2013-2014 University of South Florida Application Thread

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Has no one really been called by USF this week? Seems strange considering that people have been accepted of wait-lists from other FL schools since Tuesday.
 
Anyone else hear from admissions yet? Anyone else withdraw? Thanks again!!
 
amick1029 said:
Anyone else get any news yet? Gah, this waiting in limbo is awful.
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In the same boat as you. I've only seen 1 person with a waitlist acceptance on this thread--and it wasn't a snailmail waitlist, but rather an emailed waitlist. I would've expected them to fill up the slots quickly, but they may be taking their time. Or maybe some of the folks accepted don't use student doctor forums.
 
I'm glad someone pointed that out. Did anyone else get a waitlist notification via email as opposed to via snail mail?
 
I was notified of my wait list status via email the week before the 15th, even though I interviewed on 3/11. When I asked why it took nearly 2 months to put me on the wait list Adrienne told me that the class had been full since the end of February and the few acceptances given were from seats dropped by other students. She also said that in her honest estimation the top 50-66% of the wait list gets in at some point during the summer. I hope this is helpful, I'm going to call to follow up today to see if she has any more information regarding recent movement. This wait is awful, best of luck to everyone.
 
kahmed said:
I was notified of my wait list status via email the week before the 15th, even though I interviewed on 3/11. When I asked why it took nearly 2 months to put me on the wait list Adrienne told me that the class had been full since the end of February and the few acceptances given were from seats dropped by other students. She also said that in her honest estimation the top 50-66% of the wait list gets in at some point during the summer. I hope this is helpful, I'm going to call to follow up today to see if she has any more information regarding recent movement. This wait is awful, best of luck to everyone.
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Hi, thanks for posting this information! Did Adrienne give the estimate of 50-66% after the May 15th deadline (when she would have known how many open spots there were), or when you talked to her after being wait listed? Just trying to get an idea of how much weight to give that percentage.

Also, I heard that Dr. Daniel was out of the office most of last week so perhaps people weren't being called last week because of that? Or maybe people that were called just aren't a part of SDN as already suggested.
 
kahmed said:
I was notified of my wait list status via email the week before the 15th, even though I interviewed on 3/11. When I asked why it took nearly 2 months to put me on the wait list Adrienne told me that the class had been full since the end of February and the few acceptances given were from seats dropped by other students. She also said that in her honest estimation the top 50-66% of the wait list gets in at some point during the summer. I hope this is helpful, I'm going to call to follow up today to see if she has any more information regarding recent movement. This wait is awful, best of luck to everyone.
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Did she specify as to whether this was Core or SELECT? I interviewed SELECT and was waitlisted via snailmail. I also didn't think that they interviewed for waitlist spots, meaning that throughout their interview season, there must have still been spots available? Any word on whether we should send an update regarding our graduation status and our final transcripts etc.?
 
I've called the office a few times last week and this week, usually in the morning or when I get off from work, but I keep getting Adrienne's voicemail. from earlier, to the best of my knowledge there is only one wait list that moves after may 15th. No other news
 
kahmed said:
I've called the office a few times last week and this week, usually in the morning or when I get off from work, but I keep getting Adrienne's voicemail from earlier, to the best of my knowledge there is only one wait list that moves after may 15th. No other news
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"to the best of my knowledge there is only one wait list that moves after may 15th. No other news"

Did u mean just one person? I have heard of two pple off the list
 
kahmed said:
I've called the office a few times last week and this week, usually in the morning or when I get off from work, but I keep getting Adrienne's voicemail. from earlier, to the best of my knowledge there is only one wait list that moves after may 15th. No other news
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Bellafiore said:
Did u mean just one person? I have heard of two pple off the list
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Can confirm, multiple people have gotten off the waitlist so it is definitely moving.
 
I meant that I don't think there is a separate "email" or" snail mail" wait list as some people have speculated. And yes, people have been accepted off the singular wait list since May 15th. Has anyone else tried calling the office since then?
 
kahmed said:
I meant that I don't think there is a separate "email" or" snail mail" wait list as some people have speculated. And yes, people have been accepted off the singular wait list since May 15th. Has anyone else tried calling the office since then?
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I have tried calling the office to obtain information about anticipated movement and was unsuccessful at getting any useful info sadly. If anyone on SDN is getting off the WL or gives up their spot, let us know!
 
