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Almost 88 percent of Upstate medical students are New Yorkers

Medical students celebrate "Match Day" when they discover to which residency program they have been accepted.
Dan Hurley, Sr., director of governmental relations at Upstate, has been analyzing  medical school data, and he has this to report:

Upstate's College of Medicine‘s incoming class for Fall 2012 had a higher percentage of New York residents than the other 12 allopathic medical schools in the state, according to data from the Association of American Medical Colleges. Upstate‘s College of Medicine received 4,730 applications for admission for the class of 2016. Of the 156 enrolled students, 87.8 percent of them were from New York state. That percentage bested SUNY Buffalo (82.6), SUNY Downstate (80.5) and SUNY Stony Brook (73.4).

“This is no accident,” says Upstate President David R. Smith, MD. “We have been making a concerted effort to attract and enroll New Yorkers over the last seven years. While our applicant pool was only 42 percent New Yorkers, I challenged our admissions committee to look closely at our own. We have an excellent class and the state has a strong chance of retaining them. It‘s the right thing to do…for Upstate and New York state.”

The ranking also bears out the importance of maintaining a strong Upstate University Hospital in Central New York. “The College of Medicine and our Upstate University Hospital move as one and serve as a large interactive classroom for all our students,” says Hospital CEO John B. McCabe, MD.

Medical students gathered for an outdoor event in Binghamton.

Medical students gathered for an outdoor event in Binghamton.


Imbedded in the class of 156 are some 29 students from rural New York counties. These students are being encouraged to seek a career that would include service in a rural setting. A special Rural Medical Scholars Program has been designed for those students and special opportunities are extended, according to James Greenwald, MD, professor of family medicine and director of the program.

Dr. Greenwald says that rural practice actually correlates best with four factors:
• rural origin of the students;
• interest in family practice;
• the presence of a dedicated mission, committed leaders and a rural training
program at the medical school; and
• inclination of the student toward public service.

“We feel that we have the perfect conditions here to grow our own,” says Interim College of Medicine Dean David Duggan, MD. “These statistics bear out the importance of a coordinated program and motivated students. We are committed to sustaining, and indeed growing, our commitment to these students and our region.”

Read the US Medical School Applications and Matriculants by School report from the Association of American Medical Colleges

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