NSU-COM Discussion Thread 2010-2011

[VeeTeeHokies]

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You're right VT, the school was freaking awesome and I liked it a lot. I'm not really sure what to say, but I pretty much feel the same as Mega in his review.

The interview was so chill, but I was pretty nervous so I definitely didn't do my best. I just hope I get accepted

Anyways, off to bed. I'm tired...



How was your flight back dude?

I didn't do my best either and was definitely unsure of what to expect from them, BUT provisionally accepted. I say you're in pretty good shape unless you absolutely bombed it.

 

[Sinfest]

I'm sure it went well and that acceptance will be coming any time now. 😉

Thanks 🙂

Your interview is coming up soon right? Good luck! Like everyone else said, the whole day is so low-stress.

I didn't do my best either and was definitely unsure of what to expect from them, BUT provisionally accepted. I say you're in pretty good shape unless you absolutely bombed it.

Let's hope so dude. One of my interviewers said I "did well" at the end, but I don't know if he was serious or just saying it to be nice

 

[MightyMoose]

Thanks 🙂

Your interview is coming up soon right? Good luck! Like everyone else said, the whole day is so low-stress.



Let's hope so dude. One of my interviewers said I "did well" at the end, but I don't know if he was serious or just saying it to be nice

Not until the end of October. I ended up booking my flight the day I got the interview, so I couldn't shift my interview once more became available... 🙁 At any rate, I should have plenty of practice by the time I interview there, so I'm hoping that practice makes perfect. 🙂

If your interviewer said you did well, I would take that at face value, there is no reason for them to say it if you didn't. 😉

 

[MightyMoose]

I didn't do my best either and was definitely unsure of what to expect from them, BUT provisionally accepted. I say you're in pretty good shape unless you absolutely bombed it.

I think that = accepted doesn't it? Why are people posting "provisionally?" Do you guys still have coursework to complete? Granted they still have to do background checks, verify transcripts, etc., but so do other schools and they just say "Accepted."

Congrats, btw!

 

[Longshanks]

I think that = accepted doesn't it? Why are people posting "provisionally?" Do you guys still have coursework to complete? Granted they still have to do background checks, verify transcripts, etc., but so do other schools and they just say "Accepted."

Congrats, btw!

I think people are saying that because that's the terminology NSU apparently uses, but I believe this is because everyone is provisional until you submit matriculation material, such as final transcripts, physician LOR, CBC, etc..

 

[milkycow]

I am withdrawing my interview for 11/4 if anyone wants it. Good luck everyone.

 

[VeeTeeHokies]

I think that = accepted doesn't it? Why are people posting "provisionally?" Do you guys still have coursework to complete? Granted they still have to do background checks, verify transcripts, etc., but so do other schools and they just say "Accepted."

Congrats, btw!

I think people are saying that because that's the terminology NSU apparently uses, but I believe this is because everyone is provisional until you submit matriculation material, such as final transcripts, physician LOR, CBC, etc..

Longshanks is correct, all NSU acceptances are "provisional." I think this is just saying that as long as you complete everything required of you in order to matriculate then you are accepted. It just seems to be a way of clarifying that you still need to get your ducks in a row in order to matriculate there.

 

[reitrujillo]

Hi guys, I'm an M1 this year and i remember it was only a few months ago I was on the 2009-2010 forum desperately waiting to be accepted..luckily i did about a week and a half before classes started. Anyway, if this year is anything like last year, i can tell you that those of you who have already interviewed or are currently interviewing will pretty much have a spot for the class of 2015. As long as you aren't a sociopath in your interview you will be fine. If you do get put on the waitlist (or alternate list as they call it)..you will start receiving an email from either ellen rondino or dr.whitehead asking if you would still like to stay on the waitlist...if you really want to go to nova, i would keep answering YES...continue updating Ellen Rondino with any updates in extra curriculars..etc etc..that goes a long way..if you guys have any questions you can PM me here on studentdoc. Best of Luck

REi

 

[lovemed1c1ne]

Hi guys, I'm an M1 this year and i remember it was only a few months ago I was on the 2009-2010 forum desperately waiting to be accepted..luckily i did about a week and a half before classes started. Anyway, if this year is anything like last year, i can tell you that those of you who have already interviewed or are currently interviewing will pretty much have a spot for the class of 2015. As long as you aren't a sociopath in your interview you will be fine. If you do get put on the waitlist (or alternate list as they call it)..you will start receiving an email from either ellen rondino or dr.whitehead asking if you would still like to stay on the waitlist...if you really want to go to nova, i would keep answering YES...continue updating Ellen Rondino with any updates in extra curriculars..etc etc..that goes a long way..if you guys have any questions you can PM me here on studentdoc. Best of Luck

REi

Thanks for the post! I interviewed a few days ago and felt it went fine but am still not fully confident about getting an acceptance, so thanks for the perspective. I fell in love with the school when I was there so I hope you're right!

 

[Sinfest]

Hi guys, I'm an M1 this year and i remember it was only a few months ago I was on the 2009-2010 forum desperately waiting to be accepted..luckily i did about a week and a half before classes started. Anyway, if this year is anything like last year, i can tell you that those of you who have already interviewed or are currently interviewing will pretty much have a spot for the class of 2015. As long as you aren't a sociopath in your interview you will be fine. If you do get put on the waitlist (or alternate list as they call it)..you will start receiving an email from either ellen rondino or dr.whitehead asking if you would still like to stay on the waitlist...if you really want to go to nova, i would keep answering YES...continue updating Ellen Rondino with any updates in extra curriculars..etc etc..that goes a long way..if you guys have any questions you can PM me here on studentdoc. Best of Luck

REi

That's comforting to hear. I hope you're right

Thanks 🙂

 

[reitrujillo]

Thanks for the post! I interviewed a few days ago and felt it went fine but am still not fully confident about getting an acceptance, so thanks for the perspective. I fell in love with the school when I was there so I hope you're right!

