2023-2024 NJMS vs Hackensack vs Hofstra vs Stony Brook

[mintchocolatechip_007]

Hi! So I am very fortunate to have received 4 acceptances this cycle from NJMS, Stony Brook, Hackensack, and Hofstra but I am having a lot of trouble choosing one medical school and the deadline to hold only one acceptance is coming up very soon so I’d appreciate any advice or insight on the matter. All the schools are pretty similarly ranked and price of the med school including scholarships are overall very similar.

NJMS:
Pros:
- established school
- able to commute from home to save money (~30 min commute)
- hospital is accessible through the med school
- diverse patient population
- lecture style preclinical which I’m comfortable with
- flexible preclinical time
- supposed to be like a family environment
- 100% match rate
Cons:
- not a fan of the Newark area
- graded preclinical (although I hear this could help with more competitive residency matches)
- facilities are pretty outdated
- seems hard to build community bc no one comes to lecture

Hackensack
Pros:
- 3 yr program
- could commute from home (also about 30 min drive)
- I have friends there who are going
- P/F preclinicals
- brand new facilities
- large hospital network for rotations and matching
- love the area
Cons:
- condensed preclinical with pretty much no breaks
- not a lot of research opportunities during preclinical
- very new school
- reverse classroom style teaching which idk is good or not
- take step 1 and step 2 back to back

Hofstra:
Pros:
- smaller class size that seems to build a strong community
- very new facilities
- extensive health network with lots of mentor, research, and rotation options
- P/F preclinical
- lots of apparently productive preclinical experience
- very easy to find research and there’s even a $2.5k stipend for researching over the summer
- impressive NYC match rate
Con:
- would have to move & pretty far from support system (about 1.5 hours)
- long island area is very expensive
- small group learning curriculum
- not a huge fan of the EMT course
- also new school with less established reputation

Stony Brook:
Probably eliminating this school just because it’s the farthest away and most expensive ($65k out of state vs $45k for Rutgers and around $30k for Hofstra and Hackensack)… I do like the condensed preclinical to give you more clinical experiences though.

If anyone could help shed some light on these schools I’d really appreciate it!

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[ValPak00per]

I'm also accepted to NJMS and Hackensack. I would choose Hofstra. I eliminated NJMS because literally all the students there are from the early action program and have already made connections. Also, the school is in a horrid area, there's no escaping that. I didn't choose Hackensack because it was too expensive and not worth it for a new, unestablished medical school.

 

[littlemac]

I heard Hofstra had mandatory classes everyday. Maybe you should take this into account.

 

[MusicDOc124]

Hackensack
Pros:
- 3 yr program

The 3 year program restricts you to match within the Hackensack system for residency. If you pursue residency outside the system, even if you "need" to due to the field you want not have a residency program within the system, you then must be there for 4 years. The 4th year can then be additional rotations/electives (aways/sub-i's), or it can be something like an MPH or ?MBA, or research. So there is flexibility, but just know that graduating in 3 years means staying in that system.