2020-2021 University of Cincinnati

[Isomerase]

Nobody has gotten financial aid yet correct?

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[abluebird99]

Nobody has gotten financial aid yet correct?

I asked the financial aid office when I submitted my info (was accepted after the Mar 1 deadline) and they said award letters were planned for release in mid-April

 

[psychneuro33]

I JUST GOT ACCEPTED!!!!! I interviewed 03/05 and just got the call. I didn’t answer because it was an unknown number but they left a voicemail letting me know. This is my dream school and I am completely lost for words. Good luck to everyone waiting to hear back!!!!

Edit: should I call him back and say thank you?? don’t know the etiquette for this sort of thing

 

[premedgirl1929]

Just got the call!!! Interviewed 3/9!

 

[Kathudoo]

Hmm. An alternate list position seems risky. Would y'all take it?

 

[psychneuro33]

Hmm. An alternate list position seems risky. Would y'all take it?

I personally would but that’s just me.

 

[psychneuro33]

Looks like their last second look is tonight, I appreciate them sending decisions before next Monday.

 

[Kathudoo]

I personally would but that’s just me.

Let’s hope for some movement then!

 

[loveroftacobell]

Feeling a bit discouraged seeing everyone getting merit scholarships. I'm OOS and I would absolutely love to receive one. I thought my stats were pretty competitive but I guess not :/

 

[coleworld100]

Sorry in advance for the long-winded answer. The non-resident surcharge is 300/semester and parking is about 300/semester, so you would save 1200/yr, not necessarily a few thousand. 30K is definitely a lot, but in the grand scheme of med school debt it ends up being something like 260K vs 290K when you graduate, taking into account loan interest? I did the exact calculations last year but lost my spreadsheet. If you are aggressive about paying off your loans when you complete residency then the difference in interest paid isn't large, but it can be if you take longer.

I don't think it's a huge time-saver, but it's more the convenience of not having to drive (I low-key hate driving, so this answer may be tinged with some personal bias). Once you start dissections in our third block (MSK), you will need to physically be at school at least twice a week, up from once a week for just clinical skills during the first two blocks. If you like to spend a lot of time in the anatomy lab, which is the best way to ace your anatomy practical exams, then you might be there even more often. I also initially thought that I would study at home and only go to school when absolutely necessary, but turns out I actually like studying at our school (outside of lab), so I'm there quite often! There's also a social factor, in that most people live near the school.

To be honest, I like the school a lot! I'm sure that having internal rankings is stressful but it's something that our current class has not had to deal with, and we don't expect to if true P/F is passed. So I haven't experienced any of the competition or obsession with grades that the other poster spoke about. The facilities are great, the professors have been great, our administration has been supportive when I've reached out to them about something, and there have been lots of opportunities for research. Do they rub my feet and whisper sweet things in my ear like at Harvard or Johnny Hopkins? Not really, but that's a given

I think the only other con the other poster identified was that we have 8 weeks for away electives in M4 (essentially two 4 week aways). This was the first time I'd actually heard of this as a pain point, so I did some more research. It looks like the average number of aways completed by most residency applicants is 1-2, but sometimes more for the most competitive ones. I'm not sure if this difference becomes significant when comparing those who matched versus not.

It was tough to find information about other schools, but the few I found said either 2-3 or no limit. If you are choosing between two schools, maybe you can look into it in more depth and find out if the other school limits the number of away rotations students can do, which might become important to you if you want to something like neurosurgery or ortho.

This was extremely helpful! Thank you. I was wondering if you knew for certain if they would make a decision about true P/F. That’s kinda important in my decision and we have to decide on schools by April 30th

 

[psychneuro33]

Is there a group me for accepted students? I haven’t been accepted into the FB group yet

 

[psychneuro33]

This was extremely helpful! Thank you. I was wondering if you knew for certain if they would make a decision about true P/F. That’s kinda important in my decision and we have to decide on schools by April 30th

Not sure if this means anything but at the second look last week a few people asked about the P/F decision and their questions weren’t addressed. It was at the end so I’m not sure if it was for the sake of time or if they just haven’t made a decision yet.

 

[indymed28]

Not sure if this means anything but at the second look last week a few people asked about the P/F decision and their questions weren’t addressed. It was at the end so I’m not sure if it was for the sake of time or if they just haven’t made a decision yet.

They haven't made a decision yet. They haven't even decided if the current M1s are going back to rankings next year either and talking to an M1 earlier in the week she said that they probably aren't taking the april 30 deadline into consideration bc they have a lot to deal with and think about. They know we want an answer but they don't have one yet. The admin aren't trying to hide anything from us they just haven't decided. I'd have to think the reason they are taking so long to decide is that they know step is going to PF too so the rankings could help some ppl stand out. I feel like that's the only pro rn but maybe I'm wrong.

