2014-2015 University of Central Florida Application Thread

BU Medical Sciences
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@REL I have a question, is UCF experiencing the same increased number of applicants as other schools? Is that having an effect on the timeline for the majority of EFI applicants? Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions, I know we all really appreciate it.
 
Bbroush said:
@REL I have a question, is UCF experiencing the same increased number of applicants as other schools? Is that having an effect on the timeline for the majority of EFI applicants? Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions, I know we all really appreciate it.
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Nationally, applications are up about 4%. This year we are up about 12% from last year to what will be about 4700 applicants - the 4307 applicants from our charter class year was our previous high . There have been times when the file review process has taken a little extra time. As of now we are back to the roughly two weeks for the file/EFI review. The increase has not affected us too much for the majority of applicants here. The increase obviously puts more applicants into the EFI pool and since we are targeting about 450 interviews again this year, it does reduce the chances of being selected for an interview.
 
REL so does that mean we can assume that if we weren't given a decision for an II after 2 weeks of EFI statement then we assume rejection?
 
goldfish91 said:
No, I believe what REL means is that from the time your secondary is submitted, you can expect to get EFI or not competitive status after about 2 weeks. From what I understand, you could be EFI for months before receiving an II. No assumptions can be made otherwise. Someone correct me if I am wrong!
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This is on target. Once you reach EFI you are in a pool that will be reviewed weekly to be included in an interview group regardless of when your file was completed. This is a large group and we will not be able to invite everyone in this group for an interview. We will likely select the last group in mid-Feb for the last interview day that is scheduled for early March. Once done we will send an email to all of those remaining in EFI that we were unable to offer an interview this year.
 
Saxappeal1 said:
REL so does that mean we can assume that if we weren't given a decision for an II after 2 weeks of EFI statement then we assume rejection?
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Hi! When I applied last year I was EFI the first week in October and I wasn't invited to interview until the last week in January for the Valentine's Day date. Just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it can't/won't happen. Send updates! Good luck! I hope this helps keep you calm.
 
REL said:
This is on target. Once you reach EFI you are in a pool that will be reviewed weekly to be included in an interview group regardless of when your file was completed. This is a large group and we will not be able to invite everyone in this group for an interview. We will likely select the last group in mid-Feb for the last interview day that is scheduled for early March. Once done we will send an email to all of those remaining in EFI that we were unable to offer an interview this year.
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@REL Thanks so much for the explanation and honesty. If only every school was so transparent with this hectic process!
 
Anyone have insight on whether UCFCOM has a strong mission focused on a particular pursuit? (ex: serving the disadvantaged, research, etc). I've searched the UCFCOM website but cannot find a clear answer.
 
giraffesuptop said:
Anyone have insight on whether UCFCOM has a strong mission focused on a particular pursuit? (ex: serving the disadvantaged, research, etc). I've searched the UCFCOM website but cannot find a clear answer.
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No, they don't. The dean specifically said on interview day that they don't want to do that and are trying to focus on all those different aspects equally
 
Haven't been on here in a while. I'm an m2 and I was EFI something like in late August or early September. Didn't get the II till the end of January for a early Feb interview. Got accepted in late April. So it took me 8-9 months from EFI to acceptance. Good luck. UCF is the best 🙂
 
shocolatemilk said:
Haven't been on here in a while. I'm an m2 and I was EFI something like in late August or early September. Didn't get the II till the end of January for a early Feb interview. Got accepted in late April. So it took me 8-9 months from EFI to acceptance. Good luck. UCF is the best 🙂
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hey thanks for your input! if you don't mind, could you share some of the reasons that you are so satisfied with UCF?
 
giraffesuptop said:
hey thanks for your input! if you don't mind, could you share some of the reasons that you are so satisfied with UCF?
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UCF faculty and administration are so helpful, receptive, and friendly; perhaps an illustration of this is that our Dean comes and talks to interview groups on many occasions. The admissions committee is second to none; Mr. Larkin and the rest of the admissions committee are wonderful people who should be commended for their hard work and dedication, and have done a great job putting together wonderful classes. The school is relatively new, so the curriculum is relatively new, which means the faculty is very receptive to change. They implement some changes that we as students recommend almost immediately. Not to mention recently we've been killing the boards. Facilities are brand new, everything is catered to our needs. The tech team is wonderful and work hard to make sure everything flows great. We have a wonderful reputation with the community both locally and beyond; one example from many, just recently we had Justin Gatlin (US Olympic athlete) come talk to our students. Our match lists have been great. And we have done exceedingly well in rotations with the help from the excellent Practice of Medicine and Community of Practice curricula.

