USMLE Scores for Upstate ...

[DubZteR]

Can anyone help me out? I'm trying to find the average USMLE scores for med students attending SUNY Upstate Medical School.

I've tried searching numerous threads including the one where posters list the average usmle scores for their school but I haven't been able to find this info for Upstate. Any help would be great!

Thanks,

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[mikegoal]

I am not sure what the average score is but i know it is above the average national score.

 

[DubZteR]

I am not sure what the average score is but i know it is above the average national score.

Thanks ... and the avg. national score is a 217?

 

[doc05]

you can search all you want, but guess what? it doesn't mean anything. your performance is entirely up to you, and your classmates' scores have no bearing on your own future.

bottom line? upstate isn't the best school out there, but a good choice, esp if you're in-state. ace step 1 and make aoa? you'll be set for residency.

 

[AlexRusso]

I don't think you'll find that info b/c I don't think the school makes it availble. I am a third year here at Upstate and I can tell you that I don't know what the avg. was for my class. Nor has anyone else heard of it. Rumor has it is that it is around the national average or maybe slightly above. An yes, the natinal average is a 217.

If you have any more questions about Upstate feel free to PM me.

 

[DubZteR]

you can search all you want, but guess what? it doesn't mean anything. your performance is entirely up to you, and your classmates' scores have no bearing on your own future.

bottom line? upstate isn't the best school out there, but a good choice, esp if you're in-state. ace step 1 and make aoa? you'll be set for residency.

Thanks for replying. What is AOA?

 

[DubZteR]

I don't think you'll find that info b/c I don't think the school makes it availble. I am a third year here at Upstate and I can tell you that I don't know what the avg. was for my class. Nor has anyone else heard of it. Rumor has it is that it is around the national average or maybe slightly above. An yes, the natinal average is a 217.

If you have any more questions about Upstate feel free to PM me.

Hey Alex,

As an MS-3 at Upstate, do you think the school prepares you well for step 1? Is it easy for you to do your some of your electives at other schools?

Thanks for your time,

 

[phoenixsupra]

Thanks for replying. What is AOA?

AOA = Acadamy of A$sholes j/k BTW

 

[AlexRusso]

Hey Alex,

As an MS-3 at Upstate, do you think the school prepares you well for step 1? Is it easy for you to do your some of your electives at other schools?

Thanks for your time,

Yes and yes to both, of your questions. I felt very well prepared for Step 1, especially the pathology and pathophysiology aspects which comprise the biggest part of the test. We have a really awesome pathophysiology class in the second year that teaches you to think clinically, which is what the boards try to test. After finishing second year I had to do only very minimal review of path, pathophys and pharm. Those three are probably the majority of the exam so that helps a lot. I did have to brush up on some first year courses like anatomy, histo, biochem, physio. Also had to do some review of micro and immuno. Overall the school is great with preaparing students for the boards and for your clinical years. My first rotation was medicine and I felt very well prepared for it both in terms of physical exam skills and clinical reasoning.

As far as away electives, many students do them. Most do them in their fourth year so I haven't done any yet but plan on doing at least two. From what I heard from people that have done them they are relatively easy to schedule and the school is very good with helping you with all the paperwork and giving you credits and such.

We have lots of time for electives and the school allows you to take almost half of your elective credits at away programs. After finishing this year, for example, I will only have to do psych(6wks) and urology(2wk) next year. Thats 2 months and the rest of the time is elective time. Not to mention that by the time I finish this year I will also have already finished about 10 elective credits here at Upstate. Leaving me with most of my fourth year to do away electives. As you can see plenty of time to do them. 👍

 

[AlexRusso]

Thanks for replying. What is AOA?

More seriously though...AOA is the national honor society for med students. Each school's chapter has their own selection criteria but the rules of AOA state that no more than a certain percantage (20% I think) of each class can be inducted as members. When you have AOA on your application for residency it just tells residency programs that you were among the top students in your class.

Kind of like Goldent Key or Sigma Beta for undergrads.


Here at Upstate membership selection is based on board scores, number of honors credits, and character + community service.

 

[DubZteR]

Yes and yes to both, of your questions. I felt very well prepared for Step 1, especially the pathology and pathophysiology aspects which comprise the biggest part of the test. We have a really awesome pathophysiology class in the second year that teaches you to think clinically, which is what the boards try to test. After finishing second year I had to do only very minimal review of path, pathophys and pharm. Those three are probably the majority of the exam so that helps a lot. I did have to brush up on some first year courses like anatomy, histo, biochem, physio. Also had to do some review of micro and immuno. Overall the school is great with preaparing students for the boards and for your clinical years. My first rotation was medicine and I felt very well prepared for it both in terms of physical exam skills and clinical reasoning.

