University of South Florida USF Masters in Medical Science MSMS 2011-2012

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Also, can someone from the area share how feasible it is to live in Tampa without a car?
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Tampa's a big city and a car is almost a must have. There is a bus service called the Bullrunner by USF in addition to a city bus service. I'll be living in Tampa next year, but I will have a car. I think a car is pretty important to have especially for adventures, but you can make do with the transit system, which is what I plan to use.

Obviously, the information from someone who has lived in Tampa would be more beneficial to you, but that's my take.
 
Shalashaska said:
Tampa's a big city and a car is almost a must have. There is a bus service called the Bullrunner by USF in addition to a city bus service. I'll be living in Tampa next year, but I will have a car. I think a car is pretty important to have especially for adventures, but you can make do with the transit system, which is what I plan to use.

Obviously, the information from someone who has lived in Tampa would be more beneficial to you, but that's my take.
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I would have to agree with Shalashaska, I am from Orlando but my mom lives in Tampa so I visit frequently. The bullrunner is great for getting to and from campus, it is what I plan on using to avoid traffic/parking on campus. But as far as getting around the rest of Tampa, it will be difficult without a car. If all you need is to get to class though, the bullrunner is great as long as you live someplace near one of the stops.
 
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thanks!! I'm just seeing your reply. I ended up calling Katie and finding out that I applied for the ONLINE program, and that's why I hadn't received an email from her about my admission. She talked with the dean of admissions and had it switched to the ON CAMPUS MSMS program lol. Got my official email today with the classes I'm enrolled in :) Looking forward to meeting you guys!
 
I completed my fafsa about three weeks ago, and I received an email from USF's financial aids office on Friday May 25 stating my initial award notice. I have to get mine changed as well since I am reclassifying as a temporary in-stater through ACM too since I am from New Orleans. Contact the Financial Aid office if you didn't get one!
 
PremedGal12 said:
I completed my fafsa about three weeks ago, and I received an email from USF's financial aids office on Friday May 25 stating my initial award notice. I have to get mine changed as well since I am reclassifying as a temporary in-stater through ACM too since I am from New Orleans. Contact the Financial Aid office if you didn't get one!
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Thanks!! This helps a lot! :)
 
Hi guys...feel free to email me with any questions. I would like to inform you of how this program is actually running. Everyone keeps thinking it is so great and so helpful. In lecture yesterday, the head of the program, Dr. Barber, came in and asked how many of us were accepted into medical school. Less than 1/4 of the class raised their hands. He was very frustrated and realized all of the flaws with this program. Many of the professors couldn't care less about us...even if you are 0.05 points away from the higher grade, you can almost guarantee it will not go up. The reverse is also true. Some professors will do almost anything to help.

This program as a whole is run very poorly. They give us four exams each with an average of 10 powerpoints back to back. They are not flexible whatsoever. I am fortunate to be one of the few that got into medical school. My school starts July 27 and we have a final exam July 26. The professor says the earliest she can have the exam ready for me is July 24, giving me 3 days to visit with my family and move out of state.

The online classes had quizzes, but since we are all doing so well, they assume we cheated on the quizzes so now it has been changed to four papers instead.

Everything is unorganized and EVERYTHING is our fault. If we do bad, it is because we didn't study enough. If we do good, it's because we are cheating. There is no winning. Everyone complains and hates this program.

Normally, I am a very positive person and would rather go with the flow over bitching. This program forces you to be upset and bitch. Just when you think you are almost done with the program and the drama is finally over BAM they give you something else to be upset about.

If you're going to start this program, don't say no one ever told you that it doesn't really raise your chances of getting into med school...and you will have to FIGHT for your grade ALL the way through the program. I am one of the fortunate ones to have a 4.0 (VERY VERY VERY VERY rare in our program).
 
Not very feasible. You do not want to walk nor ride a bike around the streets near school.Fowler and Fletcher are disgusting.
 
FSU bridge 100%. You will have a MUCH higher chance of getting into med school. Our masters program is about 20%. Also, since you want to do internal medicine, FSUCOM would be the best place for that since its focus is on primary care. Look at how the clinical years are setup. USF MS will not ensure anything!!
 