Orlando is a very fun city and there is plenty to do here. Theme parks, nightlife, restaurants, quiet areas. There's a huge airport right by the school. Lake Nona (the area within Orlando where the school is located) has relatively cheap housing.

I love UCF and I love coming to school every day. I've made wonderful friends and couldn't be happier to be here.

Sorry for the rapid fire list... just throwing things off the top of my mind
 
WOW. I am seriously overjoyed. I got in from OOS!!! I love everything UCF has to offer and I have never come across such a relaxed and friendly group of med students. I submitted my secondary in early September, interviewed end of October and got the call today! MCAT 34, GPA 3.7

Good luck everyone and do not give up!
 
Waitlisted :| Congrats everyone! probably going to be withdrawing.
 
Can anyone who has already interviewed here tell me if there was anything at UCF that impressed you or sold you on the school?

@hellanutella thanks for your extensive mdapps school summaries
 
Rel is awesome. Dean German is great. New building is gorgeous. The plan to create a medical city around Lake Nona is exciting and impressive.
 
Anyone else have the EFI notice in the login disappear?
 
exitonly29 said:
Anyone else have the EFI notice in the login disappear?
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Yes, just now. It was there two minutes ago and now it is gone... Hopefully this means they are reviewing our files!
 
KLS93 said:
Yes, just now. It was there two minutes ago and now it is gone... Hopefully this means they are reviewing our files!
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Ha it's back. They must have been updating things in the two minutes I checked my status.
 
exitonly29 said:
Anyone else have the EFI notice in the login disappear?
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KLS93 said:
Yes, just now. It was there two minutes ago and now it is gone... Hopefully this means they are reviewing our files!
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Hey, it is normal if that happens, I think Rel mentioned that before, that the status will come and go but it doesn't mean anything, it is part of computer processing or something like that.
 
miamiheatfan said:
Hey, it is normal if that happens, I think Rel mentioned that before, that the status will come and go but it doesn't mean anything, it is part of computer processing or something like that.
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Yes this is normal. On the even hours, for 2-5 minuntes the system syncs. This means that your status may disappear from 8:00-8:05ish, 10:00-10:05ish, etc., on all even hours.
 
How far have they traditionally gone down in the waitlist>?
 
REL said:
Yes this is normal. On the even hours, for 2-5 minuntes the system syncs. This means that your status may disappear from 8:00-8:05ish, 10:00-10:05ish, etc., on all even hours.
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REL,

How are pre-interview update letters / LOI looked upon? I haven't heard anything yet since being marked EFI but have added an activity to my app this month. I feel it makes my app more complete. Wanted to send a letter to UCF but not sure if I should wait to hear from them first?
 
penny15 said:
How far have they traditionally gone down in the waitlist>?
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There are several ways for med schools to work the admissions process during the interview months. Some schools use those months to admit only the number of seats that they have and then put all of the rest on some sort of waiting list. MOST programs over-book, meaning that during the interview months they will accept the number of seats available as well as some number higher....ie. a school with 100 available seats may admit 140, 160, or maybe even 200 students during the interview months. Of course the wait list is then normally a list of those above those who have been admitted (officially offered a seat). So a program with 100 seats who offers 200 during the interview cycle does not take from their wait list until they drop from 200 down to 99. So a program that you visit states that they took 10 off the wait list last year may seem impressive.....hmmmm, you say to yourself: they have 100 seats and took 10 off the wait list.....so, they only had 10 leave, man that is impressive!!! Um, not necessarily....if they admitted 200 and took 10 off the wait list, they admitted 210 for 100 seats. In most cases a program will not tell you how many they over-accept during the interview cycle so you do not know the real numbers.

Until last year UCF did not over admit. Last year we did over admit by 50%; we accepted 180 during the interview cycle. and we still took about 80 off the wait list -- that means roughly 50% of the wait listers had a chance to decide whether to be here in Orlando for medical school. Considering that we have 7 MD and 2 DO programs in the state, all programs in the state suffer from large turn-over....that is a good thing, applicants have a good chance at getting into the program that seems to fit them.....of course you have to interview at them all to know which is best for you.....you may be suprised that what you do not now about each program.
 
Is anyone flying into the Orlando airport Thursday evening and want to split a cab? I think it is a pretty far drive to the area where the school is. All these interviews are getting so expensive!!
Or does anyone know of an easier way to get from the airport to the school? Or is cab the only option?
 