As far as away electives, many students do them. Most do them in their fourth year so I haven't done any yet but plan on doing at least two. From what I heard from people that have done them they are relatively easy to schedule and the school is very good with helping you with all the paperwork and giving you credits and such.

We have lots of time for electives and the school allows you to take almost half of your elective credits at away programs. After finishing this year, for example, I will only have to do psych(6wks) and urology(2wk) next year. Thats 2 months and the rest of the time is elective time. Not to mention that by the time I finish this year I will also have already finished about 10 elective credits here at Upstate. Leaving me with most of my fourth year to do away electives. As you can see plenty of time to do them. 👍

Hey Alex! That sounds great. I like the fact that their students seemed to have ample opportunity to do electives away at other hospitals. Thanks for confirming this! Out of curiosity .. are you at Binghamton or Syracuse? I personally chose Bing for my clinical years because I hear that students there get closer interaction with the physicians when they do their rotations. Any idea if this is also true?

Thanks again!

 

[AlexRusso]

Hey Alex! That sounds great. I like the fact that their students seemed to have ample opportunity to do electives away at other hospitals. Thanks for confirming this! Out of curiosity .. are you at Binghamton or Syracuse? I personally chose Bing for my clinical years because I hear that students there get closer interaction with the physicians when they do their rotations. Any idea if this is also true?

Thanks again!

I am at Syracuse. Yes at Binghampton you do get more interaction with attendings because there are no residents to compete with. On the flip side though you do not see the same variety of cases that you see here in Syracuse because all the complicated ones get refered here. This is not only interesting and helps you learn but also helps with shelf exams and boards. When I took the peds shelf a majority of even the esoteric cases presented on there were cases I saw during my rotation (we had four tet baies on our floor at one time, we had diabetics, all kinds of infectious diseases, congenital reanl rpblems, etc) and that really helped in answering the questions b/c you can just think back to how those kids presented and how they were managed. People at Binghamton didn't get this.

So each place has its pluses and minuses. I want to go into a super-super specialty (pediatric cardiothoracic surg) and so I wanted to be in a place where i would see all these wierd cases. I also want to work in an academic center and so I wanted to train at one. This is not to say that people from binghamton don't go into specialties and that people from syracuse dont go into primary care, they do. So it really depends on what you prefer.

Did you get accepted here already? and if yes are you definately coming?

 

[DubZteR]

Did you get accepted here already? and if yes are you definately coming?

Yes, I got accepted last month and I'm still really thrilled!!!!! The only thing that is stopping me from definately coming is the fact that I don't know where my partner will end up. We're from Canada and we are trying to end up in the same city or at least somewhere fairly close and commutable. The only problem so far with upstate is that it's still several hours away from the closest college of optometry in manhattan. It's a toughie!!!! Any suggestions?

Also, do you know of any friends who switch clinical campuses once they get to third year? Is this frowned upon?

 

[AlexRusso]

Yes, I got accepted last month and I'm still really thrilled!!!!! The only thing that is stopping me from definately coming is the fact that I don't know where my partner will end up. We're from Canada and we are trying to end up in the same city or at least somewhere fairly close and commutable. The only problem so far with upstate is that it's still several hours away from the closest college of optometry in manhattan. It's a toughie!!!! Any suggestions?

Also, do you know of any friends who switch clinical campuses once they get to third year? Is this frowned upon?

I am from NYC myself and yes it is quite far. First year I had a lot of time and used to go back to the city ever 3 weeks or so. Second year I would only go back about half as much. Now in my third year I only go for holidays. Since starting third year in July I've been back about 3-4 times at most. Next year I should be able to do more. One of my friends had her family in NY and she lived here and they tried to take turns with her going back one weekend and them coming up to visit the next but it gets to be extremelly difficult. If it is really important for you to be able to see your partenr frequently you might want to consider living closer to each other. Med school is hard enough without having to deal with that added stress.

As for switching campuses come time for third year --- this is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to do. It happens very rarely and only for people in very special circumstances. Do not count on it. A classmate of mine has his wife and kids living here in Syracuse and he wasn't able to switch. He is able to come back to visit every weekend, however, becuase it is only 1 hour away. It's not so bad. It's like commuting to work in the city if you live in queens or LI, except that he does it 1ce a week instead of 5 times. It's very difficult to swithc b/c its a legal issue with the school's charter whereby they have to have a certain number of students at each campus and they cannot deviate from that number for fear of loosing their accreditation. Therefore they will not do it unless there is some really unussual circumstances and there is a 1 for 1 switch.

I really hope you strongly consider Upstate. It's a great school with great students, faculty, and administration. Very friendly environment and an excellent education. I love it here. Hope to see you next year. Best of luck!

 

[mikegoal]

doing away electives is easy there is plenty of elective time at upstate. we dont have nearly as many requirements in 4th year as some schools. The hardest part about arranging electives is filling out the paperwork for the school you want to do it at. Im a 4th year at upstate by the way and im loving it. Im also at syracuse and agree with everything alex said

 

[DubZteR]

As for switching campuses come time for third year --- this is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to do. It happens very rarely and only for people in very special circumstances. Do not count on it.

