Help Me Decide: Stony Brook vs Hofstra

[MDApplicant!]

Having trouble picking between these schools 🙁.

For context: I’m unsure on what specialty I want to pursue, but am leaning towards non-surgical (IM, Cardio, Neuro, EM, Anesthesia). I do want to go to a school where I have the most opportunity to match into competitive specialties or fellowship in the future and don’t want to close any doors for myself. I’m also interested in academic medicine (primarily for teaching rather than research) and would like to match into residency in a big city, preferably in CA, or at Texas Medical Center (Also open to NY, but I’ve heard NYC residencies are malignant?)

Stony Brook:
Pros:

• Reputation (Higher Ranking)
• NBME style exams: hear this is good for Step
• No mandatory lecture, other than in person anatomy lab
• 1.5 year preclinical

Cons:

• Location. I’d like to ideally live near NYC if I’m in NY
• H/HP/P/LP/F for clinical years
• Older facilities it seems like
• Interview day and info session seemed bland

Hofstra:
Pros:

• Location. It’s so close to NYC, and I could do rotations there
• Northwell Health. This is massive because there’s a well connected network in NYC for opportunities with shadowing and likely clinical research
• New facilities
• I loved my interview day because they put so much effort into showing the curriculum, etc
• Curriculum: The Initial clinical experiences are there throughout ALL of years 1 and 2, which is amazing. I like the idea of self-directed learning too.

Cons:

• Reputation. It seems like Hofstra is a bit less known and respected in the medical field since it’s new
• Exams at the end of a block (would be nice to be quizzed each week, but I’m sure I can work around this)
• Non-NBME exams (short-answer). I heard they still have these as practice questions though, so maybe that’s still helpful for Step

Points of confusion/Neutral:

• Reputation. With Step going P/F, will Hofstra potentially have a hard time matching due to being a newer school?
• Match lists. Both match lists are pretty good, but I felt like Hofstra matches a little better across the US (esp into CA), while Stony matches better into the Northeast, primarily into its home program and NYC.
• Grading. Both are P/F for pre-clinical and then Stony is H/HP/P/LP/F, and Hofstra is H/P/F for clinical years. Idk if this matters b/c both have AOA/internal ranking for clinical years
• Research: I know Stony has good basic science research, but I’m pretty confident that I’ll only be doing clinical research in the future. So I felt like that doesn’t matter

I was unfortunately unable to attend the admitted students days, so now I’m having a difficult time figuring out which school I would rather pick. If there’s info I missed or got wrong please correct me!

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[showkayaker]

Had the same decision- chose Hofstra because it just fit what I wanted better. However my goal is to stay in NY. I'm surprised you said more hofstra students are matching to cali? Maybe because some of them are originally from California? If you want to go do residency in Cali I would go Stony since they seem to be able to match to more competitive residencies in general. On the second look day at Stony they had a student who matched into thoracic surg and another who matched gen surg at Mayo Clinic. They also emailed out their match list to accepted students which I'm sure you can take a look at.

 

[showkayaker]

I got no replies when I posted my thread so I hope you get some more engagement. Seems like people on SDN only want to engage with those accepted to the “big name” schools.

 

[theoceanman]

This seems to be a mixed bag: I would go with the above poster's suggestions as Stony consistently has matched well into OOS residencies, such as locations in bigger cities in CA, MA, NY, and TX. From what I see, Stony Brook > Hofstra for your needs!

 

[scorpiogirl27]

I got no replies when I posted my thread so I hope you get some more engagement. Seems like people on SDN only want to engage with those accepted to the “big name” schools.

Having trouble picking between these schools 🙁.

For context: I’m unsure on what specialty I want to pursue, but am leaning towards non-surgical (IM, Cardio, Neuro, EM, Anesthesia). I do want to go to a school where I have the most opportunity to match into competitive specialties or fellowship in the future and don’t want to close any doors for myself. I’m also interested in academic medicine (primarily for teaching rather than research) and would like to match into residency in a big city, preferably in CA, or at Texas Medical Center (Also open to NY, but I’ve heard NYC residencies are malignant?)

Stony Brook:
Pros:

• Reputation (Higher Ranking)
• NBME style exams: hear this is good for Step
• No mandatory lecture, other than in person anatomy lab
• 1.5 year preclinical

Cons:

• Location. I’d like to ideally live near NYC if I’m in NY
• H/HP/P/LP/F for clinical years
• Older facilities it seems like
• Interview day and info session seemed bland

Hofstra:
Pros:

• Location. It’s so close to NYC, and I could do rotations there
• Northwell Health. This is massive because there’s a well connected network in NYC for opportunities with shadowing and likely clinical research
• New facilities
• I loved my interview day because they put so much effort into showing the curriculum, etc
• Curriculum: The Initial clinical experiences are there throughout ALL of years 1 and 2, which is amazing. I like the idea of self-directed learning too.

