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Comments from the Class of 2012

College Comment
Barnard University

STRENGTHS:

  • Approachable professors, good integrations of basic science instruction with clinical information
  • Faculty involved in CBL cases and small group sessions 
  • Excellent hands-on activities in imaging (ultrasound) within the curriculum. 
  • Strong neuroscience curriculum and teaching

LIKED BEST:

  • Collegial atmosphere
  • Administration responsive to students needs
  • Strong support for academic and extracurricular activities
 

STRENGTHS:

  • Range of pathology
  • Opportunities to do procedures/manage patients as medical students
  • Learning to work in a setting where resources are sometimes limited and finding alternatives

LIKED BEST:

  • My classmates
Boston University

STRENGTHS:

  • Clerkship clinical experience, particularly gained at Kings County Hospital and University Hospital at Downstate

LIKED BEST:

  • I enjoyed the comradery between my classmates as well as felling a close mentorship between classes and classmates
  • Overall, the people have been my favorite part of Downstate, in particular my future colleagues
Brandeis University

STRENGTHS:

  • Clinical variety
  • Focus on clinical material in MS2 ECM
  • Good teaching by attending
  • Good basic science background

LIKED BEST:

  • Clinical variety
  • Homely feeling amongst students and faculty
Columbia University

STRENGTHS:

  • Strong clinical training
  • Diverse clinical sites (UHD/KCH, VA, Lenox Hill Hospital, etc.)
  • Caring faculty interested in teaching
  • Less expensive than private school

LIKED BEST:

  • Elective Rotations
Cornell University 

STRENGTHS:

  • Excellent clinicians who were eager to teach
  • Great clinical exposure to various pathologies

LIKED BEST:

  • Being able to rotate through different sites in Brooklyn
 

STRENGTHS:

  • Class diversity
  • Patient and faculty diversity
  • Strong support from Dean of students
  • Ability to do rotations at many different sites

LIKED BEST:

  • Rotating at different hospitals around Brooklyn and New York City
CUNY Brooklyn College  

STRENGTHS:

  • Proximity to Manhattan

LIKED BEST:

  • Rotating at Maimonides
 

STRENGTHS:

  • Clinical experience
  • Opportunity to experience different types of hospitals and work with a wide variety of patients
  • H/HP/P curriculum gave me the extra motivation to learn the material very well
  • Plenty of time to prepare and study for Step 1 after the end of 2nd  year
  • Good mix between lectures and small groups; I personally would not enjoy a
  • curriculum that was largely small groups based
  • Excellent Gross Anatomy education

LIKED BEST:

  • Good mix and make up of medical school class
  • Faculty members that are very approachable
  • Great support from the Student Affairs Deans
 

STRENGTHS:

  • Step 1 prep was excellent throughout (2nd year especially)

LIKED BEST:

  • 4th year reading elective time
CUNY City College      

STRENGTHS:

  • High risk patient population, great exposure
  • Increased responsibility fostering independent thinking
  • Interested attending’s with quality feedback

LIKED BEST:

  • Meeting people who are not like me and hearing from them
  • Met my mentor coming to SUNY Downstate (building long-term contacts)
 

STRENGTHS:

  • Rewarding patient population to work with
  • Great Internal Medicine rotations team at Kings County
  • The shelf cut off scores pushed me to really study and master the material

LIKED BEST:

  • The students/attendings and residents
  • Dean C. is amazing and was really there for me
 

STRENGTHS:

  • Clinical hands on training
  • Experience with an indigenous population
  • Variety in clinical experiences due to a broad array of clerkship sites

LIKED BEST:

  • My medical student experience in being allowed to do as much as I am willing to take on
 

STRENGTHS:

  • Great clinical training
  • Student Autonomy
  • Personable, committed faculty

LIKED BEST:

  • Opportunities for technical skills
  • Faculty/mentor relationships I developed here
 

STRENGTHS:

  • Clinical experience
  • Opportunities

LIKED BEST:

  • Clinical experience
 

STRENGTHS:

  • Hands on clinical experience
  • The ability/opportunity to do as much as I wanted

LIKED BEST:

  • Same as above
 

STRENGTHS:

  • Dedicated teaching staff that helped facilitate learning and self teaching

LIKED BEST:

CUNY Hunter College

STRENGTHS:

  • During clerkship rotations there was a lot of opportunity for independence
  • Rotations at different sites

LIKED BEST:

  • Kings County Hospital
Haverford College

STRENGTHS:

  • The clinical years at Downstate are excellent
  • Most of the faculty are very kind and approachable
  • The clinical exposure to a multitude of diseases and pathology is unique and invaluable
  • These experiences are key to becoming a knowledgeable and competent physician

LIKED BEST:

  • I enjoyed my best interactions with the deans and certain administrators.

