NYMC students work too hard?

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oldladypremed

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Hi everyone,

I'm a westchester resident hoping to apply to med school next year. NYMC would be ideal as it is so close to my home and would prevent me from having to relocate my whole family (hubby, two kids, house etc...).

Anyway, my plan had been to apply their early decision. I have no illusions about my ability to get into a state school with lower tuition and I really don't care diddly about reputation. However, several people here have commented about how that school seems to work its students harder then other medical schools.

I'm not apposed to hard work by any means, but I do also have kids to take care of so I don't want to do any more work then medical school generally entails.

Can anyone explain why NYMC is considered "harder" then the other schools? Is it more hours in class? Harder tests? Something I haven't thought of yet?

Thanks all!

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I think the only reason why NYMC may be considered harder than other schools is that they have more frequent exams. But I personally doubt it is much different in difficulty. I mean, no matter what allopathic school you attend, you take the same Boards after the pre-clinical years. My philosophy is that a good number of people would rather not go there, as they would rather go to a school in NYC or another city (as opposed to suburban Valhalla), so they almost convince themselves that NYMC seemed a lot harder than other schools. But I think the students seemed well balanced. They seemed to also have a higher number of students who were married (mostly to non-medical students) and/or had children, which would be good for you.

Due to your family situation, applying early to NYMC sounds perfect for you. When I interviewed there, I met a second year student who had a wife and child, and he said that he makes it a point of concentrating very hard and studying in the library every day after class, and then coming home in time for dinner. Then, his evenings were almost always free for him to spend time with his family. If things were a bit more difficult, he would study at home after his son went to bed.
 
Wow, MD 2007 gal, you had a TOTALLY different experience than I did at NYMC. I am a couple of years out of college and have been paying rent and living on my own for a while now and the thing that struck me most about NYMC was how much it felt like an undergraduate campus. The dorm system brings me back to my college days which, personally, I would rather not return to. When I asked about married students and their housing, they pointed to buildings for couple housing which looked much more run down than the single dorms and my tour guides didn't have much to say about married students. I am not married but I am looking for a more diverse student body than the majority of students being right out of college. I thought it felt more unfriendly to more mature students than other schools.

Secondly, I definitely got the feeling that the students were strung out and the testing schedule was excessive. I have also heard rumors on this board that they test at a more difficult level than what they teach in class. But I must admit that I am more concerned with quility of life than my board scores, as long as I pass I am pretty sure I will be satisfied with my education.

Right now, I will be attending NYMC this fall but I have a feeling I will be overworked.
 
I think there seemed to be a good mix of trads and non-trads when I visisted there, and it you're living off campus, you wont' have to deal with gross on campus housing anyway. Honestly, I think the students there seem more stressed out because a lot of them aren't quite as high caliber students. For many of them, this was the only school they got into. My student host got into a bunch of schools but went to NYMC for personal reasons, and she said she studies far less than many of her classmates who only got into NYMC. I think it has far more to do with the individual than the school itself. i think you'll do fine applying there as I can't imagine they get too many early decision applicants being that it's neither a state school nor a high prestigous school.
 
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