2015-2016 Florida International University Application Thread

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RSK70 said:
Is cost of living really as high as MSAR projects?!

Other expenses (including housing) are more than even schools in Manhattan. I'm a pretty frugal person; are these estimates for if you want a really nice apartment with a pool, etc? Figured food and other goods would be less expensive than the NYC metro.
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It all depends on where you live. If you live close to FIU or in the popular areas like Miami Beach or Downtown Miami, the rent is very high. If you don't mind a commute, you can find a more reasonable price in other parts of Miami and Broward but Miami traffic is notoriously bad during rush hour so you also have to take that into consideration. And a car is definitely recommended. Public transportation is not developed enough and the distances are large.
 
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mauroz said:
It all depends on where you live. If you live close to FIU or in the popular areas like Miami Beach or Downtown Miami, the rent is very high. If you don't mind a commute, you can find a more reasonable price in other parts of Miami and Broward but Miami traffic is notoriously bad during rush hour so you also have to take that into consideration. And a car is definitely recommend. Public transportation is not developed enough and the distances are large.
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True that ^ public transportation near FIU is not good. Near UM is better as it's near downtown.
 
I took classes on a quarter system. Do I manually insert them in? (rather than being able to choose from my AMCAS app)
 
looking forward to hearing from FIU. my status is "preliminary review completed".
 
Dr.TonySoprano said:
looking forward to hearing from FIU. my status is "preliminary review completed".
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Is this a good or a bad thing?! Thats what mine says too. I feel like I should have either been given an II or rejected by now 🙁
 
xyphr said:
Is this a good or a bad thing?! Thats what mine says too. I feel like I should have either been given an II or rejected by now 🙁
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They haven't even started interviewing yet lol
 
Would someone be kind enough to post the secondary prompts for this school?
 
Patagonico said:
Would someone be kind enough to post the secondary prompts for this school?
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Whether or not you will be a fulltime student, please explain what you will be doing prior to your planned matriculation into medical school. Character limit 600 (including spaces).

Is there any additional information about your academic record that you would like the Admissions Committee to know? Please include any academic difficulties or course withdrawals. Character limit 1000 (including spaces).


You must answer all 4 essays. (Limit each essay to 1200 characters including spaces.)

1. Given the unique mission of the FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, please describe how your personal characteristics and values make you a suitable candidate for medicine. How will you contribute to the student body?

2. Describe how you have handled a personal or academic challenge. Focus on what you learned about yourself and how it will help you face possible challenges in medical school.

3. Explain in detail an experience in which you collaborated, worked or were exposed to diverse backgrounds different from your own. Please describe the impact the experience had on you.

4. While scrolling through a popular social media site, you notice an unprofessional posting by a classmate about a faculty member. You are concerned about the posting, but realize many of your peers have agreed with the negative comment. What do you do?
 
As a reapplicant who interviewed at FIU last year and was wait-listed, do you think it is absolutely terrible to use a similar essay to the one I wrote last year? They used the same 3/4 questions on their secondary and my experience working with people of diverse backgrounds hasn't changed much in the last year. I am trying to present all new essays to schools I am a reapplicant for, but some of these prompts I only have one strong answer for unfortunately
 
TheLittlePreMedWhoCould said:
As a reapplicant who interviewed at FIU last year and was wait-listed, do you think it is absolutely terrible to use a similar essay to the one I wrote last year? They used the same 3/4 questions on their secondary and my experience working with people of diverse backgrounds hasn't changed much in the last year. I am trying to present all new essays to schools I am a reapplicant for, but some of these prompts I only have one strong answer for unfortunately
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I'm in your shoes too. I'd say maybe word it a little differently if you can. If the experience was truly meaningful for you then maybe frame it in a different yet similar light. I avoided submitted anything verbatim from last year.
 
TheLittlePreMedWhoCould said:
As a reapplicant who interviewed at FIU last year and was wait-listed, do you think it is absolutely terrible to use a similar essay to the one I wrote last year? They used the same 3/4 questions on their secondary and my experience working with people of diverse backgrounds hasn't changed much in the last year. I am trying to present all new essays to schools I am a reapplicant for, but some of these prompts I only have one strong answer for unfortunately
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I'd like to pass along some advice I received from FIU's Chair of Admissions (I was also waitlisted last year): don't submit the same secondaries. By all means, talk about the same situations if you have no other choice. But, reword and recontextualize.
 
How do you know if your LOR's have been processed? Would the application status change from "Secondary Completed" to "Preliminary Review Completed" or some other status? Just curious..
 
