NYMC or Downstate?? help me decide

[alphaluvbug]

Hey,
I am trying to pick between NYMC ($15,000 aid/year) and Downstate (NYS resident). Since the tuition evens out with the aid, I need some experiened advice... Any Downstate-ers or NYMC-ers?? Let me know what you think.

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[medstylee]

Hey,
I am trying to pick between NYMC ($15,000 aid/year) and Downstate (NYS resident). Since the tuition evens out with the aid, I need some experiened advice... Any Downstate-ers or NYMC-ers?? Let me know what you think.

can i ask how you've already heard about your financial aid at nymc? i thought the website indicated that packages would only be given out to the class of 2010 after june 6?

anyway, with the offer you got from nymc, that should only make it a bit more expensive than downstate, right? if so, i'd go with nymc. i interviewed at both and thought both were great schools. i guess i just wasn't very thrilled with downstate's location. congrats on your successes.

 

[inocchi]

Hey,
I am trying to pick between NYMC ($15,000 aid/year) and Downstate (NYS resident). Since the tuition evens out with the aid, I need some experiened advice... Any Downstate-ers or NYMC-ers?? Let me know what you think.

I would go with Downstate... When I went to NYMC for my interview, I was not impressed with most of the things I saw. You would definitely need to invest in a car if you go to NYMC. Well, I don't know you, so maybe you don't need one, but if I were going to NYMC, I definitely would want one. Another point for Downstate is that the students there seemed much more down to earth and supportive than the students at NYMC. Plus the anatomy room is real nice at NYMC, but the professors who teach at Downstate are awesome, I hear. The clinical experience, the location (not the campus, but the accessiblity to numerous hospitals around New York City, and living in Park Slope or prospect Heights-I think that was what it was called) is better than NYMC. I am trying to decide between Albert Einstein and Downstate, and it is a really really hard decision for me because Albert Einstein is better known around the country and abroad compared to Downstate, but the quality of education you get is equal and slightly better at Downstate in the clinical years. But if my choices were NYMC and Downstate, I would definitely choose Downstate.

Can you help me think about Einstein vs. Downstate? What did you find that you like or don't like about Downstate?

 

[alphaluvbug]

I grew up in Brooklyn, and the neighborhood is not THAT bad... there are worse. The reason that I like Downstate alot is that I hope to get a residency in NYC, and practice medicine here too. I have been talking to a graduate of Downstate who a chief resident at Monti for surgery, and she has nothing but good things to say about Downstate, and its reputation. I love the urban medicine that Downstate provides. I love Downstate for its clinical rep, and the vibe that I get from the students. You are right in sensing that the NYMC students seemed less supportive. At the interview there, while we were waiting for the tour, some students were trying to sell tix for this multi-cultural party they were throwing, and the students leaving the lecture halls would not give them the time of day, they all looked miserable. (maybe it was close to exams or something)...

In choosing btwn Downstate and Einstein, I'd be stuck too. (Einstein was my one of my top choices, until i got rejected, lol... no hard feelings) Einstein is pass/fail- which is a huge plus. But in turn, downstate has a fully integrated curriculum. Good luck with your choice.

I would go with Downstate... When I went to NYMC for my interview, I was not impressed with most of the things I saw. You would definitely need to invest in a car if you go to NYMC. Well, I don't know you, so maybe you don't need one, but if I were going to NYMC, I definitely would want one. Another point for Downstate is that the students there seemed much more down to earth and supportive than the students at NYMC. Plus the anatomy room is real nice at NYMC, but the professors who teach at Downstate are awesome, I hear. The clinical experience, the location (not the campus, but the accessiblity to numerous hospitals around New York City, and living in Park Slope or prospect Heights-I think that was what it was called) is better than NYMC. I am trying to decide between Albert Einstein and Downstate, and it is a really really hard decision for me because Albert Einstein is better known around the country and abroad compared to Downstate, but the quality of education you get is equal and slightly better at Downstate in the clinical years. But if my choices were NYMC and Downstate, I would definitely choose Downstate.

Can you help me think about Einstein vs. Downstate? What did you find that you like or don't like about Downstate?

 

[amojan99]

Downstate has really stepped up their reputation in the last few years. They're rapidly becoming a great medical school.

 

[ms1finally]

I'm a first year at NYMC and I really couldn't be happier. Everything that has been said about the pros of Downstate on this thread really applies to NYMC. NYMC has amazing clinicals available, in many different hospitals with lots of options about where you want to go for your clinical years. Everything from St. Vincent's and Metropolitan in Manhattan, to Westchester Medical Center, to Danbury Hospital in CT. Of all the schools I interviewed at, I truly felt that NYMC would give me the widest variety of clinical experiences I could get anywhere. And as far as urban medicine goes, I spent this afternoon in an inner city clinic interviewing patients.

Most of our professors have been great, and many of them are accessible at school on a daily basis, which is something that I hear from friends at others schools is a bit of a rarity. NYMC has great board scores and a great match list. I've told this story on this board several times, but my mom goes to a Harvard-affiliated doctor who is on their curriculum committee. In discussing me ('cause, really, what else is there to discuss - kidding!) and where I go to school, the doc said to my mom, "Yeah, I really wish they gave more information about their curriculum. I'd like to see us do some of what they are doing. Whenever we have students rotate here from NYMC we always end up asking them to consider matching here." I thought that was an incredible statement on NYMC's quality of medical education.

As far as NYMC students being "less supportive" that really hasn't been my experience. I'm not sure why it seemed like no one bought tickets to the multicultural show - a HUGE portion of the 1st and 2nd years (myself included!) attended to support our friends who had worked really hard to put it on!! It might have been that people didn't have cash on them at that moment, or were planning to pay at the door.

Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions about NYMC!!