2014-2015 University of Miami (Miller) Application Thread

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I just finished and submitted my secondary at 1:30am! Lol I know it's already December and late in the game for a secondary but I really like this school! Hopefully my $75 wasn't to waste. Does anyone know how long it takes for them to process the secondary? And do I have any shots at all since it's rolling admission? Thanks!

I submitted july 16, photo received email july 24, application scored aug 10, II sept 26

They seemed to take longer than most other schools in my experience but your app might breeze through since you've likely missed the bottleneck stage
 
I submitted july 16, photo received email july 24, application scored aug 10, II sept 26

They seemed to take longer than most other schools in my experience but your app might breeze through since you've likely missed the bottleneck stage
Thanks! And hopefully I can make it through to get an II as well!
 
Are there any med students currently at umiami on this thread? I'm hoping to make a weekend out of the interview to escape the bitter cold and thought it's be cool to meet up and or go out with a few people if anyone's up for it.
 
Anyone know the process regarding letter of updates?
 
I have an interview coming up for both the MD and MD/MPH programs, and I was wondering if someone could post the addresses of the places I'm supposed to go. I'm like 99% sure I have them right, but I want to double check because I'm paranoid 😛 Thanks in advance!
 
Nevermind, y'all.

med.admissions - at - miami.edu , as per a call placed earlier today. Any format is fine. Just make sure to include your AMCAS number in there somewhere, according to the lady.
 
It says "No deposit is required at this time but one will be required by May 15th, 2015." I'm assuming they'll send out another letter or e-mail with instructions closer to that date.
Hey 🙂 quick question: my acceptance letter says that I need to accept my position via email and letter, but I didn't see anything about where to send the letter/to whom/the format. Do you have any ideas/thoughts on how to proceed? I appreciate your input!
 
Hey 🙂 quick question: my acceptance letter says that I need to accept my position via email and letter, but I didn't see anything about where to send the letter/to whom/the format. Do you have any ideas/thoughts on how to proceed? I appreciate your input!

I just replied to the acceptance email thanking them for the great news and confirming my desire to accept my position in the class. I got a reply confirming that my spot was reserved a couple weeks later. Congrats on your acceptance!
 
I just replied to the acceptance email thanking them for the great news and confirming my desire to accept my position in the class. I got a reply confirming that my spot was reserved a couple weeks later. Congrats on your acceptance!
Okay, great! Thanks 🙂 congrats to you too!!
 
Hey 🙂 quick question: my acceptance letter says that I need to accept my position via email and letter, but I didn't see anything about where to send the letter/to whom/the format. Do you have any ideas/thoughts on how to proceed? I appreciate your input!
were you recently accepted? Like on dec 10?
 
Yes, and I have already responded to the email accepting the offer. The letter I received in the mail says I should email and send a letter...that's what I'm confused about.
were you recently accepted? Like on dec 10?
 
Yes, and I have already responded to the email accepting the offer. The letter I received in the mail says I should email and send a letter...that's what I'm confused about.

I'm almost certain you only need to do one or the other.
 
Yes, and I have already responded to the email accepting the offer. The letter I received in the mail says I should email and send a letter...that's what I'm confused about.

The email alone will suffice.
 
Have my UM interview coming up pretty soon, anyone have any advice?
 
Have my UM interview coming up pretty soon, anyone have any advice?
You will have a presentation, tour, and an interview (with the faculty/admissions person who originally scored your app), followed by lunch with current medical students. The best advice I can offer is to be yourself--don't necessarily try to tell them what you think they want to hear...it may come off as disingenuous. They are looking for professional and personal maturity; the ability to think critically; and a clear motivation for medicine as evidenced by not only your experiences, but also by how you reflect on those experiences. They already like you; rememer that. Make sure to work your best accomplishments and experiences into the conversation, and make sure to ask GREAT questions (ones that cannot easily be answered from their website). I have been using my interviews as a time to challenge the school too--they're on trial just as much as I am. Make sure to make connections where possible, and, of course, send follow-up emails/thank you notes. Be calm, and have a good time. I have been invited to interview at 7 schools (attended 4 so far, I have 2 coming up), and I have 3 acceptances so far. UM was not much different from others, except I felt like the other interviewees weren't particularly friendly. The staff and medical students were great though, and it was a gorgeous day when I went. I interviewed for the UM MD/MPH program on Oct. 17 and Nov. 11 respectively (because I am local), and was accepted to the MD/MPH program on Dec. 10. I hope this helps! Good luck, and happy holidays 🙂
 