Ur welcome, If you got an interview that means they are interested in having you as a student. I personally interviewed late (on jan 28) and was on the waitlist until a week and a half before classes started. I was pretty nervous at my interview as well and I felt like half of the interview went well and half of the interview I bombed. So if you feel good about the interview, I think you a pretty much set. At this point in the appication season the turn around time for an acceptance is a few days to a couple of weeks, it all depends on when the admissions committee meets with the people who interviewed you. If any one here on the board has any questions/concerns throughout this process, please feel free to PM me. Like I said before, I was in your shoes not too long ago and I remember what it was like to wait and find out if you will "make it". ; ) Best of luck to you guys..I hope to see you next fall..

 

[Longshanks]

Ur welcome, If you got an interview that means they are interested in having you as a student. I personally interviewed late (on jan 28) and was on the waitlist until a week and a half before classes started. I was pretty nervous at my interview as well and I felt like half of the interview went well and half of the interview I bombed. So if you feel good about the interview, I think you a pretty much set. At this point in the appication season the turn around time for an acceptance is a few days to a couple of weeks, it all depends on when the admissions committee meets with the people who interviewed you. If any one here on the board has any questions/concerns throughout this process, please feel free to PM me. Like I said before, I was in your shoes not too long ago and I remember what it was like to wait and find out if you will "make it". ; ) Best of luck to you guys..I hope to see you next fall..

Well, anyone who interviewed today, they said they would try to bring to committee by next week, otherwise we'd hear back in three weeks. Just so people know if they are curious.

To those who interviewed, good luck and nice meeting you all.

 

[BigBoosting]

Anyone's requirements table on Webstar still not filled out?

MCAT Score
Recom Ltr, Non-Science
Recom Ltr, Science 1
Recom Ltr, Science 2
Supplemental Application

 

[seap3]

Mine are still not filled out.

 

[jinobi]

Anyone's requirements table on Webstar still not filled out?

MCAT Score
Recom Ltr, Non-Science
Recom Ltr, Science 1
Recom Ltr, Science 2
Supplemental Application

Just called NSU. They update their webstar statuses at intervals, and the date when they update ours has not come yet. I was assured that the admissions committee would receive all our materials by the interview day.

 

[bautile]

You're right VT, the school was freaking awesome and I liked it a lot. I'm not really sure what to say, but I pretty much feel the same as Mega in his review.

The interview was so chill, but I was pretty nervous so I definitely didn't do my best. I just hope I get accepted

Anyways, off to bed. I'm tired...



How was your flight back dude?

Pretty long and uneventful man, you and matt should have doubled me up hahaha, at least it would have gone by faster...

anyway, I know there's already a summary of the day but if anyone wants another perspective (even though it's pretty similar) here you go:

***btw, this is pretty detailed, and there are spoilers 😛***

I got in at 7am that morning after taking the red eye from LAX. I ran on 2 hours of sleep the entire day and I'm pretty sure it was adrenaline that kept me going the entire time. I picked up a rental and drove to NSU, which is not too far away ~15/20mins from the airport. Now I was warned it was wet season, but i thought to myself, ok so it will rain a little bit. WRONG! It poured. Literally like driving through a waterfall at certain points.
Word of advice, if you are driving in with a rental, you are pretty much going to have to drive to the 4th/5th floor of the parking garage because everything is packed.
I got in literally at 8:45 and signed in, picked up my name tag and walked into the conference room. It was awkward right when I walked in, it seemed like everybody was avoiding eye contact with each other and absolutely no one was talking. So I suggested a little icebreaker and it kind of relieved the tension a little bit.
Ellen Rondino walked in at 9am and she showed us a video of the school and its different programs and afterward, she let us know that we were splitting up into two groups. ***SPOILER ALERT*** It may not be a big deal but your name tag has a number one or two on the bottom right hand corner and that will tell you what group your in.
I was lucky enough to draw group one 😛 and was the very first one to interview. It was awesome, I walked into the wrong room right off the bat. But anyway, the interview flew by. I was really nervous the first few questions to the point where I literally stumbled on my words and forgot what I had said 2 seconds earlier. It didn't help that my interviewers had the best poker faces in the world either (but I did manage to get some smiles at the end of some of my answers.) When I finally got more comfortable and my answers were becoming coherent, the interview ended. I thought it was odd because I didn't get the chance to ask any questions I had prepared.
There is about 40 minutes of downtime during the interview where Ellen Rondino will answer any of your questions and you can talk to the other applicants in your group. There are 3 interview "teams" of two interviewers each. If I am not mistaken, they had access to your file, but did not have access to your letters of recommendation.
The tour was awesome. Our tour guides were super enthusiastic and brutally honest answering our questions. Although they were both M1s (I think) they seemed like they had been there for a while and definitely knew the ins and outs of Nova. What I appreciated most was that the student body and the different faculty that saw us touring wished us good luck and were very friendly.
At noon, we had an hour for lunch. Nothing out of the ordinary, sandwiches and wraps, but the cookies were definitely the best item there. They had an M3, OMM fellow present during lunch and he was honest with his answers as well. There were only two applicants that really talked to him the entire time, everyone else kind of let their hair down and chatted with their neighbors. (I had a pretty hefty discussion regarding US politics e.g. Healthcare, Afghanistan/Iraq, Park51).
The day concluded with an hour "presentation" from someone who was in the higher ranks at the college (I honestly feel bad that I don't remember who it was, but the two hours and the stress of the interview had caught up at this point.) Although he was trying to sell the school, he also knew that we would have our choices at the schools we were going to attend, and he emphasized that ultimately, we needed to pick the school that would have the best fit, and where we would be happy spending ~4 years of our lives. Afterward, we had the option of touring the campus BUT it is not a guided tour, you are on your own to get on the shuttles and walk around the facilities.

Whew, that was a lot to type. It kinda looks like a dear diary entry but I hope it helps some folks regarding what to expect. I was kind of disappointed that we didn't have a chance to meet the dean but apparently he was held up at another meeting. Hopefully I will get to meet him in August 😉 as I really did fall in love with the school.

Oh, I interviewed on Sept 28 and I didn't include any interview questions because they were mostly from my file. They really do read pretty closely into your file too so make sure you know it. I did get two "standard" questions: "describe yourself" and "tell us what you think the biggest issue in healthcare today and what is your stance."

