Hi everyone! I've been fortunate to accept several acceptances and have narrowed them down. I've been really struggling to decide on a school to attend so any insights would help. I'm not sure of what specialty I hope to pursue yet but due to vision issues/strabismus, I've decided to steer clear of surgical subspecialties. Mainly looking at neurology, psychiatry, and internal med. I am not opposed to primary care either though.
Rochester
pros:
- strong name in medicine
- great match to solid programs across the US
- biopsychosocial model integrated into a lot of the curriculum which is something that I really like
- the students and faculty seem to have a good relationship, and the students feel supportive of each other
- research opportunities are abundant, school pushes for students to pursue research so there is support in that regard. Seems like every medical student is involved extensively in research.
- this is a small pro but IPAD (but i mean the tuition is high...)
cons:
- expensive $$$, full COA loans, sadly didn't receive any aid so ~100k/year. High tuition and fees at like 75ish k. Not sure if the bump in prestige would be worth the difference.
- seems like there are quite a lot of mandatory things to attend (though idk if this is a con since I do like PBLs)
- 1/3 of class gets assigned honors, 1/3 get high pass, and 1/3 pass for clerkships.
- farthest away from significant other, almost 6hr drive
- not as huge of a deal medical school is located in the ground floor of the med center, rooms don't have a lot of light or windows, library has barely any windows. I'm someone who needs bright natural sunlight to study well :/ but the rooms are nice
SUNY Upsate:
pros:
- much cheaper, instate tuition and scholarship would mean tuition and fees are about $25k a year, and then living expenses probably $50k/year but parents live less than an hr away so they could bring me food once in while.
- I'm unsure of specialty yet, but came into medicine with a narrative surrounding health equity and determinants of health. With the cheaper tuition, I'd be able to explore maybe primary care as well.
- parents live less than an hour away, so could bring me some food once in a while
cons:
- lower rank, less national prestige
- friend of a friend who attends says she feels the class is cliquey due to everyone coming from local colleges and knew each other
- match list not as impressive in terms of both location and specialties
- more difficult to find clinical research opportunities
- med students don't seem as happy compared to Rochester. When asked what they did for fun during admitted students day, there was an awk 10 min silence.
This has been stressing me out so much. I'm also dealing with severe imposter syndrome (I know this never goes away sadly) and subconsciously pushing Rochester away because I felt like my acceptance was a fluke. Everyone that I see in the facebook groups and on admitted students' day are so smart, ivy grads, and seem so accomplished with their bazillion research accolades. Then there's me who had 0 real meaningful research, took a long time to adjust to undergrad as a first gen, then spent a big part of undergrad focusing on doing well in classes, and overall, a bum. I know everyone in med school is smart but I've convinced myself that I'd fail med school at Rochester or just be a hermit who has to study all the time to pass, which if that is true I'd rather do it with less debt. If anyone has felt similar, please share your tips and advice on how to adjust to medical school. Thanks for hearing me vent.
Also, sitting on a couple waitlists too including the rest of the NYS SUNY's but mostly interested in Stony Brook and hope I can get off the waitlist. My significant other would be able to move with me so that would be a huge huge deal for me. If anyone has any experiences with Stony, or any tips on how increase chance of getting off WL, please share as well! Thank you all, I appreciate it!
Rochester
pros:
- strong name in medicine
- great match to solid programs across the US
- biopsychosocial model integrated into a lot of the curriculum which is something that I really like
- the students and faculty seem to have a good relationship, and the students feel supportive of each other
- research opportunities are abundant, school pushes for students to pursue research so there is support in that regard. Seems like every medical student is involved extensively in research.
- this is a small pro but IPAD (but i mean the tuition is high...)
cons:
- expensive $$$, full COA loans, sadly didn't receive any aid so ~100k/year. High tuition and fees at like 75ish k. Not sure if the bump in prestige would be worth the difference.
- seems like there are quite a lot of mandatory things to attend (though idk if this is a con since I do like PBLs)
- 1/3 of class gets assigned honors, 1/3 get high pass, and 1/3 pass for clerkships.
- farthest away from significant other, almost 6hr drive
- not as huge of a deal medical school is located in the ground floor of the med center, rooms don't have a lot of light or windows, library has barely any windows. I'm someone who needs bright natural sunlight to study well :/ but the rooms are nice
SUNY Upsate:
pros:
- much cheaper, instate tuition and scholarship would mean tuition and fees are about $25k a year, and then living expenses probably $50k/year but parents live less than an hr away so they could bring me food once in while.
- I'm unsure of specialty yet, but came into medicine with a narrative surrounding health equity and determinants of health. With the cheaper tuition, I'd be able to explore maybe primary care as well.
- parents live less than an hour away, so could bring me some food once in a while
cons:
- lower rank, less national prestige
- friend of a friend who attends says she feels the class is cliquey due to everyone coming from local colleges and knew each other
- match list not as impressive in terms of both location and specialties
- more difficult to find clinical research opportunities
- med students don't seem as happy compared to Rochester. When asked what they did for fun during admitted students day, there was an awk 10 min silence.
This has been stressing me out so much. I'm also dealing with severe imposter syndrome (I know this never goes away sadly) and subconsciously pushing Rochester away because I felt like my acceptance was a fluke. Everyone that I see in the facebook groups and on admitted students' day are so smart, ivy grads, and seem so accomplished with their bazillion research accolades. Then there's me who had 0 real meaningful research, took a long time to adjust to undergrad as a first gen, then spent a big part of undergrad focusing on doing well in classes, and overall, a bum. I know everyone in med school is smart but I've convinced myself that I'd fail med school at Rochester or just be a hermit who has to study all the time to pass, which if that is true I'd rather do it with less debt. If anyone has felt similar, please share your tips and advice on how to adjust to medical school. Thanks for hearing me vent.
Also, sitting on a couple waitlists too including the rest of the NYS SUNY's but mostly interested in Stony Brook and hope I can get off the waitlist. My significant other would be able to move with me so that would be a huge huge deal for me. If anyone has any experiences with Stony, or any tips on how increase chance of getting off WL, please share as well! Thank you all, I appreciate it!