BeachBlondie said:
I'd like to pass along some advice I received from FIU's Chair of Admissions (I was also waitlisted last year): don't submit the same secondaries. By all means, talk about the same situations if you have no other choice. But, reword and recontextualize.
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As someone who I think had a pretty lackluster secondary, I think something to do some reflection is your interview.
If you were waitlisted, you had an interview. The interview must have gone alright, but it didn't go great.
Think about why it must have not gone as well as you thought.
This is only my assumption, though. My two FIU interviews could not have gone better, so I think that went a long way.
 
RedPhys said:
As someone who I think had a pretty lackluster secondary, I think something to do some reflection is your interview.
If you were waitlisted, you had an interview. The interview must have gone alright, but it didn't go great.
Think about why it must have not gone as well as you thought.
This is only my assumption, though. My two FIU interviews could not have gone better, so I think that went a long way.
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My interviews went amazingly. Unfortunately, I was working with an underdog GPA (non-traditional student). Some people on the admissions committee actually wanted to outright reject me for it, but I was told that my interviewers fought--tooth and nail--to get me accepted. They settled somewhere in the middle by plunking me near the top 1/4 of the waitlist, but the school pulled less than 10 people into the class last cycle (which is crazy atypical). So, I was ultimately unlucky 🙁

But, did a little GPA repair work, am in a Master's program, and am now back in the saddle for the Class of 2020! Fingers crossed....for everyone!
 
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FIU's deans are hands down the most helpful and communicative of all schools I applied to last year.
 
ScubaManD said:
FIU's deans are hands down the most helpful and communicative of all schools I applied to last year.
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Agreed. Their en masse communication was quiet but, in-person, they are incredibly generous with their time and always very friendly.

Anecdote: I toured the school last July, at the side of a current student. It was just he and I, poking around into the different corners of the campus. At one point, he had to break away for about an hour and left me in a study room. I went to go find a bathroom, and EVERY staff member I made eye contact with always gave me a big smile and/or a little wave. Keep in mind, I'm not a student (and they know EVERY SINGLE ONE, trust me), nor was I there with a sanctioned tour group, so they had no reason to go out of their way to be friendly.

....love the vibes at this place.
 
Miami_Postbac said:
I'm doing an informal postbac at FIU, and did my undergrad at UVA. I picked FIU because it was the cheapest 4 year in the area. Thought I'd offer my thoughts because, well, FIU is an unmitigated disaster.

Although I'm sure it's not true of the medical school, the general student body compares unfavourably to the students of Eastside High School in the film Lean On Me before Joe Clark - aptly portrayed by Morgan Freemn - shows up to instill a little class into the organization.

A typical day at FIU involves spending a half an hour looking for parking, descending down an elevator with two guys who haven't showered and a girl who put on a week's worth of body spray commonly worn by the prostitutes in the area around campus, and then going to lectures where didactic methodologies that belong to middle school are used in lectures that require attendance as a significant part of the course grade. During class, you'll witness behavior problems you'd put past the average high school student, and after class they will complain about how cruel the test was because it involved algebra. Most of the professors that teach don't have a single publication. Lunch can then be had in FIU's delicious cafeteria, where one is likely to overhear at least one scream from at least one uncouth individual. But then again, "Yo dre, why the **** didn't you call me last night, biatch," goes well with fries.

The area right around campus is almost as expensive as the nicer parts of downtown Miami, except it resembles suburban Tiajuana. I live in SoBe and fight the traffic - SoBe is cheaper and far nicer than the area around FIU.

But my favorite part about FIU is the bathrooms. Whenever I need to use the restroom, one of three things has taken place: either some sad faced janitor has closed the restrooms for emergency cleaning, the toilet seats are covered in urine, or some scatalogical disaster has transpired. This isn't a one-off thing, this is a dozens-of-tries thing. Are FIU students really so dumb as to not be able to use the toilet like an adult? They are.

I got into Columbia's postbac, but after looking closely at costs chose to stay close to home to save on tuition and so I could keep working - cost difference is around 150k in total. Brilliant decision, that. The funny thing is I would rather be 150k poorer than spend another minute with these people, and I'm fairly certain I'm becoming dumber just by being at the FIU campus - there's something in the air.

Maybe the med school gives out masks.
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If you cannot comment on the medical school itself, then this rant is ultimately unhelpful to applicants. Typically, graduate schools adjoined to undergraduate campuses are run and operated in drastically different manners. Furthermore, most of the things you're lamenting are typical of ANY large undergraduate campus -- UCLA and USC, for instance, are in horrendous neighborhoods in Los Angeles. FIU's undergraduate curriculum serves to mass educate a major metropolitan area -- what exactly are you expecting???

