<p>How do these two schools compare?
Does one have an edge over the other or are they practically peers?
How do they fare in comparison to each other in terms of prestige in medical field?</p>
<p>Are you asking about the medical schools or the undergraduate programs? (If undergrad, you know our answer…)</p>
<p>haha… mount sinai doesnt have undergrad
</p>
<p>Really! I didn’t know that.</p>
<p>Mt. Sinai used to be affiliated w/ NYU’s undergrad, I believe.</p>
<p>As far as prestige goes, I consider them equal. They’re both on the fringe of the top tier as far as med schools go.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Mount Sinai is a graduate school only - PhD, MS, MPH, and MD. In the past, the school was affiliated with CUNY, and then they decided to switch to NYU. Now we’re still affiliated with NYU, but as I understand it, we’re trying to get away from them because it’s been a financial disaster. :)</p>
<p>So far, I like being an MD student at a place without undergrads. It’s nice to get all this attention without pesky pre-meds running around underfoot to distract the administration. :D</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I didn’t apply to Northwestern, so I know nothing about the school other than it’s a good one. But from my sense of things, I’d agree with NCG’s assessment of prestige. But you shouldn’t be asking me about prestige - I turned down a “better-ranked” place to come here, and I have absolutely no regrets. I’m really happy here. Almost certainly happier than I was as an undergrad.</p>
<p>Well I do believe Mount Sinai is ranked better by the NIH. Northwestern is obviously very well-known here in Chicago while for most people here Mount Sinai seldom rings a bell, but I was wondering if Mount Sinai’s name in New York or, perhaps, on the east coast would be roughly equal to that of Northwestern Feinberg in Chicago.</p>
<p>What are some merits to going to a school that is a graduate school only, shades?</p>
<p>When you first visited, did the school have a much different atmosphere than other med schools you’ve been to for interviews and such?</p>
<p>I didn’t even know NIH ranked med schools. Do you have a link to the NIH rankings?</p>
<p>Outside of JHU and Harvard, there’s really no national brand name as far as medicine goes. I could go up to a random person on the streets of California and they probably won’t know what Penn or WashU or UWash is. But, it doesn’t matter. The people in the know (med students, med school applicants, residency directors, med school faculty, NIH) know how good Mt. Sinai is. NYC has a lot of good med schools. But they’re going to be overshadowed somewhat by Columbia and Weill (Cornell).</p>
<p>I don’t know if you’ve gotten into these schools already and are deciding b/w them or what, but I would encourage you to look at other factors. Both of these schools are prestigous in the medical world and both of these schools have adequate research funding. The caliber of students they accept (3.8/35) are pretty much equal. Their curricula and locations are very different. Northwestern has a lot of PBL which most med students hate but some love. Northwestern also has a young student body (due to the HPME’s). When I was there, one of the MS1’s was celebrating her 21st birthday. Northwestern is also going to be somewhat less diverse as it will have a ton of Northwestern undergrads.</p>
<p>Here’s the link to the NIH rankings: [NIH</a> Awards to Medical Schools by Rank, FY 2005](<a href=“http://grants.nih.gov/grants/award/rank/medttl05.htm]NIH”>http://grants.nih.gov/grants/award/rank/medttl05.htm)</p>
<p>Oh okay. You meant the list of NIH funding. I wouldn’t call it a ranking. I think we can all agree that the research capabaility of Harvard Med is better than #26 in the nation. </p>
<p>Any Top 30-40 school is probably going to be “research-oriented” and will have more than enough research funding. I wouldn’t split hairs over NIH funding as it is unlikely to affect you very much as a med student.</p>
<p>Weird. That website matches up very poorly with USN’s data in terms of consistency. USN lists Harvard at #1 with $1.2B from the NIH. The website has Harvard at #26 with $161M. I wonder what the discrepancy is?</p>
<hr>
<p>On the “street,” the top two brand names in medicine are probably Hopkins, then Duke, perhaps Columbia, Mayo, and MD Anderson’s medical schools. (And yes, I know Anderson doesn’t have a school.) Michigan, perhaps? Stanford? Irrationally, Harvard’s strength overall probably dilutes its medical “branding.” In any case this is silly and not useful. But this is where all the television doctors went.</p>
<p>Princeton’s MBA program is apparently regarded by laypeople as one of the most prestigious MBA’s – despite not existing.</p>
<p>The NIH data includes only the funding the med school receives. US News includes the NIH funding the medical school and all affiliated hospitals receive. Harvard has 2-3x as many affiliates as other med schools (who doesn’t want to be affiliated with Harvard anyway?).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I can’t entirely be sure, since I’ve never attended a medical school that was part of a larger 4-year university. 
