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Does anyone go to the University of Buffalo? If so, how is the Med program there? Was it a very tough school do get into? Let me know, thanx...
-Jeff
-Jeff
University of Buffalo
- Thread starter Dr. Geoff
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S
smedley
UB is a wonderful school with a great reputation. I can be very difficult to get into, esp if you are a "local." If you ever get the chance--visit the campus. Just make certain you have enough time, ITS HUGE.
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being a 1st year at ub i can give you some quality info. how tough to get in? well, i was an out of stater so very very difficult for me. there are only a couple of out of staters here (literally i think there are 3). as for the instaters, i know we have the cornell types (seemed a popular undergrad) prob. super smart great mcats 22 year olds. as for locals, we do have plenty of 22 year olds from canicious college. as for ub undergrads, there are a few, but as far as i can tell they tend to be older and have completed a master's degree. most of them already took some of the med school classes at ub with med students during thier master's program. as for the ub grads who got right in, i think they had pretty good numbers. here's a secret i think i've learned and if i went to ub undergrad . . . 1)western ny is really in need of primary care phys. 2) UB is top 10 in the country for family medicine (not my interest really) and 3) the national average for grads going into peds or a ped sub-specialty ~10% but ub is nearly double that (great rotations at childrens in buffalo plus a great faculty many of whom are pediatricians.)
so if i were you, i'd look into the master's program if necessary. and when i interviewed, i'd have researched the peds or family med program. i'd talk in the interview about wanting to do rural family med in w. ny or peds in rural or buffalo area. really, it would help make a stronger candidate.
as far as life at ub, i definately picked the right school for me. i love it. it is very clinically oriented (they assume we're going to be clinitions for the most part) and i were heavy into research or academic med i'd look more towards stony brook.
phew! hope i helped!
so if i were you, i'd look into the master's program if necessary. and when i interviewed, i'd have researched the peds or family med program. i'd talk in the interview about wanting to do rural family med in w. ny or peds in rural or buffalo area. really, it would help make a stronger candidate.
as far as life at ub, i definately picked the right school for me. i love it. it is very clinically oriented (they assume we're going to be clinitions for the most part) and i were heavy into research or academic med i'd look more towards stony brook.
phew! hope i helped!
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Ithica 20
I really appreciate you taking the time to reply to my post. I am a NY resident currently in school at University of Florida. I was initially interested in Stony Brook due its location close to home. However, I was not aware of the school's research/academic medicine educational approach. I am very interested in primary care, and I see myself perusing that aspect of Medicine in the future. My question to you - or anyone else who may be able to help – is how do I go about researching a medical school's teaching style? ie clinical, or research/academic. Would this information usually be located on web sites, or admissions requirements books, ect.?
Once again, I appreciate your assistance, and hope to hear back from you. Thank you.
I really appreciate you taking the time to reply to my post. I am a NY resident currently in school at University of Florida. I was initially interested in Stony Brook due its location close to home. However, I was not aware of the school's research/academic medicine educational approach. I am very interested in primary care, and I see myself perusing that aspect of Medicine in the future. My question to you - or anyone else who may be able to help – is how do I go about researching a medical school's teaching style? ie clinical, or research/academic. Would this information usually be located on web sites, or admissions requirements books, ect.?
Once again, I appreciate your assistance, and hope to hear back from you. Thank you.
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gator, that is a very hard question to answer . . . but here's how i'd go about it.
I think you can tell a lot about a school by the 1st year curriculum. find out how much time you spend in a clinic your 1st two years. then, make sure it's one-on-one time. for instance, again at suny buffalo, we do 4 hours every other week in a clinic one-on-one.
the problem is that schools aren't really rated on how good of clinitions they produce, they get rated on things like research dollars and where students match for residency (which is a function of grades + board scores among other things) and that really doesn't demonstrate clinical training you've received during your 4 years. The absolute best way to figure it out would be to talk to students. if you don't know any, this is a good place to ask about specific schools. this was a vague answer, but there really isn't a way that i found besides asking students how committed the school seemed to be to producing clinitions. on a last note, it's probably true that if the school has a problem based learning system (not saying it's good or bad) but if that system is set up, the school is probably pretty good about training future clinitions from year one.
