Nova Southeastern University (NSU-COM) Discussion Thread 2016-2017

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Accepted! Crazy! Interviewed 3 weeks ago.

For those who want to know, LM ~65. Bad MCAT; good GPA. Great EC's and LOR's.

Did they ask you about your MCAT score?

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Cancelled my interview on Mar 7. Hope it will come to one of those who are waiting!
 
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wondering when the next round of post-interview decisions will be sent out
 
Been hoping we would hear some good news this Friday (Today), this thread has been very quiet lately
 
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Does nova only do silent rejections post-interview? I feel like I haven't seen an actual rejection in this thread yet
 
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Hey guys, anyone here a current NSU student? I have a question about why they charge money for their reviews. They seem to have developed this model where their class reviews are run by different clubs, so the clubs use it as a chance to raise money and CHARGE the students to attend exam reviews. That just seems really screwed up to me. Sure the clubs have to earn money, but you're restricting access to exam reviews to those who can afford to attend. And the reviews are run in many cases by the fellows, who are basically employed by the school to stay behind a year and teach. Are there free exam reviews? What about tutoring for struggling students? This just gives me a very money-grubbing vibe.
 
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Does nova only do silent rejections post-interview? I feel like I haven't seen an actual rejection in this thread yet
2 people from my interview group (in august) recieved a post-II denial letter 1 month after our interview.

Most people just don't like putting their business in da street
 
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Hey guys, anyone here a current NSU student? I have a question about why they charge money for their reviews. They seem to have developed this model where their class reviews are run by different clubs, so the clubs use it as a chance to raise money and CHARGE the students to attend exam reviews. That just seems really screwed up to me. Sure the clubs have to earn money, but you're restricting access to exam reviews to those who can afford to attend. And the reviews are run in many cases by the fellows, who are basically employed by the school to stay behind a year and teach. Are there free exam reviews? What about tutoring for struggling students? This just gives me a very money-grubbing vibe.
Afford to attend? Almost everyone takes out loans so money shouldn't be a major problem if it's going to help you with your grades.
 
Hey guys, anyone here a current NSU student? I have a question about why they charge money for their reviews. They seem to have developed this model where their class reviews are run by different clubs, so the clubs use it as a chance to raise money and CHARGE the students to attend exam reviews. That just seems really screwed up to me. Sure the clubs have to earn money, but you're restricting access to exam reviews to those who can afford to attend. And the reviews are run in many cases by the fellows, who are basically employed by the school to stay behind a year and teach. Are there free exam reviews? What about tutoring for struggling students? This just gives me a very money-grubbing vibe.

Exam reviews are done by different clubs and a fee is charged or it is included with joining specific clubs. Some students put on review sessions
And donate the proceeds to charity. There is also free tutoring put on by the MBS students during lunch. If you are failing a class you qualify for free tutoring with an MBS student who got an A in that class the year before. Other than OPP usually tutoring is only required your first year for classes like physiology or micro (second year you start systems). Unfortunately medical school is expensive but tutoring is well worth paying for if it helps you pass a class!
 
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Afford to attend? Almost everyone takes out loans so money shouldn't be a major problem if it's going to help you with your grades.
Even with loans, for a student with 4 kids, being able to throw down $20-30 for a tutoring session every other week is just not realistic.
 
Exam reviews are done by different clubs and a fee is charged or it is included with joining specific clubs. Some students put on review sessions
And donate the proceeds to charity. There is also free tutoring put on by the MBS students during lunch. If you are failing a class you qualify for free tutoring with an MBS student who got an A in that class the year before. Other than OPP usually tutoring is only required your first year for classes like physiology or micro (second year you start systems). Unfortunately medical school is expensive but tutoring is well worth paying for if it helps you pass a class!
Thanks for that info. My biggest concern is the school not supporting students who struggle. Not that I plan to have that problem, it's more of a reflection on the character of the school.
 
Even with loans, for a student with 4 kids, being able to throw down $20-30 for a tutoring session every other week is just not realistic.
Understandable. Raising a family is very tough while in med school.

As for tutoring, do most students go to those sessions? I find myself to be an independent learner, but I keep hearing that even those types of learners realize that they need tutoring once in med school.
 
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Understandable. Raising a family is very tough while in med school.

As for tutoring, do most students go to those sessions? I find myself to be an independent learner, but I keep hearing that even those types of learners realize that they need tutoring once in med school.
Some students have reached out and said about half the class goes to ones led by the fellows. Again, I've never heard of a school charging to attend review sessions. Private tutoring, sure, but never review sessions. Just gives me a yucky feeling. I have a masters in anatomy, so I'll try to offer free reviews of gross anatomy when that time comes.
 
