2011-2012 University of Virginia Application Thread

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Whiskey River said:
Also, are there any current first or second year students out there who can comment on the new "next generation" curriculum?
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There's a lot of comments on it throughout this thread. Is there something specific you wanted to know?
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afob100 said:
So, let me address all of the negativity with the UVA curriculum on SDN. The fact of the matter is that a tiny minority of students (and I can literally name each one of them = ~5) are very disgruntled with the curriculum and have chosen to vocalize their opinions on SDN/public outlets. However, the majority (basically everyone else) is either happy or simply content with the curriculum as is. These students do not go out of their way to express their satisfaction/contentedness (is that really a word? lol) on SDN with the curriculum. This makes sense no?...would you go out of your way to say that you are satisfied with your education or would you prefer to publicly bitch and complain?

I am in between happy and content (not quite fully on either side) with regard to the curriculum. I really enjoy the systems-based approach and the fact that we usually come to class to apply knowledge. Our systems have been a success as far as I'm concerned (especially compared to SMD14) and a majority of my classmates would agree. We are about to finish up the GI system this weekend with our final exam (btw exams occur every 3-4 weeks and are taken anytime you want from Fri-Sunday = awesome...they are also NOT cumulative = low stress).

I've attached a copy of our current GI system overview (4 week system). You can see the specifics of the types of classes we've had during this system. Basically, we learn normal histology, physiology, anatomy, etc. early on - then shortly after we learn the abnormal pathology/histology, etc. We also have patient presentations where a physician will interview an actual patient that has a disease that we are studying in front of the class in order to get us to understand how a patient would actually present in real life (and we get to ask questions, etc).

Take a glance at the various types of learning activities we have (last slide of powerpoint)...case presentations, large group discussions, small group discussions, patient presentations, TBL, etc. They really vary the learning style here to try to accommodate everyone's different learning styles. However, some students prefer ONLY traditional lectures = you can see where the frustration would come from.

My only complaint is that the workload is really heavy during the beginning of systems because the system leaders need us to understand all of the normal physiology before they can teach us the abnormal/pathology. This means that we struggle to keep up early on, but then we gradually learn the normal/abnormal by working with and applying the material during the subsequent weeks.

I hope this helps. PM me if you want more details. I can send you more specifics/show you about our system.

Edit: CCLCMer is absolutely correct..Pre-clinical years are pretty meaningless in the long run..you just need to get the info in your head and rock step 1.

On that note, essays for exams at Case seems like a joke. If Step 1 had essays, this would make sense but it's doesn't. Our exams are all multiple choice and mostly have clinical vignettes, which mirror board style questions = awesome. They really do limit the amount of minutiae that they ask on exams.
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This is from a Case vs. UVA decision thread, thought you might find it helpful. Also, in this very thread there are responses to the handful of negative curriculum posts (in this thread).
 
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tarheel2011 said:
This is from a Case vs. UVA decision thread, thought you might find it helpful. Also, in this very thread there are responses to the handful of negative curriculum posts (in this thread).
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I wouldn't say only 5 people are disgruntled, but I do think a lot of the negativity is exaggerated. My class was the first through, and I think the fact that they asked for feedback played a significant role in the amount of complaints. A number have told me that we weren't well taught, and it is all the new curriculums fault, but talking to the people in the year above us, many shortcomings are the same.

Bottom line, of course is that you are responsible for your own education, and the first two years are self taught mostly wherever you go.
 
mvenus929 said:
I wouldn't say only 5 people are disgruntled, but I do think a lot of the negativity is exaggerated. My class was the first through, and I think the fact that they asked for feedback played a significant role in the amount of complaints. A number have told me that we weren't well taught, and it is all the new curriculums fault, but talking to the people in the year above us, many shortcomings are the same.

