2019-2020 Central Florida

Started by PapaGuava
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Waitlisted today 🙁.
Since it's early in the cycle, waitlist positions are likely to change right?
Since we have a ranked waitlist, you’ll find out soon where you are on the waitlist and what are the chances of getting off of it based on past data. I was also on the waitlist but was told by REL that I had a nearly 100% of chance of getting an acceptance, and sure enough got accepted in early May 🙂
 
To current students,

1. Does ucf allow students to take a year off to pursue and MPH at another institution?
1. Are there students who wish to go into public or global health? And if so, what are their plans and goals if you know?
 
To MS 1&2, what is your class habit, do most students come to classes? Or do MOST study off campus? What percent actually come to classes by second year?

In your observation, do people who make an effort to come to classes tend to do better academically, or not necessarily ?
 
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To MS 1&2, what is your class habit, do most students come to classes? Or do MOST study off campus? What percent actually come to classes by second year?

In your observation, do people who make an effort to come to classes tend to do better academically, or not necessarily ?

I would say about 40% come to class and the rest stream the lectures. About 80% study at the COM because there are lots of good study spots. As for doing well and coming to class, everyone in my friend group streamed the lectures and all got As on the first exam. I’m sure it’s the same with a subset of people who went to lecture. It all depends on what you prefer. Getting good grades is very doable. Our first module final exam average was 87%
 
What is the word count/character count for each question on the secondary?

for the question regarding a profession besides medicine, are you guys connecting it back to medicine in some way? Or are you stating something completely different (like singer, magician, etc)?

For current students, thoughts on overall curriculum? is UCF PBL? And thoughts on STEP studying, how many weeks, dedicated, etc?

great questions! The culture is awesome! Everyone is super helpful, and I found a great group of friends that I spend time with on the weekends. We have an exam coming up and I honestly don’t feel that stressed about it. An interviewee asked how much sleep I get. I get 8 hrs of sleep every night and have time to take naps in the afternoon. So lots of free time! Yeah, the admins care a lot about how students feel about the curriculum because we have optional class meetings where we go and talk about what we like or don’t like with the admins. I personally don’t have any complaints about the curriculum.

lots of resources and opportunities! I am interested in ortho and had no trouble finding a mentor for my FIRE project in ortho.
I see a lot of people feel very relaxed, and thats really good to hear. How does this translate to STEP scores? How are students performing? I noticed a 3 point drop in average scores from 2017 to 2018, is that due to a curriculum change or something else?

thanks!
 
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A 3 point drop in step scores is nothing... for reference, the USMLE says that around 2 standard errors likely indicate a difference in proficiency between students, a 16 point difference.
 
What other non-lecture stream do GOOD students use at UCF?

BnB, Lightyear? I am talking about videos, not AnkiApp ie Zanki or Sketchi series or Pathoma.
 
What is the word count/character count for each question on the secondary?

for the question regarding a profession besides medicine, are you guys connecting it back to medicine in some way? Or are you stating something completely different (like singer, magician, etc)?

For current students, thoughts on overall curriculum? is UCF PBL? And thoughts on STEP studying, how many weeks, dedicated, etc?


I see a lot of people feel very relaxed, and thats really good to hear. How does this translate to STEP scores? How are students performing? I noticed a 3 point drop in average scores from 2017 to 2018, is that due to a curriculum change or something else?

thanks!
The curriculum is mostly lectures and some small group cases which are much nicer than PBLs. We get 6 weeks of dedicated studying, which I believe is the average nationwide.

Our average step scores last year was 237 so that’s really good. The national average is 229. Our match list speaks for itself
 
What other non-lecture stream do GOOD students use at UCF?

BnB, Lightyear? I am talking about videos, not AnkiApp ie Zanki or Sketchi series or Pathoma.
You need to look up what those resources actually are. Sketchy and pathoma are videos. For the last module, the common resource used was boards and beyond. Sketchy will be used during HB3 when we go over bugs and drugs. Pathoma is mostly for second year when you learn pathology.
 
Question about renting apartment/ condo.

More desirable to rent in those high rise condo across street, Watermark, apartment next to Publix, ie places within short driving distance or walking distance to med school campus? Or someplace further away, but still 10 minutes highway drive?

MS3 will be all on campus at Lake Nona, or will be farmed out to downtown area, so need to relocate to that area or MS3?

For next year, if I am looking for an out of state MS1 girl from California or west coast, how do I do that ?
 
The curriculum is mostly lectures and some small group cases which are much nicer than PBLs. We get 6 weeks of dedicated studying, which I believe is the average nationwide.

Our average step scores last year was 237 so that’s really good. The national average is 229. Our match list speaks for itself

I had a few personal questions for you, do you mind DM'ing me? It won't let me DM you.
 
I’m confused. So does AORTA status of EFI mean our applications have been read by admissions officers or only that we passed some sort of screening? Also, how long after submission can we be sure our application has been read?
 
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So I submitted 10/3 and haven't even gotten the complete email. People think I should give them a call and see what the deal is? Or does it take a while to get marked competitive for interview?
 