 

[SleepingPillow]

They haven't made a decision yet. They haven't even decided if the current M1s are going back to rankings next year either and talking to an M1 earlier in the week she said that they probably aren't taking the april 30 deadline into consideration bc they have a lot to deal with and think about. They know we want an answer but they don't have one yet. The admin aren't trying to hide anything from us they just haven't decided. I'd have to think the reason they are taking so long to decide is that they know step is going to PF too so the rankings could help some ppl stand out. I feel like that's the only pro rn but maybe I'm wrong.

I am hoping they just make it true P/F considering that similar schools have been that way and matched just fine. I think the extra time from studying every little detail can be used more effectively on research projects/volunteering/staying sane/etc. Besides, residencies will still have a scored step 2 and clinical grades (which is already ranked anyways I believe).

 

[coleworld100]

They haven't made a decision yet. They haven't even decided if the current M1s are going back to rankings next year either and talking to an M1 earlier in the week she said that they probably aren't taking the april 30 deadline into consideration bc they have a lot to deal with and think about. They know we want an answer but they don't have one yet. The admin aren't trying to hide anything from us they just haven't decided. I'd have to think the reason they are taking so long to decide is that they know step is going to PF too so the rankings could help some ppl stand out. I feel like that's the only pro rn but maybe I'm wrong.

Okay thank you. I understand that logic, it’s just a little frustrating. And that’s the one thing I was thinking about as well, but then I was like there are reasons these things are becoming P/F in the first place. A good med student is going to be a good med student and will try regardless, it’s just will they be good with unnecessary stress and pressure or good without it. I love the without it option personally, but understand you can’t give us an answer they have not yet answered themselves

 

[indymed28]

Okay thank you. I understand that logic, it’s just a little frustrating. And that’s the one thing I was thinking about as well, but then I was like there are reasons these things are becoming P/F in the first place. A good med student is going to be a good med student and will try regardless, it’s just will they be good with unnecessary stress and pressure or good without it. I love the without it option personally, but understand you can’t give us an answer they have not yet answered themselves

yeah and honestly the M1 I talked to this week was still v stressed and busy without rankings. Those weekly exams first semester sound killer.

 

[Frogger27]

Congrats to everyone who has been accepted. Recently matched M4 from UCCoM. I would be happy to answer any questions about the school/city on here or DM. I’m on my way out so will tell ya’ll the good, the bad and the in between.

Overall, I think it’s a fantastic Med school and I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to receive my medical education here. Hope you all find the right school for you, no matter where that is! Good luck!

 

[SleepingPillow]

Congrats to everyone who has been accepted. Recently matched M4 from UCCoM. I would be happy to answer any questions about the school/city on here or DM. I’m on my way out so will tell ya’ll the good, the bad and the in between.

Overall, I think it’s a fantastic Med school and I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to receive my medical education here. Hope you all find the right school for you, no matter where that is! Good luck!

Congrats!

Do you know how disruptive living in NKY would be? It seems like traffic isn't too bad if you avoid rush hour. I wonder how much of a hassle it is if I prefer to study on campus or if social stuff happen near campus as well.

Also, we got fed a lot of good things during second look sessions (current students gave no real answers on things they didn't like), so could you maybe touch on things you did not enjoy about UCCOM specifically? Like, are there any concerns with admin, people matching what they want, or? Just based on second look the faculty/admin seems fantastic so it kinda felt too good to be true lol

Thank you!

 

[coleworld100]

Congrats to everyone who has been accepted. Recently matched M4 from UCCoM. I would be happy to answer any questions about the school/city on here or DM. I’m on my way out so will tell ya’ll the good, the bad and the in between.

Overall, I think it’s a fantastic Med school and I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to receive my medical education here. Hope you all find the right school for you, no matter where that is! Good luck!

Thank you and congratulations!!! I was wondering if you think there’s a good possibility if the student wants to place in a different state/ region after medical school here, especially if they’re from the same region (Midwest)? And if it’s not in peds.

 

[Frogger27]

Congrats!

Do you know how disruptive living in NKY would be? It seems like traffic isn't too bad if you avoid rush hour. I wonder how much of a hassle it is if I prefer to study on campus or if social stuff happen near campus as well.

Also, we got fed a lot of good things during second look sessions (current students gave no real answers on things they didn't like), so could you maybe touch on things you did not enjoy about UCCOM specifically? Like, are there any concerns with admin, people matching what they want, or? Just based on second look the faculty/admin seems fantastic so it kinda felt too good to be true lol

Thank you!

I dont think it would be that disruptive living in NKY, many people do it. I think one of the benefits is that you immediately get in-state tuition if you live there (vs having to live in Ohio for a year?), but not sure if this has changed over the years. Can't really comment too much on the traffic - as long as you plan around some of the rush hour times I dont think it would be bad at all.

