NSU-COM class of 2015!

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So I figured I'd start up our own thread in here! Where y'all at?

FIRST!!

inb4 "no you're actually second"

Congrats!!! If you have any questions feel free to PM. I am currently a 4th year.

woo hoo... count me in too.. excited to see you all in August!!!

Originally Posted by indynshrty

Congrats!!! If you have any questions feel free to PM. I am currently a 4th year.

+1

Also happy to help out here if anyone has questions. I'm a 1st year here. Congrats again!

Awesome!!!!!! Ive been waiting for this thread Im really excited to meet all of you this August!

And a HUGE thanks to all of the current med school students that are taking the time to look out for us newbies!

When you guys sent your transcripts (if you sent more than one), did you get an email for each one or just one once all were receieved? I sent three transcripts from my storied undergrad but only got one email. How about you fellas?

PS Munchy, how did that email forwarding work for you? I set mine up but it never seemed to actually do it.

Originally Posted by IamaBanana

When you guys sent your transcripts (if you sent more than one), did you get an email for each one or just one once all were receieved? I sent three transcripts from my storied undergrad but only got one email. How about you fellas?

PS Munchy, how did that email forwarding work for you? I set mine up but it never seemed to actually do it.

Hi IamaBanana, I did send in my transcript last year, a few weeks after the acceptance. The reason I sent so early is because I am no longer in school so I didn't see any reason to wait. Anyhow, I never received confirmation from NSU so I called and got the answer that they got it. If I were you, I would call them and ask.

Originally Posted by IamaBanana

When you guys sent your transcripts (if you sent more than one), did you get an email for each one or just one once all were receieved? I sent three transcripts from my storied undergrad but only got one email. How about you fellas?

PS Munchy, how did that email forwarding work for you? I set mine up but it never seemed to actually do it.

forwarding works great, i get emails all the time now. the real question is, when are they starting the group we're supposed to subscribe to?

Originally Posted by mrsmith

+1

Also happy to help out here if anyone has questions. I'm a 1st year here. Congrats again!

I may be attending, I have a couple questions. Thanks!

1. What is the exam schedule/frequency like?

2. Can you get away with not going to class? I have heard mixed reviews. Some say that lectures are recorded, others say it is a utter technological failure and they never get recorded. Are they strict about the 70% requirement and does most of the class actually attend? One person said that it doesn't matter as long as you aren't doing poorly/failing, but it would be more reassuring to hear this from someone who doesn't go to class 70% of the time, or if you know friends that don't go to class and have no problems with administration.

It just seems super overwhemling to have to go to class 9-5 5 days a week, then come home and study 5-midnight. I feel like I (and probably MANY others) could be infinitely more efficient by just going to the library from, say, 9-6 every day of teh week and focusing harder on my own.

3. Is Driving really bad? Do you need a car? I had heard that all the stereotypes about old people driving insanely in FL is true.

4. Is the student-body really happy? Are you guys a close-knit bunch or do people branch off/form cliques and do their own thing?

5. What is the typical weekend/social life like. Do many people stay in the Davie area, or go out to Ft. Lauderdale/Miami to party/go to the beach? Or does studying tend to take most of the time up?

6. What do you like least? And what do you like most?

Originally Posted by IamaBanana

When you guys sent your transcripts (if you sent more than one), did you get an email for each one or just one once all were receieved? I sent three transcripts from my storied undergrad but only got one email. How about you fellas?

PS Munchy, how did that email forwarding work for you? I set mine up but it never seemed to actually do it.

Hey! I only had one to send it and they sent me back a confirmation email. I say call in just in case to make sure everything was received. I was there yesterday and someone told me that they are getting busier and that you would get better service if you use the 1800 number.

Originally Posted by IamaBanana

When you guys sent your transcripts (if you sent more than one), did you get an email for each one or just one once all were receieved? I sent three transcripts from my storied undergrad but only got one email. How about you fellas?

PS Munchy, how did that email forwarding work for you? I set mine up but it never seemed to actually do it.

Worked great! Thankfully they don't overload you with spam emails, but I've been getting regular emails from them.

