NSU-COM Discussion Thread 2010-2011

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Congratulations to everyone that was accepted this round! I hope to see you in the fall as we start med school!
 
Fellow Nov 4th interviewees, did your Decision change from Invited for an Interview to Provisionally Accepted, or did Provisionally Accepted pop up in a different section in the application summary?

Seems at this point that either a) not accepted or b) my page was not updated because mine still says Invited for an Interview.
 
Lots of acceptances! Congrats everyone!!

Does anyone know when the next batch of interview invites will be going out?? I'm getting anxious!!
 
Fellow Nov 4th interviewees, did your Decision change from Invited for an Interview to Provisionally Accepted, or did Provisionally Accepted pop up in a different section in the application summary?

Seems at this point that either a) not accepted or b) my page was not updated because mine still says Invited for an Interview.

I'm not from the Nov 4th interviewee group but I am pretty sure the Decision changes from Invited for an Interview to Provisionally Accepted. If your did not change, don't lose hope yet since mine didn't change until the next day. I did receive an email from Nova informing me about the acceptance before that though. Good luck:luck:
 
Fellow Nov 4th interviewees, did your Decision change from Invited for an Interview to Provisionally Accepted, or did Provisionally Accepted pop up in a different section in the application summary?

Seems at this point that either a) not accepted or b) my page was not updated because mine still says Invited for an Interview.

I got accepted a little while back and it took a couple days to update my status on WebStar after getting the acceptance email. There's still a few hours left in the day, don't panic.
 
LOVED this school. Interview was very relaxed and friendly. Students seemed happy, and the campus couldn't be in a better place.


excited to hear back!!
 
Another 11/4 acceptance 🙂. This is my first one. Didn't feel the interview went great because I was nervous, but everything worked out anyway.

Congratulations everyone! I hear many good things about this school.
 
Hey Congrats guys!

has anyone done the medical school "experience" thing in lieu of the interview. I almost woul prefer a traditional interview instead of a patient simulation exercise thing.

Also...where did you fly into/stay at/ did you rent a car or cab it. What was total expenses around?
 
Hey Congrats guys!

has anyone done the medical school "experience" thing in lieu of the interview. I almost woul prefer a traditional interview instead of a patient simulation exercise thing.

Also...where did you fly into/stay at/ did you rent a car or cab it. What was total expenses around?

I flew into Ft. Lauderdale. I stayed at Comfort Suites Davie. They provided a free shuttle from/back to the airport and NOVA.
 
I was recently interviewed at NOVA 11/9 and ACCEPTED 11/18

I flew into Ft. Lauderdale and stayed at the hotel recomended by school. They gave me free rides to and from Airport and NOVA.

The interview day was really relaxed and simple. They ask very few questions (like 6 or 7, kind of broad like "tell us about yourself") and write down your anwsers as you speak.

I felt my interview went OK, wasn't anything special. They noded and said ok. The interview people were nice in general i suppose.

Students were honest and showed us around the school.

We were told that NOVA accepts about 75% of the people they interview. So dont worry too much about. They only interview people they are accepting

When I came to the intreview i was already accepted to my top choice school, but i went anyway since i already had tickets.... SO i really didn't care to much and still got accepted.

Just act proffesional and you will be fine, this school is really just trying to make sure you are not crazy.

Good Luck!!!
 
Can anyone speak to the curriculum for next year? Specifically, are they keeping it M1: subject-based and M2: systems-based for next year as is listed on the website? I have hard time finding info about this, but read somewhere that they just started the systems-based second year in 2009.

Right now I am deciding between NSUCOM and KCUMB because I think systems-based is definitely the best choice for me.
 
Can anyone speak to the curriculum for next year? Specifically, are they keeping it M1: subject-based and M2: systems-based for next year as is listed on the website? I have hard time finding info about this, but read somewhere that they just started the systems-based second year in 2009.