So I just came across this (relatively) old thread: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/application-process-looking-back-as-a-4th-year.104541/

He gives an interesting perspective on what is and isn't important when choosing a med school, and honestly, I didn't even know enough to ask some of those questions in the first place! From the response he got, I'm not alone. Most premeds seemed unaware of these issues - and with good reason. How are we supposed to know the ins and outs of 3rd year grading, for example, without someone telling us?

Anyway, I figured I'd share it here, and ask if anyone (a 3rd or 4th year preferably) can answer some of these questions (which I now really want answers for) with regards to University of Miami Miller School of Medicine? @DrZeke maybe?

I'll quote part of his post here, but I suggest you read the whole thing.
Things that are important

1) What is the 3rd year like and how is it structured?:

I almost never hear any real questions or comment from applicants regarding this topic. In the end this is the only real difference between schools, and probably could be the only real question to ask? more specific questions?

a) How are the rotations structured? What is your role on the wards? Do you have a clear role Do you get your "hands dirty" alot, or is it alot of shadowing? This is very important. You really don't learn much by watching people do stuff and if they work you down to a minimal role you will not gain much experience and will suck for several months into internship.

Now I'm not saying you demand the right to cross clamp the aorta during a CABG, but medicine is not a spectator sport and if the school doesn't have a culture of teaching (i.e. alot of patients are private patients, medical students aren't allowed to do anything) it will be a long, boring 3rd year.

2) Where do 3rd year evaluations come from?

Alot of people go in with this attitude "I am here to learn not to get grades." I agree with this attitude 85%. However, using that attitude indiscriminantly is impractical and can lead to some evaulations that you are not too happy with, it happens

You probably can't please everyone equally. This is especially true on surgery and medicine where there is not enough hours in the day.

Thus, the recommendation I make to everyone is to figure out roughly who writes the evaluation and what they expect and make sure you do a really good job on that. I do not recommend kissing up....However, it is really easy at times to get caught up in "which 5 minute presentation do I spend preparing for tomorrow. " This is why if you know who is grading you you can prioritize which person you pull the NEJM articles out for, and who gets the 15 minute before cram session off up-to-date.

Understand however while this happens at all schools (its how the beast works) not all schools do a reasonable job at making this fair or letting you know who is grading you or what you are supposed to do. Thus you should really make an effort to ask questions such as for every rotation do you have an attending directly responsible for evaluating you, or a preceptor (someone not taking care of patients that you are caring for who evaluates your academic abilities and analytic abilities? ideally your grade should come roughly equally from both.

3) Where do the students end up? If you dont want to do primary care, and 75% of school X does. Guess what, you are signing up for 15 weeks of primary care rotations at that school. Conversely, if you want to do general internal medicine or family medicine....and you come to a school that puts out 25 orthopods and 10 neurosurgeons a year.....you will spend alot of time learning about surgeries that you will never perform in your life.

4) How are medical students protected from scut?

If they cannot give you a real answer to this question expect to learn alot about running bloods to the lab and wheeling patients to the CT scanner and very little about managing an MI.

Some schools do a good job of setting up systems to prevent this, however I have also met interns who told me that they failed the surgery shelf because their school was rampant with scut and they didn't learn anything. I think my school did a very good job at scut control, however I have wheeled my share of patients to CT at 2 am.

5) How receptive is the administation to fixing problems and/or disciplining out of line behavior, espcially from residents?

trust me when you have an ID class where the course director is terrible, you will really appreciate it when a new course director is hired the next year.

6) how is the research opportunities at this school?

If you want to end up at an academic program, there will come a time when you will seek papers and if they are not there to be written then you will understand the meaning of this question. If not then forget I mentioned this.

