2010-2011 University of Virginia Application Thread

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current students attending bar night: are you going to reveal yourselves? ie color you'll be wearing?

There will be stickers of some sort. Not sure what that sort will be yet. One of the first year girls on the panel is in charge of the bar night, so I'm sure she'll let you know to find her when you get to the bar.
 
There will be stickers of some sort. Not sure what that sort will be yet. One of the first year girls on the panel is in charge of the bar night, so I'm sure she'll let you know to find her when you get to the bar.

i'm mean current student sdners lol
 
i'm mean current student sdners lol

...yes, I'm aware. But you need something to identify you as well, because while the first year class all knows each other, there are plenty of people in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year classes that we don't know, and since the March Madness game will be on, I'm sure there will be plenty of undergrads there. Sadly, Saturday night is not the best night to get a private party going on.

So our social chair will be able to identify us, but it's highly unlikely she'll be able to identify you.

And we'll be wearing stickers too.
 
There will be stickers of some sort. Not sure what that sort will be yet. One of the first year girls on the panel is in charge of the bar night, so I'm sure she'll let you know to find her when you get to the bar.

Sadly I won't be attending 🙁 To what bar are you all going?
 
So registration starts at 9am, program starts at 10am. Does that mean to arrive anytime between 9 and 10, or should we arrive at 9am?
 
I hope everyone is excited about tomorrow! It will be great to have you guys back without the stress of the interview hanging over you. I'll be walking around and saying hi during the reception following your panel-discussions.

9 is probably the earliest that you can pick up your name-tags and grab your packets with the itinerary, and 10 is when they start the program in ernest.

As far as taking notes in class, if the class is some sort of a presentation, then you will probably have downloaded the associated powerpoint prior to class and will take additional notes in the little note-box beneath the slides. As mvenus pointed out, it would be impractical to try and write everything the lecturer is presenting, although that is how I did it in undergrad. Most people jot down notes and thoughts to study the powerpoint later. To be honest, most of the information you'll need to answer the learning objectives will be in resources outside of class like handouts and textbooks, so don't be too concerned about in-class note-taking strategies.
 
can anyone provide details about the 1-5pm once a week sessions? is it just a casual group discussion where i could be checking my email or do we need to be actively involved for the entire 4 hours? also, are there breaks in between like the 10 minute ones during lecture?
 
can anyone provide details about the 1-5pm once a week sessions? is it just a casual group discussion where i could be checking my email or do we need to be actively involved for the entire 4 hours? also, are there breaks in between like the 10 minute ones during lecture?

It depends on your mentor, and what you're doing that week. We usually do our learning objectives from the previous week in the beginning of 'class' and tend to take much longer at everyone else doing that. Then we go through the case. That puts us at about 3, and the rest of the day depends on what we're doing that week. Last week, we had standardized patients, and we got out much later than usual, but earlier than about half the groups on our day (because they didn't have enough standardized patients to go around, so they divided us into two groups for interviewing). The allergy testing that we did a couple months ago took the whole time up til 5. Some of the simulation center things have taken the whole time. Most of the time, we're out by 4ish.

It's no where near as intense as the morning sessions, I don't think. It's more focused on learning and working through things. And if you have a good group, there's lots of joking as well, so while there aren't scheduled breaks like there are during the morning, it won't feel as dense as the morning material anyway. Our group usually takes some sort of break between the case and whatever other activity we're doing that day.
 
Are the cases handed out at each session or do you have access to them online prior to meeting?
 
Since we're on a paperless system, the current system is to e-mail us a copy of the case a few minutes before the small group sessions start. It's also available online to the mentors through case tool (which allows you to order specific labs and imaging studies, depending on what you feel is necessary.
 
Are you referring to CPD? If so, CPD is a very casual small group-activity that typically, but not always, gets out around 3:30, so it's rare to stay the whole four hours. At the beginning of the year you are put into a group of five other students from your college and two faculty mentors. One of the mentors is a physician and the other is a bit of a wild card--they could be a lawyer, a physical therapist, etc. My mentors are an IM physician and a nurse-practitioner.

