Hello premeds. I am a student here and would like to use this lunch break to provide some information that I hope is useful to your medical school search. **Full disclosure**, some of it is negative. I know that there is an obligatory post (usually more than one) every year where a student complains about NYIT-COM's administration. Keeping that in mind, I will try to maintain objectivity and only make comments on what I have personally seen and heard.
Also, I suspect that many of the older posts disappeared due to strongly-worded messages from administration. So, I'll say this as well: I have no problem hearing your reactions and editing any clear errors in my post. However, I will not respond to anything that I interpret as threatening. Nothing here was said with confidentiality and I feel comfortable that I am approaching this with professionalism and good spirit. After all, the students and professors here are fantastic and I have no reason to give them a bad image on this forum.
First, I'll give a few facts:
This school has [I believe] more than 7,000 grads since it opened in 1977. It is one of the largest medical schools in the country with more than 300 students in my class alone. This has its benefits, including a large network of alumni, regional name recognition, and (most importantly) a large pool of student-created resources for exams (we use a facebook group to share flashcards and readings, form study groups, etc).
Its size also has some negatives. While the student body is large, the administration is about the same size as other, much smaller schools. This leads to the course leaders, professors, and upper administration being overburdened with student complaints, academic issues, and general day-to-day tasks. So, friction is created between students and administration, and both end up losing out. The difference being that the students have their medical careers at stake.
So what does this all mean for you? It is critical as a medical student to not just feel supported, but to have the resources that are necessary to pass the boards and land a residency. There were around 20 anatomy labs last year. Now (I've been told) there are 14. Last year, students would receive their graded exams to find out what specific topics they need to relearn before taking the boards. Now, we only receive our grades and some stats about how the class did. These changes were apparently made with the extensive input of students, faculty, and administration. Only the anatomy profs and first-years can speak to the effects of reducing anatomy lab time, but I think any student can tell you how frustrating it is to take an exam and not *really* know how we did, other than the number of questions we got wrong.
Why did they make this change? According to various professors and administrators, it is to prepare us for boards, because NBOME doesn't give back your graded COMLEX exam. Also, they want to create an exam question bank that is hidden to students. However, many students feel that this misses the entire purpose of taking exams. Tests are supposed to be a yardstick that shows how far you are from mastering the material. Getting COMLEX exams back wouldn't help us all that much, unless we failed and needed to retake. This is because COMLEX Level I is the finish line for the pre-clinical/foundational part of our schooling. Along the way, it is absolutely critical that we have our graded exams so we can prepare. This obvious flaw in logic has fallen on deaf ears. Many students have been left to conclude that they stopped giving exams back because the professors and deans are sick of hearing complaints about question ambiguities and errors. Like I said, the student body is enormous and the administration was overburdened in past years. I can't blame them for feeling pressured to make this change, but it's simply unacceptable for the average student.
Another point is the rate of attrition. I remember reading about this 3-4 years ago and didn't feel that it was relevant to me. However, being in school now, I see the very real effects. I know multiple people repeating the entire year. I've been told that there are 15-20 repeaters in the first year class alone. That's not even including the many students who failed one course and had to remediate over the summer, at the cost of thousands of dollars. Even with the increasing MCAT scores and GPAs, the attrition rate seems to only be getting worse. It was a problem 10 years ago, it is a problem now, and I don't expect it to be different for you. No one knows the true source of the issue, but based on admission stats, the students here are not worse than those at higher performing schools with lower attrition. Interpret that as you will.
More on class size: the school has around 7,000 grads or more. At an average of $200k/year, you can do the math to see how much they collectively make. Still, the school is not flush with cash or donors. Many students believe that this is the reason why they accept so many applicants, i.e., 1200 students * very high tuition = operating costs. However, they are certainly not showing signs of life in the "Positive Medical School Experience" department. At almost every opportunity, they demonstrate frustration with the size of our class. Students are understandably upset about this tension. With the introduction of a new NYIT-COM location (which is basically taboo to even mention on campus), I can't imagine this problem being addressed in the next 5 years. The irony is not lost on me that many people here pejoratively consider SGU and other caribbean schools to be diploma mills while we produce more grads, more dropouts, and are opening a second campus.
There are of course many positives to NYIT-COM. If you like family medicine, OMT, and pediatrics, I would say we are "better than average" in those fields. We are "average" in preparing for IM and EM (and maybe geriatrics with the introduction of some new 4th year rotations). I probably forgot a few good ones, but most others are "below average." Nothing is spectacular, but nothing is totally out of reach. The school does a good job of playing to its strengths. Also, our entire anatomy faculty is spectacular, as is about half of the OMM department. Clinical labs are helpful, thanks to the many awesome alumni who come back to teach. And students here are exceptionally smart. I know a few college salutatorians, published researchers, and a lot of internationally trained doctors. Another way to put it: we are not failing out due to lack of intelligence. Also, our Dean is a lovely, genuine person who seems to have a soaringly optimistic vision for the school. Not bad considering we don't have home field advantage at any large teaching hospital (we fight over the scraps with Touro and the caribbean schools).
One last thing: there is very little sense of campus community. You will arrive at your interview to be faced with a parking lot that can only be matched by that of the Roosevelt Field mall. During orientation, people will laugh though the counseling services and sexual violence presentation (I heard that this year was no exception). And after the first month, most only show up for labs and exams. You will find friend groups and people to study with, but it's unlike anything that medical students describe at smaller schools (knowing everyone's name, professors being more like mentors, and post-exam hiking trips). Overall, it's a toss-up about whether or not I am happy with my school choice.
As much as I want to deny it, NYIT-COM is a commuter school at heart. That won't change until they build some student apartments (on- or off-campus), accept 150 students (and not 1 more) from all over the country, snatch NUMC from Stony Brook Medicine, and bring back the NYCOM name. But this will never happen. The only question is, can you accept the school as it is right now? If so, then you will be in good company (1200 and counting).
I'm an OOS applicant who was born on LI and lived there for close to 12 years, so I'm really excited about potentially having an opportunity to come home.