7) how good is this school at focusing on the bread and butter?

This is especially relevant if you are looking at an academic powerhouse type place. Typically alot of times you will find that big tertiary centers tend to be filled with people who A) study esoteric diseases, B) specialize in highly uncommon or speciallized surgeries or diagnostic tests, or C) only doing big commando surgeries on cases people in the community looked at and said no way im touching that.

This is something you may be interested in as an attending or at the end of your residency. However in medical school most of these areas will not be your field and learning the literature on steroid tapers for patients with the CREST syndrome, the signs and symptoms of spinocerebellar ataxia 8 or how to resect a pseudomyxoma peritonei is probably not the best use of time in your only exposure to the area. Its easy to get caught up in that stuff, however good schools recognize the nature of the academic beast and try to make sure that you leave knowing the stages of active labor, how to read an EKG and how to manage childhood asthma.

I hope this helps
 
You will have a presentation, tour, and an interview (with the faculty/admissions person who originally scored your app), followed by lunch with current medical students. The best advice I can offer is to be yourself--don't necessarily try to tell them what you think they want to hear...it may come off as disingenuous. They are looking for professional and personal maturity; the ability to think critically; and a clear motivation for medicine as evidenced by not only your experiences, but also by how you reflect on those experiences. They already like you; rememer that. Make sure to work your best accomplishments and experiences into the conversation, and make sure to ask GREAT questions (ones that cannot easily be answered from their website). I have been using my interviews as a time to challenge the school too--they're on trial just as much as I am. Make sure to make connections where possible, and, of course, send follow-up emails/thank you notes. Be calm, and have a good time. I have been invited to interview at 7 schools (attended 4 so far, I have 2 coming up), and I have 3 acceptances so far. UM was not much different from others, except I felt like the other interviewees weren't particularly friendly. The staff and medical students were great though, and it was a gorgeous day when I went. I interviewed for the UM MD/MPH program on Oct. 17 and Nov. 11 respectively (because I am local), and was accepted to the MD/MPH program on Dec. 10. I hope this helps! Good luck, and happy holidays 🙂

I also want to add on to your experience a bit with some of mine. One thing I didn't realize until interview day was that the one and only interview is only 45 minutes....and in my case, my interviewer had a long list of questions she wanted to ask, thus really only allowing me to answer them briefly, hardly any time to go in depth about my experiences. And also left little time for me to ask questions which I wanted to do. That was my experience with my interviewer and you will probably have a different one. As long as you be yourself and act professionally you're good I would think.
 
I also want to add on to your experience a bit with some of mine. One thing I didn't realize until interview day was that the one and only interview is only 45 minutes....and in my case, my interviewer had a long list of questions she wanted to ask, thus really only allowing me to answer them briefly, hardly any time to go in depth about my experiences. And also left little time for me to ask questions which I wanted to do. That was my experience with my interviewer and you will probably have a different one. As long as you be yourself and act professionally you're good I would think.

My interviewer also had a long list of questions but he skipped over the ones that were already answered in my primary/secondary or didn't seem relevant to my application, leaving plenty of time for the questions we did cover. I guess the experience just varies from person to person and interviewer to interviewer.
 
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My interviewer also had a long list of questions but he skipped over the ones that were already answered in my primary/secondary or didn't seem relevant to my application, leaving plenty of time for the questions we did cover. I guess the experience just varies from person to person and interviewer

Same here.
 
So I just came across this (relatively) old thread: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/application-process-looking-back-as-a-4th-year.104541/

He gives an interesting perspective on what is and isn't important when choosing a med school, and honestly, I didn't even know enough to ask some of those questions in the first place! From the response he got, I'm not alone. Most premeds seemed unaware of these issues - and with good reason. How are we supposed to know the ins and outs of 3rd year grading, for example, without someone telling us?

Anyway, I figured I'd share it here, and ask if anyone (a 3rd or 4th year preferably) can answer some of these questions (which I now really want answers for) with regards to University of Miami Miller School of Medicine? @DrZeke maybe?

I'll quote part of his post here, but I suggest you read the whole thing.

Omg... So much to answer and I can't seem to quote that section of your message... So I'll break down the major things.