Anecdotally, the 5 or so people I know that have gotten off were waitlisted by email. Do you know anyone who got off the waitlist and were waitlisted via snail mail?
 
kahmed said:
I meant that I don't think there is a separate "email" or" snail mail" wait list as some people have speculated. And yes, people have been accepted off the singular wait list since May 15th. Has anyone else tried calling the office since then?
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Just to clarify I don't think that anyone has speculated that there are two separate waitlists. Rather, I believe that those informed of their placement on the waitlist via email are higher up on the list than those who received notifications via snail mail shortly after their interviews.
 
darkstars said:
Anecdotally, the 5 or so people I know that have gotten off were waitlisted by email. Do you know anyone who got off the waitlist and were waitlisted via snail mail?
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This would lend credence to the speculation that those informed that they were placed on the waitlist via email are ranked higher on the list than those who received notice via snail mail.
 
sruiz005 said:
This would lend credence to the speculation that those informed that they were placed on the waitlist via email are ranked higher on the list than those who received notice via snail mail.
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As someone notified by email I would love to believe that, but I think I may have been notified by email because may 15th was soon approaching and the office probably couldn't assure I'd receive snail mail before then. Just a guess
 
@Spica @starkidbee congrats on your acceptances guys! I am applying this cycle and I noticed both of you received financial aid, could you please tell me more about the financial aid opportunities? Does USF offer aid based on need, merit, both? IS preference for aid? Any idea what an average aid package entails? (dont feel like I'm pressuring you to tell me how much you received! 😉)

I'd also appreciate input from everyone else!
 
@xffan624 Hi I am applying this cycle and have some questions about USF if you don't mind answering them. Can you describe the preclinical curriculum? I love that it's P/F systems based blocks. But according to the below link, >50% of the curriculum is pbl. I've heard conflicting opinions about this though. Since you're a USF student you'd be the best source to ask this.

http://health.usf.edu/medicine/mdprogram/core/index.htm

Also, as I just posted above, I am curious about financial aid too. Does usf offer substantial aid? merit based or need based? or both?
 
Hey @giraffesuptop, thanks so much! 🙂

To kind of answer your questions (n=1 haha):

Does USF offer aid based on need, merit, both? Both. Merit-based seem to be more for already enrolled students (in this link, there's a bunch of scholarships for enrolled students).

IS preference for aid? Based on what I've heard, and my own experience, I believe there is an IS preference. I am OOS and received no need-based aid. I have heard rumors (not sure where, either on SDN or talking with students at second look) that IS SELECT students may receive awards to cover the tuition difference between the IS CORE and SELECT. At the end of the day, it's a public university, and one of their goals is to help train and populate Florida's next generation of physicians.

Any idea what an average aid package entails? Hopefully more than mine had! I think the average student would receive more need-based simply because the majority of students are IS, and the school is going to be more willing to invest in them. I received a drop-in-the-bucket SELECT scholarship; it's really nice to get any scholarship and I'm definitely grateful to receive more aid than nothing, but I'll still have a massive amount of debt to pay back (~300k + interest 😱). That being said, I went into my app cycle knowing USF was one of my top choices. As an OOS student who knows going military or primary care is not at all in my interests, thus eliminating those awesome loan-forgiveness/payment programs, I've been mentally prepared to take on the absolute joy that is student loans. 🙄

TL;DR, because I always ramble on these no matter how I try to shorten them - USF gives aid, most likely to IS more than OOS, but I wouldn't pin your decision to apply/attend/whatever on what you think your aid package will be until you have it in your hand and can compare it to another acceptance's aid package. Any debt you end up having is (I hope!) worth it in order to spend your life doing what you love. Good luck with your application cycle, especially with those secondaries 😉 It gets stressful, as I'm sure you know, so hang in there!
 
giraffesuptop said:
@xffan624 Hi I am applying this cycle and have some questions about USF if you don't mind answering them. Can you describe the preclinical curriculum? I love that it's P/F systems based blocks. But according to the below link, >50% of the curriculum is pbl. I've heard conflicting opinions about this though. Since you're a USF student you'd be the best source to ask this.
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http://health.usf.edu/medicine/mdprogram/core/index.htm


