Stony Brook, NY
Applicant sentiment — from 91 anonymous posts, 2017–2026
5.0 / 10
What anonymous posters said
Anonymous posters frequently discussed interview-day logistics, including date swaps, confusion over schedules or itineraries, and a required one-minute video submitted before interviews. Several posts noted a large applicant pool interviewed each cycle, and multiple commenters mentioned an early-assurance pathway reserving a dermatology spot for certain incoming medical students.
AI-generated summary of opinions expressed in anonymous, unverified posts. It describes what posters wrote, not verified facts about this program. Based on these 91 posts · Updated Aug 2026 · Contest or respond to this entry · Takedown & right of reply
❌1. Had an attending literally nodding off during interview. Heard this from other applicants as well. It was super jarring and distracting when being asked questions.
❌2. Their interview day ran over by an hour. It is very disorganized and you spend most of it sitting on a blank zoom screen. I wish they had more regard for applicants time. Absolutely DO NOT schedule another interview on the same day as this one and expect to make it!!!
💬1. anyone have positives to add here? doing an away rotation later this year and now im scared :/
❌1. Had an attending literally nodding off during interview. Heard this from other applicants as well. It was super jarring and distracting when being asked questions.
❌2. Their interview day ran over by an hour. It is very disorganized and you spend most of it sitting on a blank zoom screen. I wish they had more regard for applicants time. Absolutely DO NOT schedule another interview on the same day as this one and expect to make it!!!
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Does Stony brook have good exposure to patients with skin of color as well as complex med derm? Seeing mixed reviews in Fame and Shame
I did an away here and saw about 5-10 SOC pts over 2 weeks.
Tiny amounts of SOC comparatively. I didn't see one SOC patient the entire away.
does anyone know what programs typically fall far down on their rank list? and how far we can expect? like if a place has 3 spots, some programs interview upwards of 70... does that mean they fall down their list? as opposed to place with 4 spots interviewing 40...
program specific, but generally yes. unclear why penn interviewed so many this year, though, so likely some exceptions to this rule
how many did penn interview
70 allegedly? (per their intro spiel) but could be fake news
their website says 48-60, but still a lot
yale also interviews around 60 for 6 positions, but doubt these programs fall far on the list..
stony brook with 50-70 for 3 is crazy too!
seems fairly standard for programs to interview 10 candidates for each residency spot
thoughts on Stony Brook interview?
Do all programs give their residents dermatoscopes?> lol no I know a program where every resident shares a singular dermatoscope
Do they share every patient too lol> No they just learn almost no dermoscopy and the attendings use their own in the room for the final dx :/
That's fucking gay
which programs provide dermatoscope (stony brook mentioned it specifically that they provide)
some programs only provide educational stipends that you buy your scope with, which is different from getting a whole dermatoscope btw
lol is this Minnesota?> lol no I wish...that just means there are more programs like this out there tho
Minnesota has dermatoscopes available at every site, so the residents are trained in using them. UPMC gives every resident their own!
Minnesota has dermatoscopes available at every site, so the residents are trained in using them. UPMC gives every resident their own!
any tea on stony brook vs NYMC
stony brook has a significantly better reputation. NYMC is a better choice if you want to live in manhattan, but program is not as strong
i only saw white people on my away at SBM :/
NYMC has strong skin of color training
For anyone who inteviewed with stony brook how stressful were these interviews? I see all these posts from other programs grilling applicants on their pubs and stuff
no grilling on research, just general questions like tell me about a research project you did
I didn't get any deep dive questions on research on any of my interviews. It's basically getting to choose a project and talking about it briefly
thanks my nerves needed this
it's chill trust
Does anyone know if for the Stony Brook Social program overview (before breakout rooms) if your camera needs to be on? Trying to figure out if I can commute due to a conflict
there were like 50 people in the zoom when I was in it last week, you could prob get away with it
That's a LOT of people interviewing for stony brook shookening
yeah that's why I'm confused bc people said that one spot is gone to an internal already? For their 3yr program
who's the internal?? A research fellow or someone from stony med?
yeah that's why I'm confused bc people said that one spot is gone to an internal already? For their 3yr program
who's the internal?? A research fellow or someone from stony med?
