Tufts v Downstate

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gavam08

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Hi everyone, I am very fortunate to have received several acceptances, but I'm pretty sure my decision will boil down to SUNY downstate v Tufts. In fact, being an NY resident who is primary care driven and a URM, i'm honestly pretty content going to downstate. My goal is to be an nyc doctor and it pretty much sets me up for that, plus the tuition difference. The only thing nagging me (and also i am on waitlist for BU and NYU long Island) is having gone to an ivy league undergrad, my parents and other people think I should consider Tufts ranking and residency director score as a given over downstate. Technically both are urban so i am extremely lucky in that regard, but my entire life is in nyc and i'm not really ranking driven since i want to match into a less competitive specialty. The ivy i attended was not Columbia so i was also really looking forward to returning to the city, and rejoining my life/having my boyfriend in nyc. Essentially what i'm asking is are there any reasons I should be weighing Tufts more heavily? I don't want to have any regrets or be making a huge mistake just to maintain a happy social life.

I also spoke to a classmate from undergrad who went straight into med school and is an MS1 at downstate, and she was at first bummed because she chose it over a better ranked school for financial reasons but says now she loves it so far. I have yet to speak to anyone at Tufts.

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I may soon find myself in a somewhat similar situation – still waiting to hear back from Downstate post-interview but I already have an acceptance from a well-ranked school on the west coast, where I currently live. I spent many years in NYC, and I think I want to do residency there and probably eventually practice there. The big draws of Downstate for me are clinical rotations at Kings County, the ability to live in Brooklyn, and the fact that it will set me up well for an NYC residency. Aspects of the curriculum are attractive, too, but I need to learn more.

However... I have been less-than-impressed with the admissions office so far, which has at times seemed clumsy, unfriendly and uncommunicative. The best they could tell my early January interview group about when we would hear back is "sometime before August." I don't want to be too judgmental because I don't know what they might dealing with... maybe funding issues... but combined with complaints (albeit anonymous ones) I've heard about admin in general at Downstate, it has me wondering what systemic issues the school might have.

I'm curious to hear what your former classmate loves about Downstate.
 
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I may soon find myself in a somewhat similar situation – still waiting to hear back from Downstate post-interview but I already have an acceptance from a well-ranked school on the west coast, where I currently live. I spent many years in NYC, and I think I want to do residency there and probably eventually practice there. The big draws of Downstate for me are clinical rotations at Kings County, the ability to live in Brooklyn, and the fact that it will set me up well for an NYC residency. Aspects of the curriculum are attractive, too, but I need to learn more.

However... I have been less-than-impressed with the admissions office so far, which has at times seemed clumsy, unfriendly and uncommunicative. The best they could tell my early January interview group about when we would hear back is "sometime before August." I don't want to be too judgmental because I don't know what they might dealing with... maybe funding issues... but combined with complaints (albeit anonymous ones) I've heard about admin in general at Downstate, it has me wondering what systemic issues the school might have.

I'm curious to hear what your former classmate loves about Downstate.
thank you for your reply! So I asked my classmate about that because that's the main downside I hear about Downstate--being run down and underfunded with ****ty admin. She honestly said it wasn't to the level that people claim and she feels most people that express that don't even attend downstate. Coming from a private school she said there is a definitely a difference in admin that does feel a bit archaic and unreliable, but in ways that has NOT affected her learning and growth. It usually revolves around email responses, waiting for schedules etc. but the instructors have been incredible, there is a big network of passed down notes and buddy systems within the different classes, and while the building isn't "pretty" it's super functional and being in Brooklyn a lot of students congregate in cozy coffee shops that are informally known as Suny places to hang out, as well as the library.
 
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I may soon find myself in a somewhat similar situation – still waiting to hear back from Downstate post-interview but I already have an acceptance from a well-ranked school on the west coast, where I currently live. I spent many years in NYC, and I think I want to do residency there and probably eventually practice there. The big draws of Downstate for me are clinical rotations at Kings County, the ability to live in Brooklyn, and the fact that it will set me up well for an NYC residency. Aspects of the curriculum are attractive, too, but I need to learn more.

However... I have been less-than-impressed with the admissions office so far, which has at times seemed clumsy, unfriendly and uncommunicative. The best they could tell my early January interview group about when we would hear back is "sometime before August." I don't want to be too judgmental because I don't know what they might dealing with... maybe funding issues... but combined with complaints (albeit anonymous ones) I've heard about admin in general at Downstate, it has me wondering what systemic issues the school might have.

I'm curious to hear what your former classmate loves about Downstate.
oh also! Things she loves--the way you are immediately set up to work with patients as early as one month into your first year. Like I mentioned earlier she says the 4 classes are extremely open to helping each other out and you are really taken under M3/M4s wings as an M1. There is a true sense of camaraderie that her friends who go to schools like Columbia and NYU or even Einstein (at least what she told me) feel is lacking. She is white and self identified as being privileged but says the diversity initiatives by the school since BLM and now with the spikes in anti-asian hate crimes have been incredible. Also there is a strong incorporation of race and class training within PBL and their general curriculum. She does want to match into Ortho which is why she was kind of bummed to go to SUNY at first coming from an ivy and having thought she'd receive more aid at her better ranked options, but she said there is this big ortho connect there who has already placed her and any other interested ortho M1s into various labs between Kings and the teaching hospital and she meets with him once a month to help guide her in matching into a competitive residency if she stays on the Ortho path.
 
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oh also! Things she loves--the way you are immediately set up to work with patients as early as one month into your first year. Like I mentioned earlier she says the 4 classes are extremely open to helping each other out and you are really taken under M3/M4s wings as an M1. There is a true sense of camaraderie that her friends who go to schools like Columbia and NYU or even Einstein (at least what she told me) feel is lacking. She is white and self identified as being privileged but says the diversity initiatives by the school since BLM and now with the spikes in anti-asian hate crimes have been incredible. Also there is a strong incorporation of race and class training within PBL and their general curriculum. She does want to match into Ortho which is why she was kind of bummed to go to SUNY at first coming from an ivy and having thought she'd receive more aid at her better ranked options, but she said there is this big ortho connect there who has already placed her and any other interested ortho M1s into various labs between Kings and the teaching hospital and she meets with him once a month to help guide her in matching into a competitive residency if she stays on the Ortho path.
Thank you for all this! This is all really good to hear, especially that the problems with admin aren't representative of teaching quality and that the student community is tight.

With the big caveat that I know next to nothing about Tufts, it sounds like you should attend Downstate. For your situation, I don't think rankings and residency director scores are more important than the happiness and quality of life that come with solid social support. Those will be greater keys to success, as will getting to know the metropolitan medical community (and patient population) that you will eventually practice within. You can tell your family that many Downstate students come from ivy league and ivy-caliber institutions: see here (student portal login required).
 
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