Florida schools - interviews?

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unfrozencaveman said:
So, is it better to go to a higher ranked school, or do better at a lower ranked school? (just generally- not specific to Miami and whatnot)
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Sorry- in other words, what does your school do for your match and what do you do yourself?
 
unfrozencaveman said:
Sorry- in other words, what does your school do for your match and what do you do yourself?
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This question is one of the most debated issues, second only to how in the world Angelina Jolie married Billy Bob Thornton (or how he managed to pull that off). The truth is I don't think people know for sure. You have to do well wherever you go, but I think name does help to a certain degree. I mean, I think it'd be hard for a residency director to not look at a Harvard applicant a little differently than someone from an unknown school. And I wonder if residency programs get higher ratings the more impressive their residents are (like, maybe people would assume that a residency program that has mostly graduates from the top 10s is really amazing and therefore would rank it higher)? I don't know, that's just a thought. So I think applicants at "higher ranked" schools would have a little bit of an easier time. But I'm not sure, it seems like maybe only the top 15 or 20 schools would hold any sort of "advantage." Either way you still have to do well. Although, again, I'm really impressed with UM's match list, so who knows...

That whole post was me talking out of my ass. I honestly have no clue, but this is just what I'm thinking...what's everyone else's opinions?
 
Yeah. I get the ranking thing. I think it would be fairly naive to ignore it. What I dont get is the "doing well" thing. How does that play out? What happens to you if you finish in the bottom half of your class?
 
Here's another thought: If it truly didn't matter at all where you went to medical school, would people still be going to the high-ranked, high-priced private schools over their much cheaper state schools? Or do you think people are just so concerned over the name that they'll pay $150,000 more for it even if it doesn't make any difference?
 
unfrozencaveman said:
Yeah. I get the ranking thing. I think it would be fairly naive to ignore it. What I dont get is the "doing well" thing. How does that play out? What happens to you if you finish in the bottom half of your class?
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You'll still get a residency, it just might not be at Mass General if that's what you're shooting for. I know there are some schools that don't rank their students at all...I think that would be pretty cool. Case Western and Yale are two that pop out at me. Either way, I think P/F or H/P/F is the way to go. The idea of grades in med school makes me want to vomit.
 
MrBurns10 said:
Here's another thought: If it truly didn't matter at all where you went to medical school, would people still be going to the high-ranked, high-priced private schools over their much cheaper state schools? Or do you think people are just so concerned over the name that they'll pay $150,000 more for it even if it doesn't make any difference?
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It looks like half this board is going to UM over UF, where there is no difference in ranking.

If I end up getting into Pitt for example, I could conceivably end up picking UM, as the lowest ranked, most expensive option. Genius.
 
MrBurns10 said:
You'll still get a residency, it just might not be at Mass General if that's what you're shooting for. I know there are some schools that don't rank their students at all...I think that would be pretty cool. Case Western and Yale are two that pop out at me. Either way, I think P/F or H/P/F is the way to go. The idea of grades in med school makes me want to vomit.
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If you got a residency at Mass General, would you call Boston "Beantown" under any circumstances? Our friendship depends on your answer.
 
unfrozencaveman said:
So, is it better to go to a higher ranked school, or do better at a lower ranked school? (just generally- not specific to Miami and whatnot)
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I think that rankings should only peripherally be taken into account.

Meaning..........they should not be the say all and end all in deciding on which school to go to.

Here are the things I woulod think about.......

What are your goals within medicine? Research, Primary care, Clinician in a subspecialty but not necessarily into research, etc.

If you are research oriented, going to a school that has a lot of research funds and something that you are interested in might be good. So rankings help a little bit for that, because they are based on research dollars.

However, if you are interested in primary care, I highly doubt primary care research rankings will make a difference in your career. At the same rate, I doubt going to a school focused on producing researchers is going to be a good school for someone wanting to do primary care.

If clinical medicine rather then research medicine is what you want, go to a school that will provide awesome clinical opportunities and what not.

Besides determining based on the school's mission (what I discussed above), another thing to look at is curricula.

Curricula is different at different schools. So if you learn better by PBL, rather then a traditional curricula, then that's the way to go.

If you learn better by the integrated organ systems approach, then find a school that has that.

