2011-2012 Florida International University Application Thread

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what's the general impression of this new school? respectable? give me some more schools it's in the same league as. can someone tell me about their residency and match placements, etc.?
 
edge of desire said:
what's the general impression of this new school? respectable? give me some more schools it's in the same league as. can someone tell me about their residency and match placements, etc.?
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They won't have a match list since they are so new. The school is connected with really good quality hospitals for clinical training, and is known for its mission to help the surrounding community. More info can be found on the website, and I recommend picking up the MSAR to read some of the more important highlights.
 
edge of desire said:
what's the general impression of this new school? respectable?
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In terms of the general impression, I went on a invitation tour and the administration was SUPER nice. It has to be one of the best experiences I've had interacting with an admissions committee. The school is new but in terms of the clerkships they have local hospitals on lock down so it doesn't seem like you'd have a problem for 3rd/4th year. The faculty seemed great! I had a few questions that the admissions staff couldn't answer so I sat down to speak with the Dean of Admissions and the Dean of Education curriculum. They both repeatedly said that their main goal is the education of the students and how they are committed to helping. The facilities are new but are sort-of shared with the nursing students. They are getting more funding to expand and they have new study halls which look really nice. FIU is not a very research orientated school. It's more of a community outreach program so if that sounds like you then I think it's a great match. Overall, it seems like a school worth investing time to learn more about.
 
I am currently taking some post-bacc classes at FIU, and I absolutely love the school 😍. Go Panther pride! FIU's anatomy lab has a lot of high-tech stuff that could pretty much double over as a movie theater :corny:. Everything is just new and shiny 😀. As for research, if you want to do it, there's definitely some faculty here that are oriented toward getting you a publication. It mostly depends on what you're looking for.

PS- They are offering 80 seats this year, but with FIU, the mantra "the earlier the better" rings very true. Apply ASAP if you're interested because last year, I think they were done interviewing very early in the cycle.
 
Prompts!

1. Provide an example of a situation in which you have had a challenge working with a peer in school or a colleague in a work setting. What did you learn from this?

2. Why are you specifically interested in the FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine? Do you have a connection or bond to South Florida?

3. What makes you a unique individual? How will you contribute to the diversity of the student body at the College of Medicine?

4. Identify any traits, experiences, challenges, interests, etc. that a professor or advisor would not normally know about you and that you have not already written about in your AMCAS application. Is there anything else that you would like the Admissions Committee to know about you?
 
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Has anyone started working on the secondary essays yet? I am not sure how to respond to the "Why are you specifically interested in the FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine? Do you have a connection or bond to South Florida?" prompt.

On one hand, I feel like it is usually not a good idea to cite the school's location as a reason that I am interested in attending. But on the other hand, they specifically ask about ties to South Florida...

Thoughts?
 
The "why FIU?" sounds like an interview-style question to me, so I think you should answer it accordingly.

As for the connection to South Florida, it seems pretty straight forward. Do/Don't?

For example, an OOS school might want to know if you have any sort of ties to that state? Like if you lived there and went OOS for undergrad and are coming back IS for medical school.

Hope this helps.

SEE13 said:
Has anyone started working on the secondary essays yet? I am not sure how to respond to the "Why are you specifically interested in the FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine? Do you have a connection or bond to South Florida?" prompt.

On one hand, I feel like it is usually not a good idea to cite the school's location as a reason that I am interested in attending. But on the other hand, they specifically ask about ties to South Florida...

Thoughts?
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AnthroMD said:
The "why FIU?" sounds like an interview-style question to me, so I think you should answer it accordingly.

As for the connection to South Florida, it seems pretty straight forward. Do/Don't?

For example, an OOS school might want to know if you have any sort of ties to that state? Like if you lived there and went OOS for undergrad and are coming back IS for medical school.

Hope this helps.
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Thanks! I think that I was trying to answer both questions at once (by saying that I want to go to FIU because I'm from South Florida), which is not what I mean to say.

Just answering both questions separately seems like a good solution. Thanks again
 
Vandy Premed said:
They won't have a match list since they are so new. The school is connected with really good quality hospitals for clinical training, and is known for its mission to help the surrounding community. More info can be found on the website, and I recommend picking up the MSAR to read some of the more important highlights.
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I saw that on their site and my interest shot up considerably..

..and then I saw the ties to soFL part of their secondary prompt and I 🙁

Despite my lack of ties to FL outside of visiting a colleague when she was at LECOM, FIU sounds like a great place.
 
Vandy Premed said:
Prompts!