I hope I covered it all but if you have anymore questions, feel free to ask. 🙂

 

[zetabetazeta]

I called NSU today and canceled my interview..I hope it goes to those who are still waiting on an interview invite from them. Good luck! 🙂

 

[MSwannabe]

I interviewed Sept 30th it was exactly as MightyMoose mentioned in his review. Low stress even though I was still a little nervous. Get sleep, I laid on my friends floor all night and never passed out. I felt I could have done much better in the interview with a little shut eye.

Overall it went well, the questions were personal so its not really one you can have memorized answers to which is good so you dont sound like a robot, and I made them laugh when I said I didnt like Calculus. The facilities are top notch and the students and faculty were all very nice. So far its my #1 choice

good luck everyone

 

[futuredoc4432]

Now I was warned it was wet season, but i thought to myself, ok so it will rain a little bit. WRONG! It poured. Literally like driving through a waterfall at certain points.

It was awkward right when I walked in, it seemed like everybody was avoiding eye contact with each other and absolutely no one was talking.

I was lucky enough to draw group one 😛 and was the very first one to interview.

When I finally got more comfortable and my answers were becoming coherent, the interview ended. I thought it was odd because I didn't get the chance to ask any questions I had prepared.

The tour was awesome.

The day concluded with an hour "presentation" from someone who was in the higher ranks at the college

Oh, I interviewed on Sept 28 and I didn't include any interview questions because they were mostly from my file. They really do read pretty closely into your file too so make sure you know it.

that rain was like being in a jungle

it was soo awkward, I as there about 15 minutes before you got in and it was literally silence the entire time, especially on the other side of the table where i was sitting

i got stuck with group 2, i could hardly pay attention during my tour so that kinda sucked. however they told me that i was more interesting than the people they interviewed earlier so i guess it worked out for me.

the interview did seem very short, a lot of stuff was not covered.

the tour was awesome. enough said. great campus.

the guy at the end was some vice dean i think. i really wanted to meet the dean with his moustache.

my interview questions were definitely made just for me because they asked pretty specific things from my file so don't try to use memorized answers. they just want to talk to you. most of my interview we didn't even talk about medicine.

 

[bautile]

that rain was like being in a jungle

it was soo awkward, I as there about 15 minutes before you got in and it was literally silence the entire time, especially on the other side of the table where i was sitting

i got stuck with group 2, i could hardly pay attention during my tour so that kinda sucked. however they told me that i was more interesting than the people they interviewed earlier so i guess it worked out for me.

the interview did seem very short, a lot of stuff was not covered.

the tour was awesome. enough said. great campus.

the guy at the end was some vice dean i think. i really wanted to meet the dean with his moustache.

my interview questions were definitely made just for me because they asked pretty specific things from my file so don't try to use memorized answers. they just want to talk to you. most of my interview we didn't even talk about medicine.

😱 thats not a good sign hahahaha. If you don't mind my asking, who was on your interview committee? and which candidate were you?😛

 

[megathunder]

I interviewed Sept 30th it was exactly as MightyMoose mentioned in his review. Low stress even though I was still a little nervous. Get sleep, I laid on my friends floor all night and never passed out. I felt I could have done much better in the interview with a little shut eye.

Overall it went well, the questions were personal so its not really one you can have memorized answers to which is good so you dont sound like a robot, and I made them laugh when I said I didnt like Calculus. The facilities are top notch and the students and faculty were all very nice. So far its my #1 choice

good luck everyone

I don't think moose has interviewed here yet

 

[seegoods]

withdrew my application so my december 7 interview is now open for some other applicant. good luck everyone!

 

[llee8820]

I just filled out the online application, but it didn't ask for any LOR's. Does anyone know if they will ask that later or did I skip something?

 

[WhissleBlower]

Hi everyone, I'm in the NSUCOM class of 2014. First and foremost I wanted to let you all know that I'm happy with my decision to attend medical school. BUT there are some issues that I feel I should have been warned about b4 coming to school, so i just wanted to give you all a heads up about some of the bull$h!t u'll have to deal with. But plz don't let this freak you out too much and drive you away from NSU if this is where u want to be. Most of the issues occur at all schools, I just happen to see it firsthand at NSU.

First off, its important to access why u want to go to medical school. I don't know what the "right" reasons are... but I do know what some of the stupid reasons are. IF you want to be a doctor for money and/or job security, think about it this way. There are 4 years of med school that'll put me $300,000 dollars in debt(including the interest). Then there are 4 years of residency where bare minimum, I'll b putting in 80 hour weeks to get paid only $30,000 a year. After residency, a reasonable scenario if I don't do fellowship is to get paid $150,000 a year for the first few years and put in 70 hour weeks. So, roughly in a decade I'll have made a net of $120,000. Compare that to my friend who got a job with Intel out of college. He makes $60,000 a year working 40 hours a week. So if he put in 80 hour weeks like I have to, that's AT THE VERY LEAST $130,000 with overtime/bonuses and junk which is not even including promotions he would receive. So after a decade it comes out to $1,300,000. Pretty much what I'm getting at is, if anyone worked in their field as hard as students/doctors have to... they'd b loaded and have great job security. I know its not the greatest example cuz over time I'll probably make more than my friend... but who really knows. I could get sued and lose it all. Also he has much more upward mobility... if he were hired as upper management he'd b making much more than me.

Now onto my experiences at NSU, specifically. The administration here is terrible. I mean just awful, horrible, and pathetically bad at their jobs. They lose files, don't notify you if there are problems with ur registration, and just don't seem to care. On the plus side, there are a few who really really care and they will help you out... but its just a nightmare overall. I'm still trying to get my paperwork situated and I've been in school for 2 months. Like I said earlier though.... this pretty much holds true for ALL SCHOOLS from what I hear.