The structure of the meeting varies, but it almost always starts off with a case that relates to the material we learned the week before. For instance, if the previous week focused on viruses, then the patient will likely have a type of viral infection that we'll need to diagnose. The point of the cases is to see how diseases actually present in a hospital setting, rather than just memorizing the basic science in a vacuum. The doctor is there to walk you through the case and give you clinical pointers and advise for the clinical years. You go through the "Chief Complaint", the "History of Present Illness", etc, just like you would if you were taking a history on a patient during your clinical rotations. After you've gone through the background, you start putting together a differential and discussing why you think the patient has X disease. You then order tests and learn how to interpret what they're telling you and the case is resolved. It's like an episode of House, except it's realistic, and one time the patient actually did have lupus.

The second half of CPD varies every week, and usually involves something hands-on. Two weeks ago we learned how to do a lumbar puncture in the simulation lab, a few weeks before that we learned some micro-lab procedures, there was one week where we learned how to do venipuncture, another where we learned how to use our stethoscopes and BP cuffs, and we did interviews with a pregnant patient and then did an ultra-sound when we were doing some embryology. This week we're interviewing patients in the hospital for clinical experience. It's also almost always tied to what we learned recently. For instance, last week we did a case discussion about intracranial bleeding and then did standardized-patient interviews with someone presenting with head pain and vertigo. As you can tell, they try to keep it with a theme.

I would certainly not use the word "intense" to describe CPD. We spend a fair amount of time joking and learning as we go through the cases and my mentor brings us food every week. We had dinner at our mentor's house a few weeks ago and we're planning on going to the other's house for a barbecue sometime soon. As far as I can tell, none of it is graded, and it's just a wonderful learning opportunity with doctors and other professionals who you get to know very well over 18 months. I'm good friends with my CPD 'family' and look forward to it every week.

Does that help?
 
As far as I can tell, none of it is graded, and it's just a wonderful learning opportunity with doctors and other professionals who you get to know very well over 18 months.

Your physician mentor did turn in an evaluation of you at the end of MCM. It's on OASIS, when you find the TBL feedback as well, in case you're interested.

But yeah, I'm pretty sure it's impossible to fail CPD.
 
I've read through the current postings concerning the new curriculum. I just have some clarification questions.

Can any current students elaborate on what exactly happens within the 8-12 time? From what I understood from second look, two days a week is taken up by TBL. How do you spend the rest of your time?

Also, when it comes to learning the actual science material, is that all required to be learned independently? Or is it presented to you in some format or another (e.g. lecture)?

I'm going to be honest, I LOVE UVa. Everything about the school appeals to my perfect medical school. However, the new curriculum makes me hesitant since it's so new and I don't completely understand each aspect.

Specifically, my concern comes from my background of pure lecture learning. I go to class, take notes in lecture, study the notes, and regurgitate. A small number of my classes incorporate group sessions that I love, but it requires an understanding and knowledge of the information beforehand. The goal of the group is to clarify any areas of confusion and apply the knowledge to real-life situations. From what I've been told and seen, this is what the goal of UVa's curriculum is, but any clarification would be much appreciated!
 
I've read through the current postings concerning the new curriculum. I just have some clarification questions.

Can any current students elaborate on what exactly happens within the 8-12 time? From what I understood from second look, two days a week is taken up by TBL. How do you spend the rest of your time?

Also, when it comes to learning the actual science material, is that all required to be learned independently? Or is it presented to you in some format or another (e.g. lecture)?

I'm going to be honest, I LOVE UVa. Everything about the school appeals to my perfect medical school. However, the new curriculum makes me hesitant since it's so new and I don't completely understand each aspect.

Specifically, my concern comes from my background of pure lecture learning. I go to class, take notes in lecture, study the notes, and regurgitate. A small number of my classes incorporate group sessions that I love, but it requires an understanding and knowledge of the information beforehand. The goal of the group is to clarify any areas of confusion and apply the knowledge to real-life situations. From what I've been told and seen, this is what the goal of UVa's curriculum is, but any clarification would be much appreciated!

this is what i found regarding the 8-12 part:
http://pages.shanti.virginia.edu/nxgen/system-info/week-2/
it looks fun
 
I've read through the current postings concerning the new curriculum. I just have some clarification questions.

