Any Nova students/alums?

[ak47]

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I'm interviewing at Nova soon! The website was lacking in information so I have a few questions.

Is getting chair time still a problem at Nova?
Is there mandatory attendance?
How are the relationships between students and faculty?
Any research going on? Is it easy to get involved?
Any information on the sim labs?
When does patient contact begin?
Boards at after first year right?
The website has no info on community service programs - is there any?

I am looking for things to talk to the adcoms about when I interview but I can't find hardly any info on the website (I went through the brochure). What are some pros/cons of Nova or things you wish you knew before you decided to go to Nova?

Thank you very much!

 

[geometric-pain]

I'm a second year and will answer the ones that I can!

Is getting chair time still a problem at Nova? I don't know, some people find it easy, others hard. Since the clinic is divided by section (prosth, endo, perio, etc) some sections are harder to reserve chairs in
Is there mandatory attendance? yes (wink, wink)
How are the relationships between students and faculty? Good with some, strained with others. On the whole I would say good. Nearly all of them are approachable. You learn which ones are and which ones aren't. I would imagine it is the same at every other dental school in that regard
Any research going on? yesIs it easy to get involved?I would say if you have the desire, it isn't that tough. That being said, I only know of one person doing it and haven't heard of others wanting to
Any information on the sim labs?Sim lab is sim lab, you'll see it when you get here. I don't know what else to say, although it has a good view and is pretty bright!
When does patient contact begin? We have assisting rotations in the first semester (assuming you have your immunizations). Second year starts with SRP (mainly the S part )
Boards at after first year right? Correct, they want them done by Dec of D2 year I think
The website has no info on community service programs - is there any? Yes, we have an ASDA chair who sets stuff up for all students to do (D1 - D4) and then for 3rd and 4th year you are required to do X many hours, I don't know the specifics about it though.

What are some pros/cons of Nova or things you wish you knew before you decided to go to Nova?
cons are obviously the cost of tuition and cost of living, but i knew that before coming. They also add about 25 IDG students at the beginning of second year - I would have prefered to have less competition in clinic for spots, but they can be like extra tutors because they already know a lot (some of them at least). Potential for hurricanes every year can suck. I think the competition for chairs in clinic could be an issue - but I don't know because I am not there yet.
Pros are south florida weather and lifestyle. You purchase all your equipment so you can take it with you when you get out (some school lease). I can't think of other things that are really pro-ish. Its dental school, what more can I say.

If you want to ask about something you can ask about what they plan on doing to relieve pressure in the clinic. Right now they have a sattilite office in North Miami and there has been talk about opening a lot more rotations outside the dental school in undeserved areas (maybe with local dentists?) I've heard they could be all over the state, maybe even in the panhandle.

 

[Contach]

does anyone know anything about the scholarships Nova offers, what they entail, how many are given out and when are they given out?

thanks.

 

[geometric-pain]

I don't think there are any scholarships from the school directly. But I don't know everything, just haven't heard any thing about it. We do get periodic emails from the administration about private scholarships that they have been notified about.