Cons:

• Reputation. It seems like Hofstra is a bit less known and respected in the medical field since it’s new
• Exams at the end of a block (would be nice to be quizzed each week, but I’m sure I can work around this)
• Non-NBME exams (short-answer). I heard they still have these as practice questions though, so maybe that’s still helpful for Step

Points of confusion/Neutral:

• Reputation. With Step going P/F, will Hofstra potentially have a hard time matching due to being a newer school?
• Match lists. Both match lists are pretty good, but I felt like Hofstra matches a little better across the US (esp into CA), while Stony matches better into the Northeast, primarily into its home program and NYC.
• Grading. Both are P/F for pre-clinical and then Stony is H/HP/P/LP/F, and Hofstra is H/P/F for clinical years. Idk if this matters b/c both have AOA/internal ranking for clinical years
• Research: I know Stony has good basic science research, but I’m pretty confident that I’ll only be doing clinical research in the future. So I felt like that doesn’t matter

I was unfortunately unable to attend the admitted students days, so now I’m having a difficult time figuring out which school I would rather pick. If there’s info I missed or got wrong please correct me!

Seeing your list, I think you should go to Hofstra. Hofstra has good matching and the reputation difference between that and Stony Brook isn't that huge, especially not to the layperson. The pre-clinical grading for Hoftra seems slightly less of a headache as its more simple, and I'm sure you will be able to find good research opportunities at both places. Besides Hofstra is closer to NYC which you like, and I think you seem to vibe with the school more. Studying for step 1 is what you make out of it, a lot of it is self-prep anyways so a school not having NBME exams in each block while it sucks shouldn't be a major barrier to you doing well on step.

 

[ginsengreset]

(Also open to NY, but I’ve heard NYC residencies are malignant?)

Context for that: In NYC (specifically Manhattan), there's the "big 4" of New York Presbyterian-Columbia, NYP-Cornell, Mount Sinai, and NYU, which are huge, well-funded academic institutions where residents receive great training. Montefiore is in the Bronx and usually isn't included, but their programs are also pretty good. Northwell residents tend to have good resident lifestyles but aren't in the big 4 since the hospitals are mainly in Long Island and their only presence in Manhattan is Lenox Hill Hospital. Apart from those programs, there are many smaller hospitals in NYC with residency programs, where the focus is moreso on using residents for cheap labor instead of teaching. Many of them are under significant financial duress which adds to the malignancy of those programs since resident pay is also low compared to the NYC cost of living. There are many more residency spots in those smaller malignant programs (because there are more of those hospitals) so I feel that's where the NYC=malignant reputation comes from.

Stony Brook:
Pros:

• Reputation (Higher Ranking)
• NBME style exams: hear this is good for Step
• No mandatory lecture, other than in person anatomy lab
• 1.5 year preclinical

Cons:

• Location. I’d like to ideally live near NYC if I’m in NY
• H/HP/P/LP/F for clinical years
• Older facilities it seems like
• Interview day and info session seemed bland

Hofstra:
Pros:

• Location. It’s so close to NYC, and I could do rotations there
• Northwell Health. This is massive because there’s a well connected network in NYC for opportunities with shadowing and likely clinical research
• New facilities
• I loved my interview day because they put so much effort into showing the curriculum, etc
• Curriculum: The Initial clinical experiences are there throughout ALL of years 1 and 2, which is amazing. I like the idea of self-directed learning too.

Cons:

• Reputation. It seems like Hofstra is a bit less known and respected in the medical field since it’s new
• Exams at the end of a block (would be nice to be quizzed each week, but I’m sure I can work around this)
• Non-NBME exams (short-answer). I heard they still have these as practice questions though, so maybe that’s still helpful for Step

Points of confusion/Neutral:

• Reputation. With Step going P/F, will Hofstra potentially have a hard time matching due to being a newer school?
• Match lists. Both match lists are pretty good, but I felt like Hofstra matches a little better across the US (esp into CA), while Stony matches better into the Northeast, primarily into its home program and NYC.
• Grading. Both are P/F for pre-clinical and then Stony is H/HP/P/LP/F, and Hofstra is H/P/F for clinical years. Idk if this matters b/c both have AOA/internal ranking for clinical years
• Research: I know Stony has good basic science research, but I’m pretty confident that I’ll only be doing clinical research in the future. So I felt like that doesn’t matter

Some comments on particular areas:

NBME exams: During exam week at Hofstra, the NBME exam is administered just like all the other exams, the only difference being that it's the last exam of the week and doesn't count for your grade (although the school will reach out if your scores are in a concerning range). Some people put zero effort into it, some people treat it just as seriously as the other exams.