The school is actually very close to the airport. Like we can see and hear the planes fly over the school. Many interviewees stay in hotels just north of the airport and several of these hotels do have complimentary airport shuttles. Here is a helpful link: http://www.orlandoairports.net/marketing/hotels.htm. Additionally we do offer transportation from the airports to the school on Friday morning and back to the airport after interview day is over. Don't delay! You will need to let us know in advance if you want to take advantage of this service so that we can make sure a student is available to pick you up! Please refer to your interview day email for more information about our homestay and transportation program.
 
REL said:
There are several ways for med schools to work the admissions process during the interview months. Some schools use those months to admit only the number of seats that they have and then put all of the rest on some sort of waiting list. MOST programs over-book, meaning that during the interview months they will accept the number of seats available as well as some number higher....ie. a school with 100 available seats may admit 140, 160, or maybe even 200 students during the interview months. Of course the wait list is then normally a list of those above those who have been admitted (officially offered a seat). So a program with 100 seats who offers 200 during the interview cycle does not take from their wait list until they drop from 200 down to 99. So a program that you visit states that they took 10 off the wait list last year may seem impressive.....hmmmm, you say to yourself: they have 100 seats and took 10 off the wait list.....so, they only had 10 leave, man that is impressive!!! Um, not necessarily....if they admitted 200 and took 10 off the wait list, they admitted 210 for 100 seats. In most cases a program will not tell you how many they over-accept during the interview cycle so you do not know the real numbers.

Until last year UCF did not over admit. Last year we did over admit by 50%; we accepted 180 during the interview cycle. and we still took about 80 off the wait list -- that means roughly 50% of the wait listers had a chance to decide whether to be here in Orlando for medical school. Considering that we have 7 MD and 2 DO programs in the state, all programs in the state suffer from large turn-over....that is a good thing, applicants have a good chance at getting into the program that seems to fit them.....of course you have to interview at them all to know which is best for you.....you may be surprised that what you do not now about each program.
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The bolded part above is very true. If you interview at UCF it will probably rise among your personal rankings. Don't worry about whatever ranks are published in the U.S. News and World report or whatever that is. That's just a measure of NIH funding and the opinions of various deans, residency directors, and Rels that oblige to fill out a survey. It's not even a measure of the "best" research or primary care, and certainly not a measure of medical education. I'm sure there are some positive associations, but a lot of that is driven by politics. That ranking is not a predictor of your USMLE scores or residency match, which is what really matters to you. /I know it's tangential to this discussion, but I know a lot of people consider UCF then later turn it down because they're "new" and "unranked". Bad idea. From what I've seen it's comparable to UF and will likely dance around rank 50 with UF and UM when it reaches equilibrium after no longer being "new" and "unranked".

If you do interview, ask the current students about the cadaver cause of death assignment and the simulator situations where you enter a room with a simulated patient in an emergent state and you have to make quick decisions about how to get him/her out of that state using drugs and equipment you find around the room. Unfortunately, but based on my own decision, I don't get to have these experiences.
 
waitlisted today after ii 11/14. 😳 really loved it and hope there is some movement!
 
Wow I just looked up how few OOS applicants are interviewed here. I'm so honored to get an invite! I hope they're kind to OOS applicants after the interview!
 
auqu said:
waitlisted today after ii 11/14. 😳 really loved it and hope there is some movement!
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+1 really hoping to see some movement too!

EDIT: Does anyone happen to know if which third of the waitlist we're on changes as more people are interviewed?
 
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auqu said:
waitlisted today after ii 11/14. 😳 really loved it and hope there is some movement!
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thereceivr said:
+1 really hoping to see some movement too!

EDIT: Does anyone happen to know if which third of the waitlist we're on changes as more people are interviewed?
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What third of the waitlist are the both of you in if you don't mind saying? Also, IS or OOS?
 
K1NG said:
REL,

How are pre-interview update letters / LOI looked upon? I haven't heard anything yet since being marked EFI but have added an activity to my app this month. I feel it makes my app more complete. Wanted to send a letter to UCF but not sure if I should wait to hear from them first?
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I'm feeling the same way! I don't want to be an obnoxious brat by sending them a LOI - in my mind, obviously they know we're interested, we paid to apply! :laugh: But as an Orlando girl who has been excited about this school for over a decade, even before it was in existence, I've been waiting and waiting to be able to interview! I've added a few minor activities to my resume since applying, but nothing groundbreaking. More FT work, more volunteering at charities I love. Do you think a LOI or an update would be worth it, or does that just add more unnecessary work for the admissions committee?

GOOD LUCK everybody! And congrats to those who have been accepted!
 
