How deep in Brooklyn is SUNY Downstate?

[Jaider]

Anyone familiar with Brooklyn? I've only been there as a tourist, but I loved it. However, I don't know where in Brooklyn SUNY Downstate is located. Deep in Brooklyn?? How far from Manhattan? Is the transportation between SUNY and Manhattan pretty good?

Thanks. 🙂

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[medstylee]

let's just say, suny downstate is not in a part of brooklyn that any tourist would want to visit... in all honesty, the area is not very desirable, however it's definitely not as bad as some parts of brooklyn. it's pretty close to nyc, although i can't tell you exactly how long it would take to get there. i'm sure it's easily accessible by subway.

 

[Jaider]

Oh man! That's not what I want to hear. 🙂

I'm interested in studying in New York, but didn't necessarily want to study in Manhattan. But if Brooklyn is totally undesirable...

What's undesirable about it? Scuzzy area? Really residential?

Thanks.

 

[Apparition]

Oh man! That's not what I want to hear. 🙂

I'm interested in studying in New York, but didn't necessarily want to study in Manhattan. But if Brooklyn is totally undesirable...

What's undesirable about it? Scuzzy area? Really residential?

Thanks.

Unsafe and nothing good there.

 

[Jaider]

Unsafe and nothing good there.

Hmm... I wonder if it's worth interviewing there then...

Is it a good program? I didn't see that it was ranked in any list, but does anyone know if it's reputable?

 

[zero2hero]

The area can be kind of shady. I interviewed there a few weeks ago and I was not too fond of the area. Having grown up in NYC and visiting all parts of the city, downstate is in one of the more "ghetto" areas of the city, though it's not that bad. I've heard of med students being mugged and cars being stolen from the doctor's parking lot. If you want to go into emergency medicine, learn alot about trauma and gain tons of clinical experience early in med school downstate is def. the place to go. I think Kings Country hospital is the #1 Trauma center in the country though my information could be wrong.

As far as traveling there is concerned, I think if you take the 4 or 5 from Wall Street, you can probably be at downstate in about 30 - 45 minutes though I could be wrong.

 

[Jaider]

Ghetto, huh? It seems like a lot of schools can be said to be in the ghetto. I've heard that about USC, Hopkins, U. Maryland, Temple...

Maybe the alternative to 'ghetto' is the midwest. I learned last night that Iowa City has a population of 80,000. That literally gave me an anxiety attack, because Carver is a great school and I'd love to go there, but I'm scared of being stuck bored in the middle of nowhere. Eeek!!!

What to do? Ghetto or corn fields?

 

[medstylee]

i think you should go. i, personally, had a terrible interview experience. but, that was solely due to the person who interviewed me (and whom i wrote to the admissions dean about later). downstate's clinical education is fantastic, their curriculum is nice, students have a lot of time out of class for studying, etc, and the students i met were very cool and genuinely liked being at downstate. true, the area is unpleasant. i don't think you would feel threatened walking around there during the day, but it's definitely not a place you'd want to stroll around by yourself after dark (i mean, that's many places in the brooklyn/queens/nyc). true, there's not much going on there, but the city is definitely close. so, i just wanted to elaborate a bit. like i said, you should definitely check it out. just pray that you don't have the person who interviewed me! best of luck.

 

[Rendar5]

In terms of being a nice area, it's the worst of all the NYC med schools. But as people said, u get some great clinical exposure there equal to or better than the other NYC med schools (Based on the talking with a Manhattan teaching hospital EM attending).

So that part is a give and take. Subways in NYC are very safe, though, and u're not that far away from some cool places to hang.

Also consider Einstein (yeah, that's a plug, lol) and Columbia (another crappy area. this one's safe though w/in a few blocks radius of the school) since they're also not in the heart of Manhattan, but just a subway ride away from anyplace u'd want to go.

 

[sanford_w/o_son]

i visited the area a couple years back. walked from park slope to suny downstate during the day. didn't feel threatened at all, but i'm from chicago. being a white american i was in the minority for a few blocks, and maybe i got a couple curious looks but nothing unwelcoming. park slope is an easy bike ride (and bus ride?) away from downstate, and it's a very nice neighborhood--great park, museum, restaurants, etc. i do recall the subway from downtown manhattan to the area taking about 40 minutes or so.

i will be applying this summer.

 

[Camillekc]

There are some really nice parts of brooklyn, i.e. park slope. SUNY downstate is not in one of them. I go to school in NYC, and don't think I'm easily scared, but I've walked to the subway station from downstate, and I was not comfortable. It's not even just the neighbourhood crime rate or whatever which I don't know about, but there are also a lot of empty lots, not a lot of lighting, not a lot of traffic, etc. Park slope is nice, and the area downstate is in is fine during the day, really no problems, but at night it's... sketchy.

Also, I really think it's colder there than in manhattan.

 

[Jaider]

Thanks for your thoughts, guys.

Maybe I should start a thread that goes: "Which med schools are NOT in the ghetto?" 🙂

Too bad we have to apply to med schools without checking them out first. I spent a TON of time researching schools, but you can only find out so much about a place on paper, you know? I can't afford to do a cross-country tour of med school campuses. Once you get to an interview, it's pretty late in the game to decide you don't want to go there-- you've already spent a lot of time, stress, and money by that point.

 

[Wertt]

I don't care if a med school is a network of cardboard boxes in the parking lot of a bus station...if it's the only one I get into, I'm going there.

 

[cardsurgguy]

I'm also deciding whether to interview there or not, seeing as how I've been accepted to another SUNY
I'm thinking I'm probably still going to go anyways just to see the place

kinda somewhat off topic, but also relevant...

I asked a relative the other day about which of the SUNY's he respects most in terms of residency and the clinical training you get at the school

he's an anesthesia residency and critical care fellowship director at a top 50 medical school, so I figure he's a good barometer to go by

his answer right away was Downstate

he said the clinical exposure, being a public hospital (Kings County hospital) is great, and definitely prepares you well


however, it's not obvious that it's the SUNY to go to though (at least for me)

my father and uncle both grew up in Brooklyn and said downstate is and always has been in a crappy area of Brooklyn

plus, the cost of living almost makes it equivalent to many other private schools that are in places that are cheap to live (ie private schools not also in NYC obviously)

this is the calculation I came up with the other day
the tuition difference between Downstate and a typical private is probably around 15,000
however, you're probably paying around 800 more per month in rent in Brooklyn than in a place like Rochester, Pitt, and other cheap cities etc... where you can live for around 500/month
800*12 months = 9600
so basically 10,000 of the 15,000 tuition difference is wiped out by rent, plus other costs of living that are higher in Brooklyn would bring it to about even...

so that wipes out the cost advantage of it being a SUNY school as compared to many other private schools
and where would you want to go, Downstate, or Rochester or Pitt? if they are about equal overall price??

 

[ny skindoc]

Downstate is about 40 minutes from Manhattan by subway which runs frequently.The immediate area around the school is "inner city" but other Brooklyn neighborhoods ie Park slope,Brooklyn Heights are not far away and are very nice with an active nightlife.Downstate has a number of affiliated hospitals many are in other parts of Brooklyn, Long Island and Manhattan, So your clinical options are not restricted to the local neighborhood.As stated there are many advantages as a med student to studying there,the pathology and hands on experience is great.Some people deal with the location better than others.Some like its setting.If you are a hard core suburbanite it may not be for you.

 

[Jaider]

Thanks Ny_skindoc.