If you have the discipline and self-motivation, non-mandatory classes with grades determined solely by whether you reach 5th/10th percentile on the NBME exam does sound pretty nice, although I suspect many people overestimate how much discipline they'll have (and I know I certainly don't have it). Also if you're not from the area, some degree of mandatory sessions (as long as it's not like, 9-5 lectures) make it a lot easier to make friends. I found my ride or die crew in MS1 and my mental health would not have been the same otherwise.

Weekly quizzes (or lack thereof): Hofstra only tests at the end of the block, but every Friday they release a set of 6-8 questions that cover the main takeaways from the week. You're supposed to answer them and submit it by Sunday, and it's for a completion grade. They then release answers and honestly if you just memorize the info in the answers to those weekly questions you should be good to pass.

Hofstra is H/HP/P/F for clinicals, although in reality you'll be able to get at least a HP if you show some basic competency (top 40% is H, bottom 15% is P).

Reputation: As an educational institution, Stony Brook is much better known than Hofstra. Healthcare-wise, my own personal opinion is that Northwell hospitals beat out anyone else in Long Island. Northwell also has better residency programs than Stony Brook in the surgical subspecialties, but not too sure for other specialties. When you apply to residency programs from Hofstra, you're pretty much doing so under the aegis of Northwell. I've found that in different situations (on a regular rotation, on an away rotation out of state, on a date, with college friends, etc) I've had to use my gut when deciding to tell someone Hofstra, Northwell, or just naming the specific hospital I was currently on a rotation in.

Research: You can forget about basic science research in med school. Join some projects with residents doing chart reviews on 50 patients and pump out those pubs like candy.

 

[showkayaker]

Context for that: In NYC (specifically Manhattan), there's the "big 4" of New York Presbyterian-Columbia, NYP-Cornell, Mount Sinai, and NYU, which are huge, well-funded academic institutions where residents receive great training. Montefiore is in the Bronx and usually isn't included, but their programs are also pretty good. Northwell residents tend to have good resident lifestyles but aren't in the big 4 since the hospitals are mainly in Long Island and their only presence in Manhattan is Lenox Hill Hospital. Apart from those programs, there are many smaller hospitals in NYC with residency programs, where the focus is moreso on using residents for cheap labor instead of teaching. Many of them are under significant financial duress which adds to the malignancy of those programs since resident pay is also low compared to the NYC cost of living. There are many more residency spots in those smaller malignant programs (because there are more of those hospitals) so I feel that's where the NYC=malignant reputation comes from.



Some comments on particular areas:

NBME exams: During exam week at Hofstra, the NBME exam is administered just like all the other exams, the only difference being that it's the last exam of the week and doesn't count for your grade (although the school will reach out if your scores are in a concerning range). Some people put zero effort into it, some people treat it just as seriously as the other exams.

If you have the discipline and self-motivation, non-mandatory classes with grades determined solely by whether you reach 5th/10th percentile on the NBME exam does sound pretty nice, although I suspect many people overestimate how much discipline they'll have (and I know I certainly don't have it). Also if you're not from the area, some degree of mandatory sessions (as long as it's not like, 9-5 lectures) make it a lot easier to make friends. I found my ride or die crew in MS1 and my mental health would not have been the same otherwise.

Weekly quizzes (or lack thereof): Hofstra only tests at the end of the block, but every Friday they release a set of 6-8 questions that cover the main takeaways from the week. You're supposed to answer them and submit it by Sunday, and it's for a completion grade. They then release answers and honestly if you just memorize the info in the answers to those weekly questions you should be good to pass.

Hofstra is H/HP/P/F for clinicals, although in reality you'll be able to get at least a HP if you show some basic competency (top 40% is H, bottom 15% is P).

Reputation: As an educational institution, Stony Brook is much better known than Hofstra. Healthcare-wise, my own personal opinion is that Northwell hospitals beat out anyone else in Long Island. Northwell also has better residency programs than Stony Brook in the surgical subspecialties, but not too sure for other specialties. When you apply to residency programs from Hofstra, you're pretty much doing so under the aegis of Northwell. I've found that in different situations (on a regular rotation, on an away rotation out of state, on a date, with college friends, etc) I've had to use my gut when deciding to tell someone Hofstra, Northwell, or just naming the specific hospital I was currently on a rotation in.

Research: You can forget about basic science research in med school. Join some projects with residents doing chart reviews on 50 patients and pump out those pubs like candy.

Just wanted to say thank you for this thorough answer!