[QUOTE=patel2;10600467]I may be attending, I have a couple questions. Thanks!

1. This is something I don't know since

2.The recording system is not 100 percent....and this is true of most technology. It's not so much the strictness...but the profs notice how many people aren't showing up. And they will ask questions that they only talked about in class.

The amount of hours really isn't that bad...and in all truth if you are studying from day 1, and you can prioritize, then you shouldn't have to study until midnight.

3. The driving isn't horrible, and it's not the old people who are the worst. A car is necessary since the area is suburban.

4. With such a large class size, it's really hard not to have groups that always hang out with each other. But in general everyone is nice. In every class you will find people who aren't happy, and that's everywhere.

5. Depends on what you want to do. People will go out, people will study. I tried to make it to the beach at least once a month....I considered it a priority

6. Administration can be a pain at times, and scheduling 4th year electives can be difficult because everything has to be done the way they want it or they won't put it through. The docs, especially during the second year courses are super nice

Any other questions, PM me.

Looks like the 2015 group is up on Sharknet.

Sweet, joined.

Who all's coming from cali this fall?

2 sets of questions answered:

From a PM
What is the testing schedule? How do you feel about it?
1st year-My year was frequent tests of 50 questions each for all of the classes. Class of 2014 had a pseudo block schedule that essentially condensed those tests so that they were less frequent but worth more. I thought 1st year was hell. The idiots in admin overload the schedule with absolutely worthless classes (worthless in the sense that I had enough on my plate with hard science classes that I could've cared less about ethics/clinical preceptorship or attending class all day) My days improved dramatically when I learned to disregard the attendance policy and acclimated to the environment.

2nd year-Is a stark contrast to 1st year. Block testing, every subject interrelates with another. Still a bit uneven as far as class scheduling but it is a vast improvement from 1st year.

What is the grading system (P/F, percentages)? Percentages. Therefore if you get an 89.1% in a class it will show up as that on your transcript.

Is the financial aid department helpful? Do you feel that you are able to cover all of your costs with funding?
Yes, you can borrow quite a bit if you so choose.

Are there recorded lectures/ a note taking service? Good quality?
2nd year has both. 1st year has recorded lectures SOMETIMES because it depends on which professor will let their lectures be recorded. The quality of the recording itself depends on the aptitude of the tech help, who is a person in your class who gets money to deal with these matters. My personal experience: 1st year-trainwreck 2nd year-high quality recordings, high quality note service.

Do you recommend studying any subjects before coming in to school in the Fall?
Generally speaking, the only advantage people had going into 1st year were people that took 1st year-type classes in undergrad, meaning they had entire semesters/quarters to let the basics sink in as they studied and tested at a regular pace. With that in mind I recommend you study Biochemistry if you never learned it in undergrad. It is the one poorly taught class they have here. Otherwise you're fine learning from class notes with the other classes.


When do you start interacting with patients?
Immediately through preceptorships and clinical skills class. My personal opinion is that preceptorships are worthless for a 1st semester 1st year because you're not going to know enough for a doctor to want to send you in to take a history. The clinical skills class is very useful, although you don't start actual diagnoses until second year.

When do stimulated patient exams begin?
1st year. 1st year will be about memorizing the physical exam. 2nd year will be about using it selectively to diagnose your fake patients.

How do you feel about doing only core rotations in the third year?
I personally don't care. I chose a hospital for third year (i.e. I submitted a rank lists of hospitals in order of preference and was fortunate enough to place into one that I liked) with a schedule that will allow me to shadow a doctor in a specialty that I am interested in and get a recommendation from them. My personal opinion is that their South Florida hospitals + Orlando and +Largo range from decent enough-awesome. Everything else in their cache depends on preference. Naples is **** and 2 people in our class ate **** when they were placed their against their wishes.

How are elective rotations planned?
No idea, not there yet

Do you know what the match rate is? Or where I may be able to find that information? (is is important to know before making my decision?)
The rate? No idea. Don't think it's important to know because you are either coming into 4th year a well informed candidate or you aren't. Meaning that if you are set on derm and are ranked last in the class with a 400 COMLEX and no USMLE 4th year, don't be dumb and apply derm.

