SUNY Upstate in Syracuse is officially going under probation by the LCME. The current dean of the medical school has resigned today.
I wanted to alert the general pre-medical community about the recent developments. I myself attended this medical school and am now a resident. There's been much controversy over the last 2-3 years or so with much of the curriculum. In fact, a majority of last year's graduating class was accused of cheating on a mass scale. This was unprecedented for any U.S. medical school. It did make the news but it occurred during a time of major world news events, and this is why I believe it didn't make national news.
Let's see how this affects interview season...
Hey Everyone,
My name is Sam - I am a current third year medical student here at SUNY Upstate. I serve as the student government president here and have a working knowledge of everything that is going on. Before I address the above post, I just want to say that SUNY Upstate is and will continue to be an inspiring place to go to medical school. The health care providers, faculty and students strive for excellence day in and day out, and there is a contagious enthusiasm for starting new initiatives and improving what already exists. We are all working together to address the concerns of the LCME, and I fully believe we will emerge from this as an even stronger institution than we already are.
If you have specific questions that you can't get straight answers to anywhere else, please feel free to e-mail me personally at
[email protected].
In response to the above post, the LCME has only RECOMMENDED probation, and we will be appealing that recommendation this coming February. As an institution, we do not agree with all of their citations (hence the appeal). Also, it is worth mentioning here that their citations are not about the quality of medical education here, but instead are more related to administrative stuff. That isn't to say Upstate isn't taking these citations extremely seriously, but there is a difference - and prospective students should be aware of that difference. The medical education here is outstanding, and residency programs regularly tell Upstate how well the students are prepared to practice medicine!
Next, the cheating incident: The students accused went through full remediation. Those students were 4th year students, and they are now in residency programs across the country. The cheating accusations were only in regards to one course in the 4th year, and that course is also actively being modified and improved as students voiced their concerns about it and the faculty and deans here stepped up to the plate and addressed it.
I'll stop there for now, but we will be monitoring this thread and are happy to answer questions. Upstate is extremely transparent about both the outstanding parts of our program and those parts that need improvement.
Current applicants - come interview here and see firsthand what we are all about. I had other options for medical school, but I was blown away by the sincerity and dedication of the people I met on my interview day here 3 years ago and I haven't once regretted my decision to be a part of this community.
Hope this helps,
Sam
