I must tell you, not very many people live walking distance to school. The ones that do, still have around a 15 minute commute on average walk. The others that live in Manhattan, have about a 20-25 minute commute via subway etc.

Many people who live in Queens have a 20-25 minute commute as well.

In short, there really isn’t any way to avoid a 15-30 minute commute no matter where you are living. If you want the Manhattan experience and don’t mind paying a lot more money in rent, then absolutely, do it and see what it is like.

Generally, safety isn’t an issue in Manhattan (assuming you will be living in the areas that most students live in) and as for noise, well it is a big city and there is a lot of traffic. Some people find lots of noise where they are living and others do not. It honestly all depends on where you live in Manhattan, its a big place!

If you are looking for more residential and quieter areas, then Queens is the place to be, although, that doesn’t mean there are not quiet areas in Manhattan, there indeed are.

As for networking and jobs. As a 2nd year student, I am not too familiar with that. All I can tell you is that of all the upperclassmen friends I have had who have graduated over the 2 years I’ve been at SUNY, I haven’t heard any of them not having work. As for practicing in other countries, I don’t really know what to say about that. That is a whole other animal that is totally dependent on what country etc.

Where I can’t give you a number of patients seen after 4 years at SUNY, simply because I think it is an impossible number to predict (it is quite a large number), I will tell you that clinical experience at SUNY is of great quality. At SUNY, you will start to see patients, actually perform exams etc on these patients by yourself beginning in March of your Second Year. As for diversity, with the population that NYC has, I can tell you that you will always be seeing different cases on a daily basis. In fact, SUNY places great emphasis on clinical experience and all students by the time they get to 4th year are well prepared to perform competently at rotation sites.

As for professors:

The faculty at SUNY is extremely encouraging and always willing to help. This is not to say that they are not demanding, they are indeed very demanding, but then again, it is only for your own benefit. There hasn’t been a single class where the professor has not posted notes or given handouts, or at the very least made their audio available online. I am also unaware of notes that only cover 50% of the material, I haven’t had any classes like that either, so I am not quite sure why you were told that. I will say that some professors do provide notes; however, it is your responsibility to read required readings, which may explore various aspects of topics which may or may not be stressed in as much detail in class. All of the professors are fair, some more difficult than others, but all are fair. I would say around 95% of what you need to know you will be taught in class with materials provided by the professor. And in general, the student community is very tight at SUNY. Your classmates aren’t your competitors here, but rather another resource. We all try to achieve success collectively as a class, so not only is there encouragement from the faculty and staff, but your own classmates as well. Please do let me know if you have other questions or if I was unclear about something.

-Antonio

@ Thai – Yes, it was an extremely busy year, and first years all around deserve a well earned break. So be sure to relax!

@Angelica – The only true dissection we did was indeed, dissection of a cow’s eye. The eye is an incredibly durable and tough structure. Very cool!