Can any current students elaborate on what exactly happens within the 8-12 time? From what I understood from second look, two days a week is taken up by TBL. How do you spend the rest of your time?

Also, when it comes to learning the actual science material, is that all required to be learned independently? Or is it presented to you in some format or another (e.g. lecture)?

I'm going to be honest, I LOVE UVa. Everything about the school appeals to my perfect medical school. However, the new curriculum makes me hesitant since it's so new and I don't completely understand each aspect.

Specifically, my concern comes from my background of pure lecture learning. I go to class, take notes in lecture, study the notes, and regurgitate. A small number of my classes incorporate group sessions that I love, but it requires an understanding and knowledge of the information beforehand. The goal of the group is to clarify any areas of confusion and apply the knowledge to real-life situations. From what I've been told and seen, this is what the goal of UVa's curriculum is, but any clarification would be much appreciated!

I'm sure someone can clarify better, but... I highly, highly doubt that you're going to have 2 TBLs a week. We had one two weeks ago, and that's the only one we've had in this system so far. We had 3 total (I think) in MSI. Maybe eventually they'll do 2 TBLs a week, but I highly doubt it'll happen with you.

We do other interactive sessions. We do problem sets. Today, for instance, we had a powerpoint where we had to identify 52 things from anatomy in about 50 minutes. We have similar problem sets for radiology, and we're working on getting others in different disciplines. We did a few small group sessions in MCM, where we'd actually have to put together a presentation and give it in front of 8-12 people. We have case presentations, where we work through cases.

There are still some lectures left. But in general, most all of the curriculum is independent learning, with the morning hours meant to reinforce the information. You're going to be learning independently wherever you go (because, let's face it, some professors suck, and half the time they won't cover all the material you need to know in a short lecture anyway), so I think our curriculum does a better job at applying the information, rather than just memorizing it. That said, they're getting really good at pointing you directly to the resources you need in order to learn the information.
 
The week is taken up by a variety of classes. There are TBLs, case presentations, lectures, problem sets, wet labs, dry labs and discussions.

From what I understand, UVA considers class time better spent applying information rather than reciting it. In order to be ready for TBLs and some problem sets, you will have to prepare ahead of time by learning the material independently. The school tries to make this as easy as possible by providing 'learning objectives' that match up to the assigned resources and tell you specifically what to learn. You would then show up to class ready to apply what you've learned to clinical cases and questions.

The schedule that someone just posted is relatively indicative of a typical week, although it's from the first week of school; the white boxes are lectures and the colored ones are different types of activities. The problem with describing "a typical day" is that there isn't one. There is such a wide variety of classes that it's never really repetitive. Near the beginning of a four-ish week section, the classes tend to be more information heavy, but near the end the number of application classes and case presentations pick up in order to crystalize everything.

The problem sets that mvenus mentioned are my favorite. For radiology, we will usually have a few sections in a textbook to read in order to answer a few learning objectives about anatomy, pathology and radiographic technique. We'll then get to class and download a powerpoint file produced by the radiology faculty filled with radiographs and MRIs with questions attached. In groups of three, we'll work through the powerpoint answering the questions and getting immediate feedback as to whether we were right or wrong right on our computer screen. If we are confused by an answer, there are usually 4-6 radiology interns wandering the room helping groups.
 
this is what i found regarding the 8-12 part:
http://pages.shanti.virginia.edu/nxgen/system-info/week-2/
it looks fun

I'm sure someone can clarify better, but... I highly, highly doubt that you're going to have 2 TBLs a week. We had one two weeks ago, and that's the only one we've had in this system so far. We had 3 total (I think) in MSI. Maybe eventually they'll do 2 TBLs a week, but I highly doubt it'll happen with you.

We do other interactive sessions. We do problem sets. Today, for instance, we had a powerpoint where we had to identify 52 things from anatomy in about 50 minutes. We have similar problem sets for radiology, and we're working on getting others in different disciplines. We did a few small group sessions in MCM, where we'd actually have to put together a presentation and give it in front of 8-12 people. We have case presentations, where we work through cases.

