Poll: Will Hofstra become a top 50 university?

Hofstra University Monday welcomed the inaugural class of the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, marking a critical leg of its bid to vault into the ranks of the nation's top 50 universities and potentially spurring growth of Long Island's high-tech economy.

Quickening the pace of Hofstra's decade-old effort to boost its national profile, the medical school puts the university and its partner -- North Shore-LIJ Health System -- in an elite club of 135 educational institutions nationwide with MD programs. Next up: creation of a separate School of Engineering and Applied Science, announced just last month.