NSU-COM or UNECOM

Started by KTML
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KTML

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10+ Year Member
I've been accepted to both NSU-COM and UNECOM and I'm torn. Both locations are places I can see living, so that's not an issue. I've also been accepted to WVSOM, but am thinking Lewisburg may be too isolated for me and I worry about WVSOM rotation sites for the 3rd and 4th year.

Any suggestions or input is greatly appreciated.

ktml
 
I canceled my interview at Nova and will be attending UNECOM. I'm from Maine and the decision was relatively easy for me. I definitely see myself in the northeast and having the support of my family/friends within a few hours drive is more valuable to me than of the advantages that Nova may have.
 
KTML said:
I've been accepted to both NSU-COM and UNECOM and I'm torn. Both locations are places I can see living, so that's not an issue. I've also been accepted to WVSOM, but am thinking Lewisburg may be too isolated for me and I worry about WVSOM rotation sites for the 3rd and 4th year.

Any suggestions or input is greatly appreciated.

ktml
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What exactly is there to be "worried" about regarding the rotation sites?
 
Octagonecology said:
What exactly is there to be "worried" about regarding the rotation sites?
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I'm from the North East and went to school in Florida, so I'm comfortable with the locations of their 3rd and 4th year rotations. In regards to West Virginia, I don't really know the area, so it's hard for me to judge location wise.
 
jkmph said:
I canceled my interview at Nova and will be attending UNECOM. I'm from Maine and the decision was relatively easy for me. I definitely see myself in the northeast and having the support of my family/friends within a few hours drive is more valuable to me than of the advantages that Nova may have.
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That's great - congratulations! Maybe I'll see you next year.🙂
 
Have you read the UNE thread...I know they briefly discussed the issues with the clinic that was closed and then re-opened, but I'm not sure if it has been completely settled. They also have a new Dean so there could be changes or not...things that you may want to think about before making a decision.
 
I chose NSU-COM over several other acceptances based on south Florida weather, 3rd/4th year rotations, and large institution atmosphere. NSU-COM's tuition is also several thousand dollars per year cheaper than UNE-COM. I hope this helps but ultimately this is your decision and should be made based on where you would be happiest.
 
KTML said:
I'm from the North East and went to school in Florida, so I'm comfortable with the locations of their 3rd and 4th year rotations. In regards to West Virginia, I don't really know the area, so it's hard for me to judge location wise.
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Well the rotation sites at WVSOM have been established for over 30 years. Although it goes to lottery if some sites are overpicked you have your choice of big academic, level 1 trauma centers...i.e. CAMC or 300 bed community hospitals.

Remember, that at a big institution you will be competing with a multitude of other medical students, residents, PA students and god knows who else for the attendings attention and shots at the good procedures.

At a smaller place, so I'm told, the staff will be more delighted to have you and the attendings really enjoy teaching as it is a treat for them. You may also be the only a handful of students on the service so instead of standing in the back of a crowd trying to watch a resident start a central line, the attending will hand it to you to do......which would you prefer?
 
Just a headsup about living in Biddeford: All the trash from the state of Maine is trucked into that town and burned in an incinerator in the center of town. The smokestack is constantly going. It's an extremely unhealthy polluted place with much higher levels of certain types of cancer than the baseline. A guy in my class, healthy as an ox, from Alaska, came down with Hodgkin's while living there.
 
breezey said:
Just a headsup about living in Biddeford: All the trash from the state of Maine is trucked into that town and burned in an incinerator in the center of town. The smokestack is constantly going. It's an extremely unhealthy polluted place with much higher levels of certain types of cancer than the baseline. A guy in my class, healthy as an ox, from Alaska, came down with Hodgkin's while living there.
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Lol. The probability that his Hodgkin's was caused by the trash incinerator is so remote it's not even worth posting. What an absolutely, phenomenally absurd suggestion.

Furthermore, as a resident of Maine, I can assure you that they do not haul the trash in from the entire state to Biddeford. It's possible that the southern part of the state or a few surrounding counties may do this, but not even close to the entire state.
 
Um, yeah, and breezey... they didn't renew Merc's license/lease/whatever it is. Merc will have to cease business in Biddeford within a year or two.

I understand you had a bad experience with UNE, but please try to keep current on things if you're going to bash. I have been brutally honest with problems at UNE, but I have to say my third year clinical rotations were very good, my attendings for the most part very good. Administration has had some (big) issues, but there is a lot of change going on there. Who knows if it will be good or bad, but I'm willing to give them the chance to figure it out. Are you?
 
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They are both good programs. I think the environment could be another deciding factor. If you want a warm climate, you cannot go wrong with NSU. If you want to be in New England, UNECOM is the way to go.
 
NSU-COM. You can do all your rotations in Miami. UNECOM sends students out. Plus there are great affiliated residencies at Nova.
 
UNECOM sends students to core sites for their entire third year. Most students end up where they want to be. There are a bunch of spots in Maine - some in southern Maine, a fair number in Augusta and Bangor. There are students from NJ, MA, and RI who love the chance to go back home for third year rotations. We don't send students all over the country.

BTW, Dartmouth and Tufts send students to Maine for rotations at the same sites UNE students rotate.
 
UMass also rotates at one of the same sites. As I mentioned, that doesn't mean UNECOM students receive the same priority in instruction.

