NSU-COM Discussion Thread 2010-2011

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+1 😀

Check your webSTAR status! Mine showed provisionally accepted as well, but I have yet to receive an e-mail. I interviewed on Tuesday, January 4th.
Yea, that is going based on webstar. I did not receive an email or phone call yet. I interviewed on 1/6. 3.52 sGPA, 3.68 cGPA, 27O.
 
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Ugggggggggg. Alternate List.
Totally dissapointed and embarrassed to be honest. Seems like everyone was accepted except me.

No idea what happened. My stats are competitive (I think), but not amazing, and felt I had a strong interview.
Science gpa 3.8
cumm: 3.66
MCAT: 27Q

I really liked NOVA and was hoping for an acceptance and since they accept such a large % of those they interview, I had a good feeling about this one.

I do have an acceptance at another school which I'm grateful for, but was really hoping for NOVA.

Congrats to everyone again despite the fact that I hate all of your guts.....
 
Just received an interview invitation...

sGPA/cGPA: 3.26
MCAT: 27Q

Complete 12/1
 
Seeing as how there are 29 pages to this thread, i can't really search for any comments regarding this, but I was wondering if anyone knows anything about the D.O./DMD program? Any information (besides what's on the NSUCOM website) would be greatly appreciated!
 
Can any students who received an interview please share their MCAT score.
Thank you in advance!
Just got an invite today. 28 O I think. I know the 28 part is right and that my writing was garbage.

Edit- Just called to schedule. Choices were Feb 10, 15 and 17. Was told there was no benefit to attending one over the other so I'm going to go on the 15th. Should be fun.
 
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I am withdrawing my application from here.

Good luck to everyone still waiting to hear back :luck:
 
Do any current M1's or anyone else have a list of books that they were required to purchase for their first year?
 
what do most people do for loans? does everyone talk to financial aid first?
 
Do any current M1's or anyone else have a list of books that they were required to purchase for their first year?

List of books to buy:
_____ and _____. Don't forget to buy ____.


I don't know what they will change the first semester to this time around, but in our first semester we didn't have any time for books. You can get a good anatomy atlas, but you can get everything from the library if you need it.
 
List of books to buy:
_____ and _____. Don't forget to buy ____.


I don't know what they will change the first semester to this time around, but in our first semester we didn't have any time for books. You can get a good anatomy atlas, but you can get everything from the library if you need it.
Awesome thanks. I was just trying to figure out what I am going to need in the way of loans and they have something like 9k listed for books/supplies so I was curious.
 
Awesome thanks. I was just trying to figure out what I am going to need in the way of loans and they have something like 9k listed for books/supplies so I was curious.

For budget purposes, guess about $300-800 for equipment (steth, otoscope, bp cuff, so forth) during the first few weeks of school. You will definitely need your own anatomy atlas, so that's perhaps another $50. Otherwise, try out the books at the library before buying any. I would say it's a better use of your money to buy board review texts to use with your first year courses, like BRS Physio, as opposed to true textbooks. You'll be glad you have them come second year (helps spread the costs out, too).
 
Im an M1 @ Nova and made a post at the beginning of the semester and I'm writing a follow up now since the semester is over. My first post had some backlash from other students who attend nova but I'm just trying to give you all some balance. The school will tell you all the great things but I'm gonna try and inform you of some of the not so great things. I'm happy here but can't say for certain if given the opportunity to do it all over again, I would again choose Nova.

Biochem here is a complete abomination. On board scores the school always scores "below average", but I will bet anyone out there that it is in fact THE WORST bchem program in the nation. There are four professors who teach the class, and 3 of them are completely awful. Seemingly, the only way to do well in the course is to memorize questions from old exams (they reuse A LOT of exam questions) but what the hell is the point of that. We came here to become good doctors and get a good education... I'm not paying $300,000 to memorize a packet of tests only to look like an idiot on my board exam and in rotations

They tried to put a band aid on the bchem program by adding an additional course called clinical reasoning. In theory the class is a good idea... clinical examples to stuff we are supposedly learning in biochem. The execution has been awful though. We weren't given any course material until the last 5 lectures... so what did we do for the first 15 or so lectures? Who the hell knows. Another thing is the person teaching the course has NO CREDENTIALS. Only things known about her are 1) she JUST finished her residency and 2) she is in a relationship with the assistant dean. I will give you one guess which one of those two things got her the job.