Bottom line, of course is that you are responsible for your own education, and the first two years are self taught mostly wherever you go.
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During my interview day I had a chance to speak with someone from your class and the class below you. It seems like everyone, including administration, agreed that your class was incredibly tenacious and endured the roughest preclinical time, while SMD15 already experienced some smoother sailing. Assuming that is a trend, I felt like SMD16 would continue to reap the benefits of time and progress and would comparatively have the "best" experience yet (and so on for future classes etc.). Is that a reasonable stance? I mean, I love UVA and I am coming no matter what- I am just wondering.
 
tarheel2011 said:
During my interview day I had a chance to speak with someone from your class and the class below you. It seems like everyone, including administration, agreed that your class was incredibly tenacious and endured the roughest preclinical time, while SMD15 already experienced some smoother sailing. Assuming that is a trend, I felt like SMD16 would continue to reap the benefits of time and progress and would comparatively have the "best" experience yet (and so on for future classes etc.). Is that a reasonable stance? I mean, I love UVA and I am coming no matter what- I am just wondering.
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That's probably a fair stance. I think the biggest leap is in our class to the first years, but they will probably be refining the curriculum for many years. The Dean of the school considers it a success just because we've passed our boards.
 
velleityx said:
do you know when uva will release the board scores for this yr? (http://www.med-ed.virginia.edu/handbook/academics/licensure.cfm)

the dean told us at interview day that it's fair for us to want to see the scores from the new curric first before deciding if we want to go there, but i don't know how or when we'd see them.
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They will be posted to the website. I don't think everyone has taken it yet, though, and scores are released three weeks after.

However, you should not use our board scores as a measure of the curriculum. If they are lower than usual, it's because it was the first year with the new style. If they are high, it's because we all freaked out and over studied. It's SMD 15 that will really show how it works out.
 
velleityx said:
do you know when uva will release the board scores for this yr? (http://www.med-ed.virginia.edu/handbook/academics/licensure.cfm)

the dean told us at interview day that it's fair for us to want to see the scores from the new curric first before deciding if we want to go there, but i don't know how or when we'd see them.
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That's interesting they'd say that, because in the past few years they usually don't post the summaries until the fall (~October). UVa is really great about Step 1 transparency because they post official score report from the NBME - no other school I interviewed at came even close to matching this level of honesty about boards. I think because UVa only posts the official reports, they have to wait for the NBME to collect everyone's scores - that's "delayed" relative to us as most students take Step 1 many months after we do. If y'all are told our average, it'd be an unofficial score (although likely accurate).
mvenus929 said:
However, you should not use our board scores as a measure of the curriculum.
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I agree with this, although for very different reasons than what mvenus listed. Personally, I'm guessing our average will be pretty high. I'm basing this on the scores I've heard, which have spanned a wide range but have tended to be on the (much) higher side. Of course, I imagine you're more likely to hear about people scoring highly because those individuals are more likely to talk about it, so I fully admit that my limited sample size isn't really worth ****. We'll see in a few months, haha. But here's what I think about how they may turn out:

1) Our average goes down = Maybe our curriculum failed us. Maybe it was rough patches of the curriculum transition that will be fixed for future classes. Maybe the cumulative finals of the old curriculum were ideal preparation heading into dedicated Step 1 studying. What's most likely, in my opinion, is that it's just normal student variation. If you look at UVa's listing of Step 1 scores over the years, here's how they stack up in terms of average (standard deviation), national average, and percentages scoring 231-245 and 245+:

Class of 2010 = 235 (17) vs 221, ~40% with 231-245 and ~28% above 245
2011 = 233 (19) vs 221, ~27% with 231-245 and ~30% above 245
2012 = 236 (18) vs 222, ~32% with 231-245 and ~35% above 245
2013 = 233 (20) vs 225; ~30% with 231-245 and ~31% above 245

So that's four different groups of students, all from the same curriculum. I imagine that each subsequent class had a higher MCAT average (just to reflect national trends), but I'm not sure. Yet there's not any trend seen in their scores - the breakdowns vary, the averages vary (although within a close range). So I'm not sure how much you can extrapolate from any changes with our class performance.

