My only concern is my happiness in terms of quality of living. I dont want to be afraid of getting assaulted walking home at night or to the train station.
Downstate or NYMC?
Downstate or NYMC?
NYMC or Downstate
- Thread starter gotdoc
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gotdoc said:
NYMC
The radiology placement is too good to pass up (it's a field I'm very much in love with). The area is infinitely better, but that's only my opinion. I would prefer the more suburban NYMC campus to the super urban Downstate campus. Both schools will get you to where you want to be in your clinical career. I'd just be more comfortable and happier at NYMC.
They both have strong points and weak points. Based on my criteria, NYMC would win out IF they cost an equal amount.
gotdoc said:
I was facing this choice 3 years ago. I picked NYMC
You will get a very similar education at both schools. Both will give you good clinical rotations. Both will give you solid boards prep
The differences, in my opinion
1)facilities - Downstate is decrepit
2)location - Got fitted for a bulletproof vest yet?
3)housing - good quality, relatively inexpensive at NYMC
Most negative con - $$$
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eventhough i got waitlisted at NYMC, i always liked downstate better. NYMC, while in a pretty location, is just too isolated. downstate is at least really close to manhattan and cool parts of brooklyn. also, i was so impressed by kings county hospital and the clinical experiences it promises. i think it will be an exciting place to be. you also just can't beat the price.
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allisonbk said:
I think another factor that might matter is where you want to be geographically for residency. A lot of NYMC grads go back to Cali from what I remember. Honestly the schools are so similar that it'll come down to how you feel about the neighborhoods where the schools are located. I got into both but won't go to either. NYMC because of the cost and the amount of in-class time, and Downstate because of location and other superficial reasons. They're both really cool schools though.
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Consider this a fairly uneducated response, as I didn't apply to NYMC and confess to knowing pretty little about it -- but there's also a reason it's the only school in the NYC area to which I didn't apply. There was a story in the news last year about the school banning a gay student organization from campus that just left a bad taste in my mouth. The group has since been reinstated, but only after significant protest from "medical professionals and human rights advocates" (according to the second article linked below). Regardless of your own personal need for/support of such an organization, I think it speaks to the overall culture of the school and the extent to which it will support the diversity of its students.
Article about the ban on the gay student organzation: http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050311/NEWS02/503110320/1018
Article about the reinstatement of the group: http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051008/NEWS02/510080329/1018
In contrast, I felt at my Downstate interview that it was a school that believes the diversity of its student body is a genuine asset to educational experience it provides.
I don't mean to start a debate on the rightness/wrongness of NYMC's original decision, I just think there is more to whether NYMC is a good school for you than it's location and academic reputation. It could be a challenging environment for students whose values or life experiences are not in line with the school's traditional views.
Article about the ban on the gay student organzation: http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050311/NEWS02/503110320/1018
Article about the reinstatement of the group: http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051008/NEWS02/510080329/1018
In contrast, I felt at my Downstate interview that it was a school that believes the diversity of its student body is a genuine asset to educational experience it provides.
I don't mean to start a debate on the rightness/wrongness of NYMC's original decision, I just think there is more to whether NYMC is a good school for you than it's location and academic reputation. It could be a challenging environment for students whose values or life experiences are not in line with the school's traditional views.
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2010MD said:
At my interview I didn't get the feeling at all that the school was discriminatory. I went in knowing about the GL club fiasco, but the admissions people and the students all seemed very warm and friendly. Much more so than nearly every other public and private school where I interviewed. I feel like there was more to what happened than any of us not directly involved with it can ever know.
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idq1i said:
Tkdusb, I appreciate your response and I have no doubt the incident I brought up has many nuances that people more removed from the situation can't fully understand. I also have no doubt the vast majority of people at NYMC are warm, friendly people. I can appreciate the fact that you went into your interview knowing about the situation and were still able to form your own positive impression of the school.