Now for the curriculum, my class of 2014 are being used as guinea pigs for courses called behavioral medicine, clinical reasoning, and medical spanish. These classes ARE SO WORTHLESS. All they do is eat up my time with busy work, add to my stress, and make me bitter. I literally have no time to study so these classes just compound the issue. From talking to ppl in the class of 2013, my workload is noticeably more hectic. I don't even have time to EVER watch tv (i mean never, ever watch tv... not even 5 min), whenever I eat.. I study while doing so, and I go to bed studying and wake up with a big medical atlas on my face. In behavioral medicine, every week we're told we have to b nice to patients and take our time with them. Then later in the week we go to our Patient centered medicine class where we are drilled over and over again to finish patient examinations super super fast and get timed and graded for it. Patient centered medicine pretty much taught me how to be the typical, rude, not caring, a-hole doctor... because if I don't go super fast... I fail the course. So why the hell do I have to sit in one class telling me to go slow when giving my physical examinations (behavioral medicine) and then have another where I get failed for doing so!!! the Clinical reasoning course is a mess. They don't know whether to give us lectures, bring in guest speakers, have us do group assignments, or anything. The only consistency in the course from week to week is they talk down to us, treat us like children, and have assigned seating. They seemingly make up the rest as they go along. As for spanish class, enough said... its freaking spanish. If I wanted to learn the language I'd have a degree in it or just buy rosetta stone


Onto Biochemistry. So the class of 2013 had a class average of 90% in the course. It was spread out over 2 semesters, easy, and a gpa booster. Historically though the biochem scores @ NSU are low on the board exams so the ppl who make the curriculum wanted to change it. For some reason they decided it would be better off as a 1 semester course. Don't really know how cramming 2 semesters of stuff into 1 semester makes us learn it better but whatever. If that weren't bad enough, the bchem profs here are notorious for being vindictive. My class of 2014 all heard about how easy the course is so lots of us would skip lectures... and for some god forsaken reason some of the students would even give the profs attitude during lectures saying sarcastic and rude things. Well the profs got their revenge with the first exam. The average was 20% lower than last year's class, and it was just brutally hard. I have no idea how any1 passed it. Some of u prob think we got what we deserve but I went to class and it didn't help for the exam. Material on it was seemingly pulled from thin air.

The faculty as a whole is hit or miss. In general I'm disappointed by the level of teaching and instruction. There are some profs who are horrible at their jobs.. but there are a very few that are just great. Somehow, all the profs hear student gossip and what ppl say about them. There is a gmail group for the class of 2014 where ppl arrange get togethers, study groups, give out class material, and gossip. It always gets back to the faculty from dickh0le students trying to kiss their *****es. Its like big brother type stuff. Its so bad i'm afraid this post will get back to them and our next round of exams will be even harder.

Like I said b4, and repeatedly... THESE ISSUES OCCUR AT ALL SCHOOLS... I just happen to know about it from first hand here at NSU. Also plz just don't disregard completely what I'm trying to say... I'm not some bitter idiot who is failing all my classes. I'm doing awesome or at least decent in all my classes... except for biochem. That bchem exam just crushed me. I look forward to seeing you all next year and I'll do my best to help you out in ur first year of medical school.... assuming I make it through mine

 

[Kevin Baker]

Is medical spanish a requirement or an elective? I'm terrible with languages.

 

[Booster]

Is medical spanish a requirement or an elective? I'm terrible with languages.

it is required, although they gave us the opportunity to test out of spanish if we were fluent enough to do so.

it is a very very basic course, which we only have for 1 hour per week. there is sometimes a quiz/hw to do outside of class, but that takes 20-30 min.

 

[Booster]

in response to whissleblower's comments...

they stuffed 2 semesters of biochemistry into 1 semester because the previous classes were complaining that the 2nd semester of biochemistry was a waste of time for them. that is one good thing about NSU, is that they listen to the students and what they have to say.

also, in regards to the patient centered medicine clinical skills exams that were timed and graded...although NSU tries to emphasize the importance of not rushing the patient exam, and to really listen to your patients and establish a professional relationship with them...i think the point of the "timed" exams was to make sure that we had all the questions which must be asked during a patient interview memorized so well, that we don't have to think about what questions we missed and need to ask. i don't think the point was to make us more rushed for time with patients.

 

[megathunder]

Hi everyone, I'm in the NSUCOM class of 2014. First and foremost I wanted to let you all know that I'm happy with my decision to attend medical school. BUT there are some issues that I feel I should have been warned about b4 coming to school, so i just wanted to give you all a heads up about some of the bull$h!t u'll have to deal with. But plz don't let this freak you out too much and drive you away from NSU if this is where u want to be. Most of the issues occur at all schools, I just happen to see it firsthand at NSU.

First off, its important to access why u want to go to medical school. I don't know what the "right" reasons are... but I do know what some of the stupid reasons are. IF you want to be a doctor for money and/or job security, think about it this way. There are 4 years of med school that'll put me $300,000 dollars in debt(including the interest). Then there are 4 years of residency where bare minimum, I'll b putting in 80 hour weeks to get paid only $30,000 a year. After residency, a reasonable scenario if I don't do fellowship is to get paid $150,000 a year for the first few years and put in 70 hour weeks. So, roughly in a decade I'll have made a net of $120,000. Compare that to my friend who got a job with Intel out of college. He makes $60,000 a year working 40 hours a week. So if he put in 80 hour weeks like I have to, that's AT THE VERY LEAST $130,000 with overtime/bonuses and junk which is not even including promotions he would receive. So after a decade it comes out to $1,300,000. Pretty much what I'm getting at is, if anyone worked in their field as hard as students/doctors have to... they'd b loaded and have great job security. I know its not the greatest example cuz over time I'll probably make more than my friend... but who really knows. I could get sued and lose it all. Also he has much more upward mobility... if he were hired as upper management he'd b making much more than me.

Now onto my experiences at NSU, specifically. The administration here is terrible. I mean just awful, horrible, and pathetically bad at their jobs. They lose files, don't notify you if there are problems with ur registration, and just don't seem to care. On the plus side, there are a few who really really care and they will help you out... but its just a nightmare overall. I'm still trying to get my paperwork situated and I've been in school for 2 months. Like I said earlier though.... this pretty much holds true for ALL SCHOOLS from what I hear.

