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Congrats Zissou and UFGrad!
Florida Schools Application Thread (2008) part 2
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You should publish a book...How to interview like Zissou. How do you do it?
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So i'm in at UM Boca - that's pretty cool. 😀 Still waiting to hear from UM Miami and USF.
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I received my first Florida interview today at FSU for Dec. 17! I am so happy to get an interview. I applied very late in the cycle (late November) so I am glad to have heard back so quickly. I only hope this is just the beginning😛.
P.S. Any suggestions on hotels in the area? I've never been to FSU before.
P.S. Any suggestions on hotels in the area? I've never been to FSU before.
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I would be more interested in the book: How to get an interview like Zissou.
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Last year I stayed at the University Inn (at least I think that is what it is called). It was pretty bad though and I wouldn't suggest it, specially with the timing of your interview. I went around the same time as you so the students are out of school and the hotel gets really loud with all the people walking/drinking outside of it. The hotel is right on the edge of campus and students walk by all night to go to McDonald's and a bar across the street. I had a very hard time falling asleep that night.
A general tip for getting cheap hotels is to try Priceline and use the Name Your Own Price option. You usually get a great deal. I learned this from a resident during on of my residency interviews and it has really payed off. I got a nice Marriott room with full kitchen, couch, fireplace, and full breakfast for $55 in Detroit. Priceline is excellent for rental cars too and frequently you can get them as cheap as $15/day. I hope this helps you save a buck or two.
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I stayed at a Red roof inn on Monroe st. It's around 3 min. to call st. where the college of medicine is located. Very nice place, clean, only 30 or so bucks a night. Good luck with the interviews!👍
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Anyone stay w/ a student host in Gainesville? Recommended? Good Insight? 👍👎
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thanks for the congrats everyone.. sorry it took so long to reply had a few plane delays. As far as my top choice I really dont have one right now. All of the fl schools have theire pros/cons so I think over time Ill be able to make the correct decision. 👍
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I didn't even know that they had student hosts for UF.
Anways, as far as hotels? There aren't many hotels on or near campus. The only hotel actually on the campus is located in the Reitz Union. I think it's like $99 a night or something. Here's the website for it. I know if you have a Balcony view, you can prolly see inside the stadium.
http://www.union.ufl.edu/hotel/
There are many hotels off I-75 like Marriot and Sheraton. There is another hotel close to campus. It's the Hilton of the University of Florida but I think the cheapest rates are still above a hundred.
http://www.ufhotel.com/default.asp
Gainesville is very manageable to drive in, and there are lots of hotels off 75. I think your best bet for price and location would be the ones near the overpass of I-75 and Archer road, because all you have to do to get to the med school, is get on Archer, drive S.W. Archer straight till you start seeing Shands and the VA, then turn into Newell. If you want cheap parking, there is a parking garage on the intersection of Newell Road and Archer. It is 3 dollars a day and the garage is the closest parking to UF Shands and the Med school.
I think the main differences boil down to this:
UMiami main campus:
Larger class size, next to jackson memorial and heart of downtown, and slightly lower board scores. Takes a slightly different curricular approach.
Umiami boca:
Smaller class size, PBL style learning, slightly highe averages on board scores, and more community based hospitals and clinics for learning medicine rather then the busy jackson memorial teaching hospital
The board score issue is slightly debatable. I've heard from a 3rd year when he used top post on here, that Boca had an avg of 235 at that time and main campus somewhere between 220 and 224. Don't recall now. But I think the score you get on boards is based on your learning style.
I would probably choose miami main campus if I was the one in this position because I'd want my training at Jackson Memorial and a larger class size is a plus to me while some consider it a down side.
I know that the med students start vacation on the 21st and start back up on the 7th of Jan. I'm assuming the first interviews of 08 will be the 7th or the 14th.
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Stayed with my girl friend. No, you can not have her. She is hot.