Right now I am deciding between NSUCOM and KCUMB because I think systems-based is definitely the best choice for me.

hey barnold, I am in the same boat as you are right now. I'm debating between NSUCOM and KCUMB as well. I have never had genesis curriculum before so I'm not very sure whether it will be a good fit for me.

From my note I took at NSU interview, the first year is subject-based and the second year is system-based.
 
Was just curious... Any recent invites to interview?? Ive been complete for quite awhile now and just sitting here waiting...
 
Was just curious... Any recent invites to interview?? Ive been complete for quite awhile now and just sitting here waiting...

Nothing here either. I am almost losing hope. So many seem to have multiple interviews and acceptances. I am still waiting and stressing more each day.:scared:
 
I think that they the invities "all-at-once". A lot of people include myself recieved an interview at the end of the August. They send enough invites to book all the dates from September to December.
 
I think that they the invities "all-at-once". A lot of people include myself recieved an interview at the end of the August. They send enough invites to book all the dates from September to December.

Well hopefully thats the case and the next batch is coming out soon! That would be a nice Xmas gift..
 
Soooo I got into NOVA and im extremely happy but Ive been reading in some of these forums and some people are saying that lecture notes are messy and confusing and professors are afraid to use certain info off books because of liability issues. I'm hoping someone who is a student already can fill me in on the pros and cons and if its really true or are these negative posts just frustrated students taking it out on the school. I really want to go to this school its my second choice after UMDNJSOM but i got wait listed there.
 
Soooo I got into NOVA and im extremely happy but Ive been reading in some of these forums and some people are saying that lecture notes are messy and confusing and professors are afraid to use certain info off books because of liability issues. I'm hoping someone who is a student already can fill me in on the pros and cons and if its really true or are these negative posts just frustrated students taking it out on the school. I really want to go to this school its my second choice after UMDNJSOM but i got wait listed there.

That really only affects a few professors, off the top of my head one in biochem & in pathology. Its not something that would cause you not to do well on any exam. As far as messy notes we are usually given the powerpoints or in the case of Physio an entire workbook of info. As you will find out that some students are never happy so the simple fact that the professor wouldn't give put the info in his slides or didnt explain it the way they wanted caused an uproar.
 
Soooo I got into NOVA and im extremely happy but Ive been reading in some of these forums and some people are saying that lecture notes are messy and confusing and professors are afraid to use certain info off books because of liability issues. I'm hoping someone who is a student already can fill me in on the pros and cons and if its really true or are these negative posts just frustrated students taking it out on the school. I really want to go to this school its my second choice after UMDNJSOM but i got wait listed there.

Hey DannyNJ, I had some similar questions...

Would someone please PM me the email of one of the student ambassadors we met during interviews? I stupidly forgot to get any and wanted to ask a current student some questions.
 
Can anyone speak to the curriculum for next year? Specifically, are they keeping it M1: subject-based and M2: systems-based for next year as is listed on the website? I have hard time finding info about this, but read somewhere that they just started the systems-based second year in 2009.

Right now I am deciding between NSUCOM and KCUMB because I think systems-based is definitely the best choice for me.

No idea, but M1 and M2 have remained subject based/system based this year and the previous year.


Soooo I got into NOVA and im extremely happy but Ive been reading in some of these forums and some people are saying that lecture notes are messy and confusing and professors are afraid to use certain info off books because of liability issues. I'm hoping someone who is a student already can fill me in on the pros and cons and if its really true or are these negative posts just frustrated students taking it out on the school. I really want to go to this school its my second choice after UMDNJSOM but i got wait listed there.

There is no perfect note set. SOME professors do lift images/text straight from books and are super paranoid about getting busted for copyright. If you want my opinion here it is:

The one department that is exceptionally bad is the biochemistry department. The one department that is exceptionally good is the physiology department. Other classes straddle the line but cover all the necessary subjects and THEN some. We used to have tests every Monday last year and fairly lax non science classes. They moved to block scheduled testing + Spanish + Behavioral Science classes for this years class, and people are supposedly going crazy, although med students tend to bitch a lot in general. It's understandable, since ~10 people from my class failed physiology, then it's remediation test, and had to be held back a year.