Tuition is ~$16,000...don't forget living expenses and life itself. Most of us had to pull the full loan amount of $30,000 to live off of. Mommy and daddy don't pay for me :)
 
Most of us applied to USF and after asking Carson, only around 7 (in a program of 250) got accepted...I wanna say about 18 got interviews. No unofficial linkage whatsoever! The person with the highest GPA in our class (#1) did not get accepted to USF. This will help prove yourself with your low GPA, but a high MCAT is REQUIRED!
 
Dr2Be2016 said:
Most of us applied to USF and after asking Carson, only around 7 (in a program of 250) got accepted...I wanna say about 18 got interviews. No unofficial linkage whatsoever! The person with the highest GPA in our class (#1) did not get accepted to USF. This will help prove yourself with your low GPA, but a high MCAT is REQUIRED!
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Hi, thanks for your input on this program. But can you share with us what your MCAT score is? As well as your ugrad GPA (I know you got a 4.0 in the USF program), and what med school you got into?

Additionally, I can definitely understand your frustration as well as anger toward this program if what you have described is true. But besides all the unfairness in the program, would you say you have learned a lot from the program? Do you feel like it prepared you somewhat for med school? And do you think the program itself is structured unfairly, and that professors have a bias towards the MS students, or do you think the quality of professors in general ( regardless of whether they're teaching MS or PhD or MD) is poor?

Thanks for your feedback
 
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Dr2Be2016 said:
Hi guys...feel free to email me with any questions. I would like to inform you of how this program is actually running. Everyone keeps thinking it is so great and so helpful. In lecture yesterday, the head of the program, Dr. Barber, came in and asked how many of us were accepted into medical school. Less than 1/4 of the class raised their hands. He was very frustrated and realized all of the flaws with this program. Many of the professors couldn't care less about us...even if you are 0.05 points away from the higher grade, you can almost guarantee it will not go up. The reverse is also true. Some professors will do almost anything to help.

This program as a whole is run very poorly. They give us four exams each with an average of 10 powerpoints back to back. They are not flexible whatsoever. I am fortunate to be one of the few that got into medical school. My school starts July 27 and we have a final exam July 26. The professor says the earliest she can have the exam ready for me is July 24, giving me 3 days to visit with my family and move out of state.

The online classes had quizzes, but since we are all doing so well, they assume we cheated on the quizzes so now it has been changed to four papers instead.

Everything is unorganized and EVERYTHING is our fault. If we do bad, it is because we didn't study enough. If we do good, it's because we are cheating. There is no winning. Everyone complains and hates this program.

Normally, I am a very positive person and would rather go with the flow over bitching. This program forces you to be upset and bitch. Just when you think you are almost done with the program and the drama is finally over BAM they give you something else to be upset about.

If you're going to start this program, don't say no one ever told you that it doesn't really raise your chances of getting into med school...and you will have to FIGHT for your grade ALL the way through the program. I am one of the fortunate ones to have a 4.0 (VERY VERY VERY VERY rare in our program).
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I appreciate your feedback but it was my understanding that most people wait until the end of the program before applying to medical school because if you were to apply the summer before the program (as I'm assuming you did) you have no grades to report. If I started to fill out my apps right now the only additional thing I could put to boost my application would be that I was accepted to the MSMS at USF which isn't much. From what I have read on these forums the acceptance rate for medical school the year after this program ends is pretty decent. Have you heard anything about people who waited until they finished the program to apply? Thanks again for your input.
 
Also is anyone still looking for a roommate? I signed at Malibu a couple days ago and am still looking for some people to room with :) PM me if you are interested.
 
rja06cfsu said:
I appreciate your feedback but it was my understanding that most people wait until the end of the program before applying to medical school because if you were to apply the summer before the program (as I'm assuming you did) you have no grades to report. If I started to fill out my apps right now the only additional thing I could put to boost my application would be that I was accepted to the MSMS at USF which isn't much. From what I have read on these forums the acceptance rate for medical school the year after this program ends is pretty decent. Have you heard anything about people who waited until they finished the program to apply? Thanks again for your input.
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where did you get the acceptance rates for those who applied after completing the program?? is there a list of where they were accepted to??
 