One thing that is worth mentioning is the difference in the time spent at school between miami main campus and the boca campus. At boca with the small class size and pbl method you are essentially on campus or at your mentors from 8-5 mon-fri. At miami, everything is podcasted and they seem to be ok with you missing class and watching the lectures online. These are two significant differences. Either way, both campuses seem to offer unlimited opportunities and a great education.
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the only way to land multiple interviews early on is to have standout numbers (mcat and/or gpa....mcat more eye-catching I believe). but to be accepted u need everything else. this cycle I have been accepted to uf, usf, and um. PM me if you have questions. best of luck to everyone!
I just wanted to say congratulations. I remember you had an extraordinary MCAT score but mediocre GPA and was worried abou getting in because of this at the beginning of the cycle. So it is nice to see that our predictions that you'd get in did come to be true.
Of those schools that you were accepted to, so far which one do you think looks like the one you could see yourself attending or are you still unsure at this point????
hahahaha SO TRUE!!! Another reason why I'd prefer main campus over boca. I don't think I care for PBL too much. I like video lectures so I can rewatch things if I miss a point or watch it if I can't make it to class or feel it more efficient not to go to class and to study from home or elsewhere on campus.
Out of curiousity, how do the facilities measure up at the two schools especially in relation to study places for the students outside of the library? Ar there any student lounges or 24/7 study spots that students have access too?
I'm just curious because I discovered all the hidden study places at USF recently and compared to FSU's beautiful learning community suites they don't measure up that much though education wise I'd rather go to USF. But it made me curious what kind of conference rooms or lounges or things like that for studying Miami has for their students.
Anyone know the answer to this?
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I didn't notice any really when I was at UM a few weeks ago. But at the main campus at Jackson they have computer labs and social rooms and such. I didn't get to see the library, so I can't comment on that, but I am sure that in the area there are facilities to study at.
Neither campuses reminded me of UF or even AE with the number of places to chill or study, but at the Boca campus, they have this study area where everyone is assigned a computer station. They also have a student lounge just like at the main miami campus, and only medstudents are allowed in. I was also told that since it is on the FAU campus, you have unlimited access to all FAU study centers and libraries, even facilities like student gyms.
However, at both campuses it seemed most students did most of their studying off campus, and two of the Boca students I talked to said that if they are not using the computer area designated for the med students then they use FAU's library.
Oh ok. Yeah I don't know if you interviewed at USF or what not, not they show you all the spots to study if you do interview there, but this is what I've seen in the last week:
they have 5 conference rooms: 2 in the court yard by the bookstore and 3 in one of the research buildings which can be reserved. Your card access into the main research buildings also allows you access into the break rooms and the library has some conference rooms but those are on a 3 hour basis only.
Oh and they have the 3 student lounges. The old kitchen one though it has no stove and the two new ones. the one near the gym with plush leather couches and the other one which is a computer study lounge. Computer lab in the back, some computers in the middle room with huge desks, and computers with barstools in the frot and some chairs and couches. The computer lounge and leather sofa lounge are new.
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so what's everyone doing over the break??
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I just got invited to an interview at USF! I am so excited. I will be interviewing Jan. 7. How are closed file interviews? Are you asked to repeat to the interviewer all the things that are on your AMCAS application?
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congrats Jen!! the interviewer will know nothing about your amcas so no questions will be asked about that.. USF has a set of standard questions they usually ask there applicants. congrats again!!
Send me a PM with an email address and I'll email you the list I compiled from SDN feedback if you don't want to go through each individual link. Then you'll just have to go through the most recent posts because I made this before the EDP cycle this year.
I think most of the questions I noticed were of the following type:
What do you think is the greatest achievement in the last 100 years with relation to medicine?
When is it ok to lie? what determines that it is ok to lie in this situation?
A patient comes in and you've run all the tests you can to see if anything is wrong and find nothing but they aren't listening, so you prescribe them some homeopathic medicine that you know has no positive or negative effects for the patient. You have to discuss the ethical issues involving this and whether or not it is morally ok to do so. It was worded in a little less words then this.
