Dear Incoming Students,

Welcome! Here’s some introductory material. Please e-mail back or call if you have questions about it or other things.

First, the basics:
From cradle to grave (so to speak, as we call your MD PhD training from arrival to graduation with the dual degree), your tuition, healthcare insurance, and in some years, miscellaneous fees (student is responsible for fees during Year 4, 5 & 6), will be covered*. In addition, you will receive a stipend for living expenses (and some other perks here and there).

* Assuming you progress normally. Should you need extra years to complete medical school (like if you fail a year, or need to take a large amount of personal time for some reason), or if you leave the lab you are doing your Ph.D. in without arranging to join another lab, there may well be some issues re coverage, or lack there of, that we will need to discuss. But these sorts of things are quite rare and we will assume because we know that you are all excellent students whom we are excited and delighted to have join the program that these are exceedingly unlikely to ever concern you.

Details: (since most students eventually get curious about this, and there are two important points):

- The NIH MSTP Training Grant for Stony Brook actually supports only three years of training for the subset of students that are on it (generally, the first three years: Years one and two of medical school, and then the first year of graduate school). Since NIH is (intentionally) parsimonious with its funds, the School of Medicine helps out during this period, covering part of the costs of tuition and some miscellaneous stuff for those students, and footing the entire bill for the remainder of the students. So don’t forget to thank the Dean and his staff whenever you get the opportunity to. Note that this is how MSTP awards work at all medical schools, not just Stony Brook.

- A stipend of $26,000 and a tuition scholarship for the academic year, 2008-2009, have been awarded to you. In most (perhaps all, now) programs, you will be able to raise the stipend even higher if you can succeed in obtaining a fellowship during the Ph.D. years. This is good for you (maybe $ in your pocket, looks good on your c.v., and increased early attention from your advisor that will help you focus your thesis project and develop your thesis proposal), good for your advisor (less $ to cover you, good for his / her c.v.), and good for us, so we encourage you to try and will help you with the application when the time comes in a couple of years.

- During the remaining Ph.D. years, your expenses will be covered by your advisor (as would be the case for any other graduate student) or fellowships.

- Upon re-entry to medical school, the Dean’s office picks up the tab for the final

The Two Important Points:
1) Getting a fellowship during the Ph.D. years is good. More on this later.

2) Your source of funding will be bouncing around from place to place and sometimes split between multiple accounts. Please pay attention to e-mail messages from us that ask you to sign or fill out things. If you don’t, you could conceivably fall through the cracks and wind up having your paychecks delayed or losing health insurance coverage temporarily. We are pretty well organized and hopefully will catch all this. But your odds of having things go smoothly will increase greatly if you help us out by cooperating with the infrequent splurge of paperwork that needs your signature.

What You Need To Be Working on Now:
1) Students are required to show up early (i.e. around July 1, plus or minus some days) to do a summer lab research rotation unless excused by the Director based on a compelling justification, such as participation in a unique research experience elsewhere or other unique considerations. This is an important activity. Ideally, students should choose a lab before beginning graduate school in year 3, and this is one of the two opportunities to try out a lab out to make an informed choice. Students who did not do this rotation in the past have been found to be at much greater risk of not being sure what lab they wanted to join by year 3, and either being delayed or feeling forced to pick a lab prematurely. Note that you must arrive by early July at the latest, since a later start date will not provide sufficient time for the rotation.

2) Rotations can be set up with just a few days advance notice in most cases (but in some cases, especially with the more popular labs this may not work out). A month would be enough time to work things out for most labs. Please start by reviewing the graduate program faculty listings, and conferring with current students (who will be glad to be helpful), faculty, and the Director. Once you have a short list of faculty that you would potentially like to work with, contact the Director to discuss them (The Director can help to establish the suitability / priority of the candidate labs and may decline to approve some faculty as appropriate rotation mentors due to financial or other concerns about their labs). You can then contact the faculty member to determine if their lab would be available for a rotation. Make sure to inform the researcher that you are an MSTP student and your salary (stipend) is covered by the program.

3) Please also note that students must do at least one of the two mandatory rotations at SBU (unless waived by the Director). Rotations can not be performed solely at CSHL or BNL.

4) A second rotation will be performed in the summer after year 1 of medical school, and if need be, a third rotation can be performed after year 2 of medical school. Ideally though we would like you to have chosen your thesis lab by the end of the second rotation, and if not, hopefully by the time you enter graduate school in year 3. Again, please note that for every lab rotation, including the one this summer, you must first get approval from Dr. Michael Frohman, the MSTP Program Director, since not all of the faculty are appropriate mentors or have adequate funding.

