What sets UF COM apart from the other Florida medical schools, in your opinion? Thanks!
Great question that merits a very detailed response. I'll do the best that I can but hopefully some M1/M2s can chime in with more detail.
1. The culture. Administration really espoused student wellness, and before my interview I figured it was the same as with every other medical school - I assumed they talked about it but didn't actually do anything about it other than mandated "wellness" events that actually take time away from studying and stress us out more. After meeting current students at my interview I could tell that wasn't the case and that the school as a whole really meant it. Students just seemed really happy. Administration was very down-to-earth and friendly. The faculty are very involved and really happy to have students around. I didn't know that attending neurosurgeons and pediatric surgeons had the time to chat with us, but they do!
2. Academic strength and the extent of interaction with faculty. This was probably the biggest one for me. UFCOM has residency programs in literally every field except for physical medicine & rehabilitation, and also has TWO programs within many fields due to additional residency programs in Jacksonville. That means we have academic/teaching attendings and residents in every field. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but it's actually a
huge deal. I was taught how to place central lines by attending anesthesiologists. Taught how to suture by an attending plastic surgeon. Taught how to intubate (on a dummy) by an attending pulm/crit ICU doc. Taught how to place pedicle screws for spine fusions, drill Burr holes in the cranium, and place ventriculostomies (again, dummies) by attending neurosurgeons. The attendings all love students and have been teaching for years. They are more than happy to show you what they do, how to do it, and let you get your hands dirty.
3. Residency prospects. Going off #2, because we have residency programs in everything, we have direct access to program directors and department chairs for letters of recommendation and career advice. The residency match has a LOT more to do with who you know than medical school admissions. Letters of rec can make or break you (although Step 1 scores reign supreme -more on that later), especially with smaller and more competitive specialties. In smaller fields, all of the PDs and chairs know each other. For many of these residencies, you have to collect a number of LORs and sometimes do sub-internship rotations ("aways") as well. Being able to get letters from academic physicians who are well known in the community is vital.
Having a home program for competitive fields is a huge deal.
4. Clinical education. Again, going off #2. Clinical years are very strong. Shands in Gainesville is a big hospital with lots of patients (over 1,000 beds not including the VA). During clinical rotations you are most often going to be 1-on-1 with an attending, and occasionally 2-on-1. At some schools you actually have to compete with other med students for patients or time with the attendings - not here. Lots of teaching opportunities, lots of chances to get your hands dirty. UF in Gainesville has 5 hospitals - Shands ("North tower"), Cancer Hospital ("South tower"), a Children's Hospital (attached to North Tower), a new Heart-Vascular-Neuromedicine hospital ("HVN or East tower"), and the VA. There's also Shands Jacksonville, and Nemours/Wolfson for Pediatrics. Both centers are Level 1 trauma, transplant, stroke, MI, and burn centers. Huge tertiary/quaternary care catchment area in Gainesville. Jacksonville is a massive safety net hospital, meaning we will see and treat anyone that the private hospitals didn't want to. Students go on organ procurement runs for transplants (think private jet across the country). Scrub in on conjoined twin separations, neonatal heart transplants, brain tumor excisions, cerebral aneurysm repairs, aortic aneurysm repairs, whatever. Insanely complex patients. Residents from other hospitals people that our floor patients would be in the IMCU/ICU at other institutions. You will see just about everything in medicine there is to see here.
5. The facilities. Brand new medical school building, brand new hospital (HVN tower). Simulation centers. Great study spaces.
6. Pre-clinical curriculum is great.
True pass/fail, recorded and non-mandatory lectures. Weekly required activities including standardized patients and small group session (ethics taught by a JD or PhD biomedical ethicist, radiology taught by an attending radiologist, etc). Systems-based curriculum. Lots of study resources provided by prior classes.
7. Research. Research opportunities are everywhere, as expected. Scholarship-funded medical student research program between the summer of M1-M2, where PIs literally submit their projects to the program requesting a medical student. There are more projects than there are medical students, and many people end up just reaching out to faculty asking to start their own project instead. If you aren't interested in doing research, that's fine too because it's optional. Take the summer off if you prefer.
8. Pre-clinical clinical exposure. Kind of a hot topic. When I was a pre-med I wanted lots of clinical exposure, but med students on SDN always talked about how it was a waste of time. I felt like we strike a really good balance here. After your first semester you get a 2-week preceptorship in primary care where you get to see a patient alone, take a history and physical, and present to an attending (who you work with 1-on-1) exactly like you'll be doing 3rd year. You also get 1 week of specialty preceptorship of your choice in Spring of M1, and another week in M2. These are great for working on your career choice. I did surgical sub specialties both times and got to scrub for every case and be first assist to the surgeon. I'm not talking about scrubbing in and then observing across two residents with your hands on the table, nor am I talking about holding a retractor for a few hours. I personally closed incisions, placed IVs, placed catheters, drained abscesses, taken biopsies, helped resect cancers, stop hemorrhage, anastomose bowel, repair fractures, etc -
all during preclinical years. Imagine how much experience you'll get on rotations.
This is what I can think of on top of my head. I'm between patients right now, so I may edit this post when I think of more to add.