In regards to the social stuff, that will be dependent on where your friend group chooses to live and where they routinely hangout. A couple of my good friends all lived around the med school (corryville area), so we would hangout there and then go to bars in OTR, the banks, etc. One of my good friends during M3/M4 moved to OTR and that actually became our hangout spot.

Things I did not enjoy about UCCoM. I will say, this question is kind of hard to answer because tbh there was not much I did not like. Most of the things I complained about were typical med school stuff that really would not be different regardless of what school I went to, and I feel like we have it pretty good. I think that we have great admin who truly care about the students and their experience - none of that is fake and was one of the main reasons I chose to come here. I did get a little bit jaded at the beginning of Covid (March 2020 - May 2020). I was dissapointed with how our school initially handled the situation. I felt like they could have communicated a lot better and helped with the high anxiety levels of the med school. To their credit, they did begin doing weekly Townhalls to give us updates on what they were discussing and to get student feedback. I'll give them a pass on this as it was a once in a century pandemic and no one in the world knew wtf was going on, but that was my biggest gripe as I was dissapointed initially how they handled it because I had such high expectations for them given how great admin is as a whole.

People did not have problems matching where they want geographically. You'll usually see like 40-50% stay in Ohio, but that is because students are from Ohio and want to stay. Plenty of classmates who are from California, New York, etc had pretty good shots of matching out there and many did

 

[Frogger27]

Thank you and congratulations!!! I was wondering if you think there’s a good possibility if the student wants to place in a different state/ region after medical school here, especially if they’re from the same region (Midwest)? And if it’s not in peds.

Oh yeah that will not be a problem at all. Residency can be somewhat regional (eg, midwestern hospitals know UCCoM students well so give us lots of interviews), but as I said above if you want to go home to California, New York, etc it is definitely possible.

 

[coleworld100]

Oh yeah that will not be a problem at all. Residency can be somewhat regional (eg, midwestern hospitals know UCCoM students well so give us lots of interviews), but as I said above if you want to go home to California, New York, etc it is definitely possible.

Thank you!

 

[pizza pizza]

This was extremely helpful! Thank you. I was wondering if you knew for certain if they would make a decision about true P/F. That’s kinda important in my decision and we have to decide on schools by April 30th

Okay thank you. I understand that logic, it’s just a little frustrating. And that’s the one thing I was thinking about as well, but then I was like there are reasons these things are becoming P/F in the first place. A good med student is going to be a good med student and will try regardless, it’s just will they be good with unnecessary stress and pressure or good without it. I love the without it option personally, but understand you can’t give us an answer they have not yet answered themselves

They will certainly make a decision about true P/F before the summer. As I said a few posts ago, their original plan was to vote this month. We are on spring break right now, so I imagine the vote will take place the last week of this month. That said, everyone is super busy, I cannot guarantee they will make the decision before April 30th. Trust me when I say they are not dillydallying about. I will try to post here (if I remember) and give you all an update if I know more.

Our class has been performing as well and sometimes better than other classes with true P/F, so your thoughts are exactly correct. I don't think anyone's attitude towards learning changed once we went to the true P/F - only difference is that we were less stressed.

 

[Isomerase]

Finally got financial aid, or rather lack thereof.

 

[deleted964256]

Finally got financial aid, or rather lack thereof.

+1.... EFC of 0 doesn’t mean much these days lol

 

[Dokt0r]

How bad is bad? I have very low EFC too. On the waitlist here but have an acceptance at another mid-tier school so I'm wondering if I should even bother with a letter of interest or not waste my time.

 

[Isomerase]

How bad is bad? I have very low EFC too. On the waitlist here but have an acceptance at another mid-tier school so I'm wondering if I should even bother with a letter of interest or not waste my time.

I got nothing with 0 EFC. It will still be the cheaper option for me just from IS tuition though.

 

[Dokt0r]

Not thrilled about the financial aspects of med school. Looking at 300k-400k debt at the end of this since my parents do not have the means to pay

And they wonder why no one wants to do primary care...

 

[Cap001]

Worst financial aid package thus far.
Just sent my 'decline of acceptance' email.
Can't sign up for 300k + interest debt for UC.

 

[MedicalStudent2021]

Withdrew me acceptance (and scholarship). Good luck folks!

 

[abluebird99]

Also just withdrew my acceptance & scholarship! Hope that opens up a spot for someone else here 😊

 

[SleepingPillow]

Well, FA was not that great but at least there were some need-based scholarships and loans, which is better than probably most other mid-tier state schools. Hopefully people weren't expecting much from UC bc they are not exactly swimming in endowment $$$.

 

[loveroftacobell]

No need-based for me or scholarships... ugh :/

 

[psychneuro33]

Anyone still waiting to be let into the facebook group?

