What stands out about Upstate (for me at least) is the people. When I came for my interview everyone was so friendly and helpful (admissions, financial aid, secretaries, security guards, students, and faculty that I met). This has continued since I'm now a student here.
Med school is hard enough. You don't want to deal with rude and unhelpful people all the time. People at Upstate have been very helpful through the admissions process and with financial aid. I even had some trouble getting a private loan from a lender they had listed on one of the financial aid brochures. I told financial aid about it and within an hour, I got a call from someone much higher up in the bank than the people I had been trying to deal with, who answered my questions and personally followed my loan through to completion. I don't know what the people at Upstate said to them, but whatever it is, I was impressed. I also called to ask about the school's health insurance before moving here. I called the representative and left a couple of messages, but he was "out of the office", so I called the number for the school to see if someone there happened to know the answer. They didn't, but they took my name and number and said they would find out. I got a call from the guy I left the messages for that afternoon in response to my call to the school. They look out for their students. Some people might not care about that, but it means a lot to me.
Another thing that has become apparent to me (although I'm just an MSI), is that if you want to do something, they will help. If you have an interest in an elective that doesn't exist, they will try to create one for you. If you want to spend time with a physician in a certain field, they will help you find an attending that will let you hang around. I think it's important that they will help you find opportunities to interact with attendings this early on. It can help you form connections in competitive fields or just help you figure out what you want to do.
