Florida Schools Application Thread (2008) part 2

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pandulce321 said:
I want the Florida thread back 🙁

I'm down with bashing UF. I am an alum, volunteered 3 years at Shands, research at their new oncology wing, 32, 3.8, NO INTERVIEW... but I'm sick of hearing about it.

Can we either start a new thread for this UF garbage or can we start a new Florida thread. I asked a USF financial aid question yesterday and it got lost in the mess 🙁

::END RANT::
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I'm in the dark about USF altogether, but had similar financial aid type questions about Miami. The thing is, all of us are pretty much in the same boat, we know just about nothing, and the current med students aren't involved with financial affairs. I think the best thing to do would be to send an email to the financial affairs office at office; nothing like getting the info straight from the horse's mouth.
 
SwampGator said:
I'm in the dark about USF altogether, but had similar financial aid type questions about Miami. The thing is, all of us are pretty much in the same boat, we know just about nothing, and the current med students aren't involved with financial affairs. I think the best thing to do would be to send an email to the financial affairs office at office; nothing like getting the info straight from the horse's mouth.
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Maybe someone in the class threads will know what to do.

Pandeluce,

I've been asking people to stop going on and on about UF forever now but people aren't listening. People will do what they want to do. I agree we need a new Fl. thread that is separate of this saga.
 
Maybe someone could start a separate thread to discuss UF. Heck, I bet there are people that aren't from Florida that will add their two cents.

By the way, I got my USF financial aid papers too. Not so sure how the scholarship thing works. I did not receive any🙄. I do know that you can earn scholarships even if you didn't originally start out with them. By the way, the new financial aid sight on USF is a lot better than it was a few weeks ago. I just checked it out yesterday.
 
Jennifer:

Please tell us how much money we are going to get to live on during the school year. Please give us some details.

Thanks !
 
Anyone lurking who interviewed at UM and had April 9th circled on your calendar? Drop me a PM, please!
 
hermit said:
Not sure about that, but he's on facebook if you want to "poke" him...

benjaminmendelsohngi6.jpg
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I'd poke that.
 
pandulce321 said:
I just received my financial aid package from USF. What type of interest rate do the USF Institutional loans carry and are they subsidized or unsubsidized. Also if you receive a scholarship from USF, will you receive it every year or just the first year?
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There are a couple of different institutional loan programs but I believe that they are all at 5% and work like the perkins loan program. They are subsidized during school and you can qualify for economic hardship deferment as well. In addition, the school tells you when you graduate that they are willing to work with on those loans in a tight month in residency (if you pay the loans back during that period).

I did receive my scholarship from USF each year but the absolute dollar figure stayed the same while tuition and cost of living went up significantly. During my first year, the scholarship was essentially at 50% ride, by this year, that same dollar figure was about a 25-30% subsidy. I don't know of anyone who was awarded a scholarship who didn't get it every year - if you qualify the first year, you should qualify the next three as the majority of the funding is need based. However, other merit based (or seeminly random) scholarships do appear in your awards each year.
 
Does anyone know if Ybor or Historic Ybor is a smart place to live. Google maps says it is about 10 miles from USF COM. Is that too far ?

Is Ybor a nice area ? It is close to Tampa General for years 3 & 4.

Any input about Ybor would be appreciated.
 
Any thoughts on living on Davis Island ???

( This of course is for USF )
 
RunDMCMD said:
Any thoughts on living on Davis Island ???

( This of course is for USF )
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It would be convenient because it is right next to TGH, but for the first two years, I would imagine it'd be difficult to get to USF COM daily. Although it is about a 20 minute drive to and back from the medical school, with traffic as unpredictable as it is, it could very well take you about 45 minutes. Living on Davis Island is also a bit pricey. It's possible, and it's a good place to live, but as a medical student, I'm not too sure.

This was my opinion when I interviewed.
 
Does anyone know anything about Tampa General Hospital ? It is in a gorgeous location - maybe the best location in all of Tampa.