With that said, I personally hated 1st year with all my body and soul. The real payoff as far as preclinical coursework goes is in 2nd year, when everything is switched to systems. The 2nd year here is a godsend compared to the 1st year. We've covered Musculoskeletal, Heme/Lymph, Integumentary and are currently on GI, CV, and Respiratory systems right now. Next block, which is next semester, is Endocrine, Renal, and Neuro. Most tie in fairly well. We're picking hospitals for core rotations in Jan. NSU has a ridiculous amount of hospitals to choose from, something like 10-15. All cores will be based around this hospital. Outpatient rotations are done in the surrounding area. Some are better than others. They have 10+ years worth of student evaluations you can look through to get an idea of each hospital.

More thoughts on the first two years. They do not have a policy, with the exception of OPP, where you need to pass every single test to pass the course. Some med schools do this.

However, if you are struggling 1st year, there are no tutors provided beyond what you pay out of pocket for physiology and anatomy. Former MBS students usually do the tutoring. If you fail a test badly you do not get a call from the administration asking you how they can help. They don't do it because they have not bothered to set up resources to help struggling students and these students basically suffer on their own, or spiral downward and you never hear from them again. From what I've heard from the remediating students, there is no "counseling" session if you fail the remediation exam. You simply get an email saying that you've failed and then attach a schedule for the following year.

Also, attendance is harped on 1st semester of 1st year, but is not taken seriously afterward, unless you piss off the administration and then they will use lack of attendance to scare you straight for awhile.

Hmmm...oh yeah, classmates. Most of them are nice and I've made a lot of friends here. There's the usual gossip and cliques and douchebags but you cannot escape that if you go to medical school.

Overall, the school will prepare you well, the campus is gorgeous, the Davie area sucks as far as entertainment but is very well situated around malls, restaurants, downtown Ft Lauderdale, Miami, Palm Beach, etc.

But god help you if you are one of the people who toes the borderline academically. You will be in for a world of hurt, at least for the first two years.
 
And yes, knowing it all, I would come back here again.
 
Soooo I got into NOVA and im extremely happy but Ive been reading in some of these forums and some people are saying that lecture notes are messy and confusing and professors are afraid to use certain info off books because of liability issues. I'm hoping someone who is a student already can fill me in on the pros and cons and if its really true or are these negative posts just frustrated students taking it out on the school. I really want to go to this school its my second choice after UMDNJSOM but i got wait listed there.

Thanks ILikeFood for the great post!👍

Just to add my $.02, there was so much collective bitching and moaning about the required Spanish class among the M1's this year that maybe, just maybe it may not be a requirement for the 2015 class.😉 There were a bunch of surveys given out and some meetings with the administration about our issues with the spanish course.They say the whole point of having a mandatory Spanish course for our class was to prepare us for the mission trips which can used to complete the mandatory community service hours.

As ILikeFood mentioned, we have a block-style testing schedule this year as opposed to last year's weekly testing schedule. again, this did not work out well with the current M1's because the general consensus was it was not a true 'block style' exam schedule with a few study days like other med schools and yes, there was a lot of bitching about the extra courses like Spanish, clinical reasoning and behavioral med.

Whatever faults NSU may have, they are at least willing to listen to the students. Like I mentioned, they are always changing the curriculum each year. Which can be good or bad. They mean well and they are constantly trying to make improvements even if it seems like they are out of touch with the reality of the situation at times. so, whatever we're going through this year, you guys (future class of 2015) will most likely see changes.

Anyway, M2 year is much better (than 1st year) from what I've heard!:xf:
Good luck with your decision(s) if you haven't finalized your plans. I have to study for upcoming finals!
 