Then there's location. Location sort of interplays into patient diversity, and all the things I discussed in the mission statement aspect. It also plays into where you could personally find yourself a happy person at (sometimes this is dependent on if you have a spouse or others that you cannot leave)


So let's review:

Mission statement
curricula
location

are the 3 categories we discussed.

Then there's the matter of the environment in terms of how the students generally are and what kind of support systems they have.

And then there's residency match lists where and what fields grads are going into for residency.

These are the things I'd use in assessing where to go.
 
One more thing I'd like to point out about LOCATION

If you are shooting to get into residency at a particular school or location, it sometimes helps to be at that school for medical school because you learn to network and make contacts and get to know what their program is about. But a lot of times that is hard to do because you don't necessarily know what you want to go into until you are done through rotations.
 
unfrozencaveman said:
Sorry- in other words, what does your school do for your match and what do you do yourself?
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I'm risking tarring and feathering at work to post this, but since I know so little, I get excited when I know the answer to a question and I have to respond.

Residency programs work a lot like medical schools in the application process, except you substitute USMLE for MCAT. A lot of residency programs have cutoffs for your board scores; they don't interview anyone below that. As far as school rep goes, I'd have to agree with the infinitely wise and beautiful MrBurns in that undoubtedly higher ranked programs command more respect, but same for every other application process you've done. Then you interview, rank your favs, they rank their favs, a little hocus-pocus, and boom. You end up in your last choice in Hoboville, Montana.
 
Mike4284m said:
Wow . . congrats! Do you mind me asking what your stats are?
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Thanks for the congratulations everyone. Sorry I've been away for a few days, pesky interviews getting in the way of what's really important . . . sdn.

Mike, I sent you a PM.

Caveman . . . what do you like about Miami so much, just a great general reaction when visiting, or into EM and therefore like Jackson? Just curious . . . always like to have a bit of a heads up before showing up for an interview.
 
unfrozencaveman said:
If you got a residency at Mass General, would you call Boston "Beantown" under any circumstances? Our friendship depends on your answer.
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Well first, as much as I love Boston I want to live in a warmer environment. Atlanta is my favorite city and I'd love to live there and see my Braves anytime I wanted, despite the fact that Southern conservative culture and I don't really mix (but maybe Atlanta is different from North Carolina...)

That having been said, Boston will never be Beantown to me, even if I do live there. Red Sox Nation maybe, but not Beantown. Have you ever referred to it as such, even under the influence?

Also, Miami would still be a little less expensive for you, wouldn't it? Being a Florida resident and possibly getting additional money from them.
 
Whoa Guju- thanks! Very helpful. Luckily I see now from this letter just placed in my hands moments ago, that I will not be attending Dartmouth. Glad we got that sorted out. One step closer to making a decision!
 
WholeLottaGame7 said:
I'd have to agree with the infinitely wise and beautiful MrBurns
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Bonus points! Well done.


And guju, my decision in May may very well come to picking a name out of a hat. What do you think?
 
WholeLottaGame7 said:
I'm risking tarring and feathering at work to post this, but since I know so little, I get excited when I know the answer to a question and I have to respond.

Residency programs work a lot like medical schools in the application process, except you substitute USMLE for MCAT. A lot of residency programs have cutoffs for your board scores; they don't interview anyone below that. As far as school rep goes, I'd have to agree with the infinitely wise and beautiful MrBurns in that undoubtedly higher ranked programs command more respect, but same for every other application process you've done. Then you interview, rank your favs, they rank their favs, a little hocus-pocus, and boom. You end up in your last choice in Hoboville, Montana.
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I see what's going on in here now....

Anyway, no need to apologize, I just got done defending trust fund children in another thread. And another thing, whoever thought up tarring and feathering is fantasic.

Well, I'll just be packing my bindle then.
 
unfrozencaveman said:
Whoa Guju- thanks! Very helpful. Luckily I see now from this letter just placed in my hands moments ago, that I will not be attending Dartmouth. Glad we got that sorted out. One step closer to making a decision!
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Sorry to hear about that, dude, but you'd rather go to Pitt or Miami anyway. Big Ben or Jason Taylor vs. wheat fields. no contest.
 