Idq1i, I didn't say I didn't know anything about the situation, I have actually read a lot about it since I live in the NY area and was in the news during my application process -- though as tkdusb rightly pointed out I'm sure it's a much more complex situation than we can fully understand. I was qualifying my initial observation by saying I didn't know much about other aspects of the school. The OP was asking about comparing NYMC and Downstate, and I think if I were comparing the two the difference in culture is something of which I would want to be aware. I was being completely honest when I said I wasn't trying to debate about the validity of the NYMC decision -- it was an internal decision that, as a private, Catholic institution it had the right to make. But it is something that may make some people realize it's not the right school for them personally, and I think it's a fair thing to note when the OP is asking about comparing NYMC to other schools.
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2010MD said:
Yeah, but you don't know much about the culture or any differences.
The group has been reinstated and received a budget through the student senate this year, so I really don't think that what happened is very relevant to the present day. The clash with the administration last year was due to some extenuating factors of which I am very aware (as a friend of a current officer in the new group), but which the news articles did not portray.
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idq1i said:
You are so very wrong about the location/neighbourhood around downstate. I have lived in this area for 5+ years and you definitely don't need to be fitted with a bullet proof vest - I don't even now what one looks like in real life. Cost wise Brooklyn is cheaper than Manhattan and you can get a lot of value for your money, I would say close to the prices you would pay in areas surrounding NYMC. The facilities may not be the best however I've been to some of the top medical schools on the east coast for interviews and some of their facilites aren't better. Additionally there are alot of new construction going on at the medical center that gives insight into the kind of facilities that may be available in the near future at Downstate (however are we going to school to be in a nice cushy environment or learn to be the best possible doctor that we can be). The clinical exposure at Kings County hospital is unrivaled. It is quite disheartening to see post like this about downstate becase I strongly suspect the only reason people cry down the school and neighbourhood is becase the community is predominantly black and immigrant.
NYMC vs Dowstate is totally up to your personal prefrences but do not let uninformed ideas, myths and bad press about a community make that choice for you. Good luck! TriniToDeBone said:You are so very wrong about the location/neighbourhood around downstate. I have lived in this area for 5+ years and you definitely don't need to be fitted with a bullet proof vest - I don't even now what one looks like in real life. Cost wise Brooklyn is cheaper than Manhattan and you can get a lot of value for your money, I would say close to the prices you would pay in areas surrounding NYMC. The facilities may not be the best however I've been to some of the top medical schools on the east coast for interviews and some of their facilites aren't better. Additionally there are alot of new construction going on at the medical center that gives insight into the kind of facilities that may be available in the near future at Downstate (however are we going to school to be in a nice cushy environment or learn to be the best possible doctor that we can be). The clinical exposure at Kings County hospital is unrivaled. It is quite disheartening to see post like this about downstate becase I strongly suspect the only reason people cry down the school and neighbourhood is becase the community is predominantly black and immigrant.
Yeah, I think the bulletproof analogy might be a bit of an exaggeration, but my friend who is a med student at Downstate has told me she is afraid to go out alone at night by herself.
TriniToDeBone said:
Whatever.
1 - I said nothing of the quality of the school
2 -I have lived not too far from the area for 16 years. Don't try to play the race card - this is simply a dangerous neighborhood.
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idq1i said:
I am not playing the race card (although your accusation of "playing the race card" today has become an all too come reason to act like race does not exist and play a major role in the socioeconomics of the USA) However I am stating the obvious. I also said immigrant which also stands for all immigrant races of whihc many are not black and live arond the downstate area. All I can say is "if the cap fits wear it". Additionally with respect to the post about a person's friend not feeling safe - safe is all relative to where your comfort zone lies. This post is a prime example of why we need doctors that span every realm of society that can champion for the often unsaid and unpopular opinions that may represent the major "minority". As I said good luck to you all, my goal was just to shed light on a few misconceptions about downstate and the community dowstate serves.