There are still some lectures left. But in general, most all of the curriculum is independent learning, with the morning hours meant to reinforce the information. You're going to be learning independently wherever you go (because, let's face it, some professors suck, and half the time they won't cover all the material you need to know in a short lecture anyway), so I think our curriculum does a better job at applying the information, rather than just memorizing it. That said, they're getting really good at pointing you directly to the resources you need in order to learn the information.

The week is taken up by a variety of classes. There are TBLs, case presentations, lectures, problem sets, wet labs, dry labs and discussions.

From what I understand, UVA considers class time better spent applying information rather than reciting it. In order to be ready for TBLs and some problem sets, you will have to prepare ahead of time by learning the material independently. The school tries to make this as easy as possible by providing 'learning objectives' that match up to the assigned resources and tell you specifically what to learn. You would then show up to class ready to apply what you've learned to clinical cases and questions.

The schedule that someone just posted is relatively indicative of a typical week, although it's from the first week of school; the white boxes are lectures and the colored ones are different types of activities. The problem with describing "a typical day" is that there isn't one. There is such a wide variety of classes that it's never really repetitive. Near the beginning of a four-ish week section, the classes tend to be more information heavy, but near the end the number of application classes and case presentations pick up in order to crystalize everything.

The problem sets that mvenus mentioned are my favorite. For radiology, we will usually have a few sections in a textbook to read in order to answer a few learning objectives about anatomy, pathology and radiographic technique. We'll then get to class and download a powerpoint file produced by the radiology faculty filled with radiographs and MRIs with questions attached. In groups of three, we'll work through the powerpoint answering the questions and getting immediate feedback as to whether we were right or wrong right on our computer screen. If we are confused by an answer, there are usually 4-6 radiology interns wandering the room helping groups.

Thanks you guys! I appreciate the info. That's all super helpful. You're making my decision harder (but in a good way 🙂) Thanks again!
 
Can any current students elaborate on what exactly happens within the 8-12 time? From what I understood from second look, two days a week is taken up by TBL. How do you spend the rest of your time?
There's definitely no set allotment for what type of classes you'll have each week. It's going to vary based on the block/system you're in, as the course directors seem to have personal favorites for the class types.
 
I just got some info about the General scholars program. I am not interested in enrolling in the program but I am interested in identifying a local doc in pediatrics and shadowing him/her for a few hours a week as an ongoing thing throughout school. Is there room for this in the curriculum? Or is it already in place?
 
I am interested in identifying a local doc in pediatrics and shadowing him/her for a few hours a week as an ongoing thing throughout school. Is there room for this in the curriculum? Or is it already in place?
There's time to do that, sure. You'll have to set it up yourself, as there isn't any required shadowing. Lots of doctors seem eager to have students follow them.
 
Hey, I was wondering if anyone could tell me if med students at UVA take call overnight? thanks!
 
From what I understand, students will be taking call overnight, but I'm not sure which rotations are doing them. They have designated three rooms in the hospital as medical student call rooms and will begin a 12 week renovation of the rooms starting in April.

Edit: The new rooms would only be for students doing "advanced clinical electives" while doing something called an 'acting internship' before they start residency.
 
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Each school does it a little differently, but being in the hospital at night gets you exposed to things you wouldn't be exposed to during the day.
 
I only stayed overnight twice during my 3rd/4th years - both were my surgery call nights... and I was told to gome home by 9am the next morning.

Most departments now have night float systems, and so you are just on call with your regular team every 3 or 4 days - with call ending when the night team comes on. On those call days, i typically left by 8 or 9.... BUT some rotations say "you are on call and should pick up 2 new patients." So, if you admit 2 patients by 3pm - you can go home. That is, unless you have one of those residents who force you to stay with them [never personally had that experience].

When on OB, you do a week of night shifts. When you are in Fairfax/Roanoke/Salem, things are much different. I never was on a rotation that required real overnights there, so I cannot comment.

Overall, though, I'd say our call schedule is pretty easy compared to some schools.
 
I only stayed overnight twice during my 3rd/4th years - both were my surgery call nights... and I was told to gome home by 9am the next morning.