If you're interested in the medical campus itself, let me give you some ACTUAL useful information (from someone who interviewed last cycle, and has been there a handful of times): I can tell you that it's quiet, clean, and the staff goes out of their way to be helpful. The FIU medical student average Step 1 score is a 244, compared with the U Miami students who scored an average of 231 (at least insofar as what I can find on the internet). Friends and acquaintances of mine who are nearing FIU SOM graduation tell me that, looking back and knowing what they now know, if they were given the opportunity to attend any other school, they would have still chosen FIU (one even said that he would pay out-of-state tuition if he had to). The tuition that the medical student body pays to the institution gets shuttled right back into funding the medical school (unlike many other South Florida institutions...). The student body is happy, well-supported, and have been swooping up well-regarded residency positions since the inception.

...but, hey, if this doesn't sound like a place that appeals to you, then free up a spot for someone who has actually spent some time researching the merits of the school and withdraw your application.
 
Miami_Postbac said:
You're not going to eat lunch at campus? Not going to use the parking lots? Not going to use the bathrooms?

As bad as FIU is academically - and it's a low decile institution - it's worse on the soft side, and you'll experience that while there.

From what I've heard, the med school is decent academically - but expect your experience of campus to involve seeing lots of poop in places where it should not be, and a culture that's generally a bit less classy than one of those "my dad and my aunt are sleeping with my boyfriend" episodes on Jerry Springer.
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Yeah, again: undergraduate performance has absolutely no bearing on graduate programs, and you're describing what is expected of a large, public, metropolitan campus.

So.....still don't know what the point of these unproductive posts are.

:troll:
 
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For those of you offered an interview, what is the earliest date available (out of curiosity)?
 
Also for those with interviews what are your stats/date completed/date preliminary review completed if you don't mind?
 
My friend got a II, LizzyM 77 IS. Not sure how they're sending them out but hoping to hear back soon!
 
II as well. If 8/31 was the earliest date, it got filled out pretty fast -.-
 
HomemdeMacarrao said:
Lol. I went to a top 10 undergrad and now do research at a top 20 med school. Everyday at least one toilet gets filled to the brim with toilet paper and people throw toilet paper everywhere. People can't manage public toilets wherever you go

And what do you think patients are like? Do you think that they will all be these well-behaved, clean, fresh-smelling individuals? If you can't manage to sit in a class with people, how are ya gonna care for them?
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As of June of this year, our Prolific Poster of Public Restrooms had not taken any pre-requisite courses yet. So, not even sure how he ended up in the application threads.
 
Miami_Postbac said:
I'm doing an informal postbac at FIU, and did my undergrad at UVA. I picked FIU because it was the cheapest 4 year in the area. Thought I'd offer my thoughts because, well, FIU is an unmitigated disaster.

Although I'm sure it's not true of the medical school, the general student body compares unfavourably to the students of Eastside High School in the film Lean On Me before Joe Clark - aptly portrayed by Morgan Freemn - shows up to instill a little class into the organization.

A typical day at FIU involves spending a half an hour looking for parking, descending down an elevator with two guys who haven't showered and a girl who put on a week's worth of body spray commonly worn by the prostitutes in the area around campus, and then going to lectures where didactic methodologies that belong to middle school are used in lectures that require attendance as a significant part of the course grade. During class, you'll witness behavior problems you'd put past the average high school student, and after class they will complain about how cruel the test was because it involved algebra. Most of the professors that teach don't have a single publication. Lunch can then be had in FIU's delicious cafeteria, where one is likely to overhear at least one scream from at least one uncouth individual. But then again, "Yo dre, why the **** didn't you call me last night, biatch," goes well with fries.

The area right around campus is almost as expensive as the nicer parts of downtown Miami, except it resembles suburban Tiajuana. I live in SoBe and fight the traffic - SoBe is cheaper and far nicer than the area around FIU.

But my favorite part about FIU is the bathrooms. Whenever I need to use the restroom, one of three things has taken place: either some sad faced janitor has closed the restrooms for emergency cleaning, the toilet seats are covered in urine, or some scatalogical disaster has transpired. This isn't a one-off thing, this is a dozens-of-tries thing. Are FIU students really so dumb as to not be able to use the toilet like an adult? They are.

I got into Columbia's postbac, but after looking closely at costs chose to stay close to home to save on tuition and so I could keep working - cost difference is around 150k in total. Brilliant decision, that. The funny thing is I would rather be 150k poorer than spend another minute with these people, and I'm fairly certain I'm becoming dumber just by being at the FIU campus - there's something in the air.