Is it considered a good hospital in the tampa area ? I would be grateful on details about Tampa General Hospital.
 
Once someone finds out the stats for TGH, we should compose a list that compare the main FLorida hospitals like ORMC, Shands-G, Shands-J, Jackson, TGH and so on. I would definately be curious to know which ones are the busiest and largest and so forth.

As far as TGH goes, from my interview they really played up the business of it and the brand new ER.
 
What kind of stats are you thinking about including? I know TGH has received several ratings in the top 100 from US News. As far as hospitals in Tampa, TGH is definitely the most respected. I think they might be the only Trauma level 3 hospital, but I might be wrong.
 
RunDMCMD said:
Any thoughts on living on Davis Island ???

( This of course is for USF )
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I live on Davis Island (well my mother does...). It doesn't seem like a place med students would live. I can't think of any good study areas on the island and you'd be surrounded by little kids and wealthy 40-50 y/os who like to work out and play tennis.

Plus, it's kind of an annoying drive to USF. Ya people say you're going against the traffic, but it's still like a 20-25 minute drive to campus.
 
RunDMCMD said:
Does anyone know if Ybor or Historic Ybor is a smart place to live. Google maps says it is about 10 miles from USF COM. Is that too far ?

Is Ybor a nice area ? It is close to Tampa General for years 3 & 4.

Any input about Ybor would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Ybor is kind of known as the playground of Tampa and it can get pretty intense. Lots of drunk and homeless people in the area. I wouldn't recommend living in Ybor. Ya, it might be only 10 miles away, but you still have to take I4 to 275 North to get to campus. Traffic is frequent on both of these interstates, especially during rush hour.
 
Tertbutyl said:
I live on Davis Island (well my mother does...). It doesn't seem like a place med students would live. I can't think of any good study areas on the island and you'd be surrounded by little kids and wealthy 40-50 y/os who like to work out and play tennis.

Plus, it's kind of an annoying drive to USF. Ya people say you're going against the traffic, but it's still like a 20-25 minute drive to campus.
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Davis Islands (yes, it's plural..man made archipelago with canal in between - but the singular "Davis Island" is used just as much) is a GREAT place to live if you can get something in your price range. There are 2 houses I can think of off the top of my head that are all med students and a good number of other people rent apartments on the Island. The hospital is in walking distance and the night life (hyde park, channelside, ybor) is all within a 10 min drive.

The other nice thing is that you are always going the opposite way of traffic and the morning drive isn't bad at all. It's true that the majority of people who live in South Tampa (including Davis Islands) move there at the beginning of third year. However, there were certainly plenty of people in my class who commuted from their (including Harbour Island and Hyde Park) during years 1 and 2 as well.

As a matter of fact, the traffic is so bad heading south on Bruce B. Downs from New Tampa, that living close to the medical school doesn't really change your commute time by all that much - actually some people claim it's worse (it can easily take 30 minutes to get from Hunters Green to USF).

As far as South Tampa study spots go - most people hit up nearby Hyde Park which as Paneras, Starbucks, etc.

I wouldn't recommend living in Ybor. There are a few who do - but it's a party district and some dangerous areas.
 
ufgrad00 said:
I do find it very interesting that as stated above the rec letters from elected officials from Pruitt (sp?), Governor Crist, and maybe more, were not in the students admissions file at the medical college. Instead these letters were kept at Machen's office. I am now thinking the pressure from these officials came from the top downand as an above poster said, Dr. Kone himself may have been pressured to accept this student, and considering Dr. Kone is new to the school, he may be the intended fall guy for the UF administration.
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FWIW, often recommendations from politico's are nearly worthless. Most often it is a one or two liner saying "John Doe was a staffer in my office this summer and did a find job. yada, yada, and would make a find doctor. I recommend admission...." Not valuable when you only have 5 +/- letters that you want to represent you with detail. These types of letters are often subjects of great humor ---
 
zinjanthropus said:
Davis Islands is a GREAT place to live if you can get something in your price range. There are 2 houses I can think of off the top of my head that are all med students and a good number of other people rent apartments on the Island. The hospital is in walking distance and the night life (hyde park, channelside, ybor) is all within a 10 min drive.

