2020-2021 Central Florida

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For some reason, I’m not able to access the secondary prompts. It just says ‘error’. Anyone else is having this problem? I’ve emailed them already, no answer yet
 
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I was going through last years thread and saw first round of II calls didn't really get sent out until late Aug, do you guys think the timeline will be the same this year?
 
ripmysociallife said:
I was going through last years thread and saw first round of II calls didn't really get sent out until late Aug, do you guys think the timeline will be the same this year?
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I think so, especially because they have less time to come up with a pool of applicants they want to accept this year. So I can bet that they are working on overtime
 
@REL I have a question about declaring residency. I am a dependent on my parent who is a resident of another state, however, consider myself a Florida resident (have lived in Florida year round for 5 years, have a Florida license, have documentation of an apartment lease in Florida, have voted in Florida). Would I answer "(4) Will you be a Florida Resident for tuition purposes at the time of matriculation?" as no, then leave "(5) If you are NOT a Florida resident, please describe any connection to UCF COM, UCF, or Florida." blank?
 
futuremd25! said:
@REL I have a question about declaring residency. I am a dependent on my parent who is a resident of another state, however, consider myself a Florida resident (have lived in Florida year round for 5 years, have a Florida license, have documentation of an apartment lease in Florida, have voted in Florida). Would I answer "(4) Will you be a Florida Resident for tuition purposes at the time of matriculation?" as no, then leave "(5) If you are NOT a Florida resident, please describe any connection to UCF COM, UCF, or Florida." blank?
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Not REL, but on their website it says "A Florida “resident for tuition purposes” is a person who has, or a dependent person whose parent or legal guardian has, established and maintained legal residency in Florida for at least 12 consecutive months preceding the first day of classes of the term for which Florida residency is sought."

So I think you might be good?
 
ripmysociallife said:
I was going through last years thread and saw first round of II calls didn't really get sent out until late Aug, do you guys think the timeline will be the same this year?
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I was a biomed masters student here, which is technically part of COM. I know that last year they did their first round of interviews around this time, but that these interviews were exclusive to people in the direct admit to MD through the Honors undergrad program. Probably the rest came a little bit later. At any rate, I think they will be eager to interview those honors students at least, and maybe be a week or 2 behind in the rest.
 
futuremd25! said:
@REL I have a question about declaring residency. I am a dependent on my parent who is a resident of another state, however, consider myself a Florida resident (have lived in Florida year round for 5 years, have a
Florida license, have documentation of an apartment lease in Florida, have voted in Florida). Would I answer "(4) Will you be a Florida Resident for tuition purposes at the time of matriculation?" as no, then leave "(5) If you are NOT a Florida resident, please describe any connection to UCF COM, UCF, or Florida." blank?
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I think having a licence and a voter registration is enough to prove residency. At least that is true for other florida residency forms I have filled out for other schools. Also a vehicle registration in florida works, and pay stubs from employment over 12 months. Being a dependant out of state might be tricky tho.
 
REL said:
There are instances where a very weak academic start can result in a GPA of less than 3.00 that have achieved an interview. In these few instances the student was not ready for college or had other factors (family, relationship, etc) that caused them to have a very poor academic start or tank completely. Often they took a break, got their situation resolved and finished college with a consistency of very high outcomes but still finished less than a 3.0. We do look at trends and a very strong positive trend over the final 2-3 years may still end just short of 3.0. Couple this with a competitive MCAT score and all of the other motivations that we desire and it is possible to be included in the pool and obtain an interview. This not common, but is possible.

A fairly common scenario is a weaker 1-2 years followed by a stronger academic effort ending with a lower-mid 3+ gpa. Some get interviews, some need that strong effort in a 1 yr MS in a core-science discipline to convince MD programs of the continued trend.

In both cases it is important to remember that the GPA and the MCAT are not compared on a sliding scale where a weak GPA can be "covered" by a strong MCAT, or vice-vesa. These two admissions factors are not proxies for one-another. Finally the total application showing a strong motivation for medicine and humanism, socio-economics, backgrounds/opportunities, are separate and significant factors to obtain an interview. Note while it is possible to obtain an interview with a less than 3.0, it is very rare that someone is successful. Those in this situation are motivated and would make inquiries and show interest in the program.
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I DMed you. I hope to hear back.
 
@REL I am applying with a masters degree in biomedical sciences. I did my undergrad in physics. When I applied this cycle, I submitted a letter packet with my biomed professors, non science, research PI, and the doctor I am a full time medical scribe for. My question is, some schools are asking for a letter from an undergrad professor of mine, specifically from upper division physics. Do you know if UCF would want one of these too? With the 5 letters in my packet and an additional individual science letter, would it be too much?
 
comet2sixty said:
@REL I am applying with a masters degree in biomedical sciences. I did my undergrad in physics. When I applied this cycle, I submitted a letter packet with my biomed professors, non science, research PI, and the doctor I am a full time medical scribe for. My question is, some schools are asking for a letter from an undergrad professor of mine, specifically from upper division physics. Do you know if UCF would want one of these too? With the 5 letters in my packet and an additional individual science letter, would it be too much?
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If all of these letters are important to you it is ok to submit a 6th letter. We will not penalize you for it this.
 
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REL said:
If all of these letters are important to you it is ok to submit a 6th letter. We will not penalize you for it this.
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Thank you! It is so interesting to me that some schools actually do punish applicants for providing more than even 3 letters. Im glad UCF takes the time to get to know their applicants as best they can.
 