Most departments now have night float systems, and so you are just on call with your regular team every 3 or 4 days - with call ending when the night team comes on. On those call days, i typically left by 8 or 9.... BUT some rotations say "you are on call and should pick up 2 new patients." So, if you admit 2 patients by 3pm - you can go home. That is, unless you have one of those residents who force you to stay with them [never personally had that experience].

When on OB, you do a week of night shifts. When you are in Fairfax/Roanoke/Salem, things are much different. I never was on a rotation that required real overnights there, so I cannot comment.

Overall, though, I'd say our call schedule is pretty easy compared to some schools.

I agree with everything stated above I just wanted to add something. I did surgery at Roanoke and we were required to take 4-5 ( I can't remember the exact number) overnight calls during the three weeks I was there. I was almost always out by 9am the latest though. I did medicine and psych in Salem and was not required to do any overnight call on these rotations. After talking to friends at other medical schools, I agree UVAs call schedule is relatively mild. Keep in mind this isn't always a good thing since looking back, I honestly feel like I learned the most while on overnight call. Another thing to consider is the way in which the new work hour requirements will affect the way medical student call is handled.
 
Wow no activity for a while 🙂. Okay I have another question

Do they assign seating charts and determine the groups for all the lectures/activities?
 
I know, I was surprised that people didn't have any questions after second look weekend.

The simple answer to that is no. On days when we have TBL, which is about once every two-ish weeks, then you do have an assigned seat with your team-members. For all other lectures and engagement activities you can sit wherever you want.
 
Not all of them. Lectures generally don't have assigned seating, since most of them aren't required anyway. Patient presentations don't have assigned seating. Generally case presentations and problem sets don't have assigned seating, you just work with two other people sitting at your table that day.

TBLs do have assigned seating, and those change roughly once a semester (not sure if we'll change again before summer break or not). Actual small group sessions, like some of the case discussions we have in Neurology and some of the epidemiology stuff in MCM, has assignments, but mostly because those don't take place in the Learning Studio or Auditorium (but rather in the library or in one of the research buildings). And, of course, anatomy groups are assigned, as are CPD groups.

So in a usual week, you might have one day where there's assigned seating (this week, we had two; we have a TBL session tomorrow, and we had a neurology case yesterday), in addition to CPD and any anatomy lab things that they throw in.

.... and he beat me to it. Ah well, my explanation is more detailed 🙂
 
I don't know if I would call anatomy lab, CPD or a room-assignment for case discussions 'assigned seating', but I see your point. We change TBL groups at the end of each semester, so we will have a new group when we begin school again in August.

The only problem with that is that you get attached to the group of people you're working with 🙁. Oh well, I could probably be paired with any five people in the class and be happy with it.
 
I had a question about the grading. I know it's P/F, but I'm assuming you still get your percentage results at least. I'm just trying to understand how you are able evaluate your performance with respect to the rest of the class. Is the rest of the class' performance just word of mouth? Do they post the average for each test?

I've heard nothing but good things about P/F so far, but I'm sure I'm not the only one that finds the idea of P/F pretty foreign. Would love some feedback/input from current students.
 
The average, standard deviation, high score and low score are posted in the online testing interface when the test closes on Sunday.

In our online gradebook, there is a bar graph with the distribution of scores, just so that you can see the performance of the class.

P/F should be a mandatory part of your school-selection. As an example of its importance in lowering stress and increasing class-collaboration, my class has a weekly google document that nearly everyone contributes to and uses in order to build our notes for the week in real time. It's unbelievable, and I don't know if it would be as sustainable at a school with grades.

Edit: The last summative is randomly missing these data online. I reviewed the test and all of the data were printed on the exam. Sometimes they hold onto a test until after Sunday in order to see if any questions need to be thrown out due to confusing wording or if they weren't sufficiently covered in our learning objectives. After that the data gets posted with the correct average, etc, and we have a week to challenge questions.
 
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You obviously want to study just as much as I do.

And it's not always posted on Sunday. We can't get any stats for our last exam in the online testing center. We still generally know what the average is, even when it's not posted, though.
 
current students - I interviewed so long ago I can't really even remember anymore, but for some reason I thought I heard that with the new curriculum, dissections are no longer done, only prosections...yes or no?
 
