RWJMS vs. Stony Brook vs. Penn State

[CheerfulCheerios]

NYC based applicant who am really excited to receive three medical school acceptances this cycle! I am hoping to match back to residency in NYC.

RWJMS
Pros
- in state tuition (40k), no aid
- an hour from NYC
- have friends in the program
- New medical school building opening next to university hospital April 2026
- no mandatory lectures

Cons
- current facilities are depressing (I enjoy studying in libraries often), disconnected from hospital
- heavy commuter school (worried since I study in groups)
- not much to do in the area
- internal ranking
- poor match rate this year (93%), from a friend heard that many did not match even after research years
- does not have a strong ENT/plastics department (not sure what I want to go into but this would limit my options)
- In-house exams
- currently doesn't have a sim center (unless I didn't see it at the tour?)

Stony Brook (admittedly, I know the least about)
Pros
- high match rate (98%)
- great research
- more specialty focused (?)
- NBME exams
- no mandatory lectures
- nicer facilities
- matches well into NYC
Cons
- also a commuter school (what I've heard)
- heard there are internal funding issues (unsure how much of this is true)
- 1st year would be OOS tuition (60-70k)
- three hours from NYC
- area around also seems deserted, not sure what there is to do around there

Penn State
Pros
- very nice community of students
- most live on campus
- very updated library with many students studying
- large sim center
- incredibly integrated into the hospital
- has every specialty, focused on surgical
- P/F for clinical in addition to pre-clinical
- does not match many back to NYC
Cons
- located in rural areas
- only entertainment is Hershey Park and farms
- far from NYC (three hours)
- In-house exams
- tuition 60k

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[Bowel-Plumber]

Current Stony Brook student. Not sure what funding issues you're talking about, that's the first I've heard of anything and I don't feel like we're lacking in much. As for housing, most students don't live on campus but don't commute from their parents house either. Most of us get houses/apartments off campus with other med students. I feel like this is the norm with the majority of med students in the US because I have friends in many different schools and I don't know any who use campus housing other than people that go to school in the city (like Cornell or Sinai). It's pretty normal for most med students to have a car and live off campus, but that doesn't mean you'll never see friends in the library studying.

I would take off Penn State. Expensive, most random location, and in-house exams. Before choosing between Stony and Rutgers, I'd try to figure out the cost difference between the two by the end of the 4 years. Trying not to be biased but I like Stony and I think the NBME exams are a major pro, but of course with schools so closely ranked it really doesn't make much of a difference and cost should be an important factor.

 

[typhoon1]

Rwjms just started an ENT residency this year with 2 residents per year and they matched 1 rwjms student