The other nice thing is that you are always going the opposite way of traffic and the morning drive isn't bad at all. It's true that the majority of people who live in South Tampa (including Davis Islands) move there at the beginning of third year. However, there were certainly plenty of people in my class who commuted from their (including Harbour Island and Hyde Park) during years 1 and 2 as well.

As a matter of fact, the traffic is so bad heading south on Bruce B. Downs from New Tampa, that living close to the medical school doesn't really change your commute time by all that much - actually some people claim it's worse (it can easily take 30 minutes to get from Hunters Green to USF).

As far as South Tampa study spots go - most people hit up nearby Hyde Park which as Paneras, Starbucks, etc.

I wouldn't recommend living in Ybor. There are a few who do - but it's a party district and some dangerous areas.
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To the poster curious about Ybor: It's not that far from TGH, maybe a 10 minute drive.

I can see how Davis Island would be nice during 3rd and 4th year as TGH is on the island, but during the first two years it seems unnecessarily far from the USF area.

Bruce B. Downs traffic is horrible! When I used to live in New Tampa, I would take 75 down to Fletcher to avoid the Tampa Palms area of Bruce B. B Downs. I haven't been up there in years, though. Did they finally widen that road?
 
RunDMCMD said:
Does anyone know anything about Tampa General Hospital ? It is in a gorgeous location - maybe the best location in all of Tampa.

Is it considered a good hospital in the tampa area ? I would be grateful on details about Tampa General Hospital.
Click to expand...

TGH is the major county hospital with the highest volume. There are over 800 beds. It is one of the affiliated hospitals with USF COM and likely the one you will spend most time at (though some people love the VA and spend more time there). It is a Level 1 Trauma Center with a service in essentially every specialty/sub-specialty you can think of and is located in downtown tampa (brilliantly placed on an island in a flood zone...yep). Anyway, the other big hospitals in Tampa are St. Joseph's and University Community Hospital (UCH) - they also see a large volume but not quite as much as Tampa. They are private not teaching facilities so it's a different patient population then the one you will see. There is also a large hospital in St. Pete (Bayfront) as well as the big peds hospital (All Children's - where you can spend time at if you like peds). There are 2 VAs in - one in Tampa right by USF and one in St. Pete. The one in Tampa is the busiest in the country. Finally, Moffitt is on the USF campus and handles the complex/specialty heme-onc patients.

I enjoy TGH the most because USF med students and residents have the most carte blanche there in patient management since our residents essentially run the place. It is a great learning environment situated in a great geographical environment.
 
gujuDoc said:
REL,

If you are reading this, can you confirm these delays in opening up the 2 med schools for applications this coming year??
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I have no knowledge of such a delay in funding, nor do I believe that it will occur since the two new schools were budgeted separately. Since I am away with most other southern med school folks so I dont have any local knowledge. I will say that the only source of this info for UCF seems to come from a local, 3 times per week, student newspaper that seems to print things from unusual perspectives. Cant say that I would trust the source. Also, you may be shocked to learn that for all medical schools with a practice plan (their own physicians who see patients and therefore generate school revenue) and solid research, the revenue from the state seems to range from 5-7% of all revenue to run the med school. While I may be wrong, I was under the impression that one established MD program in the state does not have a practice plan and is therefore very needy in the way of state funding.
 