Do you work on cadavers or are they prosected?
We work on cadavers. Class of 2012 worked on prosected but it wasn't popular and admin changed it back.

How are the health facilities on campus? Are they covered under the Heath Insurance plan offered by Nova? If not, how expensive is it?
Good, yes.

What is the best way to find an apt in the city?
1. Ask an off campus student where most students go to live.
2. Go to those complexes and make personal inquires.

What are some neighborhoods close to Nova?
Sunrise, Sunforest, etc...

What do you budget for food per month or per semester?
This is very dependent on the individual.

What would you say you spend the most on per semester (excluding rent)?
Food.

Is it hard to find a cheap apartment without a roommate (someone sharing your room)? What's the avg rent/month?
1000/month+utilities if you want an apartment to yourself. The price decreases depending on roommates and location

Is a car needed right away? Depends on how close to campus you live.

Is the public transport system reliable? Absolutely not.

How is the weather in the summer? Melting hot. Winter and Spring though are PERFECT.

What's your favorite thing about Nova and what don't you like?
Favorite thing-LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. Overall, a very complete education.

Is there anything you wish you had known before you made your decision?
No. I picked Nova because of location (general location for fun and clinical opportunities), tuition price, and the general reputation of the many graduates they have. Every other factor besides this was something I could adjust to, or chose to disregard, or took because I wanted it. It's a nice place, but only because I created a routine and made some friends to make it nice.


2. Can you get away with not going to class? I have heard mixed reviews. Some say that lectures are recorded, others say it is a utter technological failure and they never get recorded. Are they strict about the 70% requirement and does most of the class actually attend? One person said that it doesn't matter as long as you aren't doing poorly/failing, but it would be more reassuring to hear this from someone who doesn't go to class 70% of the time, or if you know friends that don't go to class and have no problems with administration.
You have to think about it politically. 1st year of 1st semester they pound home the idea of attendance. Will you be skipping your classes then? Yes, but make sure you scan in before you leave. If admin gets pissed and threatens you about it, you go to class for a week to placate them and then you go back to your old routine. Are you a borderline student and see yourself possibly before an academic review committee at the end of 1st year? Always, always scan in before you decide to leave and hope that you don't get caught doing it or they are going to hang you out to dry. Do you typically get well above the passing range on every single test? Skip class, don't bother scanning in, you're good. You can't count on recorded lectures 1st year.





3. Is Driving really bad? Do you need a car? I had heard that all the stereotypes about old people driving insanely in FL is true
You don't need a car if you're close by. There are a greater proportion of idiot drivers here than most areas, and they aren't just old people.

4. Is the student-body really happy? Are you guys a close-knit bunch or do people branch off/form cliques and do their own thing?
Generally, yes. 99% of the 1st and 2nd years are friendly, but not everyone is going to be a good fit personality wise for you. Making friends is a process. You'll find a mix of everything you've described.


5. What is the typical weekend/social life like. Do many people stay in the Davie area, or go out to Ft. Lauderdale/Miami to party/go to the beach? Or does studying tend to take most of the time up?
God, it just DEPENDS. There are people that party every weekend, 2-3 nights in a row. There are people who are in the library every day from 8 am- 8pm and study their brains out (these people don't have as many friends). It depends on how well you do in school given a certain level of effort and what type of personality you have. The thing you should realize is that there are many places to have fun here and it is nice to have options like that.


6. What do you like least? And what do you like most?
the least-the retarded admin. They are retarded and misinformed and have tiny little brains.
the most-everything else.

Originally Posted by IamaBanana

Looks like the 2015 group is up on Sharknet.

Thanks! Do you know how long it takes the admin to approve you? Is there any paper work or information on there yet?

Originally Posted by BioGene

Thanks! Do you know how long it takes the admin to approve you? Is there any paper work or information on there yet?

No clue dude, I'm still waiting myself! I certainly hope there's stuff in there once we get in because all this mysteriousness makes me nervous.

BTW, Food, thanks for the post. Opinions/advice/knowledge drops like that are super valuable.

