Uh-oh... The bat signal just went up.
As for the University Hospital at Upstate "Medical University" it's a Level 1 Trauma Center, which basically means a bunch of different services are on 24-hour call. Upstate serves a huge region in central New York -- the boonies, in other words. It's the only academic medical center in an area of about 1.7 million people.
But I wouldn't go there. About 1/3 of the class, as caffeinegirl noted, is sent down to the Binghamton clinical campus which is mainly geared to turning their graduates into primary care physicians. This sucks because 1) if you don't wanna be a primary care physician, you're kinda out of luck 'cause they assigned you the Binghamton campus AT YOUR INTERVIEW and 2) you're removed from the university's main setting in Syracuse.
While you may think Syracuse is a nice town, it's actually kinda dumpy. Crime is high and the city's population is quickly shrinking.
Stony Brook does have a better national reputation and, as such, sports a somewhat stronger student body. However more than 70% of their students enter primary care. I'm not an opponent of primary care, but if you go to a school whose mission ISN'T to produce primary care physicians but in which more than 70% of the student body goes into primary care, what's going on? Stony Brook's clinical affiliations are weak because they're mainly situated on Long Island. They've lost a lot of their stronger affiliations in recent years and currently its strongest affiliation is its own University Hospital. But according to the New York Times, the State University hospitals, as an entity (because they operate as such) are in the red.
According to our Dean and our President, Downstate University Hospital is the only SUNY hospital that's in the black and has been able to cover a portion of the debt generated by the other two institutions. As a side note Buffalo doesn't have its own hospital. Downstate may not be as strong as Stony Brook in national reputation, but less than 50% of our class goes into a primary care residency. That's not necessarily a good thing either, but at least it would appear that you have more options at Downstate than at Stony Brook. Downstate's in a really bad neighborhood, for which most applicants and students seem to fault the school, but the neighborhood is our greatest resource. Downstate is the only academic medical center outside Manhattan and the Bronx, and its physicians serve an area of greater than 2.5 million people (Kings, Queens, and Richmond counties). Residents of Central Brooklyn, which numbers greater than 700,000, utilize the services at Downstate and its municipal hospital affiliate Kings County Hospital Center heavily.
As far as pathology goes, you're gonna see more here than at most medical schools in the country. You'll see things that other people only read about. Perhaps the only other med school in New York that compares CLINICALLY is NYU (they have their own university hospital and Bellevue, the "flagship" of the Manhattan public hospitals).
Nationally Downstate isn't well-off, but with the bigger academic institutions we're well-liked. According to the AAMC the medical school at Downstate ranks 7th nationally in the number of alumni who hold faculty positions at other academic medical centers (not including Downstate). So there's a "Downstate connection" out there. Our graduates do well in matching to residencies up and down the eastern seaboard. Our affiliates are all clinically good and diverse, stretching all five boroughs of the city, Long Island, and even Miami, FL. Research is available if you want it, but the truth is not too many students engage in this activity on campus.
Average MCAT: 30 (9V, 10.5P, 10.5B)
Average GPA: 3.56
Most represented colleges: Cornell, Columbia, NYU, Brooklyn College (BA/MD program), and SUNY Binghamton.
So that you have a better idea of my feeling on the subject, I'll organize it for you this way.
Reputation: Buffalo, Stony Brook, Downstate, Upstate.
Academic Background: Buffalo, Stony Brook, Downstate, Upstate.
Clinical Experience: Downstate (UH and KCHC), Buffalo (Buffalo General), Stony Brook (UHMC), Upstate (UH).
Giddy students: Stony Brook, Buffalo, Downstate, Upstate.
Good luck.
Hope this helps.
Tim W. of the East Flatbush School of Medicine.