Now for the curriculum, my class of 2014 are being used as guinea pigs for courses called behavioral medicine, clinical reasoning, and medical spanish. These classes ARE SO WORTHLESS. All they do is eat up my time with busy work, add to my stress, and make me bitter. I literally have no time to study so these classes just compound the issue. From talking to ppl in the class of 2013, my workload is noticeably more hectic. I don't even have time to EVER watch tv (i mean never, ever watch tv... not even 5 min), whenever I eat.. I study while doing so, and I go to bed studying and wake up with a big medical atlas on my face. In behavioral medicine, every week we're told we have to b nice to patients and take our time with them. Then later in the week we go to our Patient centered medicine class where we are drilled over and over again to finish patient examinations super super fast and get timed and graded for it. Patient centered medicine pretty much taught me how to be the typical, rude, not caring, a-hole doctor... because if I don't go super fast... I fail the course. So why the hell do I have to sit in one class telling me to go slow when giving my physical examinations (behavioral medicine) and then have another where I get failed for doing so!!! the Clinical reasoning course is a mess. They don't know whether to give us lectures, bring in guest speakers, have us do group assignments, or anything. The only consistency in the course from week to week is they talk down to us, treat us like children, and have assigned seating. They seemingly make up the rest as they go along. As for spanish class, enough said... its freaking spanish. If I wanted to learn the language I'd have a degree in it or just buy rosetta stone


Onto Biochemistry. So the class of 2013 had a class average of 90% in the course. It was spread out over 2 semesters, easy, and a gpa booster. Historically though the biochem scores @ NSU are low on the board exams so the ppl who make the curriculum wanted to change it. For some reason they decided it would be better off as a 1 semester course. Don't really know how cramming 2 semesters of stuff into 1 semester makes us learn it better but whatever. If that weren't bad enough, the bchem profs here are notorious for being vindictive. My class of 2014 all heard about how easy the course is so lots of us would skip lectures... and for some god forsaken reason some of the students would even give the profs attitude during lectures saying sarcastic and rude things. Well the profs got their revenge with the first exam. The average was 20% lower than last year's class, and it was just brutally hard. I have no idea how any1 passed it. Some of u prob think we got what we deserve but I went to class and it didn't help for the exam. Material on it was seemingly pulled from thin air.

The faculty as a whole is hit or miss. In general I'm disappointed by the level of teaching and instruction. There are some profs who are horrible at their jobs.. but there are a very few that are just great. Somehow, all the profs hear student gossip and what ppl say about them. There is a gmail group for the class of 2014 where ppl arrange get togethers, study groups, give out class material, and gossip. It always gets back to the faculty from dickh0le students trying to kiss their *****es. Its like big brother type stuff. Its so bad i'm afraid this post will get back to them and our next round of exams will be even harder.

Like I said b4, and repeatedly... THESE ISSUES OCCUR AT ALL SCHOOLS... I just happen to know about it from first hand here at NSU. Also plz just don't disregard completely what I'm trying to say... I'm not some bitter idiot who is failing all my classes. I'm doing awesome or at least decent in all my classes... except for biochem. That bchem exam just crushed me. I look forward to seeing you all next year and I'll do my best to help you out in ur first year of medical school.... assuming I make it through mine

I appreciate it man. I respect students on here that go out of their way to warn students about bad practices at their school. Takes a lot of character to reveal stuff you don't like about your own school.

In any case, I have heard some of these things in one form or another in my research and it's really sad because I really like a lot of things about this school. It's going to be a tough decision in the coming months (assuming I get accepted first).

 

[WhissleBlower]

it is required, although they gave us the opportunity to test out of spanish if we were fluent enough to do so.

it is a very very basic course, which we only have for 1 hour per week. there is sometimes a quiz/hw to do outside of class, but that takes 20-30 min.

in response to whissleblower's comments...

they stuffed 2 semesters of biochemistry into 1 semester because the previous classes were complaining that the 2nd semester of biochemistry was a waste of time for them. that is one good thing about NSU, is that they listen to the students and what they have to say.

also, in regards to the patient centered medicine clinical skills exams that were timed and graded...although NSU tries to emphasize the importance of not rushing the patient exam, and to really listen to your patients and establish a professional relationship with them...i think the point of the "timed" exams was to make sure that we had all the questions which must be asked during a patient interview memorized so well, that we don't have to think about what questions we missed and need to ask. i don't think the point was to make us more rushed for time with patients.

Thanks for your input booster, I think its important to have 2 different perspectives on the same situation.

As for spanish, IMO to say the course is "very very basic" is very dependent on the individual. You have to to take into account some people have never taken spanish before. I mean there are students here who learned ENGLISH as a second language... so trying to learn spanish through english is ridiculously difficult. People who don't learn english at a young age have to mentally translate the english language into their native language. Now for spanish class, they have to translate spanish, to english, to their native language. Also a few spanish profs act like napolean. For those who don't know, there are multiple spansih profs here and some are better than others. One in particular takes away points for not knowing answers when called on, and this week they have hw where they have to watch an entire movie and do some sort of report or hw about it. I lucked out w/ my prof but some of my friends got royally screwed. FOR THOSE APPLYING FOR the class of 2015, YOU MOST LIKELY DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT SPANISH. FROM WHAT I'VE HEARD THEY REALIZE IT WAS A MISTAKE AND ARE REMOVING IT FROM THE CURRICULUM

For bchem and patient centered medicine, I understand what you're saying, but there's a disconnect to me. So last year's class complained that they didn't learn nething in bchem.... so the solution is to cut it down so we learn even less??? Wouldn't it make more sense to change the curriculum, or weed out some of the profs who obviously don't care? Why not teach more in line with board type questions like we do in physiology? All they accomplished is making us less prepared for boards and filled the extra time with stupid classes that won't help us in the future at all.

And for patient centered medicine, I'm skeptical of their emphasis on a thorough, professional examination... I mean why can I get a very high A by being a jerk to the patient and not listening to a word he says? They should have set a reasonable time limit and scored more heavily on remembering what information the patient gave me, and how courteous and professional I was. I only lose 2 points out of 74 by being a jerk but there were a good number of ppl who were a thousand times more thorough, better, and courteous than me who got C's cuz they ran out of time. I didn't deserve an A and even more importantly those ppl who were awesome but not fast enough didn't deserve C's. Once again... a clear disconnect between what they say the purpose is and what the reality is.