4. Identify any traits, experiences, challenges, interests, etc. that a professor or advisor would not normally know about you and that you have not already written about in your AMCAS application. Is there anything else that you would like the Admissions Committee to know about you?
Click to expand...

I got stuck on this one, I talked about how I recently picked up caving, because I'm always up for an adventure, and I like the adversity involved. I had no idea what else to put, and it's only about 300 characters.

Does anyone else have advice for this one?
 
Received an invite today! How long are you guys making your essays?
 
Hello my name is Lobna I just graduated from the BMS program in May and will still be living in south florida. Im currently looking for a trustworthy roommate i will be moving to a 2 bedroom 2 bath in the miramar / pembroke pines area which is about 10mins from NSU and extremely close to all major highways. Please let me know if you can help me get the word out or if you know anyone in the program who is also looking for a roommate. contact me at [email protected]
 
Flamen04 said:
Received an invite today! How long are you guys making your essays?
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I submitted my secondary yesterday, and all of my essays are right below 1200 characters. I think it depends on how much you have to say, and there is no right or wrong way to do it. Good luck:luck:
 
For question #4, is it one of those that's safe to leave blank if you have nothing else to add?
 
Hi all, I will be matriculating here in August, so I thought I'd stop by to wish all of you luck! 🙂

I want to echo what others have said about the faculty here. They are awesome! Everyone is very personable and helpful. The students I spoke with at the interview and 2nd look all seemed very happy and expressed that the faculty takes their opinions and suggestions to heart. The school is definitely interested in helping the surrounding area and under-served populations. That was one of the main reasons I wanted to go to FIU. They have excellent relationships with hospitals such as Miami Childrens, Cleveland Clinic, Mercy, Baptist South, and Mt. Sinai.

Also I wanted to mention that a research project is mandatory for graduation at FIU, so while research may not be the school's #1 concern, it is definitely valued and the opportunities are there.

Again, good luck with the application cycle and I hope this time next year several of you are as excited as I am to begin the journey into the medical field.
 
SEE13 said:
Yep. Mine says "preliminary review completed"

Any idea what that means?
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I was looking on last year's thread and it seemed that people who got this change ended up receiving interviews. Maybe you could do some of this legwork too and see if you come to the same conclusion.

I'm a bit hesitant on assuming this, however, since I'm OOS.
 
latrala2300 said:
I was looking on last year's thread and it seemed that people who got this change ended up receiving interviews. Maybe you could do some of this legwork too and see if you come to the same conclusion.

I'm a bit hesitant on assuming this, however, since I'm OOS.
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Did you get the same status change? Mine changed 2 hrs after submission. If you look at last years thread some of the first interview invites were sent to out of staters, so just being OOS isn't bad. 🙂
 
Dr. Ferdinand Gomez, the Anatomy Instructor for all MS1s, is awesome! This guy can keep a class full of pre-meds and nursing students entertained at 6:40 in the morning, and this is after I took a bus at 4:30 to get to class from my apt in Downtown! If his teaching speaks to the caliber of the medical school faculty, then I have no doubt FIU will be rising in the rankings very soon.

As I offered in the UM thread, any girls interviewing at FIU this cycle are welcome to crash at my studio apartment in Downtown if you want to save some money. However, I wouldn't recommend it unless you're driving down here (or renting a car) because though I live only 20 minutes away from the FIU campus, it takes 1.5 hours by bus. And sadly, I have no car.

:luck: everybody.

SEE13 said:
Did you get the same status change? Mine changed 2 hrs after submission. If you look at last years thread some of the first interview invites were sent to out of staters, so just being OOS isn't bad. 🙂
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On a random note, I am just going to ask. Is that one of the Kardashian sisters (my guess goes Kourtney)?
 
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SEE13 said:
Did you get the same status change? Mine changed 2 hrs after submission. If you look at last years thread some of the first interview invites were sent to out of staters, so just being OOS isn't bad. 🙂
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Yup, I have the same status. 2 hours is pretty fast....that changes how I view the status because they couldn't have read your app that fast. Could they?! lol
 
Just thought I would join this thread with some of the dates of my FIU app. I received the email for the secondary app 6/22/11 and completed it 6/26/11. On 6/28/11 7:34 pm the my status online said "Preliminary Review Completed"
 
latrala2300 said:
Yup, I have the same status. 2 hours is pretty fast....that changes how I view the status because they couldn't have read your app that fast. Could they?! lol
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Well the "preliminary screen" may be based on GPA/MCAT... in that case it takes almost no time to complete.
 
SEE13 said:
Well the "preliminary screen" may be based on GPA/MCAT... in that case it takes almost no time to complete.
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I think it may be. My status changed to that within a few days. It would be nice if that somehow meant an interview though 🙂.
 