When I interviewed here, I was told all the lectures are recorded and posted online. What an absolute lie. Only 1 class is recorded... and its not even one of our core courses. We've heard all sorts of reasons about why they don't post material, which makes it curious that the other programs here (nursing, dental, etc) have access to their lectures. Bottom line tho, they lied to me. Ne questions you have about the curriculum, ask to see documentation of it because I've heard ppl say they were promised all sorts of things that the school didn't follow up on. I bring this up because I AM NOT CONVINCED THAT THEY WON"T MAKE YOU TAKE SPANISH. Our class received an email a few weeks ago saying spanish would be optional from now on. We they got another email saying spanish is still manditory but it is optional whether to take it online or in a class.
As an M4 student at Nova let me first say that I hope you cut your losses and transfer.
Your name in and of itself defines who you are as a person. The information you write, having been at the school less than 6 months is unbalanced and damaging not only to my school, but to my profession. I decided to check out your facts. The clinical reasoning course was designed over a year ago to help present information in case scenerios with varied styles of teaching and is not a substitute for biochem, but integrates all classes. It last two years in duration. The physician who you cite with "no credentials" is a board certified physician in Family Medicine, who unlike you...sitting and arm chair quarterbacking, served as her class president for three years and was chief resident in her residency, working to make changes from within. She was outstanding clinical student of the yea,r the year of her graduation. She has just been named one of the Young Leaders in Family Medicine nationally. You also neglected to mention that she team teaches this course with a physician of 20 years who is both AMA and AOA certified in Pediatrics. I am sure she was capable of getting a job as a junior faculty member on her own. In regards to who she is sleeping with, you know neither of these individuals when make your inferences. They are two of the most ethical people I have ever met, both dedicated to the Osteopathic Profession. Perhaps you should shut your mouth and get involved and make things better. Easy to critcize...harder to make a difference.
 
As an M4 student at Nova let me first say that I hope you cut your losses and transfer.
Your name in and of itself defines who you are as a person. The information you write, having been at the school less than 6 months is unbalanced and damaging not only to my school, but to my profession. I decided to check out your facts. The clinical reasoning course was designed over a year ago to help present information in case scenerios with varied styles of teaching and is not a substitute for biochem, but integrates all classes. It last two years in duration. The physician who you cite with "no credentials" is a board certified physician in Family Medicine, who unlike you...sitting and arm chair quarterbacking, served as her class president for three years and was chief resident in her residency, working to make changes from within. She was outstanding clinical student of the yea,r the year of her graduation. She has just been named one of the Young Leaders in Family Medicine nationally. You also neglected to mention that she team teaches this course with a physician of 20 years who is both AMA and AOA certified in Pediatrics. I am sure she was capable of getting a job as a junior faculty member on her own. In regards to who she is sleeping with, you know neither of these individuals when make your inferences. They are two of the most ethical people I have ever met, both dedicated to the Osteopathic Profession. Perhaps you should shut your mouth and get involved and make things better. Easy to critcize...harder to make a difference.


Ouch. Well done.
I don't know if there exist holes deep or dark enough for WhistleBlower to crawl into after this response.
 
guys, for those who recently got interview invites, when were you complete?? i haven't heard anything from the school and it's been about 3 months 🙁

also does anyone know how much of the class has been filled :scared:?
 
guys, for those who recently got interview invites, when were you complete?? i haven't heard anything from the school and it's been about 3 months 🙁

also does anyone know how much of the class has been filled :scared:?

I was complete on 12/1 and received an interview invite last Thursday but I will most likely decline.
 