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thank you guys for all the great info. Again im def going to nova unless my state school gives me the okay. But on another note, my folks are givin me a hard time about bringing my car down. Is it realistic to go down there without a car and just use public transportation or no?
 
Anyone receive an interview invite here lately? I have been complete since late September and still no word.

It seems like they send out invites in chunks. So, has anyone been invited recently?
 
So Im really torn between PCOM and Nova and fluctuate almost daily sometimes hourly of which school before the Dec 15 deposit deadline. If any current students or applicants who have had to chose between these 2 schools has any feedback I would really appreciate your input. This is what Iv gathered so far.
PCOM:

-online lectures. this is soooo important for me bc i did a grad program where they had online lectures and i found i did much better with recorded lectures vs. atttending class bc i tend to zone out in class.
-campus sucks, its really just one bldg
-no mandatory attendance thank god
-Pcoms match list last yr was good but Novas was better in terms of specialties.
-i heard from a student that pcoms pass rate was below nat. avg last yr, cant confirm this but i care more bout avg board scores which i cant seem to find.
-i like to blay bbal but it seems the sixers are always hogging the court by practicing at pcoms court. Although on my int day I did get to c Igoudala, williams and couple other sixers shooting around that was cool.
-gyms kinda nice (novas is better)
-cold philly weather

Nova
-non-reliable, sometimes recorded lectures. (would have already chosen nova by now if they had recorded w/ no mand. attendance)
-mandatory attendance. (dean gave the speech about how mand. attendance is really imp. to understand the material but i dont buy this since Iv learned the material more thoroughly and efficiently by studying online lectures bc i can rewind when i dont understand something or pause)
-amazing campus w so many diff. programs. Great social learning env.
-awesome specialty match list. last yr(better than pcom imo)
-above avg pass rate
-biochem dept. is weaksauce (but does it rlly matter if nova kids r kicking a## & taking names on the match list)
-Gyms amazing
-2 bbal courts, solid pickup games readily available (I non-stealthly snuck in & played a few during my int stay)
-Florida weather
-the deans just an awesome guy. normally i wouldnt make a huge dec. based on one guy but he really inspired me about medicine as corny as that sounds. my type of dean tho.

Any other feedback would be awesome
 
I think that they the invities "all-at-once". A lot of people include myself recieved an interview at the end of the August. They send enough invites to book all the dates from September to December.

They only interview people up to December? Most schools go into February and March I believe.
 
They only interview people up to December? Most schools go into February and March I believe.

I think the reason why they schedule interviews till December only is because they want to wait and see roughly how many people will be coming (based on how many send in their deposits) and from that they can decide how many invites they should send out next. It's just a guess. Someone corrects me if I'm wrong.
 
thank you guys for all the great info. Again im def going to nova unless my state school gives me the okay. But on another note, my folks are givin me a hard time about bringing my car down. Is it realistic to go down there without a car and just use public transportation or no?

A car is a must in florida. Most cities in florida are very spread out compared to northern cities.
 
There are many issues with Nova's first year. One of the reasons is the medical sciences faculty is not run by the college of medicine. So in effect, there are no checks and balances in the curriculum. To make up for the insufficiency of some of the classes, they added extra classes. So basically we have two or three mediocre classes that could/should be sufficiently taught in one class. 31.5 credit hours is just plain stupid. The fluff classes take away from science classes. It is true that powerpoints are not distributed by most of the science faculty. Also, the only classes that use Tegrity are the ones that you wouldn't need it. Nova does not come across as a professional school. It really has the feel of highschool. All in all, I have been extremely disappointed with my first semester here.

With all of that being said, I did not choose Nova for their first year curriculum. I chose Nova for the kickass matchlist. They also have excellent clinical rotations. If you ask me now if I would choose Nova, I would probably say no; if you ask me after I am in residency, I would probably say yes. The end product here is great. If you can put up with the BS, the opportunities are outstanding. Also it seems that second year, which is only run be the college of med, is excellent. The current 2nd years seem to love it.