MrBurns10 said:
That having been said, Boston will never be Beantown to me, even if I do live there. Red Sox Nation maybe, but not Beantown. Have you ever referred to it as such, even under the influence?

Also, Miami would still be a little less expensive for you, wouldn't it? Being a Florida resident and possibly getting additional money from them.
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I'm glad you feel this way.
 
MrBurns10 said:
Sorry to hear about that, dude, but you'd rather go to Pitt or Miami anyway. Big Ben or Jason Taylor vs. wheat fields. no contest.
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Yeah, no love lost on that one. Plus I wrote the weirdest essay ever in the "tell us additional stuff" space. I honestly have no idea what I was thinking. Clearly an experiment gone horribly awry.
 
Dakota said:
Caveman . . . what do you like about Miami so much, just a great general reaction when visiting, or into EM and therefore like Jackson? Just curious . . . always like to have a bit of a heads up before showing up for an interview.
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Actually a bit of both- my plan is to go into emergency medicine, and Miami has that down like nowhere else I've seen- by a long shot. I also did my post-bacc at Miami (the undergrad campus), and found that UM is completely designed around the needs of their students (very different from where I went for undergrad, which is great, but in a different way), and they do a lot for your interests- not to have you bend to their will for their own.
I liked my interview day and tour as well- the people seemed very cool and relaxed (although I did note some complete tools I recognized from my post-bacc days, what can you do), and I thought the school lived up to my overblown ideals. I sat through Dr. Bookman's research talk thinking that he was the kind of guy I would want as a mentor.
The rest of the interest is just logistical concern (I'm a lifelong nomad, but I really love miami, and now that I'm spending half my time in Boston, I REALLY love Miami), and I own my apartment down there, which is another thing that factors into the real cost of the whole operation...
 
unfrozencaveman said:
Actually a bit of both- my plan is to go into emergency medicine, and Miami has that down like nowhere else I've seen- by a long shot.
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EM is something I'm thinking about too (although you seem set on it already)...and I really liked how Jackson had their ED set up, with completely separate sides for surgeries, obstetrical emergencies, medical emergencies, etc. Much better than the cramped ED where I've done shifts at my undergrad med center.
 
It's not a definite with EM, but it's up there (with surgery), and a career in teaching is for sure. Whatever you're doing really.
 
Hi everyone,

Just got accepted to FSU and thought I'd join the thread. Tonight/tomorrow I find out about UM. Ok, I've gotta get back to celebrating!
 
RunnerMD said:
Hi everyone,

Just got accepted to FSU and thought I'd join the thread. Tonight/tomorrow I find out about UM. Ok, I've gotta get back to celebrating!
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Congrats! When did you interview?
 
unfrozencaveman said:
Whoa Guju- thanks! Very helpful. Luckily I see now from this letter just placed in my hands moments ago, that I will not be attending Dartmouth. Glad we got that sorted out. One step closer to making a decision!
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:laugh: at the way you said that.

But on a more serious note: Another factor I did not think about earlier is FINANCIAL AID.

Miami, luckily for both you and MrBurns, offers scholarships!!!!!!!!!!! So that will be a huge help to your decision as well.

Personally, I think Miami is an awesome awesome school, and if I got in there, I would be glad to attend there. Of the Florida schools, I think it would be a tough choice between Miami and USF, so financial aid and a couple other factors would play into it for me.
 
gujuDoc said:
:laugh: at the way you said that.

But on a more serious note: Another factor I did not think about earlier is FINANCIAL AID.

Miami, luckily for both you and MrBurns, offers scholarships!!!!!!!!!!! So that will be a huge help to your decision as well.

Personally, I think Miami is an awesome awesome school, and if I got in there, I would be glad to attend there. Of the Florida schools, I think it would be a tough choice between Miami and USF, so financial aid and a couple other factors would play into it for me.
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Actually, I think that makes it a lot more difficult. Because if Miami were almost as expensive as another school I really like and this school might have a higher ranking, then the decision would probably be a bit easier. But if Miami is considerably cheaper, then the decision is more problematic.

P.S. you don't like UF?
 
MrBurns10 said:
Actually, I think that makes it a lot more difficult. Because if Miami were almost as expensive as another school I really like and this school might have a higher ranking, then the decision would probably be a bit easier. But if Miami is considerably cheaper, then the decision is more problematic.

