Pitt vs. Sinai

[Catalyst]

I was hoping not to create this thread but I'm too curious as to what people's thoughts are on choosing between Sinai and Pittsburgh (especially from current students at either school).... anyone?

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[exmike]

dude, pitt in a heartbeat, unless you love living in the City. Pitt has superior research and reputation compared to MSSM. The location. well, its not that great.

 

[Catalyst]

exmike, why do you think Pitt's reputation/research is that much greater than MSSM? I was under the impression that the schools are comparable, though the new USNews rankings show them as being on different levels (top 15 vs. top 30)

 

[exmike]

Yes, the US News is one thing, but their NIH funding is just incredible. I always wondered why they werent higher on USNews. They are in the top 10 I'm sure in NIH funded research. I guess through my years as a premed I always heard much more coming out of pitt in terms of studies, groundbreaking research and what not. I wonder how their match lists compare though.

But in the end you really cant lose with either, and maybe you should choose based upon location because they'll both offer great opportunities. Being in NYC definitely helps in arranging away rotations at the other elite NY schools.

 

[pekq]

I'd choose MSSM. The city location is a clear advantage. I personally thought Pitt blew. Furthermore, student suites fosters a better sense of a community (and eases cost of living in city). MSSM would probably also give you a better clinical experience.

As for research and rep, UPitt wins but that doesn't mean MSSM's research is inferior, just they don't have as much researchers. However, you can still do excellent research there, the facilities there are great.

Out of curiosity, anyone know how much NIH funding Rockefellar get? I always thought NIH funding to be problematic in rankings as it is not a good indicator of quality of research.

 

[tonyjerry]

the only real negative i saw at sinai is how their rotations work. i know they bill having all the different affiliates as a positive way to get lots of different experiences but after talking to several third and fourth years the overwhelming consensus is that they didnt like not having a main hospital to do their clerkships. of all my interviews none of the medical centers even compared to upmc with michigan coming in a distant second.

 

[Loves_Chai]

Does anyone have the complete match lists for these 2 schools? Pitt especially?

 

[quideam]

Personally, i'm not big on living in NYC - too loud, too much crime, not enough trees, too dirty, etc. I grew up in brooklyn and have no desire to go back to any part of the city for med school. I think that it's a nice place to visit once in a while, but not to live...

Anyway, that being said, Pitt hands down!!! Forget that it's ranked much higher and is in (in my opinion) a much more livable city. Their match list is incredible, especially if you're looking to do EM. Furthermore, they are the ONLY medical school in that entire region - as compared to at least 5 med schools in NY (that I can think of). UPMC has I think 17 or 18 different hospitals - come on! Can you beat that?? And the students do have the option of rotating through most (if not all) of those.

Plus, there's tons of outdoors stuff to do right in or very close to Pitt. And they have a million and one student organizations. Plus there are the areas of concentration.

Anyway, my point: go for Pitt. I think that MSSM is nice, and you can't go wrong with them either, but Pitt is better

 

[pekq]

Is it just me or did most active SDNer get accepted at Pitt. Furthermore, there seems to be a lot of Pitt vs threads around or am I being delusional?

I personally thought Pitt (not the med school) lacked diversity.

 

[Sean2tall]

Originally posted by pekq
Is it just me or did most active SDNer get accepted at Pitt. Furthermore, there seems to be a lot of Pitt vs threads around or am I being delusional?

I personally thought Pitt (not the med school) lacked diversity.

Yeah I think most active SDNers did get into Pitt, it seems. I think there are maybe 4-5 of us on the waitlist and sadly there were a few rejections. And there definitely are a sick number of Pitt versus threads. Maybe this means that there will be a lot of waitlist movement?

 

[darkcity998]

I'd vote for MSSM cuz I'll be there!

 

[Harps]

Originally posted by SachinG
I was hoping not to create this thread but I'm too curious as to what people's thoughts are on choosing between Sinai and Pittsburgh (especially from current students at either school).... anyone?

Belated Congrats On Your Awesome Acceptances

Best Of Luck,

-Harps

 

[TheFlash]

Interesting thread... I'd vote for MSSM if finances were equal though. Upper East Side Manhattan outweighs everything for me. I thought it did for you too?

 

[BigRedPingpong]

Not to get technical or anything, but if you call 96th st the upper east side to new yorkers, they will laugh at you. It's kind of like asking where greenwich village is by pronouncing it GREEN-Which village (like the color green) instead of GREN-ICH village.

 

[TheFlash]

Well, to be technical, MSSM is on the Upper East Side. Bust out a map.

 

[Catalyst]

Wow, I just got back to my computer and am surprised to see so many people responded to this thread! ...

Thanks Harps for the congratulations, you're pretty damn impressive yourself... it seems that it's about 50/50 in terms of people favoring sinai or pitt, I actually am leaning towards sinai mainly because of NYC (I LOVE the intense concentration of arts and music there)... but am worried about not giving Pitt an objective look (as quideam noted: its curriculum is admittedly better, its hospitals are top-notch, its reputation is one of the best in the country, and the area of concentration program reallllly interests me)...

