NYU Students: Need lots of Info!

[Super Rob]

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I'm seriously considering your school for next year and I would love to hear what you think about the curriculum, clinical opportunities, faculty, fellow students, schedule, life and housing, etc.

Some specific questions and concerns:

How is class rank established? Is there a true pass/fail in the first two years? How are you evaluated during the third year?

How many hours a day are you in lecture? Do you go to your classes? How would you describe your relationship with professors?

How do you and most of your friends at NYU study? What's the lecture note service like? A good investment?

Specifically, how does (or doesn't) an NYU education prepare you and your friends for STEP I? Are there any private, third party courses offered nearbye (I know of the 1st aid books and Qbank, but I've heard about a Kaplan prep class similar to the one they put together for MCAT students).

I'm confused about the curriculum: you have blocks, right? Do they overlap? How manageable is the courseload?

Do EXAMS come in blocks or are they spread out like, one a week?

How competitive do things become in your clinical years? How fairly have you been evaluated, who does the bulk of your evaluations, and what sort of experiences have you had that you are either proud of or disappointed with?

For students leaning toward a career in research, what are the pros and cons of attending NYU?

For students leaning toward a career in some highly competitive specialty or sub-specialty, the good and bad about NYU?

Any students at NYU interested in generalist medicine or family practice? Is NYU the right place for you?

If you have friends at other medical schools, what things about NYU make you GLAD you chose to go to school there. Conversely, when you talk to friends at other schools, what sort of things do you wish you had (or didn't have) at NYU that they have at their schools?

How's Rubin Hall? The kitchens, rooms, computer connections, laundry facilities, cafeteria, etc? What are the advantages of living in Greenberg? Anywhere else I should know of?

When do most students move out of Rubin? Where do most students live during 3rd and 4th years?

What kind of clubs and activities are you involved with (or do you spend most of your time studying)?

How is living in the Murray Hill district?


I know a lot of forum members are at NYU and I look forward to a variety of opinions about the school. Thank you for your thoughts!

 

[i say]

Hi. Looks like no one is posting any replies to your questions, so I?ll give it a try.

As far as grades are concerned the first two years are completely P/F. I think MD/PhD students might actually receive letter grades for some of their classes. Even though only a P may appear on your transcript there are hidden grades which may be used to determine which students will be eligible for things like AOA. Supposedly no one ever sees these grades, but who really knows; no one really talks about it or fully understands how the system works. For most classes a 70% is the cutoff to pass. If you fail you get to retake the exam or the class later. Third year grades are on a letter scale and these are the grades that really matter in terms of applying for residencies.

Hours spent in lecture vary depending on the semester. A typical day may be 2 hours of lecture, 1.5 hours of lab, 1 more hour of lecture or a case study. Some people skip classes, especially the 9 o?clock ones, but most people go. Professors here are great; students are on a first name basis with a lot of them. Naturally some classes are better than others. Most lectures are good, some are great, I recall a few that were an absolute waste of time. A lot of the lectures are given by people who are experts in a particular area, so many different people end up teaching one course, and this partially contributes to why some lectures are good and some bad.

Most lectures are taped and available on MP3, also each lecture is transcribed by students. This transcript service is free, the catch is in order to have access to the transcripts you have to transcribe one or two lectures per semester. Participation is voluntary, but everyone does it since having a transcript is pretty useful for studying. Also, all the slides, handouts, computer modules etc. are available on-line. People use a combination of all those resources to study.

As far as STEP I goes, I?m sure that Kaplan etc. sees our little NYU community as a potential source of revenue and is more than happy to offer its services, but I don?t really know the specifics. Generally I hear that NYU students tend to do well on their standardized tests.

NYU does not have a block curriculum (I think). Classes do overlap. First semester you take anatomy, embryology, biochemistry, and an introduction to clinical medicine course. Time spent studying probably breaks down to 70% anatomy, 25% biochemistry, 10% embryology (the extra 5% is for the time you would normally spend doing something fun). You ask how manageable is the course load; all I can say in reply is that everyone gets through it.

Exams are not advertised as coming in blocks. Early on they are staggered so you will end up having an exam every 2 or 3 weeks. Later on in the semester and year the exams end up coming in blocks so you will have 2 days of exams back to back once a month.

If you are interested in research NYU has plenty of it, and there are a lot of opportunities to get involved. There are about 10 students in each class involved in the MD/PhD program, and about another 20 involved in the honors research program, and many students do some kind or research in the summer after first year. Faculty are generally encouraging of students doing research and are willing to take students into their labs, but I think this can be said of most large medical/research centers.

I actually think the majority of students are leaning towards practicing clinical medicine. Students train at Bellevue, Tisch, the Veterans Hospital, the Hospital of Joint diseases, and a number of other hospitals throughout New York City. I suggest you take a look at the list of what residencies students matched into, which is available somewhere on the NYU med Website.

I am sure that a number of graduates will go into family practice and other primary care areas, but this percent probably will not be as large as one would see in a more rural school which may recruit students specifically interested in practicing that type of medicine.

Most medical students at NYU or elsewhere are really happy with their school. People who complain about any school would probably complain about any other.

The only thing that students at NYU complain about is living in Rubin; it just takes some getting used to. There is a common kitchen and a common bathroom on each floor. Each room has a high speed internet connection and all utilities are paid for. Rent is $500-$600 a month, and all utilities are included in that. Laundry facilities are in the basement. Many students eat in the student cafeteria; some eat in the cafeteria in Tisch hospital. Everything in the medical center is connected so you never have to go outside to go to class, cafeteria, gym etc. Not many first year students live in Greenberg, which is an apartment/suite style dorm. There is also a third dorm, which is reserved mostly for residents and upper class students; I don?t think any first years live there. Some students live "off campus" this is generally more expensive, as rent in the area runs about $1500/month. Some students live in Rubin in their second year, but I don?t think any 3rd or 4th years do.

There are lots of clubs at NYU, being involved is totally up to you; some people do a lot some don?t do any.

Murray Hill is a nice area; it is generally safe and fun. If you want to get away there is a shuttle to the undergraduate NYU campus that leaves every 30 minutes, and there are several busses that stop in front of the hospital. The subway is 4 avenues over which makes it annoying to get to. Cabs in New York are rather cheep and there are plenty of them.

Any way, I hope this helps. Sorry if the paragraphs are a little disjointed, I tried to answer all your questions, but didn?t have the will power to make transition sentences.

 

[Super Rob]

i say,

Wow, you hit all of them. Thank you so much for providing all of that information. It's great to see NYU represented. If you don't mind me asking, what made you choose NYU over everywhere else?