Originally Posted by IamaBanana

No clue dude, I'm still waiting myself! I certainly hope there's stuff in there once we get in because all this mysteriousness makes me nervous.

BTW, Food, thanks for the post. Opinions/advice/knowledge drops like that are super valuable.

+1 about all the advice Food! Thank You

Haha and I know what you mean about the mysteriousness. I turned in the second deposit, transcripts, technical standards, etc... Now its the waiting O_o

dont for get to send in you authorization to release title IV Federal Aide Funds. Financial Aide will not process your aid package until this is turned in. You can fax it. If you login to webstar and check your financial aid eligibility, it should list this this as a required document. They updated it the same day I faxed it.

here is the link for the form

https://www.nova.edu/sbin/finaidforms

Originally Posted by amt5223

dont for get to send in you authorization to release title IV Federal Aide Funds. Financial Aide will not process your aid package until this is turned in. You can fax it. If you login to webstar and check your financial aid eligibility, it should list this this as a required document. They updated it the same day I faxed it.

here is the link for the form

https://www.nova.edu/sbin/finaidforms

Thanks amt.

Damn, you'd think they would have told us something about that...

Agreed. I'm hoping they put out some type of tentative schedule soon. I don't need to know the exact dates, but a rough idea of the rest of 2011's calendar would be very helpful. Its almost march, I'm assuming that they'll be coming out with a whole lot of info very soon.

Do any current students know how useful the Pre-Matriculation Program is by John Pelly, Ph.D from Texas Tech University, Health Science is?. It seems to be an online class to help you prepare to think and study properly for medical school. It was posted on the class of 2015 group on sharklink and recommended we complete it before we start school.

Originally Posted by IamaBanana

When you guys sent your transcripts (if you sent more than one), did you get an email for each one or just one once all were receieved? I sent three transcripts from my storied undergrad but only got one email. How about you fellas?
.

So far I have also only gotten one email in response to the 2 transcripts I had forwarded to Nova... It didn't refer to a specific school so maybe the email is just sent once the transcript requirement is fulfilled?

Originally Posted by munchymanRX

Sweet, joined.

Who all's coming from cali this fall?

I'm coming from Long Beach, how about you? Driving coast to coast in the summer should be fun...

Originally Posted by ArtMan

I'm coming from Long Beach, how about you? Driving coast to coast in the summer should be fun...

Depends on how much time you're giving yourself.

Originally Posted by ArtMan

I'm coming from Long Beach, how about you? Driving coast to coast in the summer should be fun...

Haha, coming from Westwood! 2 thousand miles on the 10...in the summer is going to be no bueno.

Originally Posted by ILikeFood

Depends on how much time you're giving yourself.

It is about a 4-5 day drive if you do it carefully.

I really need to work on financial aid. Just been so busy with school all I can think about is sending in the next deposit =( I think I'm going down to FL toward the end of March to look at apartments and stuff, but I don't want to live alone, so maybe a roommate should come first

hey everyone...im going down to fort lauderdale next week to visit family but also to start looking for apartments. i was gonna look mostly in Plantation for 2 bed/2 bath places bc i would like to have a roommate (we should prob start up some kind of roommate discussion on the facebook group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=152697268100861 ). I also wanted to look at sun forest and palm trace which are in Davie and maybe one or two places actually in ft lauderdale. I'll def report back with where i liked/didn't like so that other people can get an idea too!

this is the first time ive browsed the medical student forums and not the premed forums

Originally Posted by sbz214

hey everyone...im going down to fort lauderdale next week to visit family but also to start looking for apartments. i was gonna look mostly in Plantation for 2 bed/2 bath places bc i would like to have a roommate (we should prob start up some kind of roommate discussion on the facebook group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=152697268100861 ). I also wanted to look at sun forest and palm trace which are in Davie and maybe one or two places actually in ft lauderdale. I'll def report back with where i liked/didn't like so that other people can get an idea too!

im looking for a roommate also. let me know what you find! we should definitely get some sorta discussion going on fb the group is getting big

Maybe it's just me, but I am kinda curious/worried how I haven't received anything from NSU since they accepted me and received all my deposits/transcripts. I just filled out FAFSA even though I haven't received financial aid package just in case I am missing out anything. Have you guys received anything from the school after your acceptance package? Also, does anyone know when they turn your provisional acceptace to full-acceptance?