Sorry to all you applying... I really REALLY dont' want to scare you off. I like it here... the facilities are awesome, and a few of the profs are so awesome I can get over the majority of them sucking. Also the TA's are so cool. They have reviews and give out tutoring (at a price)... most importantly whenever I have a question I can stop them in the halls and they love to help me out. BE GOOD TO THE TA'S!!! They will save u when it seems no1 else gives a crap.

But I just wanted to warn you all of the issues... but like i said... THIS SORT OF STUFF HAPPENS AT ALL SCHOOLS!!

 

[wolverinepwns]

while we're on the topic of curriculum, can the current student expand on how much PBL is implemented in the curriculum, actual PBL not like a case study here and there. thankyou

 

[MSwannabe]

I don't think moose has interviewed here yet

Sorry I meant your review... both start with M's lol. Anyways its exactly as he said ^^^

 

[CastiDO128]

As a 2nd year med student at NSU, Whissleblower's post hit a nerve with me but i'm gonna respond here in the most respectful manner that I can. I just want to clarify that NSU is a great school and that the staff really goes out of their way to help us in every way they can. One of Nova's biggest strength, I believe, is the fact that they do listen to their students and work to change things that aren't working to the best of their abilities. It is not easy to figure out a curriculum that works 100% where 240+ students will be perfectly happy. So keep that in mind...

As far as the PCM course forcing you to ask a certain amount of questions in a short period of time, the reason they are doing this is because that's how the Step II boards are. When you are taking your board exam, you will have 14 mins to do a full focused history and physical exam on a patient followed by 9 mins to write your soap note. Therefore, during first year they are teaching you how to work quickly and efficiently and teaching you what a full exam should consist of. Second year, we are now learning how to pick and choose which questions and which part of the PE are relevant to our case (since we have now learned all the possibilities in 1st year) and we are now also focusing on our patient skills and how to develop a good rapport with a patient. They have their ways of doing things because they know what is expected of us on boards and they obviously have more experience at it than we do.

Now I'll agree that the biochem department at Nova is probably the weakest dept. However, half of our second semester of Biochem last year consisted of us reading a biochem article and doing a presentation on it and writing test questions for it. So we didn't really learn all that much new material so I can definitely see how it could be integrated into first semester. As far as them making your first test hard, they screwed us on our second exam for the same reason (people not coming to class). You're in medical school...you shouldn't expect to get A's on every test by not showing up to class and just doing old tests and study questions. For boards, you'll be required to teach and re-learn a lot of the information yourself and that's what you should be doing for biochem also. Needless to say, if only a handful of students show up to class when attending class is a requirement, the teachers aren't going to be happy. And then you mentioned that people would make rude comments during class, which is just totally unprofessional.

While the biochem teachers aren't the best, the other teachers at NSU more than make up for it. The physiology teachers are very knowledgeable and all the anatomy teachers and tutors are very good. For Histology and part of Neuro, you have Dr. Dribin who is one of the best teachers at NSU. And as you will find out next semester, the Micro department is one of the best. I can't think of one school where you will be happy with every professor you have. But I can definitely say that there are more great and even excellent teachers at NSU than there are bad.

One last thing, I believe that everything we are taught is for a reason. Even the classes and topics that seem irrelevant sometimes, such as in Medicine, Health, and Society, are being taught for a reason. You really should take advantage of the fact that you have professionals teaching you what they feel you need to know once you get out there while you have the chance. I rarely ever missed a class all last year and this year and I feel I have more knowledge than the people that skipped class and just studied their notes all day. Having clinicians add their little tidbits of advice and hearing stories of what they have been through are the types of things that will make you a better clinician in the future. So my best piece of advice, try and see the positive and enjoy the ride as much as you can, even though it may seem hard at times.

 

[WhissleBlower]

As a 2nd year med student at NSU, Whissleblower's post hit a nerve with me but i'm gonna respond here in the most respectful manner that I can. I just want to clarify that NSU is a great school and that the staff really goes out of their way to help us in every way they can. One of Nova's biggest strength, I believe, is the fact that they do listen to their students and work to change things that aren't working to the best of their abilities. It is not easy to figure out a curriculum that works 100% where 240+ students will be perfectly happy. So keep that in mind...

As far as the PCM course forcing you to ask a certain amount of questions in a short period of time, the reason they are doing this is because that's how the Step II boards are. When you are taking your board exam, you will have 14 mins to do a full focused history and physical exam on a patient followed by 9 mins to write your soap note. Therefore, during first year they are teaching you how to work quickly and efficiently and teaching you what a full exam should consist of. Second year, we are now learning how to pick and choose which questions and which part of the PE are relevant to our case (since we have now learned all the possibilities in 1st year) and we are now also focusing on our patient skills and how to develop a good rapport with a patient. They have their ways of doing things because they know what is expected of us on boards and they obviously have more experience at it than we do.

Now I'll agree that the biochem department at Nova is probably the weakest dept. However, half of our second semester of Biochem last year consisted of us reading a biochem article and doing a presentation on it and writing test questions for it. So we didn't really learn all that much new material so I can definitely see how it could be integrated into first semester. As far as them making your first test hard, they screwed us on our second exam for the same reason (people not coming to class). You're in medical school...you shouldn't expect to get A's on every test by not showing up to class and just doing old tests and study questions. For boards, you'll be required to teach and re-learn a lot of the information yourself and that's what you should be doing for biochem also. Needless to say, if only a handful of students show up to class when attending class is a requirement, the teachers aren't going to be happy. And then you mentioned that people would make rude comments during class, which is just totally unprofessional.

While the biochem teachers aren't the best, the other teachers at NSU more than make up for it. The physiology teachers are very knowledgeable and all the anatomy teachers and tutors are very good. For Histology and part of Neuro, you have Dr. Dribin who is one of the best teachers at NSU. And as you will find out next semester, the Micro department is one of the best. I can't think of one school where you will be happy with every professor you have. But I can definitely say that there are more great and even excellent teachers at NSU than there are bad.