P.S. you don't like UF?
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Hmmmm..........Don't get me wrong. UF is a good school and all. Actually an awesome school in terms of where people get into residency coming out of their program, the fields they get into, their performance on the boards, etc.

However, for me there are a few things that probably would not make it my first choice:

1. I don't like Gainesville. I've been there before when my oldest bro did undergrad and the atmosphere of such a small town is not my idea of where I'd be truly happy.

2. I don't like the fact that the patient populus is far less diverse then in a bigger city.

3. I don't like their curricula in terms of the fact that they thrown you into the deep end from day 1. On the other hand, USF and Miami both ease you into the harder classes like Anatomy a little bit better.

Overall, its a good school but probably not the best program to fit my personality.
 
bwells,

I interviewed at FSU on 11/4. You?
 
MrBurns10 said:
EM is something I'm thinking about too (although you seem set on it already)...and I really liked how Jackson had their ED set up, with completely separate sides for surgeries, obstetrical emergencies, medical emergencies, etc. Much better than the cramped ED where I've done shifts at my undergrad med center.
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Does Jackson even have an EM residency program? I was under the impression that the structure of their ER precluded a program in the first place.
 
medgator said:
Does Jackson even have an EM residency program? I was under the impression that the structure of their ER precluded a program in the first place.
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Apparently they don't. But for some reason I remember them saying we got a lot of ED exposure as med students... Anyone know if that's the case?
 
unfrozencaveman said:
Apparently they don't. But for some reason I remember them saying we got a lot of ED exposure as med students... Anyone know if that's the case?
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If all the patients are triaged into med, surg, or OB right as they walk in the door, you really aren't getting a true "ER" exposure. ER is just a grab bag of everything (which is why some people love it). You're part internist, part surgeon, part pediatrician, part obstetrician, part cardiologist, and heck even some psychiatry thrown in for good measure.
 
medgator said:
If all the patients are triaged into med, surg, or OB right as they walk in the door, you really aren't getting a true "ER" exposure. ER is just a grab bag of everything (which is why some people love it). You're part internist, part surgeon, part pediatrician, part obstetrician, part cardiologist, and heck even some psychiatry thrown in for good measure.
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So, is that a no?
 
unfrozencaveman said:
So, is that a no?
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Are you talking about at UM or in general medical education? I can't really comment on ED exposure in UM's curriculum although I could my ask my sister and get back to you. UF requires one month as a fourth year.
 
Gotcha. I wasn't sure what you were getting at with your first post. I'm half canadian.
 
unfrozencaveman said:
Really??

I'm still too blonde to figure out your orgo-tar
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Yes, really. My mom is Canadian. And don't feel bad; no one has figured this one out yet. I have finally made a pictogram I can be rightly proud of. 😎
 
QofQuimica said:
Yes, really. My mom is Canadian. And don't feel bad; no one has figured this one out yet. I have finally made a pictogram I can be rightly proud of. 😎
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i hate your bloody avatar!!! 😛
 
People, people, people...we were on page 5. What happened to the good 'ol days of 12312839 posts per day? With lack of better thread-resurrection material, I will tell a brief story.

One day, an incredibly attractive, intelligent, and humble young woman- we'll call her Mr. Burns- placed an ad on Craig's List trying to buy tickets for a highly coveted sports team as a Christmas present to her parents. She received a response from a young gentleman- we'll call him, Satan Incarnate- who proceeded to explain how he had tickets and offered them to her. After some bartering, they reached a very reasonable price. Mr. Burns proceeded to Western Union to send him cash (his request, her mistake), while he sent the tickets FedEx. The next day- we'll call that day "today"- when no tickets arrived, Mr. Burns called Satan Incarnate only to find his phone number had conveniently been disconnected.

Lessons learned from this little story:
1) even people who consider themselves somewhat intelligent with some semblance of common sense can be taken advantage of if they trust strangers too easily
2) the dishonest 2% of the population ruins everything for the honest 98%
3) Craig's List might not be the best idea after all
and, finally and most importantly:
4) never trust Satan

That is all. Continue on with the posting!

Edit: Oh, and I was joking about the incredibly attractive and intelligent part. Didn't want people to actually think I'm conceited. I look like unfrozencaveman's avatar more than anything...
 