REL said:
I have no knowledge of such a delay in funding, nor do I believe that it will occur since the two new schools were budgeted separately. Since I am away with most other southern med school folks so I dont have any local knowledge. I will say that the only source of this info for UCF seems to come from a local, 3 times per week, student newspaper that seems to print things from unusual perspectives. Cant say that I would trust the source. Also, you may be shocked to learn that for all medical schools with a practice plan (their own physicians who see patients and therefore generate school revenue) and solid research, the revenue from the state seems to range from 5-7% of all revenue to run the med school. While I may be wrong, I was under the impression that one established MD program in the state does not have a practice plan and is therefore very needy in the way of state funding.
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During a forum at USF's second look, a student asked about how budget cuts will affect the med school. One of the physicians talked about USF's clinics generating income so that USF did not rely as heavily on state funding. Plus, a lot of money comes from private donors. I'm not sure which schools have university clinics, but it sounds like the ones that do will struggle the least during this budget crisis.
 
UFMed said:
It seems he has created an atmosphere of fear among his peers. Professors and faculty are terrified to voice their opinion for fear of retribution.

REL, is there anything the LCME can do at this point?
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I would like to reiterate that we can continue to discuss what is available in the press and hyperventilate based on what is said. We dont know the real facts. I suggest letting it rest in the opinion arena and only post new articles with new findings. This wont be resolved for awhile. Whatever the final result, it would be extremely unlikely that UF COM accreditation would be affected in any way.

I take no offense to the opinions of others. Yes, I have years of personal experience with admissions committee meetings. Of course I also travel with the adcoms of other schools in Florida and at national meetings. Many dinners occur where stories are told in confidence. I have never heard of such a blatant disregard for an admissions committee decision being over-ridden by a Dean. There is an LCME accreditation standard that addresses this process and abuses would surely be discovered during the very thorough LCME process. I would have to honestly say that this is a very isolated incident.

Of course a lot of pressure is brought to bear with certain politico's, alumni, university leadership, and donors to violate the process of admissions. At the worst, I am aware of a very few isolated incidents where a Dean would bend and request that an applicant be granted an interview if they meet the school's requirements. From that point however, it is in the hands of the admissions committee process, and the final decision by this body of faculty is THE final decision. Admitting students to medical school is a very serious business with lots at stake for many --- those on the committee are very attentitive to staying within the rules. Med school deans and university presidents normally stay very far away from this process for exactly the reasons that we are witnessing now. If it happened, it would surely get leaked -- who wants to be involved in such a quagmire??

Let's let it rest until we know the details.
 
Hello everyone.

I received my financial aid information for USF. Right now, I have to choose a lender for my loans. I had some questions about choosing a lender.

What are the most important things to consider when choosing a lender?
I found out information about the interest rates, fees, and repayment terms.
Are there any other important conditions that I should look at?

Out of the current USF students, do you have any tips on how to choose the lender?
What are the most important things that you considered in your decision? What lender did you choose and why?

Also, when you fill out the master promissory note, is it like a contract? If you want to change the school, will the lender transfer the loans to another school? Can you cancel the loan in the future if your financial situation changes?

If anybody has any other tips about choosing a lender, please let me know.

Thanks and good luck.
 
vw200405 said:
Hello everyone.

I received my financial aid information for USF. Right now, I have to choose a lender for my loans. I had some questions about choosing a lender.

What are the most important things to consider when choosing a lender?
I found out information about the interest rates, fees, and repayment terms.
Are there any other important conditions that I should look at?

Out of the current USF students, do you have any tips on how to choose the lender?
What are the most important things that you considered in your decision? What lender did you choose and why?

Also, when you fill out the master promissory note, is it like a contract? If you want to change the school, will the lender transfer the loans to another school? Can you cancel the loan in the future if your financial situation changes?

If anybody has any other tips about choosing a lender, please let me know.

Thanks and good luck.
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting this. I was wondering the same thing. I've used Sally Mae in the past and I think they have been fair. Still, some guidance would be very appreciated.
 