There were also questions bout how you would go about dealing with a stressful situation and what your weaknesses and strengths are.
Describe how you go about problem solving.
Describe how you go about making important decisions.
Also, just because it is not closed file does not mean that they can't ask things about your AMCAS.
They may still ask you whether or not you've had research and to explain that research to you, whether or not you've had clinical experiences and what type and which were the most significant to you.
I think the standard question thing is also only semi standard because my friend interviewed EDP and didn't get in, then she did reinterview regular cycle and she said the questions were slightly different though many were same.
It just depends.
USF questions don't change. That being said, us interviewers can still distinguish great interviewees from the poor ones. A tip is to be relaxed and speak as naturally as you can. I come away with a better impression of candidates who speak naturally and from the heart.
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Congrats!
I think they're mixing it up a bit; calling on a Friday. I think everyone else pretty much answered your q about closed file interviews. Nice to finally hear of someone on here getting a recent invite from USF.What I meant was not that the overall scheme of things change, but if you look at Interview feedback, while some people have some set of questions, others seem to have slightly different questions which may all be from the same pool of questions.
In the past when my old friends were applying for c/o 2009 and c/o 2010, I saw many times when people weren't asked those set standard list of questions that are now showing up on SDN interview feedback but mostly they had said at that time that their inteview was more of a lets get to know you more as a person kind of questions whereas now a days some people get asked standard questions about things like homeopathic medicine and what not.
I do think that the overall scheme of things and pattern is the same but there are always slight variations.
I advise anyone to go through the SDN interview feedback if yu wish to get a good idea of which questions repeat and which don't and to which questions have been asked esp. the more difficult ones this year.
Good luck.
BTW I do agee that the better candidates speak from the heart.
Oh and if you get dr. williams as an inteviewer, don't be intimdiated though he is intimidating when you meet him he is actually a friendly person from what a lot of people tell me who have gone to him for mock interviews and essay editing. He just looks intimidating at first.
Two of my friends interviewed with him and said he was a bit intimidating but one ended up with high tier waitlist and the other an acceptance.
I'd advise that you stay calm and focused and if the interviewer is writing down your answes don't let that intimidate you.
Just stay foused on the task at hand.
Hey you guys I just helped my friend finish posting her interview feedback from UF interview she had today. So if it helps anybody, just thought I'd let you know.
The one thing I gathered is that my M1 friend at UF COM was right in her advice to this friend that interviewed today......
KNOW YOUR APPLICATION WELL AT UF!!! And by that, if you mention that you are from another country and that say that country is unstable or has a lot of political national and international conflicts, be able to discuss your views on the situation.
Another standard with UF i notice year after year is their tendency to ask what you think are the 2 or 3 greatest problems in healthcare today and propose a solution to them
Good luck.
The one thing I gathered is that my M1 friend at UF COM was right in her advice to this friend that interviewed today......
KNOW YOUR APPLICATION WELL AT UF!!! And by that, if you mention that you are from another country and that say that country is unstable or has a lot of political national and international conflicts, be able to discuss your views on the situation.
Another standard with UF i notice year after year is their tendency to ask what you think are the 2 or 3 greatest problems in healthcare today and propose a solution to them
Good luck.
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Thank You so much Guju!...I've heard the same thing a few times about the healthcare issue discussion, so I will definitely look into this for my upcoming interview...Good looking out😀👍
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Hmmm, I guess it matters who you have, because I didn't get asked anything about healthcare problems. You definitely should know your application well though. I got asked a lot of questions about my research in both interviews. UF is really relaxed overall though. Go into it with the intention of finding out more about the school rather than "OMG, this is my only shot to get into med school, I can't screw this up" and you will be fine.
yeah. I know a few people who got that question, but I know there might be many who didn't. I saw on interview feedback a long time ago that in many of them it would pop up and in others it wouldn't.
