Need help to decide whether NYU CAS or Stony Brook University (Honors College) would be better choice for DS for pre-med. NYU would be about 40K (will be commuting) and Stony would be on campus (15K) but got merit full tuition scholarship for 4 years. He also got into University of Rochester, Skidmore, Union Scholars but we are not considering those because of much high price and distance from NYC. NYU I heard is more prestigious but I also hear that Stony Brook has very strong premed education.
Does he love NYU…?? NYU is a great school in many ways but it doesn’t have much of a cohesive community … and so I’m not sure exactly what it’s offering you. You say “prestige” but my understanding of entering med school is that the prestige of a school is less important than the GPA and MCAT tests.
Plus he’d be communiting–unclear how far the commute but the time involved could be serious.
Before deciding, check that I’m right by heading over to the premed threads and asking the very knowledgable folks there. They have charts and such that can help you figure out the GPA and MCAT combos etc.
Anecdotally, a friend with one child in Princeton and one at Harvard who both were premed she often wept through her children’s years at these prestigious schools. She kept saying that being at these schools made it harder for her kids to get into med school because grades were harder to get. Others I’ve known who went to Yale for premed were shocked to find that they couldn’t compete at the levels they needed to in freshmen chem class and at that point lost the med school dream. Again to be sure that I’m right about this, check the premed threads on this forum.
So … to my mind, I’d go with Stony Brook if he likes that school well enough or equally with NYU and save money and pull down the grades he needs.
Thank you for your insightful response. We live in Brooklyn, so commute is not bad, about an hour by subway, but Stony is not that far either, he would be able to come home for weekends if he wants to. He is leaning towards Stony because he can have some social campus life there, hopefully meaningful research opportunities, be a member of the honors class, and spend less time in transportation. A slight concern is that Stony is still considered fairly competitive. However, we still think that he’ll do well there.
SBU absolutely and put the money you save towards med school. While the school has the reputation of a suitcase school, it’s losing it, bit by bit, as it attracts more OOS students. My S17 has 2 friends there (we live on LI) whose moms I am friends with. Neither came home regularly the first 2 1/2 years, although it’s only about a 45 minute drive one way.
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Medical school is incredibly expensive, so it’s best to keep UG debt as low as possible, so SBU looks like a good choice.
Here’s SBU prehealth advising:
https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/prehealth/current-applicants/committee-letter.php
Here’s NYU:
https://cas.nyu.edu/prehealth/thinking-about-a-health-career-.html
May be of some help; note that both schools use a committee letter.
Thank you for your responses. Is the committee letter a bad thing?
Not necessarily, but it is a very important “thing” when applying for medical school. Read the school websites for specific information, but here’s an overview:
https://students-residents.aamc.org/applying-medical-school/article/advisor-corner-preparing-committee-letter-process/
I have been accepted to the Stony Brook BS/MD Program. My initial UG will be as a University Scholar [Honors College Biology]. I was weighing this option against NYU, UPenn, and Columbia. In my research, consistently I have been hearing good things about SB, about research opportunities, about the faculty, and also how the tuition scholarship will be super valuable when considering med school later on. Please DM me if you decide to commit.
Congratulation @brainbuilder02! You should be very proud. I will definitely DM you when I am able to. I think I need 15 messages minimum first to be able to do so.