2) Our average goes up = Same reasoning as above could apply, it might just be simple student variation. I've heard people argue that the new curriculum made us nervous and we overstudied, but in talking to previous classes' students, it seems people generally studied the same - I'd actually say a lot of people got advice on study plans from 3rd and 4th years (our class is creating a much more structured program for advising future years on studying). Our class has the highest MCAT / GPA averages in the history of UVa SoM, so maybe we just test well. Maybe our curriculum taught us in a more effective way.

What I think played a huge role - because we finished basic sciences a semester into 2nd year, our winter break joined with our time off to study. That gave us a stretch of ~8 weeks to study, take Step 1, and take time off before coming back for rotations. We had a longer stretch of time than previous years where we had no responsibilities except for Step 1. In a way this is actually a feature of the new curriculum, but one independent from the school's teaching styles. Ppeople always tell you how important your independent studying is, but you don't really appreciate it until you're slogging through UWorld questions - I'm glad I had plenty of time to go through the resources I wanted without having to study during classes.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. Sorry for the rambling, but I didn't feel like studying for my shelf, haha. Procrastination = great success.
 
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Anyone going to Second Look still looking for someone (a girl) to split a hotel with? I'm planning to be there Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, so if anyone wants to split one or more of those nights, it would be fantastic. :)

Edit: Just to update, it looks like I'll be at the Hampton Inn on India Rd, in case that sways anyone into answering?
 
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For what it's worth, this was written in the Curriculum Committee's meeting notes for March 8th:

USMLE Scores. The 2012 USMLE Step 1 scores were reviewed. There appears to be no measurable change from the 2011 Step 1 scores.
 
Hi all, congrats on being accepted!

I was wondering if any current students would be able to comment on the third and fourth year clerkships. I am bit concerned with the fact that students have to travel all around Virginia. What have your experiences been so far?

Thanks!
 
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TingTingCrazy said:
I stayed at Cavalier inn, also free continental breakfast lolz and wifi.
Where is this so said fb group
Also, Janet Small the interview admin setup of a wiki page on the uva site to aid in roommate hunting
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What is this wiki page that you speak of?
Thanks!
 
Does anyone one when scholarships typically come out? Im HOPING for one!!!!
 
i thought they said that if you got a merit scholarship, it came with your acceptance. otherwise, if you're waiting for university grant money, you have to wait for the financial aid packages to come out. if you submitted all your info by april 5, tonya says you'll get it by may 1.
 
I was awarded my merit scholarship in mid/late April.
gosyrorange said:
I was wondering if any current students would be able to comment on the third and fourth year clerkships. I am bit concerned with the fact that students have to travel all around Virginia. What have your experiences been so far?
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Having to go around Virginia was definitely a downside of coming to UVa for me. I'm not from the state, so I don't have the the opportunity to stay at home for some away rotations - people who have housing in certain areas get preference for assignment to those clinics (outpatient Internal Medicine and Family Medicine have a range of locations, others just have set sites of 3-4 locations).

But so far, it's working out well. I'll be going to Richmond for OB and half of Peds (8 weeks total), so it'll be fun to see my friends there. The Richmond hospital doesn't have any other students and doesn't have residents, so you get all the attention of the attendings. For Family Medicine, I think I'm going to request a physician who works in a very small town 40 minutes away - he was part of the Black Hawk Down mission (he has his own chapter in the book!) and is apparently a fantastic teacher, so I think it'd be great to work with him. No clue where I'll end up for outpatient IM. I'll be going to Salem for 3 weeks of surgery, which is supposed to hands on and really awesome.

The positive of your away rotations is that you'll experience patient diversity and see different populations than you would at UVa - that applies equally to Fairfax, Richmond, or some small town. Sometimes the housing is awesome, sometimes it's not. Sometimes the distance from Charlottesville is close, sometimes it's far. You're learning more about medicine no matter where you go, so I don't mind. That FM location I want only has 500 people - but the teaching is great and I can come back on weekends, so that doesn't matter much to me. People get to stay with their families, see new towns (my friend was saying he's surprised by how much he's really enjoying Roanoke), get reimbursed $28 a day (if your residence doesn't have a kitchen).

