Wake Forest vs. SUNY Upstate

[Babbage]

I have to choose between Wake Forest and SUNY Upstate Binghamton within the next few days and will appreciate any comments from current students about pros and cons. I liked both schools during my visit and it is hard for me to make a decision.

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[bigdan]

B-

Depends on you situation, I think.

If you're a NYS resident and you are concerned about the finances, I would definitely do SUNY...keep in mind that you'll get in-state tuition for years 2-4 however. I work at one of the hospitals in Bing. that the SUNY students round through. I ALWAYS introduce myself to them and make them spill the beans about what they think. You will definitely lack the major car trauma with 3rd degree burns patient that you'll get at Upstate Med. Center...we ship ours up there. But you do get one on one interaction with the attendings, and in my biased opinion, we have very good docs down here. The rumor is that the grades for the clinical years are a bit higher down here because you get that close interaction with the docs - no hiding behind the intern, the resident, the fellow, and finally the attending. But you do miss the "zebras".

I was accepted at Upstate and have all the confidence in the world in it. Too bad Stony Brook found more $ for me to go....

Good luck with it!

dc

 

[Babbage]

Thanks for your response. I am not NYS resident so I am going to pay out of state tuition.

B-

Depends on you situation, I think.

If you're a NYS resident and you are concerned about the finances, I would definitely do SUNY...keep in mind that you'll get in-state tuition for years 2-4 however. I work at one of the hospitals in Bing. that the SUNY students round through. I ALWAYS introduce myself to them and make them spill the beans about what they think. You will definitely lack the major car trauma with 3rd degree burns patient that you'll get at Upstate Med. Center...we ship ours up there. But you do get one on one interaction with the attendings, and in my biased opinion, we have very good docs down here. The rumor is that the grades for the clinical years are a bit higher down here because you get that close interaction with the docs - no hiding behind the intern, the resident, the fellow, and finally the attending. But you do miss the "zebras".

I was accepted at Upstate and have all the confidence in the world in it. Too bad Stony Brook found more $ for me to go....

Good luck with it!

dc

 

[seethrew]

yeah, but it is not very difficult to obtain ny residency.
did wake give you any good free money?

if climate is of any importance to you -> major difference. do you fear snow? clouds? humidity? southern drawls? i lived in upstate ny for 8 years (near rochester and an undergrad at SUNY binghamton) and now live in raleigh, nc.

you prolly know this, but syracuse gets tons of white stuff. binghamton is usually cloudy, a lil less snow. (however winter of 93 was snow on ground from halloween to easter.) still upstate ny is beautiful, with a very late and slow spring. winston can get friggin hellishly hot. but usually mild and blue skies. if it snows *at all* the bottled water and bread gets ransacked at grocery stores and the city will likely shut down in state of emergency.

wakes curriculum is a bit different - starts earlier too. private school fancy perks can be nice... although i guess i cant say exactly what they are.

housing is cheap in both places. especially binghamton. when i was an undergrad (93-97) it was possible to get a studio for under $250!!! a sweet hardwood floor, old footed tub, 2 bedroom, mini-porch $350!!! i hear bingo's gotten a lil better, but it is quite economincally depressed. real estate in winston is quite reasonable. the south adds years to the life of your vehicle. dammit if i haven;t gone through sets of rusted calipers, rotors, etc.

overall i think both are awesome. i ended up declining both of them. in my situation, wake would have been cheaper, which is a large factor for me. so, in your situation, i may be tempted to weigh cost savings high on upstates behalf. more importantly though, i overall had a super impression of wake - thought it was great interview visit. students seemed quite happy. suny upstate bar none had the coolest staff and best manners of any school .

i am very biased tho and needed to flee the north for a while.

i would suggest reading some student comments on that link in the sticky in pre-allo that compares schools... aams?? is that it?

hope there is some useful info buried in here for ya.

gluck !

 

[Scottish Chap]

Thanks for your response. I am not NYS resident so I am going to pay out of state tuition.

Like Dan said, after year 1, you'll get instate tution so Upstate will certainly still save you a ton of money over Wake (unless you have a scholarship). I had to choose between Rochester and Upstate (I'm not an NY resident either) and I chose Upstate for a number of reasons.

 

[kiwifruit1]

You know, I was just a SDN "browser" ever since I interviewed for medical school and your post compelled me to register just so that I could reply to you, lol. I currently attend Wake Forest and just finished up my first year. I don't know anything about SUNY but I figured it might be helpful to give you my perspective which could hopefully help you make a decision one way or another.

First, I want to say don't let money rule your decision. I understand that it makes the world go 'round and that it can be a very daunting thing to apply for such a huge loan amount (trust me, I hyperventilated a bit when I signed my name on the dotted line). But I would say that you need to go where you will be happy. I turned down a full scholarship at another medical school to attend Wake and I can't say that I regret my decision in the least. There has never been a day when I wished I had chosen differently because Wake has fulfilled all of my needs and is helping me to become aware of my newfound role as future physician.

I love Wake because of its' innovative and highly integrated curriculum. I also fell in love with the gross anatomy lab, which is a weird thing to attach feelings of that magnitude to but if you haven't seen it--you should come back for that express reason. ;-) The lab has been upgraded almost every year since it got a major overhaul 3 years ago. It features down-draft tables that pull away any and all fumes from your face, the bodies are no longer embalmed with formaldehyde, we have flat panel monitors above each dissection table where you can access a complete CT scan of your cadaver as well as dissection manuals, etc and we have integrated learning stations where you utilize your brand-spanking new laptops to learn about the associated embryology, radiology, osteology, etc!

I think that Wake does an excellent job in preparing you for patient contact and in making you aware of the other, non-didactic aspects of becoming a physician; such as ethical situations, physical exami skills, talking to and empathizing with patients, generating differentials during small group meetings...I could go on. And this is all within the first year! In the first year, you will see patients and be expected to take a history, you will be asked to perform a thorough physical exam on a standardized patient and best of all, you get a week off after each block to rotate with a community physician where you put your skills to real use.

I honestly cannot say enough about this school and I encourage you to take a good long look at it before you make your decision. Ultimately, go where you will be happy and don't look back. I know I speak for the entire second year class when I say "We'd love to have you!"

candace