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Hey guys, anyone here a current NSU student? I have a question about why they charge money for their reviews. They seem to have developed this model where their class reviews are run by different clubs, so the clubs use it as a chance to raise money and CHARGE the students to attend exam reviews. That just seems really screwed up to me. Sure the clubs have to earn money, but you're restricting access to exam reviews to those who can afford to attend. And the reviews are run in many cases by the fellows, who are basically employed by the school to stay behind a year and teach. Are there free exam reviews? What about tutoring for struggling students? This just gives me a very money-grubbing vibe.

In addition to what zafonte has already mentioned, there are study tables every Tues/Thurs from 6:30pm-9:30pm. I haven't been on campus in 2 years so I don't know if they're still around (maybe a current M1 or M2 can comment on that), but they're basically free walk-in tutoring sessions. There are student tutors available for every subject for that semester, and you literally just walk in and ask questions. For every subject, there is a quiet study room and a review room. Quiet study is when you just sit and study on your own at your own pace and there's a tutor in there in case you have a question. The review room is self explanatory- the tutors will go through the material page by page and you can ask questions along the way. If it's the week of a major exam, the tutors will organize a more formal (also free) review in one of the auditoriums. Study tables were created to make tutoring more affordable to people that weren't failing classes and/or who didn't want to pay the $30/hr for private tutoring.

I agree, I think it's ridiculous to have students pay for tutoring. Study tables were great since the tutors were getting paid by the school, and therefore were providing a service and had incentive to put work into it. At the same time it was at no cost to the student who wanted the tutoring. I hope study tables are still around - mostly because when I was an M2 I worked really hard to make them happen :rolleyes:

Understandable. Raising a family is very tough while in med school.

As for tutoring, do most students go to those sessions? I find myself to be an independent learner, but I keep hearing that even those types of learners realize that they need tutoring once in med school.

If it's a hard subject and/or a well know tutor, then there will be a high show rate. In addition, tutors will drop hints and TQs, so there's definitely an advantage to going to reviews. If you have nice classmates they might share what they learned in the reviews in case people couldn't attend or couldn't pay. That varies by class though.
 
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Current M1...there's tons of tutoring and reviews. The only thing I've ever paid for was one by a former student who gives you all high yield, and you have to pay because he needs incentive to take time out of residency to help us. Other than that, though, the only other "must-attend" reviews are the anatomy lab ones which are free if you're a SOSA member, which it seems like almost everyone is. I don't go to reviews or tutoring, but I could go to a ton of them and not pay a cent. You can get all the reviews and tutoring you could ever hope for for free. They're overrated anyway. When you're counting down the hours to the exam, your time is better spent going over lectures again (or the first time) rather than wasting time driving around. Feel free to PM me for whatever...
 
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Anyone else have no response since completion? I thought Nova doesn't silent reject...
 
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Anyone else have no response since completion? I thought Nova doesn't silent reject...

I've had no response since July. I've called the admissions office twice this cycle and each time they tell me the same thing. "Your file is currently under review." I called them today and they said the same thing.
 
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I've had no response since July. I've called the admissions office twice this cycle and each time they tell me the same thing. "Your file is currently under review." I called them today and they said the same thing.
Ughh wow. Same here, I've called them 3 times already. I'm guessing it's an implicit rejection seeing that all the interview dates are full. If they'd just interview me (and accept me) I'd 100% attend, since I live 5 minutes away from campus. Is it a GPA thing? I've noticed a couple other applicants not getting any response with <3.4 even with decent MCAT.
 
Did they ask you about your MCAT score?

They did not. However when I talked to another interviewee, they asked about their C in a class. I also had one C, but didn't get asked about it. I mainly got asked why I waited to go to college/why it took me 5 years to complete. So they tend to focus on your "biggest gap" in your application - if they ask at all. It's a short interview that they try to fit a lot of questions in, so if they do ask just give a good answer and move on
 
If we don't hear decisions by next week, I bet we wont hear them the week after either cause that's spring break


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Would I be a competative applicant here with a 3.85+ cgpa, 3.85+ sgpa and 506 mcat?


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Your stats are def competitive, but keep in mind that competitive stats don't automatically equate to an II.


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Yeah I understand that for sure, just wanted to make sure I had a realistic shot here!


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Would I be a competative applicant here with a 3.85+ cgpa, 3.85+ sgpa and 506 mcat?