Does stony brook give you an interview schedule with who you will be interviewing with?
no, i just went in blind! it was every faculty except the PD (he was getting surgery) so he wont be here> thanks!
stony brook thoughts?
one of the attendings was nodding off and had her eyes closed 95% of the time LOL looked like she was super tired but otherwise wasn't too stressful of an interview
my TY/prelim were SO chill usually max 2-3 interviews 1:1 with faculty/residents or 1 panel and all conversational, derm is def more structured w standard qs and more interviews on the whole in number (9-13 interviews with panels of faculty or 1:1) and sometimes you get cutoff bc you'll be booted out of the break room lol
Has anyone who is interviewing at Stony Brook on Thursday received the interview schedule/links for the interview day yet?
yes I got it around Christmas time. It's an email thread with of Microsoft team invites. It's from Blair
I've only gotten links for the social event on Wed night, nothing for the actual interview date
same, only for social event
Schools that make you do a presentation during interview day (feel free to add on): Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Utah, Loma Linda, Northwell, Florida, VCU, Stony Brook makes you send them a 1 minute presentation,
< the idea of doing a presentation on top of the interview day is such a huge turn off to me. Why add more work to an already stressful day.
stony brook is a 1 min video prior to interview day
I'm so stressed for mine
would hate a presentation. feels like they could assess similar things through interview convos and pls don't make me dance for you (although if i had to I would do it with a smile on my face don't get me wrong)
> Honestly I'd be happy with being able to do a presentation. Assuming the program doesn't require you to cover any specific subjects/topics, it really allows you to shine and talk about what you're passionate about. It lets candidates shine beyond their stats or # of research pubs, just as the interview does. I'm all for more of these non-stat driven opportunities to shine throughout the selection process
stony brook is a 1 min video prior to interview day
I'm so stressed for mine
would hate a presentation. feels like they could assess similar things through interview convos and pls don't make me dance for you (although if i had to I would do it with a smile on my face don't get me wrong)
How many people are interviewing at Stony Brook and Zucker?
stony brook ~50-60ish
omg that's a lot for 3 spots!
that doesnt seem correct
based on the email list subtracting SBM emails yeah about right> I didn't see the names on the email. Thanks for pointing that out. 34 on my day! Could be up to 70 total then.
wow if they're interviewing up to 70 i wonder how far down their rank list they go
omg that's a lot for 3 spots!
that doesnt seem correct
based on the email list subtracting SBM emails yeah about right> I didn't see the names on the email. Thanks for pointing that out. 34 on my day! Could be up to 70 total then.
wow if they're interviewing up to 70 i wonder how far down their rank list they go
Best program in NYC? All around, not just prestige?
on a similar note: what's the best program in a major city?
Harvard or Penn (if you consider Boston and Philly decent sized cities)
NYC Power Rankings: Mount Sinai
Columbia = NYU
Cornell
Albert Einstein
Rochester
SUNY Downstate = Stony Brook
Northwell
NYMC
St. John's Episcopal
St. Barnabas
I'd say it goes: NYU
Montefiore = SUNY Downstate
Sinai = Columbia = Cornell
Northwell
NYMC. (Rochester and Stony Brook are not NYC, and idk anything about St John's/St. Barnabas)
Really?? What makes montefiore above Sinai /columbia?
NYU
Sinai >= Columbia = Cornell
Columbia = NYU
Cornell
Albert Einstein
Rochester
SUNY Downstate = Stony Brook
Northwell
NYMC
St. John's Episcopal
St. Barnabas
Montefiore = SUNY Downstate
Sinai = Columbia = Cornell
NYMC. (Rochester and Stony Brook are not NYC, and idk anything about St John's/St. Barnabas)
Sinai >= Columbia = Cornell
Can someone explain to me why the match list tab is going to unlock in January…? Like we won't know who matches until March lol. Am I missing something??
some programs like Stony Brook and NYU have early guaranteed spots
I thought we confirmed Stony brook does not do that…
Stony Brook has a 3 year accelerated MD program that guarantees a residency of their choice spot to those students, not sure if there are any Stony Brook 3 year students going into derm this year though
wow, what if a bunch of them wanted to do derm
i guess its no different than 1 spot at every institution being held for home students
the difference being those specific NYU/Stony Brook/etc folks generally already know they have a spot by early fall of their last year (the process happens before match)
I think the NYU early matches actually find out as early as summer of their last year so they don't even end up applying to other programs in ERAS
still though... some home student must know
Are stony brook invites still going out or they're done?
no way to know for sure, but historically just one wave goes out
per coordinator all slots taken
Some posts are shown because their comments mention this program.
wondering same, i wrote in my notes low exposure to both during interview but idk>NO!