Comments from the Class of 2005

Boston College

STRENGTHS: Clinical experience. Mentors, especially at KCHC/UHB.
LIKED BEST: Clinical experiences.

STRENGTHS: Early clinical exposure. Hands-on experience. Accessibility of faculty. Diversity of students. Diversity of patients. Wide exposure to different pathologies.
LIKED BEST: Patient care. Community service opportunities.

Brigham Young University

STRENGTHS: Availability of faculty and staff. Clinical experience. Diversity of the campus. Cost.
LIKED BEST: Working in a diverse, intellectual environment.

STRENGTHS: Anatomy, patients and cost.
LIKED BEST: Neurology -- most attending time I have had in 4 yrs. Invaluable. A few good attending experiences can make a world of difference.

Brooklyn College

STRENGTHS: Clinical Exposure - diversity and volume of pathology. Exposure to great clinicians. Autonomy on the wards.
LIKED BEST: Level of responsibility on the wards. Primary Care 1 at St. Vincent’s. Adolescent HIV. Involvement with American Medical Student Association.

STRENGTHS: Good clinical educational experience. Very aware of religious constraints & responsive to those constraints. Non-competitive environment. Multi-Cultural.

STRENGTHS: Extent & variety of medical pathology. Ability to be (more) directly involved in patient care. Early exposure to clinical medicine.
LIKED BEST: Ability to study medicine close to home.

STRENGTHS: Great clinical education - wide variety of clinical sites for rotations. Diverse student population.
LIKED BEST: ECM Mentorship, CBL/LABS group study sessions. Radiology elective.

STRENGTHS: Lectures during the first & second year strongly corresponded w/block exams, thereby eliminating searches through extraordinary amounts of literature or textbooks. Plenty of time is left over to study for the boards after the second year.
LIKED BEST: Despite stereotypes of “The Medical School” I still had time for family and friends.

Brown University

STRENGTHS: Strong basic science education, especially
in biochemistry and neuroscience. Early clinical responsibility and high level of function on team in the clinical realm. Varied clinical exposure-from Lenox Hill to B’klyn VA to KCHC. Strong mentorship - both organized and unplanned.
LIKED BEST: Motivated, diverse, kind involved student body. Broad clinical exposure, with increased student involvement. Really getting to know patients & their families. Working with great leaders & legends in medicine.

City College

STRENGTHS: Clinical exposure and clinical experience
LIKED BEST: My clinical experience at Kings County and Downstate.

LIKED BEST: The diversity of the community. Kings County.

STRENGTHS: Clinical experience. The diverse pathology present in the community. Friends/study groups I’ve met. Attendees/Residents.
LIKED BEST: Clinical group. I feel well prepared for residency.

College of Mt. St. Vincent

STRENGTHS: Clinical experience, diversity of people/backgrounds, cost and diversity of rotations/sites.
LIKED BEST: Bonds I developed with new colleagues and mentors.

Cornell University

STRENGTHS: Lots of clinical experience. Variety of affiliate hospitals and experiences. Lots of ambulatory medicine (Primary Care, Geriatrics, etc). Diverse student body with a great deal of academic ambition.
LIKED BEST: Medicine at KCHC. Psychiatry in the G building. Excellent library system. Psychiatry reading elective.

Dartmouth College

STRENGTHS: Supportive classmates. Patient population. Accessible faculty. Clinical experience. Hands-on experience -- draw blood, place IV’s, deliver babies. Community service opportunity -- flu vaccine project, Daniel Hale Williams health fair/obesity walkathon.
LIKED BEST: Integrated curriculum. Clinical experience. Great classmates.

Fayetteville State University

STRENGTHS: Working with the diverse population of patients seen at KCHC, UHB, SIUH, Methodist and LICH.
LIKED BEST: The people I’ve met and the friendships, being able to work with the community I grew up in.

Haverford College

STRENGTHS: Clinical rotation. Opportunities for research.
LIKED BEST: Clinical rotations.

McGill University

STRENGTHS: Strong clinical training, diverse patient population, wide variety of cases, helpful faculty and academic development office.
LIKED BEST: Interacting with patients from diverse backgrounds, being mentored by attending.

Medgar Evers College

STRENGTHS: The environment for me was conducive for learning.
LIKED BEST: Clinical years were very informative. The pathology seen was enlightening. I felt very comfortable with the patients.

New York University

STRENGTHS: The diversity of the students and the support they offered. The Pathology at KCHC. The different hospitals (city based and private), which gave me a better understanding of where I would like to be.
LIKED BEST: My fellow colleagues. Medicine rotation at KCHC; the quality of the senior resident and attending helped me decide on a career path.

STRENGTHS: 3rd yr. clinical clerkships are great. Get to do a lot and learn a lot. Clinical teaching is great. Step 1 class and Kaplan at Downstate.
LIKED BEST: Students, friends and diversity.

Northwestern University

STRENGTHS: Clinical experience: able to adapt to new environment quicker. Felt comfortable with patients on every clinical rotation. Kaplan Step 1.
LIKED BEST: My friends. Most people I met here were very friendly.

Providence College

STRENGTHS: Strong hands-on experience during 3rd & 4th year. Good Step 1 board preparation.
LIKED BEST: Meeting and working with other schools and doctors from various cultures and countries. Proximity to N.Y.C.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

STRENGTHS: Varied clinical sites, strong clinical experience, diverse patient population, and generally approachable faculty. Opportunity to care for the underserved. Emergency Medicine Dept. Involved faculty.
LIKED BEST: Diverse group of people.

Sophie Davis

STRENGTHS: Very strong clinical experience – lots of variety in pathology. Strong hands on experience. Great variety in number of affiliated hospitals. Very strong ER & Downstate students going into the ER are generally sought from other programs.
LIKED BEST: The amount of hands-on experience and variety of clinical encounter.