But I do like the fact that Mount Sinai’s resources are directed at the hospital and school, and not towards things that wouldn’t add anything to my experience. Like spending money to recruit big-name professors to an undergraduate school - I presumably wouldn’t see any benefit from it. Also, I assume that competition for research spots is lessened, since there are no undergrads - not that finding a research job for the summer at Sinai is hard, at all.</p>
<p>Truth to be told, it probably makes no difference at all whether you attend a “stand-alone” medical school or one that’s part of a greater university. The two possible benefits I’ve listed aren’t very important.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No. It’s not like on the day you interview, they say, “Here’s the dorm, and here are the classrooms, and by the way, we just got a Nobel Prize winner to teach our undergrads General Chemistry!” No one talks about undergrad. You’re only told about things that are directly relevant to the experience at that medical school.</p>
<p>Regarding ranking, I was referring to USNWR’s rankings of medical schools.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Affirmed. My school has an undergraduate school attached and it’s not a big deal. Our research budget is our own, so our positions aren’t in competition. The undergraduate school does spend resources, but, then, it brings in resources too, so this is probably a wash.</p>
<p>I think there’s two advantages to having an attached university. First, if you have a significant research or academic interest in a field which is not very related to medicine, it can be helpful – not necessary, just helpful – to have a broader university. For example, I coordinate a small course meant to introduce medical students to economics and policy; several of the speakers are drawn from the business school or artsci econ.</p>
<p>Most medical students will not care about this advantage.</p>
<p>Second, the social life is a little bit broader. A couple of my friends hit on undergrads, but to be honest that’s pretty rare. Mostly, having the other professional schools around is pretty nice. One of my closest few friends here is a student from the law school.</p>
<p>However, especially at a school like NU or Sinai, frankly there’s a lot of young professionals and students in Chicago and NYC anyway. So that’s not a big deal either.</p>
<p>The biggest merit to being a med school part of a larger university, I would say, is inheriting the name value of it, at least for the non-top schools.</p>
<p>Shades: this may seem somewhat random, but what is the housing situation like for Sinai students?</p>
<p>bluedevil, aren’t you forgetting UCSF?</p>
<p>Both my parents went there. And no, I’m not forgetting it. I’m leaving it out.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If you’re single, you live right around the corner from the hospital, graduate school, and medical school. Rent starts at $532 for a furnished single bedroom in a 4-6 person furnished apartment. Med school housing doesn’t get any better than this - cheap, good, and close. A HUGE plus in the school’s favor, in my opinion.</p>
<p>Couples’ housing is a little further away (maybe 2-5 blocks?) and there are a couple of different buildings. It’s also more expensive - I think it’s $1600 or so for a one-bedroom apartment. Of course, it’s more money a month if you want a 2-3 bedroom apartment.</p>
<p>My question is, why are you asking all these questions about NU versus Sinai? Seems like you’re a college freshman at NU. Picking schools to apply to for regular MD admission is kinda far off for you. Are you thinking about applying to the HuMed program here?</p>
<p>I’m sorry if these questions seem a little far-fetched for a freshman; yes, I am looking into the HuMed program, but I’m also looking into Feinberg’s Early Acceptance program for Northwestern students. I know full-well that chances at either program are very, very slim, but I was just trying to get some input for deciding which of the two would be a better fit for me to “apply,” because applying to one sort of makes it impossible to apply to the other given the different requisites for the two programs.</p>
<p>That’s all. And part of it is also just wanting to know what it would be like to go to school in the city. Anyway, thanks for the input.</p>
<p>… well, if you have a strong humanities interest, then you should go for the Mt. Sinai program. Otherwise… no.</p>