students/grads: why did you (or didn't you) choose SUNY?

[melucla]

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I'm considering going to suny since i got accepted, but i am still keeping my options open, I want to be sure this is the school I want. I liked the school, location, all that, but I felt like I needed more input.

Also something that really bothered me was that as I left my interview with the other interviewees, two students yelled over to us, "dont come here!" and "don't come here, don't do optometry, go to med school". i know i shouldn't take that seriously but it made me wonder why students there would even be inclined to say that (not to mention be so rude), is their program really tough or something?

Anyway, my main Q is: what do you like, and don't like about suny, as compared to other opt schools?

Thanks!

 

[Eye-Spy]

When I was in the process of selecting which American opt schools to apply to I seriously considered suny as one of my top choices. However, I after visiting the school and NYC I decided not to apply there. My main reason for this was the location. NYC is a great city with a diverse patient base, but I coud not see myself ever living there. The cost of living in the city itself was too high, and I didn't want to have to commute from Queen's or Brooklyn, as apparently many students do.
I ended up choosing ICO because Chicago is also a fun, big city with a diverse patient base, and the housing here is much more reasonable. Plus, the school has a residential complex, making the transition here even easier.

Hope this helps!

 

[JeffChou]

When I was in the process of selecting which American opt schools to apply to I seriously considered suny as one of my top choices. However, I after visiting the school and NYC I decided not to apply there. My main reason for this was the location. NYC is a great city with a diverse patient base, but I coud not see myself ever living there. The cost of living in the city itself was too high, and I didn't want to have to commute from Queen's or Brooklyn, as apparently many students do.
I ended up choosing ICO because Chicago is also a fun, big city with a diverse patient base, and the housing here is much more reasonable. Plus, the school has a residential complex, making the transition here even easier.

Hope this helps!

Out of state students can qualify for in-state tuition after their first year if they meet the requirements for eligibility which are, as I'm told, not very hard to meet. Citizenship is one of them, however. I think it brings the tuition from like 26k to around 14k which then averages out to about 16k per year (http://www.sunyopt.edu/admissions/od_finaid.shtml#tuition). I think that might help offset the cost of living compared to some of the private schools. I have no idea about the toughness of any OD program, but SUNY's first time national board exam pass rate is around the top of the pack. I guess you should expect it to be tough.

Any other comments? I'd also like to know what current students think since I'm still applying as well.

 

[KHE]

I'm considering going to suny since i got accepted, but i am still keeping my options open, I want to be sure this is the school I want. I liked the school, location, all that, but I felt like I needed more input.

Also something that really bothered me was that as I left my interview with the other interviewees, two students yelled over to us, "dont come here!" and "don't come here, don't do optometry, go to med school". i know i shouldn't take that seriously but it made me wonder why students there would even be inclined to say that (not to mention be so rude), is their program really tough or something?

Anyway, my main Q is: what do you like, and don't like about suny, as compared to other opt schools?

Thanks!

I graduated from SUNY and I thought it was a great experience. The vast majority of my instructors seemed to genuinely care about my academic and clinical development. The program was very challenging, but not unbearable. The clinic experience was excellent, as we were able to draw from a very diverse patient population both in the school itself and on the external site rotations. I also felt that I was adequately exposed to all facets of optometric practice and I felt I was strongly prepared for licensing exams, all of which I passed with flying colors on the first attempt, as did the majority of my classmates.

The only real drawback was that I came from a fairly small town and stepping into New York City (which I had only visited a couple of times prior) was a bit of a culture shock, but I learned to love the city. I live in Connecticut now and visit New York frequently.

I would have no reservations about recommending SUNY to any prospective student. I don't know why those students shouted out like they did. Perhaps they were having bad days...perhaps they just thought they were being funny or cute. Either way, it's unfortunate they acted that way.

 

[melucla]

Thank you everyone for your input! I really did like SUNY and the in state tuition, like others said, would help offset housing cost. plus, living in LA, i'm sort of used to ridiculous housing costs!