If you have kids, you get to stay at UVa for everything. Everything but FM and AIM (outpatient IM) can be traded, so people traded aways for UVa spots (I did the opposite for peds) - FM/AIm can be traded, but they're almost all outside of UVa.
 
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Hey, for any current/former students: what is the social life like? Is the class pretty cohesive? What do people do for fun? Is there a decent supply of people to hang out with outside of med school? Thanks
 
sibitrum said:
Hey, for any current/former students: what is the social life like? Is the class pretty cohesive? What do people do for fun? Is there a decent supply of people to hang out with outside of med school? Thanks
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We have social chairs in every class, as well as two second years for the school as a whole. We have quite a few social events going on throughout the year, including VMED Prom, a New Year's Party, Foxfields (horse racing that amounts to drinking all day), a bonfire in the fall, a talent show, etc. There are also events specific to each class and college.

I really like my class, and I think we're one of the closest classes. Each class has its own personality, so it's hard to say exactly what each incoming class will be like. But there's always people to bond with across the years.

A lot of people like to do some more outdoor type things... hiking in Shenandoah. There's a movie festival that's here every Fall, and a number of concerts come through as well. If you want a little more adventure, DC is about 3 hours away, and there's a train and bus that'll bring you right up. There's lots of restaurants to try out as well.

As far as hanging out with people outside of med school... it depends on your interests, and how willing you are to seek others out. My social circle is pretty limited to the med school and affiliated people (wives/girlfriends, some nursing students, etc), but there are ways to meet people outside the med school.
 
mvenus929 said:
As far as hanging out with people outside of med school... it depends on your interests, and how willing you are to seek others out. My social circle is pretty limited to the med school and affiliated people (wives/girlfriends, some nursing students, etc), but there are ways to meet people outside the med school.
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There's a few people in my class who are involved in primarily undergraduate clubs and activities (e.g. marching band, Libertarian activist organization, breakdancing club). So that's one advantage of having the medical campus so close to the undergrad campus.
 
Has anyone heard a decision from GSP or know when they come out?
 
Hey guys!

I have a question about UVa's curriculum. What is the difference between electives and selectives? From what I understand the entire 4th year is tailored for each student?
 
PaedsDoc said:
Hey guys!

I have a question about UVa's curriculum. What is the difference between electives and selectives? From what I understand the entire 4th year is tailored for each student?
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Selectives are required. You have to do a certain number of selectives in fourth year, and have some choice (more than third year), but it's not free reign. I believe you have to do 2 2-week internal medicine selectives (so some specialty in IM), and then one in psych. You also have to do an ACE of some sort, but there are a number of choices for that as well.

So, for the most part, you can do whatever you want during fourth year. Something like 10 weeks is stuff that you have to do to graduate, but the rest is free reign (meaning you can do whatever so long as you get the number of credits needed for graduation). You can do everything from electives that you might not get to do during residency to research to teaching.
 
mvenus929 said:
Selectives are required. You have to do a certain number of selectives in fourth year, and have some choice (more than third year), but it's not free reign. I believe you have to do 2 2-week internal medicine selectives (so some specialty in IM), and then one in psych. You also have to do an ACE of some sort, but there are a number of choices for that as well.

So, for the most part, you can do whatever you want during fourth year. Something like 10 weeks is stuff that you have to do to graduate, but the rest is free reign (meaning you can do whatever so long as you get the number of credits needed for graduation). You can do everything from electives that you might not get to do during residency to research to teaching.
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Thank you for your response. Does anyone know the length (weeks wise) that away rotations (Roanoke and Salem) are mandatory at UVa?
 
I don't think that there's a 'required number' per se. I have 10 weeks split between Salem and Roanoke, but 3.5 of those weeks were highly desirable. They try to give everyone roughly the same number of away weeks, so imagine that 10-12ish is pretty standard. Roanoke appears to be getting phased out in favor of Richmond rotations at St. Mary's.
 
