- Joined
- Jun 8, 2010
- Messages
- 1,478
- Reaction score
- 2
Ok, so here's my brief NSU review for those who are interested.
The first thing we did upon arrival was meet in a conference room where we all waited for the last guy to come in for about 15 minutes or so. First thing I noticed was how talkative/friendly everyone was. It was awesome getting to know everyone on our own and just cracking jokes/having a good time. Then we watched a semi-dated video with the famous dean and his handlebar mustache, followed by a speech from one of the adcom members.
Then we got split up in two groups where one went for a tour and the other stayed back to interview. I went on the tour first and it was amazing. Our tour guides were brutally honest about everything and didn't feel the need to sell the school at all. They told us about the bad things (which there were few) without reservations and that made a big impact on me because it really showed how happy they were and that they had nothing to hide or play up. What I really liked was they have this system of breaking down the pretty big class into like 5-6 'families' or something where each one sticks together does a lot of the academic stuff together. It's a really smart idea and apparently each 'family' (forgot the actual term) becomes tight-knit a la Harry Potter and Griffindor/Slytherin/etc. One of my tour guides was part of the Burns family and he was sporting a shirt with Burns on the back and I just thought that was pretty cool and fun.
We toured the facilities and the usual stuff and then went back to do our interviews. The interview was 2 on 1 open file and was really short - only about 20 minutes. They told us to forget all of our rehearsed answers and be honest so they could just get to know us personally. I think they're just looking to see if we fit their mold of a social/personable/passionate person to go with the numbers. One thing I really liked about the school is that they have like dozens of SCHOOL-SPONSORED international trips to places all over the world. It's really established and the fact that its not run completely by students makes it seem more legitimate to me as compared to international trips other schools have.
Then we went up for lunch and had a really nice personalized lunch in another conference room with sandwiches and wraps. The whole day we had students with us answering questions and just chatting with us, the lunch was no different. Then we had another serious speech by one of the vice-deans who broke down the whole Nova experience from start to finish with all the nitty-gritty details of the program. It seemed the whole staff really understood that we'll be getting accepted to a lot of places and to look deep down and choose where we would really be happy and not just go to a school thats all numbers driven with no personality or chance to develop non-academically.
Then we were let go and had the opportunity to take some shuttles to tour the rest of the campus if we wanted to.
The main thing I liked about Nova is that I feel like its a place where I WANT to be and where I'll ENJOY studying for two or more years. I really believe you'll be the best student you can if you enjoy where you are. There's so many things to do around campus it's awesome, I would love to explore the place as a med student. I also liked how my tour guide said after midterms everyone gets together and hits south beach or something at night to celebrate. I just cant help but think how much I'd WANT to get to exam days knowing south beach is waiting for me after lol. Also our interview group was just awesome, we all had a great time and grew together and I almost wanted to get everyone's numbers at the end to keep in touch. It would be great if we all got accepted and a lot of us ended up attending together.
Anyways, that's about it, I'm really hoping for an acceptance now 👍
Nice summary, man. I'm glad to hear that you liked it so much. The "family" groups sound like a nice way to bolster some friendly competition. It's probably great for sporting events as well.
Now I'm even more excited to interview here.