I'm glad MERC is closing down, if in fact it is. I wonder how many years it will take for the air pollution in the area to dissipate. It was so incredibly gross breathing that air. I had no idea about the air pollution when I made my decision to attend.
 
The thing is that after interviewing it was hard to get a "day in the life" or rather a "week in the life" of a medical student. I know they have block exams at UNE and semi-weekly exams on Mondays at NSU. Can any current students comment on how much time is spent at both schools in lecture vs. doing PBL or small group work vs. simulated patents and preceptorships?

Also, UNE and NSU have both changed their curriculum in some way recently (as many medical schools are currently). Do any current students have opinions on how the change is going?


Thanks.
 
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Oh yeah I'm sure the curriculum is so much better because they moved their clinical skills exam from a run down house to the old campus health center. No seriously, the basic science curriculum is fine, it prepared me fine for boards, it's the clinical rotation set-up as well as older bureaucrats running clinical affairs who won't answer student emails for weeks at a time unless you CC: one of the other administrators in which case they answer the next day. After which time your rotation set-up deadline and/or travel time has been taken up. It's really incredibly systematic.
 
KTML said:
The thing is that after interviewing it was hard to get a "day in the life" or rather a “week in the life” of a medical student. I know they have block exams at UNE and semi-weekly exams on Mondays at NSU. Can any current students comment on how much time is spent at both schools in lecture vs. doing PBL or small group work vs. simulated patents and preceptorships?

Also, UNE and NSU have both changed their curriculum in some way recently (as many medical schools are currently). Do any current students have opinions on how the change is going?


Thanks.
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My first semester at NSU has been excellent. Lecture is generally from 8-12 in the morning. Afternoon is labs, etc. We start clinical practicum right away learning to do H&P, and are tested on standardized patients. We are sent out to a preceptors site about once every 2 weeks for 4-5 hours at time to experience how medicine works in the real world. I think it has been a good mix so far of lecture and hands on stuff. I feel like I got a lot more real world exposure and practice with clinical skills than I expected to as a M1.
 
breezey said:
Just a headsup about living in Biddeford: All the trash from the state of Maine is trucked into that town and burned in an incinerator in the center of town. The smokestack is constantly going. It's an extremely unhealthy polluted place with much higher levels of certain types of cancer than the baseline. A guy in my class, healthy as an ox, from Alaska, came down with Hodgkin's while living there.
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Funny to read this because today in lecture our professor stated that almost every class has one person that gets diagnosed with Hodgkin's during their med school career. I'm sure this is a little bit of exaggeration, but he was illustrating that it is not that uncommon, especially in our age group.
 
Siggy said:
Are the Tufts students up there regular Tufts students or students from the Maine Track?
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The Maine track is new this year, however, Tufts has been sending their students to Maine for their 3rd and 4th year rotations for a while.
 
Really? That's interesting because I could have sworn I saw a Maine Track section on the secondary when I applied in 2006.
 
redrumi said:
My first semester at NSU has been excellent. Lecture is generally from 8-12 in the morning. Afternoon is labs, etc. We start clinical practicum right away learning to do H&P, and are tested on standardized patients. We are sent out to a preceptors site about once every 2 weeks for 4-5 hours at time to experience how medicine works in the real world. I think it has been a good mix so far of lecture and hands on stuff. I feel like I got a lot more real world exposure and practice with clinical skills than I expected to as a M1.
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Sounds great and it's good to hear. Thanks!
 
For my third year rotations and all my classmates whom I have personally corresponded and/or spoken with, UNE students received the same instruction as other students rotating at the same site.

As for administration, I have had zero problems with having them answer my emails in an extremely timely fashion without the CC. Breezey, perhaps things have (dare I say it) improved since you were there? Not to imply, however, even in the slightest fashion, that things don't need significant improvement, but my prior posts have been quite blunt about that.

I have heard of one student in my class whose pediatrics rotation was cancelled literally the week before his rotation; I heard through the grapevine it worked out ok for the student but have not personally talked with them to confirm what "ok" means - whether they came up with a rotation themselves, whether UNE fixed it, whatever. I will say all of my rotations have worked out quite well, no problems, and when I had an elective rotation cancel on me rather late, administration was quite supportive and worked with me to do a late fill.

The old administration isn't the current one, breezey. Nor is the current one the same when I arrived at UNE. And there has been change in the curriculum that perhaps you are unaware of. I hear the current first and second years are quite happy with the changes however, but have no personal opinion myself.
 
redrumi said:
My first semester at NSU has been excellent. Lecture is generally from 8-12 in the morning. Afternoon is labs, etc. We start clinical practicum right away learning to do H&P, and are tested on standardized patients. We are sent out to a preceptors site about once every 2 weeks for 4-5 hours at time to experience how medicine works in the real world. I think it has been a good mix so far of lecture and hands on stuff. I feel like I got a lot more real world exposure and practice with clinical skills than I expected to as a M1.
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Does it mean that you have class from 8-3pm most days?? I know at certain schools students generally study 9-12pm (and have lab like once a week). Also I don't mind those patient interaction courses because they're generally easy and dont take too much time. But if you have 8-12 lectures and then 3hrs of anatomy lab I would be too tired to do any studying... it's very inefficient.
 
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