NYT: $1 Billion Donation Will Provide Free Tuition at a Bronx Medical School

[Mr.Smile12]

Another med school going tuition free

$1 Billion Donation Will Provide Free Tuition at a Bronx Medical School

Ruth Gottesman, a longtime professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, is making free tuition available to all students going forward.

www.nytimes.com

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[Coco.Noir777]

Another med school going tuition free

$1 Billion Donation Will Provide Free Tuition at a Bronx Medical School

Ruth Gottesman, a longtime professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, is making free tuition available to all students going forward.

www.nytimes.com

Will this make Einstein super competitive like NYU or Mount Sinani?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Will this make Einstein super competitive like NYU or Mount Sinani?

It places Einstein on par, especially with a strong emphasis on their community mission and impact (if you read the article).

 

[Goro]

Will this make Einstein super competitive like NYU or Mount Sinani?

Oh yeah!!!!!

 

[DOCOC15]

Ugh, one of my top choices just became out of reach

 

[yellowarmpit47]

Thoughts on how this could affect prestige/match results in the era of P/F step 1? (if at all)

 

[RunnerDad]

Ugh, one of my top choices just became out of reach

These things have a way of balancing out in the long run

 

[Saturday’s Child]

Thoughts on how this could affect prestige/match results in the era of P/F step 1? (if at all)

Free tuition will have no effect on the quality of training, attendings, resources, etc. which are the major contributors to “prestige.” A portion of individuals who are competitive for the traditionally “high prestige” schools might be swayed by the free tuition, but many will also still be willing to pay for the big names and the training/research/networking advantages they offer. A lot of those programs are also pretty generous with aid, if not necessarily “free.”

NYU is different since it already had a broadly strong reputation in medicine and other domains, whereas Einstein is not a particularly well-known brand or institution outside of NY. I’d imagine it’ll take several years if not decades for Einstein to see any significant and consistent jump in the quality/competitiveness of its students (and their match outcomes) as a result of this tuition change.

 

[pierty]

Free tuition will have no effect on the quality of training, attendings, resources, etc. which are the major contributors to “prestige.”

I don't think that this conversation is particularly insightful, but to be accurate: the quality of training, attendings, etc. are not metrics used for calculating USNWR rankings, or determinants of the nebulous idea of "prestige".

NYU and Einstein were ranked and viewed as equivalents in the early 2010s. To many older doctors, they are still that way. The change in the view of pre-med bias was majorly due to the shift in rankings that were caused by relief funds for NYU incorrectly tabulated as "research funding" following the damage of hurricane sandy, and the announcement of free tuition in 2017. Likely, Einstein will follow the same trend with the additional 1 billion dollar donation (a portion of which will likely be used for research endeavors and faculty), and free tuition they now have.

Related to the idea of "reputation" in medicine: both are very well-known. They have equivalent outcomes in academic medicine over the past 60 years (see Table 3; Goldstein et al., 2015) and were both the first programs to establish MSTPs in the country. From several different aspects, they are very similar. (*note: commonly, pre-meds use USNWR "program director scores" as a proxy to try to understand a school's reputation. PD surveys returned are extremely low - ranging from 25% to <5% (!!!) per year, so you have near complete confidence that there's 0 confidence you are representing the population. They also pool from only 3 specialties - none of which are considered competitive. I digress).

Now, should any of this color your decision to attend one or the other, or any other school? No. Should the chronically online neurotic premeds continue to ruminate over this and "prestige" while scratching an addiction every day over bright blue screens? Probably not - there are better ways to spend time.

References:

What Makes a Top Research Medical School? A Call for a New... : Academic Medicine

ised the quality of medical education, the educational processes that produce the physicians who provide the best patient care and conduct the best biomedical research have not been identified. Comparative analyses are powerful tools to understand the differences between institutions, but they...

journals.lww.com

 

[Coco.Noir777]

Ugh, one of my top choices just became out of reach

Same it’s sad bc if Einstein becomes the next NYU they will might shift their focus from social justice/community service to being like any T20 (all about the research and prestige).