One last thing, I believe that everything we are taught is for a reason. Even the classes and topics that seem irrelevant sometimes, such as in Medicine, Health, and Society, are being taught for a reason. You really should take advantage of the fact that you have professionals teaching you what they feel you need to know once you get out there while you have the chance. I rarely ever missed a class all last year and this year and I feel I have more knowledge than the people that skipped class and just studied their notes all day. Having clinicians add their little tidbits of advice and hearing stories of what they have been through are the types of things that will make you a better clinician in the future. So my best piece of advice, try and see the positive and enjoy the ride as much as you can, even though it may seem hard at times.

Hi CastiDO, thanks for chiming in on the matter. Sorry if I upset u, I really had no intention of doing that. In my posts I really did try to emphasize that I"m glad I came here. As for PCM, thanks for clarifying the whole deal with the time limit. I wasn't aware it was like that for the boards.

On biochem sucking and dr. dribin being awesome, it seems we are in agreement. I am embarrased and find it totally unforgivable as to how a few classmates talk to the profs... but it is a select 2 or 3 ppl. Plz dont go around thinking most of us do that and that we got what we deserved. As for medicine health and society, I like that class. I didn't once criticize it cuz I see the usefulness of it.

I do see what you're saying about making the best of the ride and I totally agree. But at the same time what is wrong with me informing others of issues that blindsided me? I hope this clarification helps so that you aren't offended by my previous posts.

 

[mike1618]

I'll add my two cents because I feel like you all are getting the extremes. First off, the reason you would come to Nova is for the established rotations and the clinician involvement. We have a very large number of physicians who get involved by day one, probably more than most schools. To me, that is a huge positive. The rotations are established and from what I hear are very sound. There are tons of medicine clubs, in which you can get involved. One example is the Ortho club that gets us in to the Fracture Conference at Broward Gen every Friday. For me, Nova presents a lot of options and opportunities. It is just hard to see through the **** that we are wading through right now. We have some pretty awesome professors and some pretty awful professors; this you will find everywhere.

Now for the bad. Whistleblower is correct. The Bchem department is not just bad, it is horse****. The class is not hard at all. However, we are bogged down with so many other classes, that we can not give it the attention it deserves. Many of the professors are stuck on using overhead projectors--that tells you everything right there.

This year they have implemented a mandatory volunteering campaign. It is 80hrs over two years. It is tracked pretty heavily. I will keep my opinion to myself on this one.

Learning Spanish is a great idea. Learning Spanish in medical school is not a great idea.

We have multiple classes such as MHS, Clinical Reasoning, and Behavioral Medicine that should all be combined into one class. Sometimes they are okay, but most of the time not.

Most of our sciences are well taught. My biggest problem is I feel our time is not respected. We have 31.5 credit hours this semester. From excessive fluff courses to spanish to mandatory volunteering, it is very hard to balance a family life and studies. We have a lot of married students and maybe they have a different take, but Nova may not be the best place for those students with families. I personally would like to get involved in some research and also do some shadowing, but instead I will have to figure out how to get my 80hrs done. 80 may not sound like a lot, but in medical school it is a ton.

The Dean so far has been pretty cool and is very active with the spouses club. This club is very active and I have really enjoyed it.

The bottom line is Nova is a good school. It has some curriculum issues that my class maybe taking the brunt of, but nonetheless, I feel like I will have plenty of options and will be a competent doc when I finish my four years. The students are pretty awesome and tend to group together to help eachother out. Students post their own study guides, notes, and books on google groups to help each other out. We are all in this together, so we all try to hold each other above water. I may not be happy now, but in the end I think I will look back on my experience at Nova as a positive one.

In your choosing, make sure that you look at the cost of attendance. Make sure to get all costs, including those incurred for travel at schools that have weak rotations sites. Pick the cheapest school that will offer you the most opportunity when you graduate. If any of you have more q's, shoot me a message and I will try to get back to you within the week.

 

[futuredoc4432]

to current students.. do you ever have a problem because there are no outlets in the classrooms, they mentioned to get a battery that stays on 8-12 hours. do we really need that?

 

[futuredoc4432]

😱 thats not a good sign hahahaha. If you don't mind my asking, who was on your interview committee? and which candidate were you?😛

i dont have my folder right now but it was the top group listed on that handout. i had a light blue shirt and blue tie.. sat towards the front of the table if that helps

 

[DarkHorizon]

to current students.. do you ever have a problem because there are no outlets in the classrooms, they mentioned to get a battery that stays on 8-12 hours. do we really need that?

Thats just a ploy to get you to buy their laptiop, which is an uber waste of money IMO.

 

[DarkHorizon]

while we're on the topic of curriculum, can the current student expand on how much PBL is implemented in the curriculum, actual PBL not like a case study here and there. thankyou

Not much at all

 

[DarkHorizon]

Biochem dept is a POS, no doubt. The biggest problem I had, amongst others, was that they asked several questions in exams from some lectures, and none at all from others. Nova has this policy where 3-5 questions are asked from each lecture. I feel that every dept follows this policy very closely, except for biochem, specifically Dr. G. Last year she spent 3 or 4 lectures covering kreb cycle yet only asked 2 or 3 questions on it, whereas she asked up to 6 questions on topics she barely touched for 5 mins, seriously.

 

[Sinfest]

i dont have my folder right now but it was the top group listed on that handout. i had a light blue shirt and blue tie.. sat towards the front of the table if that helps

Damn...I was in the first group and interviewed by them too. That's not good...

 

[futuredoc4432]

Damn...I was in the first group and interviewed by them too. That's not good...

eh maybe they were just being nice i wouldnt dwell on it if i were you. either way, to be part invited to one of the first interviews is a good sign, i think we all have a solid shot. hopefully we both hear good news next week!! nova has definitely moved up to one of my top choices after seeing the facilities and talking to faculty/students. good luck!

 

[PurplePandaPJs]

eh maybe they were just being nice i wouldnt dwell on it if i were you. either way, to be part invited to one of the first interviews is a good sign, i think we all have a solid shot. hopefully we both hear good news next week!! nova has definitely moved up to one of my top choices after seeing the facilities and talking to faculty/students. good luck!

Time is going by so slow. I am incredibly anxious. Definitely a top choice of mine as well.