MrBurns10 said:
People, people, people...we were on page 5. What happened to the good 'ol days of 12312839 posts per day? With lack of better thread-resurrection material, I will tell a brief story.

One day, an incredibly attractive, intelligent, and humble young woman- we'll call her Mr. Burns- placed an ad on Craig's List trying to buy tickets for a highly coveted sports team as a Christmas present to her parents. She received a response from a young gentleman- we'll call him, Satan Incarnate- who proceeded to explain how he had tickets and offered them to her. After some bartering, they reached a very reasonable price. Mr. Burns proceeded to Western Union to send him cash (his request, her mistake), while he sent the tickets FedEx. The next day- we'll call that day "today"- when no tickets arrived, Mr. Burns called Satan Incarnate only to find his phone number had conveniently been disconnected.

Lessons learned from this little story:
1) even people who consider themselves somewhat intelligent with some semblance of common sense can be taken advantage of if they trust strangers too easily
2) the dishonest 2% of the population ruins everything for the honest 98%
3) Craig's List might not be the best idea after all
and, finally and most importantly:
4) never trust Satan

That is all. Continue on with the posting!

Edit: Oh, and I was joking about the incredibly attractive and intelligent part. Didn't want people to actually think I'm conceted. I look like unfrozencaveman's avatar more than anything...
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Aw......I'm sorry to hear that you were ripped off. My friend was almost ripped off by Amazon and by Ebay when she was trying to get textbooks for cheaper. She ended up getting refunded though.
 
jj08 said:
should I be concerned that the status track says I don't exist in their system 😱 ? I called and they said that they had everything and that i am complete.
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mine says the same thing! did you ever get an answer?

---

I see (now that I've skimmed the whole thread) that you all have gotten interviews at the various FL schools. I'm a little behind, as my application was dependent upon my August MCAT. Did any of you ever get an actual notification from any of the FL schools as to whether your application was complete? Or did you simply get called/emailed regarding an interview?

I was without power/telephone/internet for 14 days after Wilma, so I'm feeling a bit paranoid that the schools may have tried to contact me during that time and couldn't reach me. I sent out emails to the schools to say as much...alas, no replies. Should I start calling the schools individually, or do they dislike being pestered? If anyone can offer me a sense of how any of these schools work, I'd appreciate it. Thanks & good luck to all of you! 🙂
 
About Miami's ER rotation... 4 weeks are required during your fourth year. I have heard great things from the MS4s about the rotation. I'm excited for it. That's all I know, now back to anatomy.
 
kkbmd2b said:
mine says the same thing! did you ever get an answer?

---

I see (now that I've skimmed the whole thread) that you all have gotten interviews at the various FL schools. I'm a little behind, as my application was dependent upon my August MCAT. Did any of you ever get an actual notification from any of the FL schools as to whether your application was complete? Or did you simply get called/emailed regarding an interview?

I was without power/telephone/internet for 14 days after Wilma, so I'm feeling a bit paranoid that the schools may have tried to contact me during that time and couldn't reach me. I sent out emails to the schools to say as much...alas, no replies. Should I start calling the schools individually, or do they dislike being pestered? If anyone can offer me a sense of how any of these schools work, I'd appreciate it. Thanks & good luck to all of you! 🙂
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UF and USF will email you when your file is complete, and I believe Miami did as well. They will all email you to set up an interview as well; UF and USF also called by telephone, and Miami also sent a package in the mail. How long has it been since you sent your email to the schools? I'd give them a week to respond before calling; they're all pretty good about responding to emails, but it does take a few days sometimes.
 
So I'm going to withdraw from UF. The question is, do I do so in an e-mail or in a letter? Of the places I've withdrawn from pre-interview, I've done so in an e-mail; post-interview, in a letter. UF hasn't said a word to me since they said I was complete three months ago, but for some reason I feel like this one should be in a letter (but maybe that's because I'm going to say something about how it would have been nice had they ever contacted me, and I don't want them to e-mail me back).

What do you guys think?

Also, I was just wondering...for you OOS-ers who've recently received interviews at UM, for when did you schedule your interviews?
 
Why are you withdrawing from UF? Because you havn't heard anything? Did you decide on Miami?
 
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