beepbeep197
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- Nov 5, 2021
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Hey SDN friends! Many of y'all have seen me in some choice threads, so here is the long-procrastinated help me decide. I appreciate any insight into these two programs!
About me: traditional student interested in intersection of medicine, public health, and social sciences. I am not gunning for a surgical subspecialty or derm, but I am interested in academic medicine and would love to stay in the Northeast, so I will likely still need a competitive app for traditionally less competitive residencies. I really thrive in collaborative environments and I am not competitive at all unless we are playing a game that I am particularly bad at lol. Ofc my priority is building a strong residency app for academic programs but I'd also maybe like to find a couple of lifelong friends and maybe even a boo (lmao).
Both of these schools are close to home and have very similar CoAs, so unless either program decides to give merit aid (which doesn't happen at SBU), that won't be affecting my decision 🙂
So here are the pros and cons of these two schools:
Hofstra/Northwell:
Pros:
-seems to have a lot of resources invested in students
-get to move to queens after two years (Long Island sucks)
-opportunity to rotate in multiple types of environments (academic centers, community hospitals, specialty hospitals)
-opportunity to work with diverse and underserved patient populations
-Huge Northwell system that is expanding further into LI and NYC
-Seems to have solid career advising
-The Northwell system is really trying to grab the best people and beat out competitors
-The home residencies seem more desirable (I heard that SBU programs are malignant)
-CPR program that would ease me into medical school and hopefully set me up for success later on
-P/F
-gym is right next to the med school building lol
Cons:
-The actual med school building gives me MC Esher vibes
-Area I'd live in for first two years is kind of boring/gibes bad vibes
-Weird vibes on my second look day? I felt like I didn't fit in with the other accepted students. Of course, I only need a few people to like a lot in order to be happy and I found some people like me 🙂
-MANDATORY CLASSES (lectures and pbl)
-Weird way of grading: written exams at the end of each block
-Clinicals are graded weird
-2 year preclinical curriculum
-less established, maybe less prestigious program
-definitely would not pursue an MPH here
-med school is separate from clinical sites. Maybe this could impact research?
-Why tf is the name of this school so long
Stony Brook (Renaissance)
Pros:
-shorter preclinical period
-non-mandatory classes (I believe)
-Never before did I think I would say this but area>>>Hofstra's area
-Established academic medical center with tons of research opportunities
-more recognized name, maybe more prestigious?
-Unsure about exam/grading scheme details but I am fairly sure it's less weird than Hofstra's
-all clinical rotations are in one hospital near where I would live all four years, so less chaos and worrying about that
-more recognized MPH that I could pursue
-P/F
Cons:
-living in Stony Brook for four years lol
-feels like there's less academic/career support in students
-inability to get experience working with different patient populations, which is kind of important given my interests
-apparently malignant home program??
-no idea of what the students are like given that the second look days aren't until April...
-no merch lol
A note on "prestige": I understand that prestige is important when it comes to pursuing academic medicine. I am WLed at a couple of T20 schools and will enroll there if accepted. However, in my general understanding, there is little "prestige" difference that matters here, right? Correct me if I'm wrong.
Summary: a student interested in academic medicine and community health debating between a more traditional, established program and a newer program with lots of potential benefits but also bigger yellow flags.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and chime in. Good luck to all applicants 🙂
About me: traditional student interested in intersection of medicine, public health, and social sciences. I am not gunning for a surgical subspecialty or derm, but I am interested in academic medicine and would love to stay in the Northeast, so I will likely still need a competitive app for traditionally less competitive residencies. I really thrive in collaborative environments and I am not competitive at all unless we are playing a game that I am particularly bad at lol. Ofc my priority is building a strong residency app for academic programs but I'd also maybe like to find a couple of lifelong friends and maybe even a boo (lmao).
Both of these schools are close to home and have very similar CoAs, so unless either program decides to give merit aid (which doesn't happen at SBU), that won't be affecting my decision 🙂
So here are the pros and cons of these two schools:
Hofstra/Northwell:
Pros:
-seems to have a lot of resources invested in students
-get to move to queens after two years (Long Island sucks)
-opportunity to rotate in multiple types of environments (academic centers, community hospitals, specialty hospitals)
-opportunity to work with diverse and underserved patient populations
-Huge Northwell system that is expanding further into LI and NYC
-Seems to have solid career advising
-The Northwell system is really trying to grab the best people and beat out competitors
-The home residencies seem more desirable (I heard that SBU programs are malignant)
-CPR program that would ease me into medical school and hopefully set me up for success later on
-P/F
-gym is right next to the med school building lol
Cons:
-The actual med school building gives me MC Esher vibes
-Area I'd live in for first two years is kind of boring/gibes bad vibes
-Weird vibes on my second look day? I felt like I didn't fit in with the other accepted students. Of course, I only need a few people to like a lot in order to be happy and I found some people like me 🙂
-MANDATORY CLASSES (lectures and pbl)
-Weird way of grading: written exams at the end of each block
-Clinicals are graded weird
-2 year preclinical curriculum
-less established, maybe less prestigious program
-definitely would not pursue an MPH here
-med school is separate from clinical sites. Maybe this could impact research?
-Why tf is the name of this school so long
Stony Brook (Renaissance)
Pros:
-shorter preclinical period
-non-mandatory classes (I believe)
-Never before did I think I would say this but area>>>Hofstra's area
-Established academic medical center with tons of research opportunities
-more recognized name, maybe more prestigious?
-Unsure about exam/grading scheme details but I am fairly sure it's less weird than Hofstra's
-all clinical rotations are in one hospital near where I would live all four years, so less chaos and worrying about that
-more recognized MPH that I could pursue
-P/F
Cons:
-living in Stony Brook for four years lol
-feels like there's less academic/career support in students
-inability to get experience working with different patient populations, which is kind of important given my interests
-apparently malignant home program??
-no idea of what the students are like given that the second look days aren't until April...
-no merch lol
A note on "prestige": I understand that prestige is important when it comes to pursuing academic medicine. I am WLed at a couple of T20 schools and will enroll there if accepted. However, in my general understanding, there is little "prestige" difference that matters here, right? Correct me if I'm wrong.
Summary: a student interested in academic medicine and community health debating between a more traditional, established program and a newer program with lots of potential benefits but also bigger yellow flags.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and chime in. Good luck to all applicants 🙂