The best thing about Nova is the students. We have a group that has been extremely helpful with one another. We pool all of our resources (notes, materials, etc) to get around the insufficiencies of the faculty. I can't say enough positive things about our student body. We all feel like we are in the trenches together. We will be better physicians because of it.

Will you be happy with Nova? I don't know. I believe that you will initially be very frustrated here. In the end, you will get out what you put in. The opportunities are up for grabs, though you may just have to throw a few elbows to get there.

Good luck with your decision.
 
Do we need to do anything after submitting the first deposit? Also do we receive any correspondence after paying for the deposit? Hope everyone is doing well.
 
Does anyone know...

I was recently accepted to Nova. Is there a specific time period from the date of acceptance in which we must indicate whether or not we plan to hold a spot?Or do we just have to submit the deposit by the required date?
 
I have my interview on the 7th! Pretty excited. Flying into PBI and staying with my family, driving down to Laudy in the morning!

I want to ask them more about their attendance policy and recording. Do they at least provide notes?
 
How are grades given at NSUCOM? It's hard to find information on their website
 
hey guys im interviewing in a few days! I don't know too much about Nova though, and the website doesn't seem to be all that helpful for expalining notable aspects of the curriculum/school.

I like that their is a rural internship (I like working w/ underserved communities), love the location, the different hospitals available for rotations and know the school for its exceptional match list.

But I don't know that much else about the school. Can those students and others who interviewed give me your perspectives on the pros of the school versus the cons, and anything specific to nova that attracted you there? Like are there lots of student groups/organizations, is community-involvement big, is the semester a block schedule etc. Is Osteopathic techniques big at the school (I know some D.O. schools really emphasize it while some only give lip service)

Thanks!
 
Hey guys,

What If I have never taken a liberal art course and so can't provide such a LOR? can I use another LOR?

I emailed them, they did not reply.
 
also a few logistics questions.

Do we report to 3200 South University Drive, Terry Building/First Floor? This is an address on my e-mail list of activities for the day, but it doesn't specifically say on the e-mail where to report at 9am...


also ... to those who stayed at the comfort suits ft. lauderdale...do they always have a shuttle to take students to NOVA in the morning of the interview or do you have to request in advance? And in the morning that you checked out, did you bring your suitcase etc. with you to nova or request to leave it in the hotel and pick it up after the interview?
 
also a few logistics questions.

Do we report to 3200 South University Drive, Terry Building/First Floor? This is an address on my e-mail list of activities for the day, but it doesn't specifically say on the e-mail where to report at 9am...


also ... to those who stayed at the comfort suits ft. lauderdale...do they always have a shuttle to take students to NOVA in the morning of the interview or do you have to request in advance? And in the morning that you checked out, did you bring your suitcase etc. with you to nova or request to leave it in the hotel and pick it up after the interview?


8:45 1st floor, turn right when you get inside and you cant miss it.

When you land at the airport, you can give the hotel a call and they will be over in about 10-15 minutes. You wait at the "shuttle pick up" spot with other people who are waiting for shuttles from other hotels.

You should tell them that you need a shuttle when you check in, just to be safe.
 
With all of that being said, I did not choose Nova for their first year curriculum. I chose Nova for the kickass matchlist. They also have excellent clinical rotations. If you ask me now if I would choose Nova, I would probably say no; if you ask me after I am in residency, I would probably say yes. The end product here is great. If you can put up with the BS, the opportunities are outstanding. Also it seems that second year, which is only run be the college of med, is excellent. The current 2nd years seem to love it.

How can you say that if you are not in recidency? If you are so unhappy with year one, how can you feel good about future? Are you even going to be prepared for the clinical. Isn't year one and two important to get you ready for the boards??
By the way i have an offer from NOVA, but i am not so sure about it now, there is a lot of negative reviews about it on here....
Thanks.
 
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