I think you can tell a lot about a school by the 1st year curriculum. find out how much time you spend in a clinic your 1st two years. then, make sure it's one-on-one time. for instance, again at suny buffalo, we do 4 hours every other week in a clinic one-on-one.
the problem is that schools aren't really rated on how good of clinitions they produce, they get rated on things like research dollars and where students match for residency (which is a function of grades + board scores among other things) and that really doesn't demonstrate clinical training you've received during your 4 years. The absolute best way to figure it out would be to talk to students. if you don't know any, this is a good place to ask about specific schools. this was a vague answer, but there really isn't a way that i found besides asking students how committed the school seemed to be to producing clinitions. on a last note, it's probably true that if the school has a problem based learning system (not saying it's good or bad) but if that system is set up, the school is probably pretty good about training future clinitions from year one.
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Cornell literally feeds into the SUNY med system in general. They also sent a lot of kids to Mount Sinai, NYU and Einstein especially.
UB undergrads have some difficulties....I was not aware of it before. But one UB undergrad transferred to Cornell with 4.0 from UB and his GPA really plummeted after that, to around 3.0-3.3 range. It seemed that the ub undergrad was just very different in terms of atmosphere and class difficulty.
As for SUNY Stony Brook vs Buffalo for primary care, I always thought that both are very geared toward that, and at the same time, they are both the "superior" SUNY's because they do have some research going on there. I would personally choose med school based on location and the student body. As to whether they gear toward primary care or not, I would not worry about it. Unless you go to a research powerhouse school, I don't think that research will be promoted by the school so much as to interfere with your clinical experience. That's, at least in my opinion, an unnecessary worry.
UB undergrads have some difficulties....I was not aware of it before. But one UB undergrad transferred to Cornell with 4.0 from UB and his GPA really plummeted after that, to around 3.0-3.3 range. It seemed that the ub undergrad was just very different in terms of atmosphere and class difficulty.
As for SUNY Stony Brook vs Buffalo for primary care, I always thought that both are very geared toward that, and at the same time, they are both the "superior" SUNY's because they do have some research going on there. I would personally choose med school based on location and the student body. As to whether they gear toward primary care or not, I would not worry about it. Unless you go to a research powerhouse school, I don't think that research will be promoted by the school so much as to interfere with your clinical experience. That's, at least in my opinion, an unnecessary worry.
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I truly appreciate all of your responses. Luckily for myself, I have 10 months to continue researching schools before I finalize my decision. Although I often dream of going "top ten", the location and financial benefits of a state school, for myself, outweigh the prestige of a higher ranked university. Thanks again.
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all i know is neither city is all that special or great as far as living conditions. my wife is from outside of syracuse, so i do spend time in both places. not sure how accurate it is, but i've heard student happiness isn't all that great at syracuse. i do know with the new curriculum @ buffalo, student happiness is very high (we're out of class at noon tues-friday)
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Syracuse is great. Atmosphere, students, faculty, and University Hospital. I think having a hospital attached to the lecture halls as a big plus (which buffalo lacks). Syracuse can get better, but the med school is situated on university hill (with Syracuse U, SUNY ESF, Carrier Dome, Bars, Clubs, Restaurants, etc) Plus there is a cool place called Armory Square...and theres plans to make the mall the biggest in America in the next few years. Also, the new curriculum is great.
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well, there you go, syracuse is great! but i wouldn't add having a hospital attached to a lecture hall makes that big of a difference, we still go to hospitals in buffalo, we just drive instead of walk. one big plus (imho) about syracuse is you can live 15/20 min away from the school and live in a totally rural area (which i would have liked) whereas it's not really that way with buffalo... i'm in a suburb, but if i wanted to live more rurally, it'd be a drive.
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If you want to get technical Buffalo really does have a hospital system "right next to the lecture halls." The VA hospital is about a 1-2 minute walk. I think that Buffalo actually has a great system...they are affiliated with several hospitals rather than having a University Hospital. UB's affiliated hospitals range from a level I trauma center to completely rural. Just my two cents...
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are you talking about undergrad or med school (which isn't on the 4.0 system). I didn't go to ub undergrad, i went to u. of colorado and without attending both can't answer your question. i think you're entering a long time debate where the ivys will say yes us staters will say no.
Sanman
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Well, I go to SUNY Binghamton, but one of my friends went to Buffalo and tranferred out because he thought that the school didn't have good academics. Now I don't know how correct this is, but that is what I have heard from several people as far as the undergraduate program is concerned.