Most of learning is in lectures which are recorded and downloadable. The lectures are not mandatory unless they are active learning sessions, explanation to follow. My guess of the 50% number is they count "Active Learning" sessions as PBL. They are basically souped up lectures that teach the topics that we've learned about in lecture or in anatomy lab and apply them in a clinical scenario. They are supposed to have more audience interaction and sometimes we talk in groups during the lecture and come back and discuss the topics in the whole lecture. The quality of the experience is somewhat dependent on the lecturer and some were very helpful and some not-so-much. They seemed to become more useful as the year progresses. We also have a Clinical problem solving element that lasts about 8 weeks with 3 hour sessions every week in which it follows the more traditional PBL format you might be thinking of. Pretty painless and not a significant time waster.

There are 4 courses through the year that follow the block format of different organ systems. There are three tests spread within the block and one practical exam for anatomy. Within the courses we have anatomy lab scheduled to dissect the organ systems we are covering and doctoring that usually covers the exam skills and other topics within the organ system. In addition to doctoring we have ethics, humanities, and biostat/clinical research topics that are sprinkled throughout the courses. Ethics and biostats/clinical research have separate midterm and final tests. There is a comprehensive final exam that covers all the topics in a broad, high yield approach at the end of the year. SELECT has some additional requirements throughout the year

Doctoring, anatomy lab, humanities, ethics, and the active learning sessions are mandatory. Some biostat/clinical research methods classes are mandatory, but not the majority. They are also recorded. You also have a clinical experience for about the half the year that is once a week, most weeks. That is also mandatory.

That's pretty much first year in a nutshell. The benefits are you will definitely see a patient and talk to patients (some standardized, some not) in your first year and you will start to get a clinical flavor of why all this stuff is important. The downside is if you were planning on attending medical school from the comfort of your apartment first year, that's not really an option. In second year, anatomy lab is gone, but everything else is still present I think. I haven't started yet, so I can't say for sure we are still doing ethics, humanities, or biostat/clinical research next year. We still do doctoring, clinical problem solving, and the clinical experience for sure in second year. Second year ends at the end of February to allow time for step 1 prep and for us SELECT folks to move to Pennsylvania starting in May.

I like the P/F and block system. It allows me to to have a life, reduce stress , and reduce unneeded competition with my classmates. I don't worry about what grades they're getting. I just judge my performance based off my own expectations which is a definitely healthy attitude to develop for you MS1's.

Hope this helps and I will post this in the other thread for the new applicants. Hope to see some of y'all from this thread in August, have a nice summer!

giraffesuptop said:
Also, as I just posted above, I am curious about financial aid too. Does usf offer substantial aid? merit based or need based? or both?
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I don't have as much info about that, but they do give out both merit and need based aid. I didn't receive anything, but I didn't apply for any aid as I had my GI bill.
 
awesome reply @xffan624 that's more info that I had hoped for! Thank you very much. I noticed you said you "didn't apply for any aid." Do you have to apply for aid prior to matriculation? I assumed scholarships were just offered to certain accepted students. Is that wrong?
 
giraffesuptop said:
@Spica @starkidbee congrats on your acceptances guys! I am applying this cycle and I noticed both of you received financial aid, could you please tell me more about the financial aid opportunities? Does USF offer aid based on need, merit, both? IS preference for aid? Any idea what an average aid package entails? (dont feel like I'm pressuring you to tell me how much you received! 😉)

I'd also appreciate input from everyone else!
Click to expand...
Hey, @giraffesuptop, thanks! So @starkidbee gave a wonderful answer already, but I will add my two cents. I am IS and applied only CORE, so I can't say whether there are scholarships for OOS students to make the OOS tuition more bearable. There are some limited scholarships available for IS, but since the tuition is much lower than that of private schools, there aren't too many. You DO have to apply for aid: sometime in February they posted a financial aid form on the website for accepted students and that form, along with FAFSA, was used in determining one's aid. In general, your aid would consist mostly of stafford loans, and maybe some direct plus if stafford is not enough to cover your COA. The best of luck this cycle and do not hesitate to ask more questions either here or via a message 🙂.
 
Thanks @Spica! I appreciate your response, I'm glad you corrected me about having to apply for financial aid. I am also IS and will be applying to CORE only.