STRENGTHS: Experience & experience.

STRENGTHS: Competent teaching faculty. Variety of clinical cases.
LIKED BEST: Independence when interviewing patients.
Ability to perform skills such as venipuncture.

St. Johns University

STRENGTHS: 3rd & 4th year experience, we get lots of experience working with patients. We had a certain amount of independence that I don’t think other schools have.
LIKED BEST: I loved all 4 years of medical school but I especially enjoyed the clinical years. Sub I was also a wonderful experience.

SUNY Stony Brook

STRENGTHS: Kings County and its clinical exposure. Exposure to many medical procedures as a student.
LIKED BEST: Kings County and its clinical exposure.

STRENGTHS: When I started, the strength of SUNY Downstate was the cost of tuition. But as time went on, tuition kept going up. I’ve met some great faculty here - they helped me on this journey, but you have to seek them out. They, the faculty, are one of the biggest strengths at SUNY Downstate. I also enjoyed getting a head start in clinical medicine within the 1st 2 years of medical school.
LIKED BEST: The people I’ve met through my journey through medical school have made my time here at Downstate an experience to remember & cherish.

STRENGTHS: Involved in a diverse patient population and thus diverse disease processes. Responsibilities were at the level of an intern if desired. Teaching conferences and mentorships were adequately instituted and practiced. Clerkships achieved their goal, i.e., well trained medical students.
LIKED BEST: Year 1- Emerging Medicine elective, CBL
Year 2- Mentorship, GYN/Breast/Urology patient models.
Year 3- Wide variety of institutions, adequate patient
responsibility, diverse patient population, intense clerkships, supervised autonomy with many responsibilities.
Year 4- Ease of elective scheduling.

STRENGTHS: Great clinical skills experience. Great learning resource center. Clinical electives.

STRENGTHS: Clinical experiences. Autonomy on the floor and in clinic. Ability to be able to experience hands-on medicine. Variety of hospitals to choose from.
LIKED BEST: Residence Life. Student life on campus. Clinical years. Orientation.

Union College

STRENGTHS: Academics - 2nd year enthusiastic faculty. Good academic mentoring for residency.
LIKED BEST: Student meetings/activities. Dorms/on campus housing activities. 3rd year clerkships @KCHC. Great preparation for residency.

University of California at Berkeley

STRENGTHS: The first year on a whole was well taught, well organized and very interesting.
LIKED BEST: 4th yr. radiology elective – Lenox Hill medicine elective.

University of Delaware

STRENGTHS: Clinical expertise & experience. Mentorship. Patient population & variety of diseased patients.
LIKED BEST: I liked my classmates. On the whole, I felt that we were all down-to-earth people wanting to be great physicians, which meant less competitiveness amongst ourselves as future colleagues.

STRENGTHS: Opportunity to do away electives. Emergency Medicine. Diseased community that we serve. CBL groups.
LIKED BEST: Hanging out w/some classmates. Proximity to Manhattan. Opportunity to do clerkships at all different sites.

University of Florida

STRENGTHS: Clinical experience. Diversity of patient population & variety of diseases & disease presentations.
LIKED BEST: I enjoyed the strength of my basic science and clinical training. The friendships I formed & class unity.".

University of Maryland

STRENGTHS: Diversity of the student body. Early clinical exposure.
LIKED BEST: Participating with other interested students in various student organizations.

University of Maryland-College Park

STRENGTHS: The strengths were the population we were able to serve, the comradery amongst my class and the willingness of the faculty to help. We also had numerous resources available to help us deal with academic or other problems.
LIKED BEST: The organizations I got to join. The people I got to network with.

University of Michigan

STRENGTHS: Integrated systems - block curriculum. Excellent clinical experience. Diverse patient population. Our MD's love to teach.
LIKED BEST: Medicine rotations at KCHC.

University of Rochester

STRENGTHS: Clinical experience gained at KCHC/DMC and other affiliates. Relatively lower tuition compared to most other schools nationwide.
LIKED BEST: Commitment university fosters with the community. Representation of diversity in faculty. (especially during clinical years).

University of Scranton

STRENGTHS: Clear objectives for lectures & exams in yrs 1 & 2. Prepared me well for USMLE 1 & 2. Hands on clinical experience. Variety of sites & experiences or clinical rotations. Professionalism training.
LIKED BEST: Prepared me to enter any residency I desired.

University of Virginia

STRENGTHS: CBL. Block system in the 1st & 2nd Year. Patient population at KCHC and DMC exposed me to a variety of diseases."

Virginia State University

STRENGTHS: The responsiveness of faculty to student concerns.
LIKED BEST: The clinical experience began early. The community.

Wesleyan University

STRENGTHS: The clinical foundation is a definite strength. I feel prepared for whatever challenges residency will bring. Another strength is the various support systems provided through the office of Academic Development.
LIKED BEST: The diversity of the student body. The opportunities to participate in the leadership of the student organizations. The wonderful patient population. Opportunities to participate on committees that address important campus issues.

STRENGTHS: Give students more independence. Good clinical experience with a variety of sites -- private and public hospitals that can be chosen based on individual interests.
LIKED BEST: Good basic science lectures.

STRENGTHS: Broad clinical exposure. Faculty
experience. Research opportunity (library).
LIKED BEST: Education, patient exposure, colleagues, support staff and faculty.

STRENGTHS: Third year clerkships at Kings County - ability of students to do procedures. Clinical teaching is great. Variety of hospitals/Patient Population.
LIKED BEST: Friends. Being close to NYC. Lots of hospitals to rotate through. Kaplan for Step 1 on campus.