I guess we just have to wait and see. We shouldn’t have favorite schools anyway lol

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Same it’s sad bc if Einstein becomes the next NYU they will might shift their focus from social justice/community service to being like any T20 (all about the research and prestige).

I guess we just have to wait and see. We shouldn’t have favorite schools anyway lol

I'm certain there will not be a shift away from serving the Bronx. Mission fit, mission fit, mission fit...

https://www.einsteinmed.edu/uploadedfiles/education/md-program/responsive-content/service-learning-sites.pdf

 

[Coco.Noir777]

I'm certain there will not be a shift away from serving the Bronx. Mission fit, mission fit, mission fit...

https://www.einsteinmed.edu/uploadedfiles/education/md-program/responsive-content/service-learning-sites.pdf

Their mission really fits my app RIP. Do you think it’s worth applying even though I don’t have good stats?

 

[LizzyM]

Their mission really fits my app RIP. Do you think it’s worth applying even though I don’t have good stats?

Look at their mission. They may prioritize mission over stats if they choose not to be stat-wh0res chasing the USNews ratings. They may want to leverage this donation, which is 100% for free tuition in perpetuity (so it is going into a huge trust fund with strings attached), to attract people who will go into clinical service in underserved communities, particularly in primary care but also in specialties that are in short supply in places with the greatest need.

Just as some schools measure their long-term impact on the number of department chairs and deans they've produced, other schools may use a different metric.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Their mission really fits my app RIP. Do you think it’s worth applying even though I don’t have good stats?

Are you from the Bronx or the surrounding counties?

 

[Coco.Noir777]

Are you from the Bronx or the surrounding counties?

I'm oos (from nj) but I have some non profit volunteering + a volunteer award that is tied to NY

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I'm oos (from nj) but I have some non profit volunteering + a volunteer award that is tied to NY

If you are from the metro area... you might as well try and connect with their admissions team... though they may experience a similar bump up in applications like NYU did. If your service orientation profile and advocacy record are strong, might as well try.

 

[zakimran23]

This is completely uneducated conjecture on my part, but I feel like Einstein will end up going the route of NYU. Their median MCAT is already 516 and will only go up after this. The whole point of this donation is to remove a barrier of access to medicine, but I am afraid all it will do is give free tuition to wealthy applicants who have the resources to do things like gain extensive ECs, high-level tutoring, etc. Again, this is just my opinion, but NYU LI is an example of what schools claiming to give out free tuition as a way to remove barriers should be. NYU Grossman is just an example of the rich getting richer.

 

[SOtheProdigy]

Their mission really fits my app RIP. Do you think it’s worth applying even though I don’t have good stats?

I applied, with my MCAT being way below their average in this current cycle that is about to end, and I got an interview. Even though I was rejected, me getting the interview suggested that they look at applications from a holistic and mission-fit standpoint. Definitely shoot your shot!!

 

[c0der]

Their mission really fits my app RIP. Do you think it’s worth applying even though I don’t have good stats?

I applied and was accepted, my MCAT was also way below the average so it's not impossible. After my interview and speaking to some current medical students, mission fit is so important to the culture of Einstein and you can def see it in their students. I say focus on what you can still control, you never know what may happen. Good luck!

 

[LizzyM]

If Einstein has integrity (and I hope it does) it will stick with mission-fit and not bend to the idea that the applicants with the highest stats are the best qualified. There is, however, the litigious nature of society and the beef some 4.0/526 applicants might have at being snubbed by Einstein over someone with a 3.7/517 (which is not too shabby).

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Op-ed: continuing the conversation that it will take more for diversity efforts

Free tuition won't fix medicine’s diversity problem without admissions reform

A second New York medical school is going tuition-free in hopes of improving diversity. But more changes are needed.

www.statnews.com

 

[zakimran23]

Op-ed: continuing the conversation that it will take more for diversity efforts

Free tuition won't fix medicine’s diversity problem without admissions reform

A second New York medical school is going tuition-free in hopes of improving diversity. But more changes are needed.

www.statnews.com

This is an excellent article and really highlights a lot of the obstacles in trying to increase diversity in medicine through initiatives such as free tuition.