I have a friend who has been accepted to Ponce Medical School and the Suny Upstate linkage program (1 year MPH degree with conditional acceptance to SUNY Upstate medical). Unsure which one they would be better off choosing. Turning to the SDN community for your help! Thanks in advance
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Suny Upstate Linkage Program Vs Ponce
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I'm confused by the post above me.
I'm pretty sure Ponce, is considered a USMD Allopathic school. Hence why its in the Allopathic thread of the pre-med forum. Puerto Rico is a US territory, and Puerto Rican born citizens are have US citizenship. I don't think attending Ponce will hurt his/her/they chances at practicing medicine in the US or getting a Residency spot, unlike IMG/FMGs.
I too think this is a "no-brainer" OP's friend should attend Ponce. Ponce already accepted him compared to a CONDITIONAL acceptance after a 1yr MPH, which also means losing out on 1yr of Physician salary, ~$250k. If OP's friend works hard and is really savvy he/she/they could even use the unique experiences brought by attending medical school at Ponce, and the challenges that bring as way to positively bring attention to his residency application.
I'm pretty sure Ponce, is considered a USMD Allopathic school. Hence why its in the Allopathic thread of the pre-med forum. Puerto Rico is a US territory, and Puerto Rican born citizens are have US citizenship. I don't think attending Ponce will hurt his/her/they chances at practicing medicine in the US or getting a Residency spot, unlike IMG/FMGs.
I too think this is a "no-brainer" OP's friend should attend Ponce. Ponce already accepted him compared to a CONDITIONAL acceptance after a 1yr MPH, which also means losing out on 1yr of Physician salary, ~$250k. If OP's friend works hard and is really savvy he/she/they could even use the unique experiences brought by attending medical school at Ponce, and the challenges that bring as way to positively bring attention to his residency application.
hungrystudent99
New Member
Yes, I understand Ponce is considered a "USMD" allopathic school but it is clearly not in the same level. The school's are not comparable when it comes to residency matches and reputation amongst program directors (source: USNWR). Yes, -250k is a big number but if your friend wants to attempt to get into more competitive residencies for higher income potential, it's still a no-brainer for me....
A good student theoretically will succeed at any USMD program. Attending Ponce doesn't doom the matriculant to FM (not to say there's anything wrong with FM). SUNY Upstate is a "higher tier" school than Ponce, but its not worth a quarter mil IMHO. Maybe if it was a "Top 10" school, then there'd be more incentives, but even then like @Goro would say only people who care about USNWR are PDs and egotistical pre-meds. There's too many unknown variables, but if PONCE is also offering financial aid to OP's friend, that's more money and less debt he'd be wasting. For the POSSIBILITY, that he/she/they are interested in a Competitive specialty by the time of residency applications. Outside of the top 10 medical schools that ooze nepotism during residency match placement, getting into a competitive specialty is gonna be hard ANYWHERE, OP's friend might as well start towards their path now.
It sounds like SUNY is trying to squeeze an extra year of tuition out of your friend.