What You Need To Do Now:
Please stop by my office on your officially start date to fill out your Fellowship / Stipend Appointment and Direct Deposit of Salary Form Package (you will need to bring (see attached list of acceptable documents)) one document from “list A” or two documents from “list B” (for example, a U.S. passport or a driver's license and a social security card). Note from the Director - Please also keep in mind that despite our experience with the transition process, speed bumps are occasionally encountered. Rest assured, if you are one of the infrequent, mildly-inconvenienced individuals, that the problem will be fixed rapidly and all will work out in the end! Also keep in mind (very important) that the people working to fix the problem are not generally the cause of it - so a polite demeanor and a professional attitude would be your best way to encourage them to help you with the greatest degree of enthusiasm. Consider it on-the-job training for your future role as an academic physician in which you will supervise many individuals varying in intrinsic capability who regrettably but nonetheless irrevocably stand between you and your goals.

What’s Up Coming Soon:
There will be a MANDATORY medical school orientation meeting from August 18th - August 22nd (for more information, please contact The Student Affairs Office at (631) 444-2341. Monday, August 25, 2008 is the first day of classes.

- As part of the orientation process, you will need to get a Stony Brook ID card. You will need to go to the Health Sciences Center, 3rd floor, Student ID Office and request a "Campus Card Application." Once you sign up for the campus card, you can use it for all services on campus (library card, pass for student facilities...gym/lounge).

- If you want a meal plan, you can go to the Student ID Office and request a meal plan, but you will need to start the plan with $50.00. The plan starts in May and ends in May. Someone will also explain the plan to you.

- Finally, for the HSC parking pass, only MD students with badges can use the HSC parking garage. In order to get a badge, you will need to fill out the "Student Campus Card and Badge Application" - you will need an authorized signature as well. Once the form has been authorized, you will then bring it back to the Student ID Office at which time you will receive your badge. When you get your badge, you will then bring it to the Health Sciences Center (x4-6610) parking garage. This is the only garage you can park in. The garage office hours are from 7:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. I believe you will need to pay for your parking fee upfront, but please call the garage office to confirm method of payment, ect. Please bring the badge application for authorized signature to the MSTP Office, which is located in the Basic Science Tower, floor T8, Room 101.

- MSTP students in the medical school component of the program, automatically enrolled in the clinical SHIP (the University Health Insurance (RSHIP) Coverage) if you are a full time matricated student. The charge will go on when you register. However, when the charges are applied, you will need to fill out the waiver on SOLAR stating that you will be receiving coverage through the Graduate Student Health Insurance (NYSHIP). We cover the cost, and you should, therefore, not be billed the Medical Student Health Insurance. The only way medical students can opt out of this coverage is if they have private, outside insurance. Private insurance being insurance provided by a parent, spouse or employer. Students who are in the medical school portion of the program, must provide to the Office of Student Affairs proof of your outside insurance coverage (a copy of a valid insurance card). If you have further questions regarding the waiver process for the RSHIP insurance, please e-mail Jennifer Vorraro or Leta Edelson or you can call (631) 632-6331. Further information about RF Grad Fellowship, RF Grad, and State Grad NYSHIP Benefits, please e-mail Edmond Anderson or call (631) 632-6144.

Stipend Start Date: Upon arrival to begin the summer rotation.

Please stay in touch and let me know what your plans are as they evolve - looking forward to having all of you here - best regards.

The below information applies to Incoming Out-of-State Student(s):

State Residency: Stony Brook University School of Medicine is state supported. As such, tuition determination is dependent upon sufficient documentation of New York State residency. If your principal or permanent home has not been in New York State for a 12 month period immediately prior to the date you intend to enroll, you will be considered an out of state student for tuition purposes. For additional clarification on this matter, please go to: Application for NYS Residency Status.

We will remind you of these things at the appropriate times. If nonetheless you do not apply for NYS Residency Status, and there is not some ultra compellingly good reason why, you will be asked to be responsible for the resulting tuition balance. The MSTP training grant covers only part of the tuition costs for each of you and we have to ask the Dean's office for the rest. We can not, in good conscience, ask them to cover out-of-state tuition payments that could have been changed over to in-state tuition through the Application for New York State Residency Status process.

Go To Top

"Version: August 26, 2008. This version supersedes all previous versions."