Hey, is there anyone from novacom or perhaps knowledgable with their program? i am interested in learning more about their program.
1)how many students are there per year?
2) do they offer research for students?
3)Do they have a low student teacher ratio?
4) is there an open door policy with the professors like there is at UMDNJ DO???

Thanks a lot
 
It's NSUCOM, not novacom just fyi

1) The CIB will have the size of their first year class.
2) I got the feeling that they do not offer many research opportunities during my interview. They do have a research program you can do after your second year, but IIRC only a few students can do it.
3) Not sure.
4) They do have an open door policy.
 
guys, for those who recently got interview invites, when were you complete?? i haven't heard anything from the school and it's been about 3 months 🙁

also does anyone know how much of the class has been filled :scared:?
Showed as complete online on 12/29, invite 1/20. No clue about the second part but I'm curious as well.

I just got an interview - March 10 was the first available :cry:
That is odd, when I called there were at least three dates in the first half of Feb mentioned. I wonder how many people they are still interviewing if all those spots could have filled so quickly. Of course, in saying that I am working on the assumption that they just added these dates; the availabilities I was presented might have just been spots previously confirmed people had recently vacated.
 
Hey, is there anyone from novacom or perhaps knowledgable with their program? i am interested in learning more about their program.
1)how many students are there per year?
2) do they offer research for students?
3)Do they have a low student teacher ratio?
4) is there an open door policy with the professors like there is at UMDNJ DO???

Thanks a lot

wifi08

1) there are ~230 students every year.
2) at my interview, they said it over and over again that they don't emphasize research (even the dean said that) even though they do have a few faculties conducting research i believe. however, if you are looking for a medical school with strong research, i don't think NSU is for you.
3) i'm not sure what you are asking here. i mean, the traditional lecturing classes, i think there would be one professor per class per subject. but if you are talking about lab (OPP, anatomy, etc.) there will be more faculty in the room.
4) there is definitely open door policy (at least it was mentioned at my interview)

hope this helps
 
where did you guys send your tech standard certificate to?
did you get a confirmation email for it as well as transcripts?
 
where did you guys send your tech standard certificate to?
did you get a confirmation email for it as well as transcripts?

The same place you send your secondary and other ancillary support docs.

No confirmation email, but you can call them to ask.
 
i got an interview for 2/15

i wasn't nervous until reading this thread =/ seems like i have a high probability of being waitlisted.
 
Does anyone know what day is the first day of classes? I looked online and could not find it.

Someone has said that last year orientation day was on Monday Aug 2nd so I think this year first day must be Monday Aug 1st. Don't quote me on this though.
 
i got an interview for 2/15

i wasn't nervous until reading this thread =/ seems like i have a high probability of being waitlisted.

Same boat, different date. I received an interview invite today and she said all they had left was March 15th.

Anybody else here interviewing on March 15th?
 
well I guess I've officially given up on this school... but I'll be happy where I've chosen to go and hope to see some of you NSU students in SoFl for clinicals where my school offers them. Best of luck to those who have interviews!
 
Hey, is there anyone from novacom or perhaps knowledgable with their program? i am interested in learning more about their program.
1)how many students are there per year?
2) do they offer research for students?
3)Do they have a low student teacher ratio?
4) is there an open door policy with the professors like there is at UMDNJ DO???

Thanks a lot

1.) Class of 2014 has 250 students (I think the actual number is 254??...I don't know exactly, but I know it is around 250, the most they have ever had in a class)
2.) The research opportunities are few and far between. If you want to do research, many of the students seek out research outside of the university.
3.) In the main lectures, it is one teacher per lecture. However, many courses have multiple professors (anatomy has 4 professors, biochem has 4 professors, microbiology has 3 professors, histology has 2 professors, neuroanatomy has 2 professors, etc etc. that teach different subject material). When you go into labs for OPP, anatomy, histo, etc. you will have faculty/professors/TAs all over the place to help you. For example, in anatomy labs, there is usually at least one facilitator per cadaver to help you through your dissections and answer any questions. During OPP labs, there is one faculty member per 4-6 tables to do more one-on-one with each table to facilitate learning.
4.) The teachers are always open to help us. Many of them give out their personal cell phone numbers during the first lecture, and some stay after hours to answer questions during open labs, and are always available through email/office hours.