Also, if you're not from Tampa and need some suggestions about the city and restaurants, fun stuff, etc you can ask me because I'm from the area

EDIT: I have a question about the 2 semesters of English requirement. Any idea how strict they are on this? I have AP credit so I never took english in college, but I have taken several writing intensive History courses (I'm a History Minor), and I will be writing an Honors Thesis during senior year. Do you think that will be sufficient for the English prereq? I really don't wanna take freshman English during senior year.....
 
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giraffesuptop said:
Thanks @Spica! I appreciate your response, I'm glad you corrected me about having to apply for financial aid. I am also IS and will be applying to CORE only.

Also, if you're not from Tampa and need some suggestions about the city and restaurants, fun stuff, etc you can ask me because I'm from the area

EDIT: I have a question about the 2 semesters of English requirement. Any idea how strict they are on this? I have AP credit so I never took english in college, but I have taken several writing intensive History courses (I'm a History Minor), and I will be writing an Honors Thesis during senior year. Do you think that will be sufficient for the English prereq? I really don't wanna take freshman English during senior year.....
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Thank you for the suggestion, @giraffesuptop, but I actually withdrew my acceptance to USF.

About the English requirement, your best bet is to just call the admissions office and ask them, you will most likely reach Adrienne, she's very nice and I am sure she will be able to help you 🙂. You will probably have to do that for all the other schools as well.
 
Spica said:
Thank you for the suggestion, @giraffesuptop, but I actually withdrew my acceptance to USF.

About the English requirement, your best bet is to just call the admissions office and ask them, you will most likely reach Adrienne, she's very nice and I am sure she will be able to help you 🙂. You will probably have to do that for all the other schools as well.
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Lol I always foolishly assume people will be matriculating at a certain school when I hear they were accepted. But good luck at wherever you'll be attending!
 
how do the clinical rotations work at usf? for example, if i wanted to do something surgically related (like orthopedics), would i be able to start some sort of elective with that in my 3rd year? or would that have to wait until 4th year?
 
hamsawx said:
how do the clinical rotations work at usf? for example, if i wanted to do something surgically related (like orthopedics), would i be able to start some sort of elective with that in my 3rd year? or would that have to wait until 4th year?
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I believe surgery is one of the major rotations in 3rd year (whether that includes orthopedics or not, I'm not sure). Schedules are variable of when you do it within 3rd year and you do have some control over the schedule in the year. There were 6 orthopedic surgery matches in this year's match.
 
xffan624 said:
I believe surgery is one of the major rotations in 3rd year (whether that includes orthopedics or not, I'm not sure). Schedules are variable of when you do it within 3rd year and you do have some control over the schedule in the year. There were 6 orthopedic surgery matches in this year's match.
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Thanks for your reply! Do you know if students get to choose what type of surgery they will be rotating through during the surgical rotation? Read about someone at another school (I'm assuming) who "decided to do vascular surgery" during his 3rd year surgical clerkship...so just wondering if anyone has any input in that regard.
 
Withdrew well before the 15th and haven't gotten my deposit back. Anyone else?
 
Anyone have news about wait list movement last week? I assume they're still just going down the list...
 
tough break for me--was released from the waitlist yesterday

interviewed for the Core MD program as OOS, 3.14 undergrad gpa, 3.97 masters gpa, 30 MCAT

Hopefully you guys have better luck than I did
 
Released from the wait list? I guess I didn't realize that was a possible outcome. Would you mind elaborating on your situation? Thanks for sharing!
 
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Hildace said:
tough break for me--was released from the waitlist yesterday

interviewed for the Core MD program as OOS, 3.14 undergrad gpa, 3.97 masters gpa, 30 MCAT

Hopefully you guys have better luck than I did
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I'm truly sorry to hear this :/ how were you notified?
 
DevenirMedecin said:
Released from the wait list? I guess I didn't realize that was a possible outcome. Would you mind elaborating on your situation? Thanks for sharing!
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I didn't realize it was a possible outcome either. I originally interviewed in early March, and was waitlisted by snailmail about a week and a half later. I didn't hear anything more until I got an email stating that I was being released from the waitlist 3 days ago. The admissions staff did offer to discuss a future application to their school--so I will have to see what they have to say.
 
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