I don't think the answer requires a review paper's worth of research. Just a simple opinion.
to that question I'd probably say the rising epidemic of obesity and all the problems that arise as a result of that and that lead to this epidemic as one of the major problems in this country and the other is the lack of affordable healthcare for those who need it.
I bring up the obesity issue because we discussed in med biochem at the end of the semester and one of the things I realized is that it is fast becoming one of the biggest problems here and in other developed countries.
I could go on, on this issue but I'll stop here.
What I will say is back in regards to UF: I really stress the knowing your application well and being able to discuss your activities and other things. I'd say that anything is fairgame too so for those of you who haven't applied yet, if you are thinking about talking about being abused or some other emotionally charged subject in an essay thinking it won't come up in an interview, think again.
UF likes to hit the tough spots from what it looks like but not to intimidate you so much as to get a feel for who you are, what drives you, and how well you think on your feet.
BTW: I agree with the post above in general esp. regarding trying to be relaxed. Don't get nervous. That's true for all interviews.
I was told by the friend that interviewed, one of her interviewers was a bit harder to read for her while the other was really laid back.
I was told the same thing by the friend at UF COM as well last year. In her case she talked about India a lot because she had done research there and gone to visit the year she applied. The one guy, as I stated before, just talked about the bollywood seen and all.
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my two cents about the uf interview.....i think they prerank applicants who interview. so if u are one of their top recruits the questions aren't so bad. I was invited to interview on the first date possible but postponed if until november. I thought this would put me at a disadvantage but I was accepted basically the next day, probably because they had made up their mind pre-interview. has this happened to anyone else?
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Regarding studying areas at Miami, there are really limitless options. Within the school building (Rosenstiel) there are 2 major areas to study. On the 2nd floor those rooms where interviews are held (the GEM rooms) are open 24/7 and are great for group or solo studying. On the 5th floor there are 12 "labs" which are really giant rooms with plenty of desk space to camp out and study.
There is also the library on campus (Calder) which has lots of 3rd floor room for studying. The preferred option for a lot of people is the undergrad Richter library which has TONs of study space. Every weekend before a test you will see half the class there studying.
Re interviews, be yourself and try to find common ground with your interviewer. One of my friends spent most of his 15 minute interview discussing his favorite football team with the interviewer who was also a huge fan. A lot of it is luck so just do the best you can, speak clearly and confidently, give good eye contact, and be wisely honest.
-Dwade
There is also the library on campus (Calder) which has lots of 3rd floor room for studying. The preferred option for a lot of people is the undergrad Richter library which has TONs of study space. Every weekend before a test you will see half the class there studying.
Re interviews, be yourself and try to find common ground with your interviewer. One of my friends spent most of his 15 minute interview discussing his favorite football team with the interviewer who was also a huge fan. A lot of it is luck so just do the best you can, speak clearly and confidently, give good eye contact, and be wisely honest.
-Dwade
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Thanks for the specifics. When I was there at the main campus, my guides didn't tell us specifically what rooms are designated for student study areas, but if most of the rooms are open all the time to students, I see why it wasn't an issue.
Thanks for the info, and keep posting about UM. I am still waiting to hear any news from the main Miami campus, but I am stoked about going to the Boca campus.
Thanks for the replies. Muchas gracias. I know at the USF interview they didn't show all the places to study that I recently discovered to my friend when she interviewed a few weeks ago.
LOL yeah I wouldn't be surprised considering your profile. A similar thing happened with my friend a few years ago when she was applying to USF. she had a basically sucky interview but got in as her first acceptance.
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If you don't mind me asking, was your friend one of USF's 'Rockstar' candidates statwise?
I sentyou a PM.
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Ah to be a premed rock-star; speaking of which, I think our friend Zissou could give everyone else a few pointers about the application process considering he basically has all the FL schools in his back pocket. I'm still pulling for USF to come through. An invite around the 19th or so would probably mean a Jan 14th interview. Sheesh, it seems like yesterday I was hoping for something in October.