No I guess I mis-spoke a little bit. I didn't mean that I found actual numbers. Just from talking with people who did this MSMS and are now in medical school or are going to be starting in August it seems like most of them waited until after the program to apply and had relatively good success.
 
what do you think my chances of getting in by not meeting the minimum GRE score?
 
Shalashaska said:
I would contact the admissions office as soon as possible. Deadlines are approaching soon.
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I already submitted my application and supplementary materials. i'm just worried about that GRE requirement
 
lincoln90 said:
I already submitted my application and supplementary materials. i'm just worried about that GRE requirement
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I would recommend calling Katie and showing your interest in the program. Early on when I was worried about being accepted someone gave me this same advice and said that if you really want to get into this program Katie will make it happen. Just make sure they know how enthusiastic you are, it can't hurt. Good luck!
 
Has anyone that applied around the deadline heard back yet?
 
the extended deadline has passed and there's about 144 seats left. idk if thats good or not lol
 
lincoln90 said:
the extended deadline has passed and there's about 144 seats left. idk if thats good or not lol
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I just contact them and asked them put me back in the running for one of those seats. For some reason this school just stopped considering me and claimed they never got my transcripts.... Not very happy about this but I have had the transcripts resent so now I am back under consideration.
 
WorldChanger36 said:
I just contact them and asked them put me back in the running for one of those seats. For some reason this school just stopped considering me and claimed they never got my transcripts.... Not very happy about this but I have had the transcripts resent so now I am back under consideration.
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wow thats kind of messed up. they should have at least sent an you an email. i'm wondering how long its gonna take before we know if we got in or not. fingers crossed
 
Still trading phone calls and emails here. I am getting bumped around alot and I am starting to get the feeling like nobody has any idea what is going on...
 
acousticxlover said:
when did you submit your application?
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Way back in March. When I didn't get an email telling me it was complete I called to check on it. They said they were very busy but would get to it as soon as possible. After two weeks went by I called again. They said everything was in order so I figured ok then I am good. Towards the end of may I began to think I had been rejected so I called to find out why ( the status page never said anything), I was told again that they were very busy and that I should email person X. Well I did that and never got a return email so I called again and I was told that I was never marked complete because they never got my transcripts. I asked if it was too late to fix this and they said just send in the transcripts and I should email Kate and ask. So I did that and she sent me an email on Friday that she MAY look into it on Monday. At this point I want my money back because this is starting to get on my nerves.
 
WorldChanger36 said:
Way back in March. When I didn't get an email telling me it was complete I called to check on it. They said they were very busy but would get to it as soon as possible. After two weeks went by I called again. They said everything was in order so I figured ok then I am good. Towards the end of may I began to think I had been rejected so I called to find out why ( the status page never said anything), I was told again that they were very busy and that I should email person X. Well I did that and never got a return email so I called again and I was told that I was never marked complete because they never got my transcripts. I asked if it was too late to fix this and they said just send in the transcripts and I should email Kate and ask. So I did that and she sent me an email on Friday that she MAY look into it on Monday. At this point I want my money back because this is starting to get on my nerves.
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interesting. seems like the majority of the people who applied early in the application cycle didn't have problems. i think you should have contacted katie in the beginning. she would have been way more considerate and helpful than what you say she is now.

i had a similar problem with another school i applied to. i e-mailed and called the contact that was listed for their application inquires and i never got an email back and never received a return phone call. then finally, a month later, i received an e-mail response. throughout that whole ordeal i was frustrated and didn't see a reason why i would even consider going to that school anymore (seemed disorganized and didn't seem like they were very concerned with the incoming student body).

Good luck. hope katie can talk to her boss and get you reviewed in time to join the 2013 class (that's if you even decide to go here if you're accepted after your frustration with the program so far)
 
acousticxlover said:
interesting. seems like the majority of the people who applied early in the application cycle didn't have problems. i think you should have contacted katie in the beginning. she would have been way more considerate and helpful than what you say she is now.

i had a similar problem with another school i applied to. i e-mailed and called the contact that was listed for their application inquires and i never got an email back and never received a return phone call. then finally, a month later, i received an e-mail response. throughout that whole ordeal i was frustrated and didn't see a reason why i would even consider going to that school anymore (seemed disorganized and didn't seem like they were very concerned with the incoming student body).