Maybe the med school gives out masks.
Click to expand...

As someone who spent 7 years at this school doing two bachelor's degrees, I completely disagree with your view of the school. Perhaps you did experience these things but I doubt this is what is experienced by most. The general student body is great! It is a melting pot and you will be exposed to various cultures. Parking is not the best for sure although they have built new garages recently that should make that a little easier and they are constructing new apartment buildings near campus where only students can stay. I had very competent professors during my time at FIU and scored in the 99th percentile for the ETS Biology test given nationally so they must be doing something right. And you are complaining about food??? Miami offers cuisines from all of latin america, which are delicious. The janitors are some of the friendliest people I have met. I have some friends in the medical school and they have nothing but positive things to say about the school. The deans are very receptive to feedback and they are very interested in the well-being of the community. The campus is also one of the most beautiful I've been to. The only downside is that the football team is embarrassingly bad.. but if that's the reason you are applying to this medical school, then you might want to consider a different career.
 
mauroz said:
As someone who spent 7 years at this school doing two bachelor's degrees, I completely disagree with your view of the school. Perhaps you did experience these things but I doubt this is what is experienced by most. The general student body is great! It is a melting pot and you will be exposed to various cultures. Parking is not the best for sure although they have built new garages recently that should make that a little easier and they are constructing new apartment buildings near campus where only students can stay. I had very competent professors during my time at FIU and scored in the 99th percentile for the ETS Biology test given nationally so they must be doing something right. And you are complaining about food??? Miami offers cuisines from all of latin america, which are delicious. The janitors are some of the friendliest people I have met. I have some friends in the medical school and they have nothing but positive things to say about the school. The deans are very receptive to feedback and they are very interested in the well-being of the community. The campus is also one of the most beautiful I've been to. The only downside is that the football team is embarrassingly bad.. but if that's the reason you are applying to this medical school, then you might want to consider a different career.
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There you have it. I think this should tidily wrap up that conversation.

:highfive:
 
Just an FYI for you all--I've been sitting here grieving my lack of II for a few weeks. I don't check the portals of the schools I've applied to that often--I just don't have time. So I hadn't checked the FIU portal for a week or so and just looked at it and it said selected for interview (as of 8/7)!!! I went ahead and selected a date and the system immediately emailed me back a confirmation, so I guess it is for real. But I never got an email with the II and I have been checking my spam folder diligently. I even went back and did a search through all of my emails and they never sent anything. So if you are stressing and worrying and checking your email all the time, be sure and check the portal, too.
 
BornToLead said:
How many people are there for the interview on a given day?
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About 20.

EDIT: In total - they interviewed between 500 and 600 candidates out of the 4,500+ applicants from the 2014-2015 cycle. I anticipate more applicants this year, as I'm sure FIU does as well.
 
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So I've been submitted since 7/8, and my portal still says secondary application complete. Does it normally take this long to review a file for FIU?
 
Miami_Postbac said:
But my favorite part about FIU is the bathrooms. Whenever I need to use the restroom, one of three things has taken place: either some sad faced janitor has closed the restrooms for emergency cleaning, the toilet seats are covered in urine, or some scatalogical disaster has transpired. This isn't a one-off thing, this is a dozens-of-tries thing. Are FIU students really so dumb as to not be able to use the toilet like an adult? They are.
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Did you ever consider the possibility that the students are perfectly competent and that it is FIU's plumbing architecture which is of sub-par quality?
 
I would like to announce this year's winner of the acclaimed "Student Doctor Network Award for Most Fecal References Per Capita":

[drumroll]

The 2015-2016 Florida International University Application Thread!!!!!!!!!!
 
Seriously though @Miami_Postbac , why do you hang around the thread of a school you so clearly hate, when everyone else obviously loves the place? I've spent quite a bit of time there and its really an amazing, gorgeous school. One myself and many other people would be proud to go to. Also in response to you saying:

Miami_Postbac said:
It's not culturally diverse. It's 70p 2nd generation Latino, and about 10p White, black, and Asian.
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It's called Florida INTERNATIONAL University, and that "70 % latino" can represent 25+ distinct Spanish speaking countries, which is pretty damn diverse if you ask me.

Finally, why do you keep bringing the issue back to poop? Look at Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine. Its one of the most socially conservative medical schools in the nation, and I bet you there isn't a misplaced turd to be found at that school. Yet its educational quality is so horrendous that Goro recommends students go to the Caribbean instead! Bottom line, bathroom issues don't correlate with educational quality.
 
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