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ive been accepted here, interviewed back in september, with identical stats
 
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They did not. However when I talked to another interviewee, they asked about their C in a class. I also had one C, but didn't get asked about it. I mainly got asked why I waited to go to college/why it took me 5 years to complete. So they tend to focus on your "biggest gap" in your application - if they ask at all. It's a short interview that they try to fit a lot of questions in, so if they do ask just give a good answer and move on

awesome, thank you!! and good luck! I will be applying this summer :)
 
Would anyone mind sharing what this school's grading system is like? (P/F, A-F or whatever) & also, does anyone knows if they rank the students

Most classes are A-F. Few easy ones are P/F. They rank all the students. When I was there (graduated in 2016) they had just added + and - grades to the GPA but I'm not sure if they still do that. They usually curve the hard classes which is nice. I believe no more than 10% of students can fail a class. Some of the current students may way in on this if I forgot anything.
 
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Most classes are A-F. Few easy ones are P/F. They rank all the students. When I was there (graduated in 2016) they had just added + and - grades to the GPA but I'm not sure if they still do that. They usually curve the hard classes which is nice. I believe no more than 10% of students can fail a class. Some of the current students may way in on this if I forgot anything.

Awesome thanks I appreciate it
 
Would anyone mind sharing what this school's grading system is like? (P/F, A-F or whatever) & also, does anyone knows if they rank the students

Current M1. They do not give letter grades anymore. Instead you just get a numerical grade. All grades are averaged and weighted by hours to get the cumulative GPA. Some classes are P/F like IGC, BLS, and the Tobacco Cessation class we take and these are not reflected in the cumulative GPA. Class rank is given at the beginning of the M2 year.
 
Would anyone mind sharing what this school's grading system is like? (P/F, A-F or whatever) & also, does anyone knows if they rank the students

Most classes are A-F. Few easy ones are P/F. They rank all the students. When I was there (graduated in 2016) they had just added + and - grades to the GPA but I'm not sure if they still do that. They usually curve the hard classes which is nice. I believe no more than 10% of students can fail a class. Some of the current students may way in on this if I forgot anything.

Ours were percentage; not sure if that's what you mean by A-F. The GPA percentage was then calculated by averaging out the percentage grades and weighing them based on the number of GPA hours (credits) for each class.

Also w/ regards to ranking- the MBS students take the more difficult courses the year before without having to worry about other classes like OPP, physical diagnoses, and humanism. As a result they tend to perform better and would have an advantage if they were included in the general class ranking. However, they're apparently ranked alongside the regular class, instead of mixed in with it. This means that more than one person can be given a specific rank.
 
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Ours were percentage; not sure if that's what you mean by A-F. The GPA percentage was then calculated by averaging out the percentage grades and weighing them based on the number of GPA hours (credits) for each class.

Also w/ regards to ranking- the MBS students take the more difficult courses the year before without having to worry about other classes like OPP, physical diagnoses, and humanism. As a result they tend to perform better and would have an advantage if they were included in the general class ranking. However, they're apparently ranked alongside the regular class, instead of mixed in with it. This means that more than one person can be given a specific rank.

At our graduation the top GPA was given to an MBS student. We never really knew how they were ranked in comparison to students taking the full class load. If you aren't top 10% doesn't really matter in the end though.
 
I interviewed some applicants from NSU this past cycle and there are rumors/talk I'm curious about:

1. Where is the incoming MD class being housed? I initially heard it was the North Miami campus but now I hear the DO class may be moved there?

2. I hear the research center is only partially leased at this point? What are the chancellor's grand plans for it?

3. I hear they're building the new plantation hospital around the stand alone ER in university plaza? When is it scheduled for completion?

4. Why did they not simply call it the NSU College of Medicine?

If they move the DO students to the North Miami campus they aren't getting a single dollar in donations from me. All of what they've done is great PR from the outside looking in but unless things have changed drastically since my time there, it strikes me as a money/prestige move at the expense of not pouring in existing resources to make the DO program better.
 
I interviewed some applicants from NSU this past cycle and there are rumors/talk I'm curious about:

1. Where is the incoming MD class being housed? I initially heard it was the North Miami campus but now I hear the DO class may be moved there?

2. I hear the research center is only partially leased at this point? What are the chancellor's grand plans for it?

3. I hear they're building the new plantation hospital around the stand alone ER in university plaza? When is it scheduled for completion?

4. Why did they not simply call it the NSU College of Medicine?

If they move the DO students to the North Miami campus they aren't getting a single dollar in donations from me. All of what they've done is great PR from the outside looking in but unless things have changed drastically since my time there, it strikes me as a money/prestige move at the expense of not pouring in existing resources to make the DO program better.


In regards to #3, are you talking about the hospital they're building that's right next to the main campus? I was told it would be done in 2018. To #1, I asked this question during my interview a few months ago but didn't get a decisive answer, I assume they're still working out all those details.
 