1) Scut:

I don't know if we were specifically "protected" from scut, but I never had to do any at UM. Never wheeled anyone anywhere unless I was helping a patient into an exam chair... Never had to get anyone coffee unless I wanted to...

2) Role in 3rd year:

I think you get to do a lot at UM if you want to... Like directly examine patients yourself, learn procedures, assist in surgery, do the H & P And then repeat back to your intern/resident. We got to present on rounds and had to pre round and have a note prepared. The residents were often busy depending on the rotation, so after being shown how once, you pretty much were ready to go. UM is very "see one, do one, teach one" oriented.

I might not be the best person to ask about rounds. I think on rounds I felt useless at times or didn't enjoy myself, but that's because I hate rounds and always have. I specifically went into a specialty where there would be no rounds. In the end as an intern I realized rounds aren't so bad once you have more responsibility for your patients and stuff. In general, the amount of teaching and learning on rounds is highly dependent on your attending and also how much you tend to learn in that setting.

3) matching

People from UM go everywhere. I don't know if that's because of Jackson or because people do well on boards or whatever. I think it's a combination. There is lots of exposure at UM, with many different hospitals and faculty at your fingertips. You can get good letters from people known in the field who are actually in the trenches as oppose to maybe other programs where you might be scrounging around for some private attending to write you a letter because your school doesn't even have that specialty on campus. Just talking extremes here...

4) boards:

UM doesn't teach to the boards but you have a lot of time to study and do well if you want to...

5) run of the mill stuff:

We have EKG class and shelves and whatever. So even though I had patients with all these zebras and crazy stuff we still learned and saw the basics.

I think UM is a good middle tier program. It did me good. IMHO, you can match anywhere if you work hard enough but breeding always helps. AKA, if you go to a top 10-20 med school it can always help with the match. If you're deciding between middle tier programs, UM is great and unique with the health fairs, pathology, and international trips.
 
Omg... So much to answer and I can't seem to quote that section of your message... So I'll break down the major things.
THANK YOU!

I know that was a lot to type out, and I appreciate you taking the time to answer all of those questions for us 🙂.

One of UM's big selling points on interview day was the amount of hands-on experience we'll get, and I'm glad to hear you confirm that it's going to be actual experience and not scut work.

If I could ask you one more thing though ... could you address the "Where do 3rd year evaluations come from" question? I've been in an environment where we weren't told exactly what the grading criteria was, and it's not fun.

Is UM transparent about that during 3rd and 4th year?

2) Where do 3rd year evaluations come from?

Alot of people go in with this attitude "I am here to learn not to get grades." I agree with this attitude 85%. However, using that attitude indiscriminantly is impractical and can lead to some evaulations that you are not too happy with, it happens

You probably can't please everyone equally. This is especially true on surgery and medicine where there is not enough hours in the day.

Thus, the recommendation I make to everyone is to figure out roughly who writes the evaluation and what they expect and make sure you do a really good job on that. I do not recommend kissing up....However, it is really easy at times to get caught up in "which 5 minute presentation do I spend preparing for tomorrow. " This is why if you know who is grading you you can prioritize which person you pull the NEJM articles out for, and who gets the 15 minute before cram session off up-to-date.

Understand however while this happens at all schools (its how the beast works) not all schools do a reasonable job at making this fair or letting you know who is grading you or what you are supposed to do. Thus you should really make an effort to ask questions such as for every rotation do you have an attending directly responsible for evaluating you, or a preceptor (someone not taking care of patients that you are caring for who evaluates your academic abilities and analytic abilities? ideally your grade should come roughly equally from both.
 
THANK YOU!

I know that was a lot to type out, and I appreciate you taking the time to answer all of those questions for us 🙂.

One of UM's big selling points on interview day was the amount of hands-on experience we'll get, and I'm glad to hear you confirm that it's going to be actual experience and not scut work.

If I could ask you one more thing though ... could you address the "Where do 3rd year evaluations come from" question? I've been in an environment where we weren't told exactly what the grading criteria was, and it's not fun.

Is UM transparent about that during 3rd and 4th year?