One concern I have is the process of applying for federal loans/financial aid in general. I seem to remember REL saying that applicants should should start the financial aid ball rolling well before the time of matriculation; regardless if you are waitlisted, accepted, or just left hanging. I just want to say that this whole process is long, arduous, and basically an emotional roller-coaster. Here's to good news in '08!
One concern I have is the process of applying for federal loans/financial aid in general. I seem to remember REL saying that applicants should should start the financial aid ball rolling well before the time of matriculation; regardless if you are waitlisted, accepted, or just left hanging. I just want to say that this whole process is long, arduous, and basically an emotional roller-coaster. Here's to good news in '08!
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I believe you can list up to six medical schools on FAFSA, which allows you to be safe and be able to fill it out quickly in the new year.
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This has been discussed extensively earlier in this thread (on the first page I believe), and gujudoc has provided an in-depth analysis between all FL schools.
Hope this helps.
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Yes, I know all of the schools have been outlined, but I wasn't sure if someone had been in a similiar situation of deciding between the two. Both of the schools are really awesome.
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You'll need to help me find some of these! I usually study in the Nickel's computer lounge or the big leather couches at the gym student lounge, but other than that need to find some cubby-holes to study in at USF COM.
When people ask me about the bad things at USF, I really only can come up with the fact that our first and second year facilities aren't as good at the other Florida schools. Other than the buildings, I love it here at USF COM.
Well I think you may or may not have seen these conference rooms because they are sometimes used by LCE for the med students.
But if you know 1508 A,B,and C in one of the 2 central research buildings. It is the building right by the shuttle station near where the colored side walk is. Those 3 rooms are conference rooms which can be used by med students for studying. You can reserve them at your educational affairs office in the daytime and for weekends as well. although most people I see just go there without reserving on the weekends.
there is also 1002 and 1002A which can be reserved through the same method.
Our ID cards give us access to the research buildings and exterior doors. so after hours there is also these 5 conference rooms.
Additionally, on the different floors of the research buildings, there are breakrooms. If you take the elevator across from 1507 and the hall door to 1508 and go down the different halls i that building, especially on the 3rd floor, there are breakrooms that are often open. they also have a fridge and microwave and cabinets and soda machines. You can use the tables in there and study over there if you want to isolate yourself.
I was in nickels for a while but I don't like it because it is too dark and I don't like the lighting in it. I feel clasterphobic after a while there. I like the desks but it is just so dark and depressing sometimes. I like the inner room connected to the IT office better but the problem there is not enough space to spread out my stuff there.
To continue with the last post:
I know when my friend had her interview, she wasn't shown these conference rooms or even the conference rooms in the library. The library conference rooms are able to be reserved for 3 hours. You can call ahead of time to reserve it at a given time if it is available. But the library conference rooms hae 3 hour limit wereas the other 5 don't have that time limit uless someone else already has it reserved in which case you can only rserve it for the alotted time in which it is available and not reserved by others.
The library people also allow you to eserve that room by yourself as one person even if ou don't have a group but if there are a significant number of groups they may ask you to leave and be curteous to the other groups. Lately, that hasn't ben an issue if there have been available rooms and generally speaking that seems to be the case.
I know when my friend had her interview, she wasn't shown these conference rooms or even the conference rooms in the library. The library conference rooms are able to be reserved for 3 hours. You can call ahead of time to reserve it at a given time if it is available. But the library conference rooms hae 3 hour limit wereas the other 5 don't have that time limit uless someone else already has it reserved in which case you can only rserve it for the alotted time in which it is available and not reserved by others.
The library people also allow you to eserve that room by yourself as one person even if ou don't have a group but if there are a significant number of groups they may ask you to leave and be curteous to the other groups. Lately, that hasn't ben an issue if there have been available rooms and generally speaking that seems to be the case.