I interviewed some applicants from NSU this past cycle and there are rumors/talk I'm curious about:

1. Where is the incoming MD class being housed? I initially heard it was the North Miami campus but now I hear the DO class may be moved there?

2. I hear the research center is only partially leased at this point? What are the chancellor's grand plans for it?

3. I hear they're building the new plantation hospital around the stand alone ER in university plaza? When is it scheduled for completion?

4. Why did they not simply call it the NSU College of Medicine?

If they move the DO students to the North Miami campus they aren't getting a single dollar in donations from me. All of what they've done is great PR from the outside looking in but unless things have changed drastically since my time there, it strikes me as a money/prestige move at the expense of not pouring in existing resources to make the DO program better.
I remember they said the allopathic college would fill classes of about 70-80 students, so I highly doubt they'd move it into a space accommodated for 250. It seems more likely that they would put the new school on a separate campus or perhaps in a building attached to the new hospital.
 
Hey everyone! I have a question - is anyone here accepted to an MD school and choosing Nova over it this year, or are there any current Nova med students who chose Nova over an MD school? If so, what were your reasons?
 
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Does anyone know if you are supposed to get a phone call or receive an email upon acceptance?


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Does anyone know if you are supposed to get a phone call or receive an email upon acceptance?


Don't think they do acceptance calls. Everyone in this thread has reported email acceptances followed by letter in the mail.
 
not everyone who applies to osteopathic school is applying there because they cant get into allopathic school lol

I know, but a lot of people do apply to both and get in to both. So my question is for those who did and why those ultimately chose Nova. Would appreciate any private messages on this topic
 
Anyone know how many interviews NSU had/will have this year? Been reading past forums and it sounds like they've been sending fewer invites in the past couple years.

At interview day they said 11k primaries completed, 7k secondaries completed, 5.5k secondaries completed "that met standards", and about 10% interview rate from the 5.5k (so about 550). I'm assuming "met standards" meant competitive gpa and mcat. It was also mentioned that last year around 100 were pulled from the waitlist, and to expect something similar this year.
 
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I interviewed some applicants from NSU this past cycle and there are rumors/talk I'm curious about:

1. Where is the incoming MD class being housed? I initially heard it was the North Miami campus but now I hear the DO class may be moved there?

2. I hear the research center is only partially leased at this point? What are the chancellor's grand plans for it?

3. I hear they're building the new plantation hospital around the stand alone ER in university plaza? When is it scheduled for completion?

4. Why did they not simply call it the NSU College of Medicine?

If they move the DO students to the North Miami campus they aren't getting a single dollar in donations from me. All of what they've done is great PR from the outside looking in but unless things have changed drastically since my time there, it strikes me as a money/prestige move at the expense of not pouring in existing resources to make the DO program better.

From my research and what I was told on interview day:

1) Allopathic program will be 50 students and housed at the North Miami campus (tentatively). The program is scheduled to start in 2018, but don't be surprised if it isn't until 2019.

2) Not sure, but supposedly the COM recently overtook oceanography as the program with the most funding from research grants.

3) Hospital is supposed to be built around currently free standing ER and the university plaza will be demolished. It will be 200 beds with the capacity for 350 and will likely not be finished for another 2-3 years. It is really just the plantation hospital moving, and the dean herself said it will likely never be a major clinical site. Only a handful of students rotating until residency positions are set up (she seemed very concerned with making sure all core hospitals had GME).

4) I have no idea
 
Does anyone know if you are supposed to get a phone call or receive an email upon acceptance?


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You will get a mysterious email directing you to a link for a video that turns out to be a welcome message from the dean, followed by a more formal congrats email
 
I know this has been mentioned before but can any current students comment on the apartment complex 33 West, do any students live there/like it? What is the area like? I have to get a lease kind of early because of my previous lease ending and would love to know if anyone has any input on the apartment complexes nearby. Thanks a bunch - feel free to PM me!
 
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At interview day they said 11k primaries completed, 7k secondaries completed, 5.5k secondaries completed "that met standards", and about 10% interview rate from the 5.5k (so about 550). I'm assuming "met standards" meant competitive gpa and mcat. It was also mentioned that last year around 100 were pulled from the waitlist, and to expect something similar this year.

Holy crap, 11k primaries? That's insane! I'm glad I applied 4 years ago since I probably wouldn't get accepted if I was applying nowadays
 
Holy crap, 11k primaries? That's insane! I'm glad I applied 4 years ago since I probably wouldn't get accepted if I was applying nowadays
I know George Washington U gets like ~13k primaries lol
 
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