No. It's dissection only in Musculoskeletal, and optional afternoon dissections in most of the rest of the systems (with morning prosections after the afternoon dissections). I believe we do dissection only in GI as well, but as we haven't been through that course yet, I'm not sure.
 
I'm pretty sure that's right. In MSI we have groups of 4 students per body and we dissected almost all morning, with roughly alternating days where one group had the day off. In mind, brain and behavior, the bodies have been pro-sected and you can sign up to work on the pro-sectioning if you, for instance, really wanted to remove the brain from a cadaver. In GI, we will go back to dissections, but then we will be back to pro-sections for the remainder of the curriculum.

I like it this way because I tend to learn more from the atlases than the dissections themselves, although I know that a number of students want to be hands-on. You can do what works best for you.

As a side note, there are periodic 'wet labs' where you are not 'dissecting' per se, but rather grossly examining and working with different organs in the anatomy lab (e.g., a placenta, cancerous tissue, a brain, etc). So those don't really fall into either category; they're just there to illustrate the anatomy behind what you're discussing in class.
 
I remember a lot of parties and social events. We went to a vineyard, had a college field-day (where the mighty Pinn College dominated), did a scavenger hunt, had a picnic in the park, volunteered at a local camp for ill children, etc. There was something called the "Beer Olympics". There are dozens of events, and the current social chairs will be organizing orientation for you guys. It's mostly there so that everyone can meet everyone else and become familiar with the city before 'real' school starts.

There is also a 'class' called Cells-to-Society in the morning where you are introduced to the molecular aspects of diabetes and then examine it from a number of levels. In other words you go from the molecular level, to the cellular level, to the person to the epidemiology/societal impact. We heard from patients with the disease and then talked to patients in small groups. None of it is graded or assessed though, and you will be taught diabetes extensively during the first semester, so it is mostly to get you into the groove of getting to class and beginning school. At the end of orientation week you have a white coat ceremony on Old Cabell Hall and then have a reception on the Lawn.
 
What are you classifying as orientation?

The first two days are orientation activities... you start by being welcomed and all that, and have the standard speeches by all the different deans, then you meet your College Dean. In the afternoon, you have library orientation events to set up your computer and log in and everything. The second day is a bunch of lectures, but the afternoon is dominated by med students. You'll get information about student government and all the different aspects of that that you can join, you get a second year panel to ask any questions you still might have, etc.

After that, you do Cells to Society, a nice slow introduction class to med school, where you really don't have to worry about grades because there are none (you basically show up, make an effort, and pass).

As justinbaily said, though, you have orientation social events for the first twoish weeks. Those include everything from trivia night to field day (we will not let Pinn win again) to winery tours and polo. There is a lot to do, and you'll basically get a crash course on your classmates. And then over the next couple months you can really try to get their names down and all that jazz.
 
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Okay, thanks both of you. Looking forward to it!
 
M1 & M2:

  • IS up 9.1% or $3,457 to $41,337
  • OOS up 4.4% or $2,135 to $51,009
M3 & M4:

  • IS up 7.6% or $2,817 to $39,887
  • OOS up 4.0% or $1,945 to $50,009
 
M1 & M2:

  • IS up 9.1% or $3,457 to $41,337
  • OOS up 4.4% or $2,135 to $51,009
M3 & M4:

  • IS up 7.6% or $2,817 to $39,887
  • OOS up 4.0% or $1,945 to $50,009

🙁. But I'm OOS, so I guess relatively 🙂

Does having this finalized mean we could potentially get award letters a lot earlier than May 1st?
 
Thanks for the info. I guess award letters will potentially go out during the week of April 18th since the tuition will be finalized on the 14th.
 
M1 & M2:

  • IS up 9.1% or $3,457 to $41,337
  • OOS up 4.4% or $2,135 to $51,009
M3 & M4:

  • IS up 7.6% or $2,817 to $39,887
  • OOS up 4.0% or $1,945 to $50,009

Wow, they must've had some budget shortfalls. Wonder if this is the case at many of the other state schools
 
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