My status changed pretty quickly as well. Let's hope it means an interview 🙂
 
Even though there is no screening, you all that have secondaries waited ~3-4 weeks?

I submitted my primary the day before yesterday... Guess I'll be waiting a bit longer.
 
Should I email admissions? I was verified 6/24 and haven't heard anything.
 
I don't think the Preliminary Review Completed means much, mine changed within a few hours of submission. I doubt they read my application that quickly and, although I have a good MCAT, my GPA is pretty low! sGPA: 3.55 / MCAT 37
 
Great job on the MCAT! What I'd do for a 37... lol. I hope they are impressed by my graduate performace (sGPA > 3.8) more than undergraduate (sGPA 3.1).

Good luck!

MalibuPreMD said:
I don't think the Preliminary Review Completed means much, mine changed within a few hours of submission. I doubt they read my application that quickly and, although I have a good MCAT, my GPA is pretty low! sGPA: 3.55 / MCAT 37
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Has anyone had a problem with submitting their courses?
They won't let me advance or save unless I put something under status but the courses are neither antipated, current, OR AP credit. How did you get past this?
thanks!
 
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Glad you figured it out. Didn't see your edit, whoops.
 
what did eveyrone write for the problems working in groups/coworker/school classmate q? I am torn between putting a "real" answer with specific details and writing a more fluffy answer that's like "oh this is my 'weakness' but it's really a strength" you know? pseronally, if i were on an adcom, i'd probably be pissed at people who pretend they ALWAYS get along with others.
 
edge of desire said:
what did eveyrone write for the problems working in groups/coworker/school classmate q? I am torn between putting a "real" answer with specific details and writing a more fluffy answer that's like "oh this is my 'weakness' but it's really a strength" you know? pseronally, if i were on an adcom, i'd probably be pissed at people who pretend they ALWAYS get along with others.
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I put a real answer, but I found that the character limit prevented me from providing a lot details. From the wording of the question, I'm pretty sure that the adcoms would prefer a concrete answer.
 
Hey is anyone else having any problems logging in to submit the 2ndary? Mine is not allowing me to log in (says 'server error); it hasn't since Tuesday. Rolling admissions - I'd really like it if I could get this in ASAP, but I guess if the server is down I'm not in a worse situation than anyone else?
Thanks for letting me know!
 
Spinietzschon said:
Hey is anyone else having any problems logging in to submit the 2ndary? Mine is not allowing me to log in (says 'server error); it hasn't since Tuesday. Rolling admissions - I'd really like it if I could get this in ASAP, but I guess if the server is down I'm not in a worse situation than anyone else?
Thanks for letting me know!
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That happens to me sometimes if I forget to select "Application Year 2012" for the "Select your application year" section of the login page. For some reason, the default selection is "Application Year 2010" which gives me that 'sever error' message.
 
Spinietzschon said:
Hey is anyone else having any problems logging in to submit the 2ndary? Mine is not allowing me to log in (says 'server error); it hasn't since Tuesday. Rolling admissions - I'd really like it if I could get this in ASAP, but I guess if the server is down I'm not in a worse situation than anyone else?
Thanks for letting me know!
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are you sure you're selecting the 2012 app cycle? I usually get the server error when I chose 2009-2010 by mistake.

-edit-
SEE13 beat me to it. :laugh:
 
chrissyxf said:
Has anyone had a problem with submitting their courses?
They won't let me advance or save unless I put something under status but the courses are neither antipated, current, OR AP credit. How did you get past this?
thanks!
Click to expand...

I was in the same boat, then figured it out lol. But, now I have this issue -

"Must provide an explanation for exceptions in prerequisites." Even though I have no prereqs in the boxes
 
Application status: Preliminary Review Completed

Anyone else see anything different?
 
Anyone have an idea of the average GPA/MCAT scores? They seem to have minimum reqs. on their page, but not the previous class profile.
 
seminolepremed said:
Anyone have an idea of the average GPA/MCAT scores? They seem to have minimum reqs. on their page, but not the previous class profile.
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According to last year's 2011-2012 MSAR:

Accepted scores ranging from 10th to 90th percentile(2009 applicants):
Overall GPA: 3.3-4.0 (median 3.6)
Science GPA: 3.1-3.9 (median 3.6)
MCAT: 28-35 (median 31)
 
Just submitted after having received the secondary forever.
 
Congratulations to both of you! Do you mind posting your stats?
 
i just have "preliminary review completed" as of 7/31. I think I was complete around 7/21...can chrissy and hockey please post when their status was updated, i know chrissy was complete 7/18, what about you hockey?
 
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