Good luck. hope katie can talk to her boss and get you reviewed in time to join the 2013 class (that's if you even decide to go here if you're accepted after your frustration with the program so far)
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While I do feel a bit burned but if they let me in I would get over it. Stuff happens....
 
Just got a call today that I was accepted into med school, I hope one of you guys gets my spot at USF :) Good luck to everyone in the future!
 
lincoln90 said:
still waiting.......
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Hello Everyone, I'm new to the forum, but I can totally understand the "waiting in Limbo" feeling. I received an email from Christina Hydes with the following info: "
Your application is currently under review, we hope to have an update for all applicants by July 13th but we will be making decisions until August so please allow us until then to render a decision.

Thank you for your patience,..."


 
So I need everyone's help. I am now stuck with a lease at Malibu apartments that I need to get out of so I can find a place closer to LECOM. If anyone is looking for a place or knows someone who is please let me know. It will save you the $250 security deposit! Ok thanks for your help.
 
Kemistri said:
Hello Everyone, I'm new to the forum, but I can totally understand the "waiting in Limbo" feeling. I received an email from Christina Hydes with the following info: "
Your application is currently under review, we hope to have an update for all applicants by July 13th but we will be making decisions until August so please allow us until then to render a decision.

Thank you for your patience,..."
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Until August... Wow... thats really cutting it close
 
@WorldChanger36 Just a random statement, but you seem to be in every thread I am reading.:uhno: . Grats on your acceptance to USF by the way.
 
CDTcorp said:
@WorldChanger36 Just a random statement, but you seem to be in every thread I am reading.:uhno: . Grats on your acceptance to USF by the way.
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Well sir you dont get a 900 post count by just reading. Feel free to join in just ignore the trolls and the *****hat posters. Just please make sure to search before posting. Look forward to reading what you have to say now dont be shy post away
 
WorldChanger36 said:
Well sir you dont get a 900 post count by just reading. Feel free to join in just ignore the trolls and the *****hat posters. Just please make sure to search before posting. Look forward to reading what you have to say now dont be shy post away
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Ha, nice. Yeah, will do. I am also in this program right now and I will be finishing it in just a few more weeks if anyone has any questions about it I would be glad to answer them.
 
CDTcorp said:
Ha, nice. Yeah, will do. I am also in this program right now and I will be finishing it in just a few more weeks if anyone has any questions about it I would be glad to answer them.
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what is your opinion about the program? in the first few pages of this thread there were a lot of cons and no positive reviews for the program..
 
Well, personally I feel like I really learned a lot in this program. There are some really great instructors and then there are a few who are really, really bad (like in physiology we had a guy for 8 lectures that did not speak english and I couldn't tell what the %$#@ he was saying). My class is the first year of this program so there are bound to be issues and such to work out and solve for future classes. If the faculty and Dr.Barber take our feedback and make the proper changes then I think things will be much better for this next class.
Most of the people that are complaining clearly just wanted to be handed a good grade. I wanted to really learn this stuff, because I love medicine and I enjoy going to class everyday and learning interesting things. In the end you really do get what you put into it.
I also had no problems getting letters of rec. from a couple of my professors, most are really pretty nice if you just talk to them.
The only class that I am really upset with right now would be ethics that I am taking currently. I don't want to get into details right now, but it is turning out to be the class from hell. If they don't fix the issues in this class I will gladly post and let you all know exactly what happened.
Also, this will be my first time applying to medical schools so I will let you all know if I get in somewhere because of this program.
 
i called Christina today and she told me a "decision has been rendered for my application" and i should receive a decision in the mail. Has anybody been told the same? i feel like its a polite way of saying i didn't get in lol.
 
lincoln90 said:
i called Christina today and she told me a "decision has been rendered for my application" and i should receive a decision in the mail. Has anybody been told the same? i feel like its a polite way of saying i didn't get in lol.
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Sounds like it. What were your stats? Were you in state?
 
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