That's what I thought. I also have an interest in cardiothoracic surgery but I chose Binghamton b/c I really wanted the extra one on one interaction with the attendants. I hope this doesn't put me too much at a disadvantage. Out of curiosity .. I was always under the impression that it's 5 years of training after medical school? However, I'm a bit confused because I was reading this interesting article and in there they mention that it commonly takes 9 - 10 years after medical school which is a staggering amount of time for me!

I really hope you strongly consider Upstate. It's a great school with great students, faculty, and administration. Very friendly environment and an excellent education. I love it here. Hope to see you next year. Best of luck!

I really like Upstate too! Out of curiosity ... you mentioned almost half of the electives can be taken elsewhere but what does that translate to in terms of a time frame ?

Maybe I'll see you around on campus this fall 🙂

 

[mikegoal]

u are required to do 27 elective credits(27 weeks) during 3rd and 4th year. 15 of those need to be on campus 12 can be away and any extra can be away

 

[DubZteR]

u are required to do 27 elective credits(27 weeks) during 3rd and 4th year. 15 of those need to be on campus 12 can be away and any extra can be away

Thanks Mike!

 

[AlexRusso]

General Surgery residency is 5 years after medical school In order to become a cardithoracic surgeon you also need to do a fellowship, which is two or three years extra depending on the program. So thats at least 7-8 years right there. A lot of people also take an extra year or two to do research bringing the total training time close to the 9-10 year estimate from the article.

 

[DubZteR]

I was always under the impression that it's 5 years of training after medical school? However, I'm a bit confused because I was reading this interesting article and in there they mention that it commonly takes 9 - 10 years after medical school which is a staggering amount of time for me!

General Surgery residency is 5 years after medical school In order to become a cardithoracic surgeon you also need to do a fellowship, which is two or three years extra depending on the program. So thats at least 7-8 years right there. A lot of people also take an extra year or two to do research bringing the total training time close to the 9-10 year estimate from the article.

Thanks ! ... that is indeed a lot of time !!!!!!!
🙁

 

[pamchenko]

Thanks ! ... that is indeed a lot of time !!!!!!!
🙁

im a msfour at upstate applying for g surg right now. upstate within NY is pretty run of the mill...I think what's important to consider is that you will leave upstate a medical sissy. i have no idea how to do IVs or blood draws. a kid from downstate at my level of training can pan cultures, IV, blood draw, abg and a bunch of other stuff. needless to say, upstate is a much cushier program than downstate hands down. easily. downstate kids really get killed rotating thru some of their hospitals. i imagine they are better trained to function in a nyc city residency afterwards though. nyc residencies tend to have crappier ancillary services. nonetheless, it just takes some time to adjust.
i think its great to want to do CT surg, but everyone i've talked to is crapping on it because the bulk of CT surg was hearts, and cards is takinig all the cases away thus leaving alot of CT surgeons w/o jobs.
overall, i was very happy at upstate and i think you'll learn alot...as stated before, its up to you on how well you do. i partied hard for my time here and am paying for it now 😛

 

[slickrikk]

Can anyone help me out? I'm trying to find the average USMLE scores for med students attending SUNY Upstate Medical School.

I've tried searching numerous threads including the one where posters list the average usmle scores for their school but I haven't been able to find this info for Upstate. Any help would be great!

Thanks,

Go ask your student affairs office
they'll have that info

 

[DubZteR]

Go ask your student affairs office
they'll have that info

thanks 🙂

 

[DubZteR]

im a msfour at upstate applying for g surg right now. upstate within NY is pretty run of the mill...I think what's important to consider is that you will leave upstate a medical sissy. i have no idea how to do IVs or blood draws. a kid from downstate at my level of training can pan cultures, IV, blood draw, abg and a bunch of other stuff. needless to say, upstate is a much cushier program than downstate hands down. easily. downstate kids really get killed rotating thru some of their hospitals. i imagine they are better trained to function in a nyc city residency afterwards though. nyc residencies tend to have crappier ancillary services. nonetheless, it just takes some time to adjust.
i think its great to want to do CT surg, but everyone i've talked to is crapping on it because the bulk of CT surg was hearts, and cards is takinig all the cases away thus leaving alot of CT surgeons w/o jobs.
overall, i was very happy at upstate and i think you'll learn alot...as stated before, its up to you on how well you do. i partied hard for my time here and am paying for it now 😛

That's very interesting because during my interview ... some of the medical students were telling me that was one of the pluses of going to Upstate because compared to some of their friends at other medical schools .. they were able to do things like IVs, draw blood etc.... Do you think this could be a function of the location of the clinical campus?