Stony Brook School of Medicine Pros/Cons

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MedSchoolHopeful777

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Hey everyone,
I was very fortunate to be accepted to Stony Brook's School of Medicine and I wanted to know the pros and cons. Here are some pros and cons from my understanding but I would love more info as I am sure I am missing some stuff (don't sugarcoat anything).

Pros:
- Solid reputation with a great match list, especially in the Northeast region
- Plenty of research opportunities (strong interest in neurology and interventional radiology so this is pretty important for me)
- 1.5-year preclinical curriculum, lots of time to study for USMLE
- In-state tuition applies for the second year
- Safe area with good housing options

Cons:
- Not a diverse patient population
- Not very near to New York City, not sure if there is a lot to do in the Long Island area
- Curriculum is H/P/F and not a true P/F, although this isn't really a big deal for me

Am I missing anything? What are the overall impressions of the school? Is there anything else I should know?

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i know you have it on the list already, but stony brook's match list blew me away as someone that wants to match to nyc later on. are you interested in the 3 year program? that could be a potential pro
 
i know you have it on the list already, but stony brook's match list blew me away as someone that wants to match to nyc later on. are you interested in the 3 year program? that could be a potential pro
The three-year program does sound interesting! However, I am not totally sure if I want to stay in Stony Brook for residency so I might not be the best fit for that program.
 
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I'm just curious but why isn't H/P/F a big deal to you? Do you not mind being ranked/being in a slightly more "competitive" student environment? I ask because Stony and another school that doesn't do true P/F really interest me but honestly that's one of their biggest turn-offs for me.
 
I'm just curious but why isn't H/P/F a big deal to you? Do you not mind being ranked/being in a slightly more "competitive" student environment? I ask because Stony and another school that doesn't do true P/F really interest me but honestly that's one of their biggest turn-offs for me.
For a couple of reasons. Many of Stony Brook's courses are actually graded Pass/Fail whereas there are some there are graded H/P/F. Here are the courses graded Pass/Fail:

1. Transition To Medical and Dental School (TMDS)
2. Biomedical Building Blocks (B3)
3. Themes in Medical Education (TiME)
4. Introduction to Clinical Medicine (ICM)
5. Medicine in Contemporary Society (MCS)
6. Transition to Clinical Care (TCC)
7. Transition to Residency (TTR)
8. Advanced Clinical Experience (ACE)
9. Translational Pillars
10. Radiology mini-clerkship
11. Emergency Medicine mini-clerkship
12. Anesthesiology mini-clerkship
13. Short-course electives

Secondly, I think medicine is an inherently competitive field so there will be competition wherever you go. But I mean of course in an ideal world Stony Brook would have true Pass/Fail, but for me personally, it is not a game-changer if it doesn't.
 
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FWIW, my student interviewer mentioned that H/P/F has been suspended due to COVID and many people are thinking that it won’t come back.
 
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I'm just curious but why isn't H/P/F a big deal to you? Do you not mind being ranked/being in a slightly more "competitive" student environment? I ask because Stony and another school that doesn't do true P/F really interest me but honestly that's one of their biggest turn-offs for me.

My school is H/P/F for most of preclinical and for the core rotations. Our school is very collaborative and not competitive at all. So having an H/P/F system doesn’t necessarily mean it will be competitive.
 
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My school is H/P/F for most of preclinical and for the core rotations. Our school is very collaborative and not competitive at all. So having an H/P/F system doesn’t necessarily mean it will be competitive.

Well it's not just the collaborative environment that I'm worried about. I'm obviously not looking to just barely be passing my exams, but being graded is a stress that I would really rather not have during my first two in-class years. Having a true pass/fail curriculum will help reduce the already stressful nature of med school for me. Which is why I wish Stony (which is one of my top choices rn) had a true pass/fail. I've heard of what the poster above said, that they suspended H/P/F for COVID and might not bring it back. I hope that's the case.
 
Well it's not just the collaborative environment that I'm worried about. I'm obviously not looking to just barely be passing my exams, but being graded is a stress that I would really rather not have during my first two in-class years. Having a true pass/fail curriculum will help reduce the already stressful nature of med school for me. Which is why I wish Stony (which is one of my top choices rn) had a true pass/fail. I've heard of what the poster above said, that they suspended H/P/F for COVID and might not bring it back. I hope that's the case.

Yeah, no one cares about pre-clinical grades. Not getting honors in an H/P/F system doesn't mean anything.
 
My school doesn't put the ranking on the MSPE, but even if they did, PDs in the surveys always list preclinical grades as being pretty unimportant as long as you pass.

Interesting. So what's the point of having the Honors if there's no benefit to it? Also, any idea how I'd go about finding out if this is the case with Stony? Do I have to just email students to ask?
 
Hey everyone,
I was very fortunate to be accepted to Stony Brook's School of Medicine and I wanted to know the pros and cons. Here are some pros and cons from my understanding but I would love more info as I am sure I am missing some stuff (don't sugarcoat anything).

Pros:
- Solid reputation with a great match list, especially in the Northeast region
- Plenty of research opportunities (strong interest in neurology and interventional radiology so this is pretty important for me)
- 1.5-year preclinical curriculum, lots of time to study for USMLE
- In-state tuition applies for the second year
- Safe area with good housing options

Cons:
- Not a diverse patient population
- Not very near to New York City, not sure if there is a lot to do in the Long Island area
- Curriculum is H/P/F and not a true P/F, although this isn't really a big deal for me

Am I missing anything? What are the overall impressions of the school? Is there anything else I should know?
I disagree that it doesn't have a diverse patient population. During my clerkships there a Spanish translator was needed for at least one person on our team every day. Lots of hispanic immigrants from central American countries. Black patients. Asian patients. I've required Russian and Haitian translators as well. You will see sickle cell, lots of HIV, even some TB. If you are comparing it to the Bronx then yes its not diverse but compared to most places the patient population is very reasonably diverse.
 
I disagree that it doesn't have a diverse patient population. During my clerkships there a Spanish translator was needed for at least one person on our team every day. Lots of hispanic immigrants from central American countries. Black patients. Asian patients. I've required Russian and Haitian translators as well. You will see sickle cell, lots of HIV, even some TB. If you are comparing it to the Bronx then yes its not diverse but compared to most places the patient population is very reasonably diverse.
Awesome thank you for your perspective! That's one of the aspects I was worried about but it's good to know that there is diversity in the area!
 
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Well it's not just the collaborative environment that I'm worried about. I'm obviously not looking to just barely be passing my exams, but being graded is a stress that I would really rather not have during my first two in-class years. Having a true pass/fail curriculum will help reduce the already stressful nature of med school for me. Which is why I wish Stony (which is one of my top choices rn) had a true pass/fail. I've heard of what the poster above said, that they suspended H/P/F for COVID and might not bring it back. I hope that's the case.
If it helps, the majority of courses are Pass/Fail. I did some research and went through their student handbook and the courses that have Honors, it is not based on ranking (for example only the top 10% get Honors), it is just everyone who gets a 90 and above. So I guess in theory everyone could get honors, so I don't think Honors at SBU necessarily spurs "toxic" competition based off on their system.
 
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Interesting. So what's the point of having the Honors if there's no benefit to it? Also, any idea how I'd go about finding out if this is the case with Stony? Do I have to just email students to ask?

Maybe they think the honors will encourage people to work harder. I dunno. Schools take a while to change. Not sure how you’d find out. Maybe email students.
 
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