So, 3rd year grading depends on the rotation.

In most rotations the shelf exam (standardized nbme) counts for 20-50% of your grade. Then a certain portion is from attending/resident evals... Then some rotations have a presentation, or some have an oral exam or weekly quizzes... It's mostly benign. I was the laziest person ever in med school and managed to do fine in 3rd year.

The school is fairly transparent with a syllabus and what not, but in most schools doing well on subjective evals has to do with you, how you work with your team and how you come off. In fact, that's life... But the good thing is that 1st and 2nd year prepare you well for 3rd year and I don't feel like anyone ever placed unreasonable or crazy unfair expectations on me.
 
Nevermind, y'all.

med.admissions - at - miami.edu , as per a call placed earlier today. Any format is fine. Just make sure to include your AMCAS number in there somewhere, according to the lady.
Thanks man! Good luck! 🙂
 
hey y'all! so haven't heard from miami but really really would love to interview. i sent an update in november and recently sent them updated grades. how long do you suppose i should wait before i harass them with another update/PLZ LOVE ME BC I LOVE YOU letter?
 
Is anyone interviewing here on Jan 26 and 27 for the MD/MPH program or even just the MD on the 26th? If someone wants to split a hotel stay and/or car rental, that'd be awesome. I'm up to drive and rent a car etc.

I might head down for the weekend before as a mini vacation, but if anyone wants to split stuff for the interview, I'd be all ears.

If any of the folks that have interviewed here have tips on where to stay etc, I'd appreciate those as well! Trying to do this on a quickly dwindling budget, hah.

Thanks!

hey i just got an interview today and am hoping to interview jan 26 and 27th! Message me about your plans and maybe we can work something out because I'm currently trying to figure out my plans!
 
So I just got this from a friend who attended an event UM hosts for college students considering their medical school ... apparently this is how they rank candidates for interviews:

IMG_4196.JPG


Thought some people might find it interesting/useful 🙂.
 
How many points merits an interview? Because honestly I don't think I broke 200 or even 150 out of 300 yet I got a December II...
 
"Quality of Academic Institution" ...

I guess Ivy league students do get a leg up in admissions.
 
Hey guys, I was luckily able to receive an interview here, however I can't seem to figure out how to schedule the dates. When I go to the application status site, there isn't any place to select dates or view interview information (also tried different browsers). I figure I'll have to call them, but I just wanted to double-check that I'm not missing a step somewhere...
 
How many points merits an interview? Because honestly I don't think I broke 200 or even 150 out of 300 yet I got a December II...
While I'm sure you are probably wrong about your points I imagine it is not a threshold but more of a ranked list.
 
Hey guys, I was luckily able to receive an interview here, however I can't seem to figure out how to schedule the dates. When I go to the application status site, there isn't any place to select dates or view interview information (also tried different browsers). I figure I'll have to call them, but I just wanted to double-check that I'm not missing a step somewhere...

Call the admissions office, a few others have had the same problem.
 
has anyone heard about scholarships yet? Any idea around when we'd start hearing?
I think they had their first round of scholarships go out last month. I assume they will continue to dole them out over the next few months.
 
I think they had their first round of scholarships go out last month. I assume they will continue to dole them out over the next few months.

I think last year they sent them with acceptances via snail mail. Do you think it'd be via mail or email this year? I hope one of those lucky few can post some additional details 😀
 
Hey guys, just got the "Your Application has been reviewed by the Admissions Committee at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine...etc" status.

Is this indicative of getting an interview or is it a neutral type of status change?

Thanks guys!
 
Hey guys, just got the "Your Application has been reviewed by the Admissions Committee at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine...etc" status.

Is this indicative of getting an interview or is it a neutral type of status change?

Thanks guys!
I've had that status since July and no interview. I would say it doesn't mean much of anything.
 
Why are UF and UM's second looks on the same day?!?! 🙁
 
I submitted july 16, photo received email july 24, application scored aug 10, II sept 26

They seemed to take longer than most other schools in my experience but your app might breeze through since you've likely missed the bottleneck stage
Did it say on your portal that your application had been scored or did they email you?
 
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