So I submitted 10/3 and haven't even gotten the complete email. People think I should give them a call and see what the deal is? Or does it take a while to get marked competitive for interview?
Yes email [email protected]. You should get FC email in 5-7 days at max, check your dashboard, maybe a letter was missing, mis-categorized, or not signed by the author.
 
To current students,

1. Does ucf allow students to take a year off to pursue and MPH at another institution?
1. Are there students who wish to go into public or global health? And if so, what are their plans and goals if you know?

1. Yes, you can take a year between M2-M3 years to pursue 1 yr MS or start MD/PhD at another institution (if curriculum lines up properly) or UCF.
1. Yes, Public/Global Health is a major interest in the student body. We have recently hired a faculty member to build this aspect of the currirulum.
 
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Accepted this AM!! Super excited about this school, but tuition is gonna be tough being OOS. So if anyone knows some single Floridians tryna get married, tell 'em CaptainPoopyPants said whats up. :=|:-):
Congrats! The financial aid office usually gives the out of staters very generous scholarships. Some of my friends said that their in-state tuition from other states were higher than their out of state tuition at UCF due to grants and scholarships
 
Congrats! The financial aid office usually gives the out of staters very generous scholarships. Some of my friends said that their in-state tuition from other states were higher than their out of state tuition at UCF due to grants and scholarships

Do you happen to know if they offer their financial aid packages before Commit to Enroll date?
 
Long time lurker, here 🙂 I'm very excited for everyone getting in; Orlando is my home city and a truly culturally, educationally and socially enriching place to live, you are going to love it!

I've been complete since September, but still have not been pushed to AORTA or Not Competitive status. It's been many days over the "about 15 day" mark given, and I'm worried my files are limbo. Polling the people: should I write or be patient?

PS I'm not in the Einstein category ha but I do meet the minimum requirements + some
 
Long time lurker, here 🙂 I'm very excited for everyone getting in; Orlando is my home city and a truly culturally, educationally and socially enriching place to live, you are going to love it!

I've been complete since September, but still have not been pushed to AORTA or Not Competitive status. It's been many days over the "about 15 day" mark given, and I'm worried my files are limbo. Polling the people: should I write or be patient?

PS I'm not in the Einstein category ha but I do meet the minimum requirements + some
Based on similar issues people had had in this thread earlier, I would make sure to contact the admissions office! Since it’s beyond the given time frame for AORTA I don’t think it will hurt you, and of course you want your app to be in active consideration as soon as possible
 
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Ive been marked AORTA-EFI for several weeks now. Is this normal?

IS student with an LM 65.
 
You have a very good understanding of the problem and have wrapped up the thoughts of most admissions offices and applicants well. In fact what you are saying is what I preached to my UCF interviewee groups last year. My time on the the Committee for Admissions (COA) ended ~4 years ago but I still have a strong voice along with many counterparts around the nation. I could go into a long explanation as to why the system changed, but it short the AAMC used this ridiculous anti-trust court case that everyone knew would get no traction, predictably the judge ruled that there was no anti-trust as long as there were no finances involved by admissions. (Please note that Admissions has no control of finances/scholarships. They may receive information from their own scholarship committees to pass to applicants.) The judge also commented that the current (now past) admissions process did not did not appear to violate anti-trust. The AAMC had already strong-armed the change through COA and was not about to reverse course because their real goal was to remove themselves from any legal risk and shift it all to the med programs. "IMO" the AAMC took advantage of the case they knew was ridiculous and used it to change the rules and, most importantly to them, get themselves out of a potential legal risk situation. Also IMO there was likely a national situation (on-going for years) where a few medical programs were likely practicing "back room" agreements off the books where, if questioned, the AAMC could be implicated.

In truth the AAMC/COA was never an enforcer of rules in the prior process, enforcement was always up to programs as far as their own process rules were within agreed upon boundaries. They did intercede on the behalf of a program if one program felt that another program was not working in accordance with the community agreed-upon Traffic Rules (Protocols). As you correctly indicate the new process provides the med programs with no tangible knowledge of anything about the acceptance of an applicant except that they are accepted somewhere in the MD world. The new process also gives med programs authority to determine their own CTE deadline authority after April 30. Some programs set this unreasonably early to "lock down" applicants and deny them wait list opportunities. This is bad for applicants and for the med school community for obvious reasons. There are many other things about these changes that are very disturbing to med programs. Active conversations continue between the med programs and AAMC to try to modify and mollify.

Regarding your idea, it has some merit but the med community has to come to a consensus. The major problem that will have to be overcome in some way will be to provide the med programs with some information about who is holding acceptances/wait list offers. The AAMC/COA maintains that providing us with a number (not the school) violates student confidentiality in their opinion; even providing us with zero is a violation. We have a different opinion and need something tangible to enforce any rules. As we agree without some information enforcement impossible.

If anyone wants a really good read and good laugh, please read the court case for this.

Thank you for informing us about this, overall it was a fantastic read.
 
Based on similar issues people had had in this thread earlier, I would make sure to contact the admissions office! Since it’s beyond the given time frame for AORTA I don’t think it will hurt you, and of course you want your app to be in active consideration as soon as possible

Thank you for the courage to send an email! 🙂 And good luck to the entire SDN network; you guys have made the journey a lot easier.