Hope this helps you a little bit.
 
Does anyone know what day is the first day of classes? I looked online and could not find it.

For you incoming M1s the first day of class will be Aug 8 and the White Coat Ceremony will be Aug 14. The orientation is mixed in with classes during the first week of school.

Good luck to all those interviewing. Maybe I will be giving some of you guys a tour soon!
 
Any California people headed out to NSU this august?

I know you're out there!!
 
I'm interviewing here in a few weeks and haven't finalized my plans yet. What time does the interview day end? It starts at 9, then they say it goes for 6 hours. So the day is done at 4pm? What time did most people end up leaving the campus on interview day?

I'm currently planning on flying out of FLL at 6:00pm. Will I be cutting it too close if I go straight from NSU to the airport? (no checking bags or anything)
 
I'm interviewing here in a few weeks and haven't finalized my plans yet. What time does the interview day end? It starts at 9, then they say it goes for 6 hours. So the day is done at 4pm? What time did most people end up leaving the campus on interview day?

I'm currently planning on flying out of FLL at 6:00pm. Will I be cutting it too close if I go straight from NSU to the airport? (no checking bags or anything)

Mine ended at about 2? A little fuzzy on the exact details but it was not too long after lunch. You should be fine, the airport is very close.



Munchy: Where in California? I was in the Bay for a few years for school. Spending one last summer out there before August. 😀
 
As an M4 student at Nova


Is there a reason you were a 2nd year student in the 2004-2005 year (according to your post history) and only now are a 4th year student? I thought the limit on graduation was 6 years? There's someone in my particular class that was in a motorcycle accident as a second year a few years ago and reentered NSU with my 1st year class last year. I'm not discounting the possibility but I'm just curious what happened during the huge gap.
 
Munchy: Where in California? I was in the Bay for a few years for school. Spending one last summer out there before August. 😀


From the Bay as well! currently living in LA though (as I went here for school), but I head home every now and again.
 
Does anyone from the area know how the traffic is around Ft. Lauderdale? I am thinking of living in Hollywood or Greater Miami Beach but will the commute be too long? Is living in Miami Beach way too far???
 
Does anyone from the area know how the traffic is around Ft. Lauderdale? I am thinking of living in Hollywood or Greater Miami Beach but will the commute be too long? Is living in Miami Beach way too far???


depends what roads you take to get to school. there are people who live in west palm, miami, etc and make it to school everyday. but during rush hour times (basically the times you will be getting to and out of school, at least for the 1st year), traffic is pretty bad. i live on university (the road that the school is on) about 4.5 miles away from campus, and it takes me anywhere from 10-20 minutes depending on traffic and when i leave.

fort lauderdale isn't too bad of a hike...there are a lot of people in our class that live downtown and they have no complaints about getting to school on time. the only thing with living downtown is you will be relying on 595 to get to school, which can be hectic during rush hour times. downtown would probably take you an average of 15-20 minutes to get to school.

miami beach is a good 35-45 minutes away with traffic. personally, i would live close to campus at first, to get a feel for everything, and then move further away if you would like during 2nd year.
 
Booster, or anyone else who may have some advice,

I will be starting at NSU-COM in august. I was looking into living downtown or at one of the apartment complexes in Plantation. Any pros/cons to these areas? Its definitely hard to pick a place to live when you dont know what the traffic/area is like, etc. Anymore advice about places to live will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
 
Hi guys, I was debating posting about this, but for whatever reason, I decided to post my opinion on this subject.

For those that don't know, Nova has 2 types of "interviews" (though the 2nd type I will discuss does not involve any real interview).

The first type is just the typical med school interview day-they invite you to an interview, you get an orientation, tour, interview, blah blah, and then in the following weeks the admissions committee meets to decide whether to accept/reject/waitlist.