Hey guys, I just got an email to complete the AAMC VITA and after checking all my portals it looks like UCF was the school that sent it. I never got an email or phone notification, but my UCF portal status was updated two days ago as "Selected for Interview - Yes" and it looks like I can sign up for one. It seems like this is a school that we should be checking our portals for!
 
Vizcacha618 said:
Hey guys, I just got an email to complete the AAMC VITA and after checking all my portals it looks like UCF was the school that sent it. I never got an email or phone notification, but my UCF portal status was updated two days ago as "Selected for Interview - Yes" and it looks like I can sign up for one. It seems like this is a school that we should be checking our portals for!
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Congrats! When were you complete and stats?
 
Vizcacha618 said:
I was complete on 7/29, and I have a 522 MCAT and 3.89 GPA. I'm still a bit confused because I haven't received any information about the interview. I may contact them later today to see if the portal update was a mistake, or if they want to evaluate the VITA interview before contacting us to set up an in-person interview. I'm having trouble finding more detailed information about this year's interview process.
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congratulations, and GL w/ your interview -- wish you the best!
 
I have been behind on submitting this secondary. When you counted characters did you go for with or without spaces, because when I go over it doesn't cut off any text so I'm not positive?
 
happycactus123 said:
I have been behind on submitting this secondary. When you counted characters did you go for with or without spaces, because when I go over it doesn't cut off any text so I'm not positive?
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Its with spaces. Just for reference most schools, if not all, give character limits which include spaces. Ofc unless it says otherwise in the instructions. But yes, for UCF, its with spaces.
 
mkko09 said:
Its with spaces. Just for reference most schools, if not all, give character limits which include spaces. Ofc unless it says otherwise in the instructions. But yes, for UCF, its with spaces.
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Thank you! Yes I have noticed this, I was just confused why it did not cut off characters automatically when I went over the limit.
 
sevenout said:
AORTA, EFI, and EIS seem to be synonymous with this school. I don't have an II.
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I just want to note that for those who are checking your portals for II's, be sure to check the table with all of your status updates for the "Selected for Interview" status. After I was selected for an interview, my overall status still said "AORTA" but the table entry for "Selected for Interview" was updated to "Yes." I am not sure if they have fixed this. The admissions directors told me that they had switched over to a new system and did not realize that students would be able to see their status before receiving a phone call or email, so maybe this will be resolved for future candidates.
 
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Dont think that your status should be blank for any prolonged period unless there is a system upgrade alert when you log in. We have undergone an amazing system software upgrade to support the interview process et. al. from this new method of business that we all have to partake of. It is possible that there could be a minor problem to overcome. If you see something odd, please do not be afraid to contact the admissions office.
 
REL said:
Dont think that your status should be blank for any prolonged period unless there is a system upgrade alert when you log in. We have undergone an amazing system software upgrade to support the interview process et. al. from this new method of business that we all have to partake of. It is possible that there could be a minor problem to overcome. If you see something odd, please do not be afraid to contact the admissions office.
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It's back up for me, looks like it was a glitch.
 
Some of my advice to you older, non-traditional applicants this year.

I interviewed there last year and the interviewers made me feel very uncomfortable about my age (I’m older than most applicants). Suffice to say I was more than a little upset. Hope you applicants this year don’t have any gray hair or you might get more than a little heat.

For the older applicants that get invited to interview, I highly suggest you well-rehearse and prepare an exemplary reason as to why you aren’t a traditional applicant. They made me feel inadequate and I was caught off guard by their demeanor and questioning. I don’t want that to happen to anyone else.

Best of luck to all you applicants. I know you have it in you to be the best student doctors you can be.
 
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sam the man said:
Some of my advice to you older, non-traditional applicants this year.

I interviewed there last year and the interviewers made me feel very uncomfortable about my age (I’m older than most applicants). Suffice to say I was more than a little upset. Hope you applicants this year don’t have any gray hair or you might get more than a little heat.

For the older applicants that get invited to interview, I highly suggest you well-rehearse and prepare an exemplary reason as to why you aren’t a traditional applicant. They made me feel inadequate and I was caught off guard by their demeanor and questioning. I don’t want that to happen to anyone else.

Best of luck to all you applicants. I know you have it in you to be the best student doctors you can be.
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This is very disappointing to me and the first time ever that I have heard of something like this at my program in my 20+ years of being a MD program director in Florida. We have consistently interviewed older students, some in their 50's and one in their early 60's. Being longer in the tooth myself, this does not make me happy and is someting that I will not tolerate. Did you bring it up to the program or is this the first time you are commenting about it?
 
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Is the covid essay optional? I feel like I don't have much to say since I haven't been drastically affected unlike many others so I don't want to waste the reader's time
 
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REL said:
Yes, not required
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Thank you! Also just out of curiosity, is it still considered early or early-ish to be complete at your school by the end of this week? I've heard that some schools are 3+ weeks behind compared to normal years.
 
DoctorOrdinary said:
Thank you! Also just out of curiosity, is it still considered early or early-ish to be complete at your school by the end of this week? I've heard that some schools are 3+ weeks behind compared to normal years.
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We are about one week later than usual. We have our own programmers that can build/tweak our system in short order so we are able to control our own "destiny."
 
floridaheatkills said:
EFI!!!!! Complete 8/20 🙂 Did not receive an email, just happened to check my portal, and it was right there!
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We will send you a file complete email and we will contact you if you have been selected for an interview. For EFI and other changes you will have to check your portal status. Each status has a definition that will tell you what possible next actions you might expect.
 
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