Torilynn92 said:
I'm feeling the same way! I don't want to be an obnoxious brat by sending them a LOI - in my mind, obviously they know we're interested, we paid to apply! :laugh: But as an Orlando girl who has been excited about this school for over a decade, even before it was in existence, I've been waiting and waiting to be able to interview! I've added a few minor activities to my resume since applying, but nothing groundbreaking. More FT work, more volunteering at charities I love. Do you think a LOI or an update would be worth it, or does that just add more unnecessary work for the admissions committee?

GOOD LUCK everybody! And congrats to those who have been accepted!
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To be frank, LOI's are not dependable. Many will send one, several will send the same one to several schools (Hint: at least be careful enough to change the name of the school in your LOI!!!! (questionable integrity?). Over the many years that I have been doing this I would have to say that at least 50% are not true.....so after many years of believing them, and after just as many years being jilted I have become somewhat jaded. IF you are really, really sincere send it and we will read it.

NOTE: In truth you should be very judicious about sending Letters of Intent. If after sending a LOI to a program you do get accepted, and then you reject that program for another it could be considered a professionalism issue. The school can report this to school that you finally decided to attend. Based on the Technical Standards for Admissions at most medical programs the school you finally chose could decide to rescind their offer of admissions because of this unprofessional conduct.
 
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REL said:
To be frank, LOI's are not dependable. Many will send one, several will send the same one to several schools (Hint: at least be careful enough to change the name of the school in your LOI!!!! (questionable integrity?). Over the many years that I have been doing this I would have to say that at least 50% are not true.....so after many years of believing them, and after just as many years being jilted I have become somewhat jaded. IF you are really, really sincere send it and we will read it.

NOTE: In truth you should be very judicious about sending Letters of Intent. If after sending a LOI to a program you do get accepted, and then you reject that program for another it could be considered a professionalism issue. The school report this the school that you decided to attend. Based on the Technical Standards for Admissions at most medical programs they could decided to rescind their offer of admissions because of this unprofessional conduct.
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Any numbers on Interview spots left?
 
REL said:
Our target number is 425-450 interviews; invitations have been offered to about 300. We have completed scheduling through the first half of January.
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Thanks @REL for letting us know! Glad there is still hope! 🙂
 
REL said:
To be frank, LOI's are not dependable. Many will send one, several will send the same one to several schools (Hint: at least be careful enough to change the name of the school in your LOI!!!! (questionable integrity?). Over the many years that I have been doing this I would have to say that at least 50% are not true.....so after many years of believing them, and after just as many years being jilted I have become somewhat jaded. IF you are really, really sincere send it and we will read it.

NOTE: In truth you should be very judicious about sending Letters of Intent. If after sending a LOI to a program you do get accepted, and then you reject that program for another it could be considered a professionalism issue. The school can report this to school that you finally decided to attend. Based on the Technical Standards for Admissions at most medical programs the school you finally chose could decide to rescind their offer of admissions because of this unprofessional conduct.
Click to expand...

@REL thank you very much! That clarifies a lot for me. 🙂 I'm not surprised about the "multiple LOI's to multiple schools" thing - that's one of the reasons I wasn't certain Adcoms would even take them into consideration. It's awesome to know that the Adcom really takes drive and desire into account when choosing who to interview!
 
REL said:
Our target number is 425-450 interviews; invitations have been offered to about 300. We have completed scheduling through the first half of January.
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Rel since interview invites are via phone, if we are planning on being out of the country for a week should we let someone know or will a message be left and that be a soon enough time to respond?
 
Accepted this morning. I've fortunate I've been on several interviews around the country, but UCF was by far the most impressive. The atmosphere of the University, as well as the faculty and students' attitude is incredible. Although it's a newer school it's definitely on track to become a top tier institution. 95% chance I'm moving to Orlando next year.
 
Señor Científico said:
Accepted this morning. I've fortunate I've been on several interviews around the country, but UCF was by far the most impressive. The atmosphere of the University, as well as the faculty and students' attitude is incredible. Although it's a newer school it's definitely on track to become a top tier institution. 95% chance I'm moving to Orlando next year.
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Congratulations!! And I agree with everything you said; if you don't mind me asking, when did you have your interview?
 
thereceivr said:
Just accepted off waitlist today! First acceptance and I'm so excited! Good luck to everyone 🙂
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yay. since i was below you on waitlist maybe i'll get some love too. congrats!
 
auqu said:
yay. since i was below you on waitlist maybe i'll get some love too. congrats!
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Thanks! Crossing my fingers for you too! But waitlist is already moving, so there's a lot of hope 🙂

phoenix915 said:
Very nice! When were you placed on the wait list?
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I got the initial waitlist call on 12/3, so I was pretty surprised to get the acceptance call so soon after
 
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