The 2nd type is what they refer to as "The Medical School Experience". Here is how this works-for those applicants who have a sufficiently high gpa and MCAT score, the decision is made to forego the standard interview process, and these applicants are invited to attend this special prorgram which essentially serves to "sell" the school to this subset of "high-stats" applicants. There is no interview for these applicants, and if you are invited to attend, the decision has essentially already been made to accept you. Nova recognizes that these applicants, due to their high stats, likely will have many choices regarding what school to attend, and a great number of these applicants are hoping to attend an MD school, but have applied to Nova and other DO schools as a "safety" in the event they are not accepted to an MD program. Nova uses this "Medical School Experience" day to attempt to draw in some of these applicants and convince them that Nova may be the better fit for them.

So....what is wrong with any of this? Well, not a whole lot to be honest, but there are a few problems and a bit of hypocrisy on the part of Nova.

The main problem is that there is NO interview. The decision has essentially already been made to accept those who are invited to this program and thus, no interview is conducted. Personally I can't see how ANY school can justify accepting an applicant without interviewing them. At this point, I'm certain we have all met students with great grades and MCAT scores, but upon speaking with them, it becomes instantly clear that they do not belong in medicine. Now obviously grades and MCAT scores are important, but they aren't the only important aspects. And that is what is so integral about the interview-it gives the school a chance to get a feel for the whole applicant beyond their numbers. An interview acts as a "final filter".

By foregoing the interview process, Nova is basically saying that provided your gpa and MCAT are high enough, they don't feel the need to know anything more about you.

Now where the hypocrisy comes in is that Nova, like all med schools (especially DO schools) insists that it looks at the "whole applicant" and is not solely concerned with numerical stats. It's well and good to say that, but this whole "medical school experience" program completely flies in the face of that assertion.

Given a sufficiently high gpa and MCAT, Nova will invite you to this program, forego an interview, and accept you without ever actually getting to know the applicant beyond their numbers.

Lastly, I freely admit that I attended the standard interview at Nova and was waitlisted. I know that will make many believe that I am bitter and perhaps a bit jealous of those who were lucky enough to be invited to the "med school experience" program. Fair enough-and initially I was bitter. However I have recently been accepted to my top choice which makes the fact that Nova waitlisted me irrelevant. Sure-an acceptance is always nice, but I hold absolutely NO grudge against Nova and still think it is an amazing school and I'm sure I would have been very happy had I ended up there. I just think that this policy of theirs is a terrible idea, and it runs completely contrary to the assertion that they look at the "whole applicant".

Anyone agree/disagree?
 
Does anyone have any info about the alternate list?

Did they rank it yet? Will they ever?

How many people are on it? How many usually get accepted off of it?
 
Booster, or anyone else who may have some advice,

I will be starting at NSU-COM in august. I was looking into living downtown or at one of the apartment complexes in Plantation. Any pros/cons to these areas? Its definitely hard to pick a place to live when you dont know what the traffic/area is like, etc. Anymore advice about places to live will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

i live in plantation, and have friends who live (or lived) in downtown fort lauderdale. i made the decision to live in plantation for a few reasons. 1. i didnt want to feel like i was at school all the time by living across the street from school but didnt want to be too far away. 2. for the same price i would pay to live next to school, i could get more for my dollar by living a few miles away and 3. plantation is a really nice area, and convenient to stores, malls, etc. I thought living downtown would be a little more hectic with traffic, but others who I know that live downtown don't seem to be bothered by it at all.

plantation is only 4.5 miles from NSU, and like i said before, it takes me anywhere from 10-20 minutes to leave my apartment and park my car at NSU. it is all about where you feel comfortable living and what your budget is.

if you have to opportunity to take a little mini vacation or something to get down here for a few days to look around, I would suggest that. everyone is different with what they look for. many places in south florida look really nice on websites and pictures, but are in some pretty shady neighborhoods.

these are some places i would check out:

Sundance (across the street from school)
Sunforest (across the street from school) <-- i like this community more than sundance if i wanted to walk to class everyday
Palm Trace Landings (biking distance to school, probably about 1-1.5 miles. i thought it was a pretty nice community. they have an updated section of the community which includes updated floors/kitchens/etc)
Midtown 24 (luxury apartments in plantation, near local restaurants, shops, etc. but pricey)
Gatehouse on the Greens (in plantation and pretty nice apartments, a good amount of nova students live here also)
Veranda in Plantation (luxury apartments in plantation, walking distance to the grocery store, and other restaurants but it is expensive also)
Laurels at Jacaranda (people in our class live here also, in plantation, and seem to like it. they are nice apartments for the price)
The Palms (it is in Davie, west of school, just off 595. i liked these apartments a lot and wouldn't have mind moving there at all. they seemed to be updated more so than a lot of other apartments i looked at)
 
Anyone agree/disagree?


I do think people with high MCAT/GPAs should still be interviewed. I definitely give you that. I did attend the med school experience though, and they "claimed" that they watched us throughout the day. I think they still observe everyone to make sure no one is clearly anti-social or absurd when with other people. They put us in smaller groups with different professors, the admin people chatted with everyone a little bit, and everyone had on name tags. They gave me the feeling that even though it was more relaxed and not an interview, they still watched us to make sure we were at least something more than grades. I think you are getting this opinion because you are only getting second hand information from on here. I am not on the admin com though so you could easily be right.
 
Anyone agree/disagree?

I disagree somewhat, we did not just send in the MCAT score and GPA, the committee already has tons of information on us through PS, activities and LoRs. I think interview is just another set of score on top of what they already have on us. So even one say "scored" terrible on their interview (due to stress, jet lag, sickness, etc..), that does not mean they cant be a good doctor.
 
Booster, or anyone else who may have some advice,

I will be starting at NSU-COM in august. I was looking into living downtown or at one of the apartment complexes in Plantation. Any pros/cons to these areas? Its definitely hard to pick a place to live when you dont know what the traffic/area is like, etc. Anymore advice about places to live will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
I will be moving down in the end of May but I have pretty much decided against apartments. Rent a house, it is the way to go! Realator.com is a great site and you can find lots of affordable places (many cheaper than apartments) on there. I personally have a family so I am looking for a 3 bedroom place. You can find a nice 3/2 for $1200-$1500 per month. If only want a 1 bedroom you can obviously get something cheaper or find roommates. I have had such bad experiences with noisy ignorant neighbors that I will never live in an apartment again!

As far as the med school experience debate, an interview is not really a good representation of a person either way. I know my interview only lasted 10 minutes during which I was nervous and really did not sell myself well at all. From my point of view it was merely a chance for them to see that I was not completely crazy which they could have easily picked up on during the peer interactions in our group during the down times in between speakers and lunch.

The work you have done for the last 4+ years (research, cc, ecs, employment, personal experiences, GPA/MCAT, ect.) speaks volumes when compared to a measly 10 minute interview.

I am also curious as to whether people are auto-accepted when they get a med school experience interview. I know at my normal interview we had someone who was supposed to have a med school experience interview instead and he seemed like he was a complete tool.
 
I disagree somewhat, we did not just send in the MCAT score and GPA, the committee already has tons of information on us through PS, activities and LoRs. I think interview is just another set of score on top of what they already have on us. So even one say "scored" terrible on their interview (due to stress, jet lag, sickness, etc..), that does not mean they cant be a good doctor.


Yes, I understand this point, but from what I understand, this other information (PS, EC's etc), does not play a role in whether you are invited to the med school experience program. The way it was explained to me, if your gpa and MCAT are sufficiently high, this qualifies you to be invited to the med school experience. Now it is remotely possible I am mistaken about this, but the source of this information is someone who is in a position to know how these things work.

So, if is simply the gpa/MCAT which qualifies you for the med school experience, and if an invite to the med school experience essentially equals acceptance, then logic dictates that Nova will accept applicants solely based on gpa/MCAT.
 
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