Originally Posted by krnxhkwanx

Maybe it's just me, but I am kinda curious/worried how I haven't received anything from NSU since they accepted me and received all my deposits/transcripts. I just filled out FAFSA even though I haven't received financial aid package just in case I am missing out anything. Have you guys received anything from the school after your acceptance package? Also, does anyone know when they turn your provisional acceptace to full-acceptance?

Provided you've met all the deadlines so far and submitted your deposits, your status on webstar should have been updated to Accept-Full as of 2/26/2011

Financial aid details/awards will become available in May, and further communique from the school will also come around this time.

In the meantime keep calling/emailing them. NSU is notorious for having a crap administration, so badgering them is key.

Originally Posted by ILikeFood

Depends on how much time you're giving yourself.

haha Food I was mostly being sarcastic. I'm going to give it about 4 days. I've made the drive from Houston to LA on the 10 in August and it was pretty awful. Of all the cross-country routes, the 10 has to be the worst.

Originally Posted by munchymanRX

Haha, coming from Westwood! 2 thousand miles on the 10...in the summer is going to be no bueno.

Caravan ftw.

when is everyone moving?

I am moving in the end of May.

As a bit of a non-trad I can't afford to move down before July, so I'll probably show up around the 15th or so.

me too, since I have a job right now, I will probably be in Davie around mid/late July

Locking down a place to live in Mid-May, driving out to FL in late July/early august.

Has anyone managed to find an academic calendar yet? I know there was one posted on SDN somewhere, but it's not correct.

First week of July. I want to give myself like a month to create a live-able apartment (paint, decorate, furniture hunt etc) before school starts.

Originally Posted by munchymanRX

Has anyone managed to find an academic calendar yet? I know there was one posted on SDN somewhere, but it's not correct.

white coat ceremony august 7th.. thats all i have found so far

Originally Posted by futuredoc4432

white coat ceremony august 7th.. thats all i have found so far

Yeah, that's all I've got as well...

It'd be nice if someone over there would pick up their phones/answer their emails.

A calendar would be really nice to have for planning purposes..

Originally Posted by munchymanRX

It'd be nice if someone over there would pick up their phones/answer their emails.

OMFG THIS!!! I'm having this recurring nightmare/panic attack that I'm going to get an email saying that I haven't sent in all my required stuff and I am losing my spot, but I can't get ahold of anyone who can tell me if I'm missing anything!

I'll be in Florida at the end of May and will look for an apartment then. I want a roommate or two, but I don't want to live far away from campus. Haven't decided if I'm going to look at the graduate dorms yet.

Originally Posted by IamaBanana

OMFG THIS!!! I'm having this recurring nightmare/panic attack that I'm going to get an email saying that I haven't sent in all my required stuff and I am losing my spot, but I can't get ahold of anyone who can tell me if I'm missing anything!

Relax banana! If you paid your deposits and have the receipts, that's all that really matters. You have until august to get your transcripts settled. And FYI I sent 3 seperate trannys and a LOR, but only got 2 emails. Don't worry. Your deposits hold your seat, not your documents not due for 90 days after the start of classes!!!
CHILLAX!!!

and congrats!!!

I plan on calling tomorrow to double check all my monies and papers are received and you guys have me all freaked out that I'll be lost in some sort of telephone black hole trying to reach someone haha... Wish me luck!

Originally Posted by ArtMan

I plan on calling tomorrow to double check all my monies and papers are received and you guys have me all freaked out that I'll be lost in some sort of telephone black hole trying to reach someone haha... Wish me luck!

Oh god...they are awful.

But if they took your money you're golden. The deadline for deposit 2 is tomorrow, so good to check today just to make sure.

Originally Posted by munchymanRX

Oh god...they are awful.

But if they took your money you're golden. The deadline for deposit 2 is tomorrow, so good to check today just to make sure.

money taken, voicemail left. class of 2015! woo!