Ok i'll jump in here. I am a prelim medicine intern at NYU, so I have don't have as much bias when it comes to things like rankings and fellowships. One excellent point to mention off the bat is that NYU sends residents to 3 hospitals that are VERY different and each with their own unique qualities. Bellevue hospital is the largest and oldest New York public hospital. Residents have a high degree of autonomy and there is a wide range of diagnoses. You will see rare presentations of common disease, and flat out rare disease as there are many foreign patients (yes, there are ones that fly in to new york, speak no english, and bring a sign that says Bellevue hospital." There may be a fair amount of "soft" admissions, including dementia patients from the public nursing home Coler-Goldwater. You will have patients admitted from prison that are in a heavily guarded lock-down ward. There are regular teaching sessions every day (sometimes hard to fit them in) and teaching rounds with attending or hospitalist. Its frustrating sometimes to get things done at bellevue but I think it has improved since i was a med student.
Tisch hospital is a medium-sized private hospital in which patients are admitted by their private MDs. Patients are triaged to a "teaching" floor or nonteaching floor. They will be followed primarily by their private attending who comes in qD. Different attendings have widely different attitudes regarding housestaff involvement in formulating the plan. On the whole, there is much less autonomy than at Bellevue. However, the hospital tends to run more efficiently. The computer system is in the process of being upgraded and is extraordinarily cumbersome now (4-5 different database programs being used currently). There are specialty services (cardiology, oncology).
The Veterans Affairs Manhattan campus serves the veteran population which tend to have relatlively simpler illness. Structure is similar to bellevue but computer system is extremely good and the hospital is more efficient.
As an intern you have ~3 ICU months. The ICU in Bellevue is brand new and very well run on the whole. Nursing staff in the ICU is generally excellent and it is easier to get things done there. You spend more time actually discussing medicine than you do on the floors because you are not bogged down with discharge planning. Attendings have been excellent in my experience. Call q4 for interns q3 for residents. There is probably 6 months of floors or night float and the option to rotate at memorial sloan kettering. 1-2 months of electives.
Intern year can be tough i'm sure whereever you are. In my experience at NYU, I have found the residents to be not just extremely competent, but very likable and easy to work with. Likewise with the attendings I have worked with. I am not in a position to comment on the other New York programs. It is my understanding that NYU resdients do very well with fellowship placement. I think it is an excellent program. I hope my mood doesn't change during the rest of the year, but there will inevitably be rough spots.
good luck
-F