That April 15 date that I hear about so often is coming next week. What should we expect to hear?:scared:
 
REL said:
I have no knowledge of such a delay in funding, nor do I believe that it will occur since the two new schools were budgeted separately. Since I am away with most other southern med school folks so I dont have any local knowledge. I will say that the only source of this info for UCF seems to come from a local, 3 times per week, student newspaper that seems to print things from unusual perspectives. Cant say that I would trust the source. Also, you may be shocked to learn that for all medical schools with a practice plan (their own physicians who see patients and therefore generate school revenue) and solid research, the revenue from the state seems to range from 5-7% of all revenue to run the med school. While I may be wrong, I was under the impression that one established MD program in the state does not have a practice plan and is therefore very needy in the way of state funding.
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REL, which school is that that is needy in the way of state funding??? PM me if you don't feel comfortable telling on here.

Thanks for the response. This is good news. I knew you'd squash unwarranted rumors. LOL 😀
 
Tertbutyl said:
I can see how Davis Island would be nice during 3rd and 4th year as TGH is on the island, but during the first two years it seems unnecessarily far from the USF area.

Bruce B. Downs traffic is horrible! When I used to live in New Tampa, I would take 75 down to Fletcher to avoid the Tampa Palms area of Bruce B. B Downs. I haven't been up there in years, though. Did they finally widen that road?
Click to expand...

It's probably only 15-20 minutes from South Tampa to USF because you're going against the flow of morning traffic. Because BBD traffic sucks so much, it can take you just as long to get to school from somewhere in Tampa Palms/New Tampa.
 
Hi, this is just a continuation of my previous post about choosing the right loan lender.

I have to choose between three loan lenders: Access Group, Sallie Mae, or Wells Fargo.

For all three lenders, the loan interest rate is 6.8%. All three lenders start repayment 6 months after graduation. But all three lenders have deferment programs during residency.

For Access Group, there is a 1% to 2.5% fee. For Sallie Mae, there is a 0% to 2% fee. For Wells Fargo, there is a 0% fee.

The annual loan limit with Access Group is $20500. The annual loan limit with Sallie Mae is $40500. The annual loan limit with Wells Fargo is $40500.

Which lender should I choose? Which lender has the best plan? What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
vw200405 said:
Hi, this is just a continuation of my previous post about choosing the right loan lender.

I have to choose between three loan lenders: Access Group, Sallie Mae, or Wells Fargo.

For all three lenders, the loan interest rate is 6.8%. All three lenders start repayment 6 months after graduation. But all three lenders have deferment programs during residency.

For Access Group, there is a 1% to 2.5% fee. For Sallie Mae, there is a 0% to 2% fee. For Wells Fargo, there is a 0% fee.

The annual loan limit with Access Group is $20500. The annual loan limit with Sallie Mae is $40500. The annual loan limit with Wells Fargo is $40500.

Which lender should I choose? Which lender has the best plan? What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I don't think it matters very much. The variation will be in slight differences on reward programs/repayment bonuses, etc -and they are roughly equal across these perks. I would say that most people use Sallie Mae but it won't matter if you circle another.
 
mikedc813 said:
It's probably only 15-20 minutes from South Tampa to USF because you're going against the flow of morning traffic. Because BBD traffic sucks so much, it can take you just as long to get to school from somewhere in Tampa Palms/New Tampa.
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What about Morrisbridge road??? Couldn't a person cut across there or is traffic just as bad down that road????

They have not really expanded BBD but they are creating a bridge over 1-75 that I think connects to I75 south, so it will be a second entrance onto I75 south. That might help with traffic a bit.
 
gujuDoc said:
What about Morrisbridge road??? Couldn't a person cut across there or is traffic just as bad down that road????

They have not really expanded BBD but they are creating a bridge over 1-75 that I think connects to I75 south, so it will be a second entrance onto I75 south. That might help with traffic a bit.
Click to expand...

I live near USF and I used to work in N. Tampa. For a few weeks they had closed off 1-75 at BBD in the evenings. I took Morris Bridge Road home and it was deceptively long. That road must curve 20 times. A drive that usually took me 10-15 minutes on the interstate took almost 40 on Morris Bridge. I highly suggest avoiding this short cut!
 