Anyone hear back regarding merit scholarships? Admissions says they went out beginning of the month.
 
It's supposed to be completely separate from the need based aid. I received zero in need-based aid so this school will be ridiculously expensive to attend without any merit based money.
 
Hmm how come the school website doesn't mention merit-based scholarships?
 
Fanforever said:
Hmm how come the school website doesn't mention merit-based scholarships?
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i got the fin aid package like 2 days ago...not enough. were we supposed to apply for merit based? i feel so clueless lol/
 
they told us you were automatically entered into the pool for merit aid, and if you got it, you should probably have heard by now. but idk. you guys should really try calling the office; they're super helpful and nice there and can probably give you way better info than any of us ^^

on that note, i got a ballin finaid package! (no merit aid but still) YAY uva!
 
Do they have any form of aid for students who get off the wait list (merit or need-based)?
 
Cinclus said:
I have received no finaid update from UVa...
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Hi Cinclus,

Have you tried to log into SIS? The same financial aid information that was sent in an email is posted on SIS.
 
I just withdrew my acceptance from here. Hope one of you sdn waitlisters gets the spot!
 
I just withdrew my acceptance as well. Good luck to everyone on the waitlist! :luck:

UVA is a great school! Easily one of my favorites of the ones I visited. :)
 
Just withdrew my application. Hopefully that opens up a spot for someone here!
 
It was extremely hard to do, but I have withdrawn from the UVASOM entering class of 2012. My first interview and my first acceptance, UVA will always be special to me. Good luck to those still waiting. Maybe one of you will get my spot!
 
Regretfully withdrawn. I really really really wanted to go here, but I have others to consider and it wasn't the best group decision. However, it was really hard and I'll always miss UVa!

I hope one of you gets my spot.
 
kduck said:
Regretfully withdrawn. I really really really wanted to go here, but I have others to consider and it wasn't the best group decision. However, it was really hard and I'll always miss UVa!

I hope one of you gets my spot.
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Do you also wish you could somehow attend multiple schools? I was wishing that a lot in the days leading up to my final withdrawals.
 
I got the call from Dr. Densmore an hour ago and will be attending!!!!! I'll see you guys in August.
 
Why is this thread so quite? Is there no wait-list movement this year?
 
Considering that they say an average of 10-12 people get waitlist offers, that might be it :( . Unless they were cautious of over-enrolling and didn't give too many outright acceptances. Ohio State did that last year as well and there's plenty of people getting off the waitlist.
 
wololololololo said:
Considering that they say an average of 10-12 people get waitlist offers, that might be it :( . Unless they were cautious of over-enrolling and didn't give too many outright acceptances. Ohio State did that last year as well and there's plenty of people getting off the waitlist.
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Don't lose hope. My numbers are probably an over estimate. And they under accept because 2 years ago they over accepted by 30+ and had to pay kids to defer. Good luck!!!
 
FearlessHyena said:
Not everyone uses sdn. I got in a couple of weeks ago and so have 10-15 people according to the facebook group.
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Not everyone added to the group is in the class of 2016 (there are a lot of rising second years joining the group right now, and a handful of upperclassmen), and not all those in the class of 2016 added recently have been recently admitted (one of my friends is starting in the fall, has had an acceptance for months, but was just added to the group in the past week).

wololololololo said:
Considering that they say an average of 10-12 people get waitlist offers, that might be it :( . Unless they were cautious of over-enrolling and didn't give too many outright acceptances. Ohio State did that last year as well and there's plenty of people getting off the waitlist.
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It's only the beginning of June. Waitlist movement at this point will depend on waitlist movement at other schools. If someone gets off the waitlist somewhere else and ultimately decides to go there, UVA will fill the slot. They'll want to keep their magic number of 156.

And I'm fairly certain UVA overaccepts, they're just a lot more cautious about it now. I remember talking to Dr. Densmore last year and him mentioning something about having over the class size admitted before May 15, but I'm not sure if that's at one time or overall.
 
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