I interviewed on the 28th too. I hope we find out next week but I thought they said we would find out in 3 weeks.

 

[Sinfest]

eh maybe they were just being nice i wouldnt dwell on it if i were you. either way, to be part invited to one of the first interviews is a good sign, i think we all have a solid shot. hopefully we both hear good news next week!! nova has definitely moved up to one of my top choices after seeing the facilities and talking to faculty/students. good luck!

I feel the same way

Thanks, and good luck to you too 🙂

 

[Sinfest]

Time is going by so slow. I am incredibly anxious. Definitely a top choice of mine as well.

I interviewed on the 28th too. I hope we find out next week but I thought they said we would find out in 3 weeks.

We got mixed answers that day. Some people said three weeks, some said two.

If it's anything like the first batch of acceptances, we'll find out on 10/07

 

[futuredoc4432]

We got mixed answers that day. Some people said three weeks, some said two.

If it's anything like the first batch of acceptances, we'll find out on 10/07

they told me 3 weeks but said the adcom will probably meet sooner probably sometime this upcoming week. They seemed to emphasize that if we were invited to interview everything in our file was already approved and made it seem like more of a formality to make sure we weren't crazy in real life. just the impression i got

 

[bautile]

Time is going by so slow. I am incredibly anxious. Definitely a top choice of mine as well.

I interviewed on the 28th too. I hope we find out next week but I thought they said we would find out in 3 weeks.

this is awesome... more of us are "surfacing" on SDN. It seemed rather strange that when I asked people if they were on SDN during the interview that they just trolled. In continuing with tradition, who did you interview with, and which applicant were you? 😛

We got mixed answers that day. Some people said three weeks, some said two.

If it's anything like the first batch of acceptances, we'll find out on 10/07

I hope so man, I have an interview in KCOM on friday and would love to find out before hand if there will be more pressure on this next interview, or no pressure at all. Hopefully the latter.

they told me 3 weeks but said the adcom will probably meet sooner probably sometime this upcoming week. They seemed to emphasize that if we were invited to interview everything in our file was already approved and made it seem like more of a formality to make sure we weren't crazy in real life. just the impression i got

Did they tell you that while you were there? I'm 99% sure Ms. Rondino said 3 weeks, but I hope that that was a "rehearsed" answer to standard questions (questions I was never asked haha).

 

[PurplePandaPJs]

this is awesome... more of us are "surfacing" on SDN. It seemed rather strange that when I asked people if they were on SDN during the interview that they just trolled. In continuing with tradition, who did you interview with, and which applicant were you? 😛

I interviewed with Dr. Thomas and Dr. Wilkinson. I was/am the one from CO in group 2. I don't think I was ever asked if I was on SDN.

 

[exponential]

.

 

[MightyMoose]

I interviewed Sept 30th it was exactly as MightyMoose mentioned in his review. Low stress even though I was still a little nervous. Get sleep, I laid on my friends floor all night and never passed out. I felt I could have done much better in the interview with a little shut eye.

Overall it went well, the questions were personal so its not really one you can have memorized answers to which is good so you dont sound like a robot, and I made them laugh when I said I didnt like Calculus. The facilities are top notch and the students and faculty were all very nice. So far its my #1 choice

good luck everyone

I think you're referring to MegaThunder's review. 😉 I don't interview there for a few weeks. I'm glad to hear that your interview went well though!

I don't think moose has interviewed here yet

Yeah, I think he was thinking about your review, which means that now it's at the level of good, but no longer at the level of great! haha.

in response to whissleblower's comments...

they stuffed 2 semesters of biochemistry into 1 semester because the previous classes were complaining that the 2nd semester of biochemistry was a waste of time for them. that is one good thing about NSU, is that they listen to the students and what they have to say.

also, in regards to the patient centered medicine clinical skills exams that were timed and graded...although NSU tries to emphasize the importance of not rushing the patient exam, and to really listen to your patients and establish a professional relationship with them...i think the point of the "timed" exams was to make sure that we had all the questions which must be asked during a patient interview memorized so well, that we don't have to think about what questions we missed and need to ask. i don't think the point was to make us more rushed for time with patients.

You need to know the how to nail the clinical exam for boards, so I agree, while they are pushing you to hit all the important details it is to ensure you know exactly what you need to from each pt exchange and how long it will take if you eliminate all the chit chat.

I think that WhistleBlowers review was good, because it's nice to hear the good and the bad about a school before you make a decision and these interviews seem to be extended sales pitches. Sometimes I feel like they are going to sell me a timeshare by the time I leave... haha. At any rate, I think the administration issues are probably a result of the schools size. Any school that requires a call center to field application questions, is probably going to be very impersonal when it comes to your management.

I appreciate it man. I respect students on here that go out of their way to warn students about bad practices at their school. Takes a lot of character to reveal stuff you don't like about your own school.

In any case, I have heard some of these things in one form or another in my research and it's really sad because I really like a lot of things about this school. It's going to be a tough decision in the coming months (assuming I get accepted first).

I'm sure you will, man. One thing to keep in mind though, is that you'll have a lot of the same issues at most of the larger colleges. In terms of the persecutory allegations about the biochem prof, I think those are bordering on delusional, but in that situation, I could see how Whistleblower could come to those conclusions. It is never a good thing when the students do much worse than the previous year/s, but I would be willing to wager they covered more information and received less time on it than the previous year/s as well. I highly doubt is was because the professor "heard" what the students were saying about him. He could hate the whole class, but he's still stuck with them and if they fail it reflects poorly on him as well.

Just my take.

 

[Longshanks]

Did they tell you that while you were there? I'm 99% sure Ms. Rondino said 3 weeks, but I hope that that was a "rehearsed" answer to standard questions (questions I was never asked haha).

For those of us who interviewed on the 30th, she said it usually takes three weeks but she was hoping to bring it to committee this upcoming week, so we may hear earlier. She mentioned that she was hoping to get the September acceptances out before Oct 15th that way you can follow the AACOMAS guidelines and have until Dec 14th to put down a deposit, so we would make the right decision, knowing how expensive the application process is. At least that's what she told the first interview group while we waited for our tour guide.