Jennifer5109 said:
I live near USF and I used to work in N. Tampa. For a few weeks they had closed off 1-75 at BBD in the evenings. I took Morris Bridge Road home and it was deceptively long. That road must curve 20 times. A drive that usually took me 10-15 minutes on the interstate took almost 40 on Morris Bridge. I highly suggest avoiding this short cut!
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Ok. Yeah I didn't know much about the Morris Bridge path since I've only been across a very limited portion of it in the past. Thanks for clearing that up.
 
gujuDoc said:
What about Morrisbridge road??? Couldn't a person cut across there or is traffic just as bad down that road????

They have not really expanded BBD but they are creating a bridge over 1-75 that I think connects to I75 south, so it will be a second entrance onto I75 south. That might help with traffic a bit.
Click to expand...

Morris Bridge road is not much better than BBD. It sucks because it's only 1 lane in each direction and really slows down to a crawl during rush hour (after 715-30ish).
 
does anyone no when miami sends out financial aid info like scholarships etc? anyone no when they sent it out last year?
 
RunDMCMD said:
Does anyone know if Ybor or Historic Ybor is a smart place to live. Google maps says it is about 10 miles from USF COM. Is that too far ?

Is Ybor a nice area ? It is close to Tampa General for years 3 & 4.

Any input about Ybor would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Ybor is the poor area turn clubbing area. Its rather dangerous if anything.

If you want to live about 10 miles away then live in brandon. brandon is 9 miles south of the Fowler exit for I75.
 
pfh said:
does anyone no when miami sends out financial aid info like scholarships etc? anyone no when they sent it out last year?
Click to expand...

Go to the Miami thread we are discussing it there right now.
 
I am planning to take calc1 at FCCJ during the summer... I am staying for a year more to obtain my AA. Should I take calc 2 & 3 on fall/spring on the same school or just wait till I forget almost everything about calc and take calc 2/3 in a University? Do you think that FL med schools care a lot about this?
 
katarzyna said:
I am planning to take calc1 at FCCJ during the summer... I am staying for a year more to obtain my AA. Should I take calc 2 & 3 on fall/spring on the same school or just wait till I forget almost everything about calc and take calc 2/3 in a University? Do you think that FL med schools care a lot about this?
Click to expand...

Calc 2 & 3 -----> DON'T TAKE, the only math that SOME schools like to see is calc 1, but if you really love it/ or are a math major then you should take 2 & 3.
I would say no though, science classes are hard enough.
 
wally47 said:
Calc 2 & 3 -----> DON'T TAKE, the only math that SOME schools like to see is calc 1, but if you really love it/ or are a math major then you should take 2 & 3.
I would say no though, science classes are hard enough.
Click to expand...

Down here, Calculus 2 is required for a BS degree.
 
Yeah, for my bio degree you either had to complete calc 2 or Statistics along with calc 1 which was required. But I would say do not take Calc 3 and not to take Calc 2 if you aren't required to take it.
 
Don't take the upper lever calc courses. I can't imagine them helping you too much. However, they can certainly hurt your gpa. I aced Calc I, and hurt myself in Calc II and III later on. I was an enginerring major, so I had to take them.

I'd recommend some upper-level science courses, possibly some grad level courses if you're allowed. Some medical schools also like to see statistics, which is usually a breeze.

Good luck.
 
D-Bone said:
Don't take the upper lever calc courses. I can't imagine them helping you too much. However, they can certainly hurt your gpa. I aced Calc I, and hurt myself in Calc II and III later on. I was an enginerring major, so I had to take them.

I'd recommend some upper-level science courses, possibly some grad level courses if you're allowed. Some medical schools also like to see statistics, which is usually a breeze.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

The Avatar is hilarious.
 
I just found out that Calc 2 is required at FSU. Not that I am pro-fsu 😀.

I just want to apply to almost all the state schools just to make sure.

I guess I have to take Calc 2.

Thanks to everyone's responses btw🙂.

and oh so AMCAS calculates Pre-Cal and Trig in your BCPM gpa? or just calc one and up?
 
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