They offered useful advice and were always available to lend an ear and offer guidance. They were very approachable and understanding
Johns Hopkins University 

STRENGTHS:

  • Clinical experience
  • Hands on experience
  • Diversity of patients and pathology
  • Faculty geared towards education
  • Fellow classmates

LIKED BEST:

  • Classmates
 

STRENGTHS:

  • The clinical years

LIKED BEST:

  • 4th year
Northwestern University

STRENGTHS:

  • The clinical experience has a lot of hands on components
  • Medical students carry their own patients (whereas now a lot of students do not even let their students write notes)
  • Overall med students (during 3rd/4th year) are given a lot of responsibility because Kings County Hospital/Downstate residents have such a demanding workload, Downstate is pretty small, when you walk down the wards, you will know everyone, attending and residents- it’s like a small family

LIKED BEST:

  • When I worked in clinics outside of Brooklyn and I introduced myself as being from Downstate, I get a lot of acknowledgment.
Pamona College

STRENGTHS:

  • The clinical years because of demographic and pathology diversity
  • The notorious ancillary staff also gives a “learning in the trenches” feel that makes the clinical years more difficult that at other schools, but strengthen our technical and interpersonal skills

LIKED BEST:

  • See above
SUNY Albany

STRENGTHS:

  • Clinical training
  • The 3rd year clerkship experiences were the best part and why I came to Downstate

LIKED BEST:

  • See above
SUNY Binghamton 

STRENGTHS:

  • Some of the strengths include supervised autonomy in managing patients at Kings County Hospital and University Hospital
  • Wide variety of clinical scenarios
  • Great clinical teaching at Kings County Hospital/University Hospital at Downstate and new anatomy lab

LIKED BEST:

  • I liked my medicine sub-internship at Kings County Hospital the best
 

STRENGTHS:

  • Greatest strength is the clinical experience and time on the floors
  • The teams require a lot from us which could seem daunting but is a great way to learn

LIKED BEST:

  • Camaraderie amongst the class
SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University

STRENGTHS:

  • SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University has a diverse student body that reflects the community that Downstate serves
  • There was a multitude of medical cases which solidified the knowledge I received in 2nd year
  • My 3rd year experience was the most productive time in medical school as I built critical clinical skills and learned how to work in a dynamic arena of professionals
  • I really enjoyed 3rd & 4th year

LIKED BEST:

  • I like that Downstate provides helpful electives in 1st & 2nd year that serve to introduce students to the clinically based medicine, early in my training
  • The lecture series was also helpful and it’s clean that the professors really invest time and energy into preparing their presentations
SUNY Stony Brook

STRENGTHS:

  • Clinical clerkships at Kings County Hospital Center
  • Downstate’s Emergency Medical Department

LIKED BEST:

  • Everything
University Of California

STRENGTHS:

  • Excellent clinical exposure at Kings County Hospital Center
  • A handful of superior clinical attendings

LIKED BEST:

  • Good opportunities to engage in meaningful extra curricular activities
University of California, Berkeley

STRENGTHS:

  • Get a lot of autonomy at Kings County
  • Interesting pathology

LIKED BEST:

  • Working in the Emergency  Department
University of California, Davis

STRENGTHS:

Clinical years

LIKED BEST:

University of California, Los Angeles

STRENGTHS:

  • How to be resilient and have tough skin

LIKED BEST:

  • Making great long term friends
University of Chicago

STRENGTHS:

  • The diversity of students backgrounds
  • Clinical population
  • Breadth of clinical electives
  • Variety of clinical sites

LIKED BEST:

  • Opportunity for clinical independence
University of Rochester  

STRENGTHS:

  • Independence; plenty of opportunity to manage patients
  • Attendings and residents were usually friendly and very willing to teach
  • Variety of clinical cases
  • Large sickle cell population

LIKED BEST:

  • Sub internship in medicine at Kings County
 

STRENGTHS:

  • Dedicated faculty

LIKED BEST:

  • Spending time with the people in my class
  • Clinical experience- tough, but ultimately worth while
 

STRENGTHS:

  • Amount, variety, and progressiveness of the pathology that was seen
  • Unique population

LIKED BEST:

University of Virginia

STRENGTHS:

  • The 3rd and 4th years have very strong education on the floors at Kings County and Downstate

LIKED BEST:

  • 3rd and 4th  year clerkships
Yale

STRENGTHS:

  • A lot of hands on experience

LIKED BEST:

  • Residents and faculty were helpful and approachable
Other Comments 

STRENGTHS:

  • Learning from those extremely helpful Kings County nurses, they really love to help

LIKED BEST:

  • The focus on independent development
 

STRENGTHS:

  • Lots of great patient experience

LIKED BEST:

  • Good people