Loves_Chai, the match lists for both of the schools are actually in the Allopathic forum under the match list thread; they seem pretty comparable except for the fact that MSSM seems to place its students heavily in NYC, MA, and CA...

Flash, I actually love the part of Manhattan that MSSM is in and that is one thing that hugely attracts me, esp. given the fact that I consider myself to be a city person... I just don't want to make a rash decision and make sure I know as much as possible about each school before finally deciding..

BigRedPingpong, I'm going to sound like an idiot asking this, but how is 96th st not the upper east side? Would it be east harlem instead?

Anyone else have any thoughts on comparing the two schools?

 

[BigRedPingpong]

Originally posted by TheFlash
Well, to be technical, MSSM is on the Upper East Side. Bust out a map.

I did. I guess it depends on the map your looking at. Some have the 98-100th street corridor as the upper east, some (most) don't. In any event, MSSM's area is not reflective of the outrageously expensive real estate in the Upper east. In other words, it ain't got it goin' on like other areas of the upper east (eg cornell). Although, that is not to say that the area is cheap either.


Edit: Here is a link of a neighborhood map published by NYCvist (so its pretty reliable):
http://www.nycvisit.com/content/index.cfm?pagePkey=429
Here is a link to MSSM location map:
http://mssm.edu/theschool/environs.shtml

According to it, MSSM is in east harlem. The MSSM students I met at interview had no problem saying that their location was harlem.

 

[amd263]

Hey Sachin,

I found this online self-study which provides a lot of info about sinai's curriculum, financial situation/ budget cutbacks, and direction.

http://www.mssm.edu/medschool/lcme/self_study.shtml

If you click on the different committee sections, think click on report, you get a more detailed analysis than the final report.

hope this helps.

 

[amd263]

PS. For those worried about Sinai's 'financial crisis' there is a really in depth examination of their finances on pages 2-8 here:
http://www.mssm.edu/medschool/lcme/pdf/cmte_v_report.pdf

It looks like the school only gets 3% of its total revenue from the hospital, while the avg private med school gets 14%. They make up for with endowment and grant funding though.

 

[Catalyst]

Wow amd263, thanks a lot for the in-depth, credible info on mssm's various issues. Now, if only we could see a similar report on pitt?

 

[quideam]

Originally posted by SachinG
Wow amd263, thanks a lot for the in-depth, credible info on mssm's various issues. Now, if only we could see a similar report on pitt?

I would love to provide you with an in-depth report on Pitt's financial crisis... except that there isn't any

 

[TheFlash]

Originally posted by BigRedPingpong
I did. I guess it depends on the map your looking at. Some have the 98-100th street corridor as the upper east, some (most) don't.

Right, MSSM straddles the Upper East and Spanish Harlem, with its area much more reflective of the Upper East than Harlem. The map I'm referring to is the one used by the NYC taxi service, so I'd say it's pretty reliable. This is petty. Bottom line is that MSSM is in a nice area, flanked by Central Park and some of the nicest museums in the country.

 

[Catalyst]

Originally posted by TheFlash
Right, MSSM straddles the Upper East and Spanish Harlem, with its area much more reflective the Upper East than Harlem. The map I'm referring to is the one used by the NYC taxi service, so I'd say it's pretty reliable. This is petty. Bottom line is that MSSM is in a nice area, flanked by Central Park and some of the nicest museums in the country.

Yeah, this is indeed very petty. I for one believe that MSSM's location, whether or not one thinks it is in upper east or harlem, is much better than Pittsburgh (for me at least).

 

[TRUE]

Originally posted by BigRedPingpong
Not to get technical or anything, but if you call 96th st the upper east side to new yorkers, they will laugh at you. It's kind of like asking where greenwich village is by pronouncing it GREEN-Which village (like the color green) instead of GREN-ICH village.

Just curious, but do you actually live in NY? I go to school here, and from everyone I've talked to, we all pretty much agree that MSSM is in the UES. It's on the Park about 15 blocks from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 

[BigRedPingpong]

Originally posted by facted
Just curious, but do you actually live in NY? I go to school here, and from everyone I've talked to, we all pretty much agree that MSSM is in the UES. It's on the Park about 15 blocks from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Yeah, I'm from the City. One of the things MSSM prides itself on is being in as diverse a neighborhood as East Harlem--There is no need to pretend to be part of the ritzy glitzy upper east--Cornell will take the spot on that. See my above post with links to maps. Can't get any clearer than that

 

[ihsan05]

Any new thoughts on Pitt vs. Sinai?

 

[Ismet]

Moving to SSD

 

[mmmcdowe]

Go visit both again and see where you fit. Im not affiliated with Pitts med school but you can crash with me if they will set you up with some kids. My neighbor is a pitt med student

 

[mmmcdowe]

Closing thread its old. Start a new one things have changed a lot1