rotations and have a much harder time matching. I'm not sure if Hostra will limit my options because I'm not sure if their increased average step score will make up for the school reputation.

 

[Fold&Dry]

Thanks for the input! I think you are right in that it is up to me to decide how competitive I am but I guess I was debating if it would be easier to be competitive at Einstein or Hofstra if that makes sense.

MS4 perspective here. Hey there, I would take the money if I was you. 100k is a lot of money to waste especially in med school when you have to take a lot of loans. Yes, you can pay them but why should you if you have a scholarship?
You can make yourself competitive at any school, there is no "easier" when it comes to residency. Hofstra will not limit your options. I just looked at their match list, and its pretty darn good. I go to a school in NYC, Hofstra students and LIJ are very well known. Good luck OP.

 

[docr3]

I think that's the part I'm struggling with. I have no clue what specialty I want to go into but I don't want to potentially limit my options. For example, I don't think I want to do a competitive specialty like Derm but I haven't experienced it yet and I'm worried that I will love it during the rotations and have a much harder time matching. I'm not sure if Hostra will limit my options because I'm not sure if their increased average step score will make up for the school reputation.

Yea I completely understand. That’s my concern. To me, if I wanted to match ortho I’m sure I could at Hofstra, but would I get my first choice and interviews from the best programs? Maybe maybe not. My goal is to come back to NY for residency and practice. I feel like pitt/Einstein gives me the better chance to match at my top choice ny programs than Hofstra would. Like I said, say I wanna match at NYU for ortho, and I have a 240 step score and 3 pubs in ortho and I’m at Hofstra, and another kid from Einstein has the same step score and 3 pubs in ortho, they’d choose that person over me. That’s my concern. It’s not to say you can’t match a competitive specialty but rather your less likely to get your top choices in my opinion

 

[Foodie5]

MS4 perspective here. Hey there, I would take the money if I was you. 100k is a lot of money to waste especially in med school when you have to take a lot of loans. Yes, you can pay them but why should you if you have a scholarship?
You can make yourself competitive at any school, there is no "easier" when it comes to residency. Hofstra will not limit your options. I just looked at their match list, and its pretty darn good. I go to a school in NYC, Hofstra students and LIJ are very well known. Good luck OP.

Thanks for this advice, it was super helpful! I think you are right as well and 100K is a ton of money so I'd rather not turn that down.

 

[Foodie5]

Yea I completely understand. That’s my concern. To me, if I wanted to match ortho I’m sure I could at Hofstra, but would I get my first choice and interviews from the best programs? Maybe maybe not. My goal is to come back to NY for residency and practice. I feel like pitt/Einstein gives me the better chance to match at my top choice ny programs than Hofstra would. Like I said, say I wanna match at NYU for ortho, and I have a 240 step score and 3 pubs in ortho and I’m at Hofstra, and another kid from Einstein has the same step score and 3 pubs in ortho, they’d choose that person over me. That’s my concern. It’s not to say you can’t match a competitive specialty but rather your less likely to get your top choices in my opinion

I feel like we are the exact same person because I want to stay in NY too. I heard it's better to look at the percent of students matching into their top 3 choices. In terms of percentage, I did the calculations and a higher percentage of Hofstra students matched in NY than Einstein. I also had the same concern about the same stats for different schools but I feel like the stats will rarely/never be the same because you would have to consider which publication is better and the impact factor and from what I've read, the school reputation is not one of the top things residency directors look at but please correct me if I'm wrong because I don't know a lot about this stuff.

 

[SuaveCardigans]

I heard it's better to look at the percent of students matching into their top 3 choices.

That information is not available publicly though, correct?

 

[docr3]

I feel like we are the exact same person because I want to stay in NY too. I heard it's better to look at the percent of students matching into their top 3 choices. In terms of percentage, I did the calculations and a higher percentage of Hofstra students matched in NY than Einstein. I also had the same concern about the same stats for different schools but I feel like the stats will rarely/never be the same because you would have to consider which publication is better and the impact factor and from what I've read, the school reputation is not one of the top things residency directors look at but please correct me if I'm wrong because I don't know a lot about this stuff.

Lol yea fam I’m a big family person and this decision has been really hard for me also because Hofstra is in my backyard. Tbh living in the Bronx isn’t exactly appealing also. I think school name is certainly a factor in program directors choosing students especially the top programs. A lot of people from Hofstra march into the Northwell system which is good too. To me it sounds like your heart is with Hofstra and I don’t wanna convince you otherwise, I think you won’t regret your decision to go to Hofstra. Hopefully I’ll see you this weekend at second look!

 

[Fold&Dry]

That information is not available publicly though, correct?

Unfortunately not! OP go with your heart, you will do well and you will be happier. Life is not perfect, you cannot predict whats going to happen in 4 years when you apply for residency. From my perspective, 100k is a lot, and I will take it especially since your heart is with Hofstra.

 

[thenucleusaccumbens]

what can limit your options for residency is not doing well on your step 1, have crappy LOR, and have no research. YOU can only determine how competitive you are for residency.

Edit: here their match list for 2018 : https://medicine.hofstra.edu/images/students/students-match-day-2018.jpg

You can see some students match into Johns Hopkins, NYU, Cornell, Columbia, etc.

Did this class have 100 students in it originally? just a little confused because I thought that Hofstra's class size was 100? But it says only 86 grads participated in the match

 

[Foodie5]

Thanks for the help everyone! Also to clear up things I believe the students have been increasing every year but I’m unsure. If 14 percent didn’t match that’s kind of a significant amount right?

 

[thenucleusaccumbens]

Thanks for the help everyone! Also to clear up things I believe the students have been increasing every year but I’m unsure. If 14 percent didn’t match that’s kind of a significant amount right?

If this class size was originally 100 then yes that would be significant. I have no idea what it originally was though. Their website says the class size is 100 students, but don't know if that was the case in 2014

 

[Koala1992]

Thanks for the help everyone! Also to clear up things I believe the students have been increasing every year but I’m unsure. If 14 percent didn’t match that’s kind of a significant amount right?

Hey guys, MS1 at Zucker here. Some things to consider for the match list is that while we have 99 students each year, only 86 participated for a couple of different reasons. First, several of the students were MD/PhDs or MD/MPHs that did not participate in the match. Second, some other students decided to take an additional personal year for family planning and/or research.