 

[Cap001]

gonna ask a really dumb question... if i don't have more than 3 acceptances and i'm not on any waitlists (aka i received a majority of pre-II R's yay me), i wouldn't need to email schools to withdraw tomorrow april 15th... i know it seems like a no brainer but its the AAMC so

Yes, you are right. You don’t need to take any action now.

 

[InfectiousDiseasesH&TM]

gonna ask a really dumb question... if i don't have more than 3 acceptances and i'm not on any waitlists (aka i received a majority of pre-II R's yay me), i wouldn't need to email schools to withdraw tomorrow april 15th... i know it seems like a no brainer but its the AAMC so

No action needed; however, if you've made up your mind, I'd advise withdrawing early. I just withdrew from the five schools that I am not going to attend.

I've seen several SDN contributors make the point that we owe nothing to our fellow applicants. We put in the work, and we deserve to take as much time as we need. I disagree. I believe that we, as future doctors, should be courteous to our colleagues.

And for full transparency, I have been accepted at UCCOM, so my intention is not to sway you away from this school to open up a seat for myself.

Interviewed on 12/18. Accepted 01/20.

best of luck with your decision

 

[messy-morning]

Withdrew my acceptance today, hope it means good news down the line!

 

[feliznavidad]

Anyone heard anything about the ranking system?

 

[InfectiousDiseasesH&TM]

Anyone heard anything about the ranking system?

+1 also curious about this

 

[aspiringdoctor9701]

Anyone heard anything about the ranking system?

There is quartile ranking, where every student is ranked relative to his/her peers with regards to whether they are in the upper, mid, lower, or bottom quartile. For me, this was a huge turn off bc I prefer not to be ranked like this, but supposedly it’s not as bad as ABC grading.

 

[SleepingPillow]

There is quartile ranking, where every student is ranked relative to his/her peers with regards to whether they are in the upper, mid, lower, or bottom quartile. For me, this was a huge turn off bc I prefer not to be ranked like this, but supposedly it’s not as bad as ABC grading.

I think they were asking whether admin was going to keep true P/F next year as UC is currently true pf (no ranking) due to covid

 

[Gaius Diocletianus]

Withdrew acceptance and small scholarship. Hope it goes to one of yall

 

[kay4907]

Just withdrew my acceptance, good luck everyone!!

 

[prufrock2891]

Anyone heard anything about the ranking system?

copying a response from the accepted student groupme from the m1 who did a lot of second look stuff:

“discussions are ongoing, no decisions yet. There are other curriculum changes and such happening with step/board exams right now that are taking precedence it seems. Unfortunately, I don't think their timeline for this decision is based on your April 30 decision date with other things the committee is working on, but I will for sure update you all if I hear anything in the coming weeks! To be completely honest with all of you who are super worried about the ranking decision, I would not make that your deciding factor for a school! Finances, research, extracurriculars, connections the school has, affiliated hospitals, location, etc. are all more important in my opinion (which you obviously don't have to take, but that's just my view)!”

 

[psychneuro33]

I got my estimated financial aid package and was awarded no scholarships. Is this the norm with UC or am I unlucky

 

[deleted964256]

I got my estimated financial aid package and was awarded no scholarships. Is this the norm with UC or am I unlucky

Seems the norm. I didn’t either

 

[loveroftacobell]

Withdrew today, hopefully means good news for someone within the next few days!

 

[ralph_wiggum]

I agree that it's a wonderful midwestern town to live in. Awesome riverwalk, food scene, etc.
The med school itself...well known due to research rankings, but like I said, only a few students get tons of pubs in-most of us have experiences where researchers don't want to dedicate much time to us because they're so busy publishing their own research. The exception to this is Cincinnati Children's, if you are doing Peds, by all means come to UC because the researchers at Children's, from what I hear, truly are top notch mentors and the clinical experience is great too.
Anything else...carefully evaluate your options. If the other school you have an acceptance to is not known, does not have a major affiliated hospital etc-perhaps UC is better. But if it is a well known place w/ affiliated large hospital, just lower ranked than UC...maybe choose the other place. I will agree that the environment here isn't that collaborative-the conversation around exams was ALWAYS "I beat this person and that person, I am above average, I am in the top quartile, I hope the average is lower so I can be in the top quartile..."
We had Monday exams, so student gatherings/parties were on Monday nights. Sure enough, at those Monday night gatherings-some of which were at bars-people would be saying things like this...

Do you think this "I beat this person" attitude is limited to your class, or is it part of the school culture?

 

[SleepingPillow]

Anyone know who the head of admissions is here? Just curious bc I realized the only person I really remember is Megan but I don't know if the head actually showed up (if there is one)

 

[psychneuro33]

Anyone know who the head of admissions is here? Just curious bc I realized the only person I really remember is Megan but I don't know if the head actually showed up (if there is one)

Pretty sure it’s Abbigail Tissot but I could be wrong.