2016-2017 Florida International University Application Thread

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When you were an M2 there were several students that performed their competencies with SPs. So again, they did have them and you just didn't realize that or waited until the last minute to address your situation. I get that some people get screwed with their family situation. I think everyone has probably had a no show or two and it's annoying I agree. However, as long as you document it and make an effort they will try to accommodate you.

Ah, I forgot about that hahaha. I did have to do a dental exam on a fake patient in addition to my trash detail. High yield.

And, thanks for the reminder. I forgot to talk about "no shows" where you do everything you're supposed to do (coordinate your schedule with the household / NHELP office / other students / police officers, wait for a doctor to hopefully be assigned, create a lesson plan, take time off from clinic, confirm the visit with the household, drive 30+ minutes, have a prehuddle), and your patient isn't home. It's frustrating when you have a few of those and still get placed on the naughty list or get told that you "shouldn't have waited until the last minute" to complete your assignments.

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Ah, I forgot about that hahaha. I did have to do a dental exam on a fake patient in addition to my trash detail. High yield.

And, thanks for the reminder. I forgot to talk about "no shows" where you do everything you're supposed to do (coordinate your schedule with the household / NHELP office / other students / police officers, wait for a doctor to hopefully be assigned, create a lesson plan, take time off from clinic, confirm the visit with the household, drive 30+ minutes, have a prehuddle), and your patient isn't home. It's frustrating when you have a few of those and still get placed on the naughty list or get told that you "shouldn't have waited until the last minute" to complete your assignments.

I'm not trying to say anything you have wrote in any of your posts are wrong or not valid complaints. The school is new and is probably trying to do too much all at once. I just think you might be exaggerating a little to scare people away from attending which I don't really agree with. If you look at the class of 2017 I think the real problem was there were too many students who were not prepared to enter medical school in the first place. They did not take it seriously and failed because they did not put enough effort or they did not learn how to prepare properly for exams. If you put a decent effort into your studies, there is no way you would be anywhere near a 79% in the class. The in house tests were straight from the power points and most of the nbme finals were straight from pathoma and first aid. If you couldn't manage to get at least an 80% after the curve, you clearly didn't apply yourself or just didn't understand the material considering there were students getting 97-100% in classes. Even if you are -2.0 std, you still pass if you get above 80% in all your classes. It just never happened in your class as there were always people much lower than this. As far as I know, the class of 2017 has had the worst attrition rate of any class and has drastically been reduced in the classes below.
 
I'm not trying to say anything you have wrote in any of your posts are wrong or not valid complaints. The school is new and is probably trying to do too much all at once. I just think you might be exaggerating a little to scare people away from attending which I don't really agree with. If you look at the class of 2017 I think the real problem was there were too many students who were not prepared to enter medical school in the first place. They did not take it seriously and failed because they did not put enough effort or they did not learn how to prepare properly for exams. If you put a decent effort into your studies, there is no way you would be anywhere near a 79% in the class. The in house tests were straight from the power points and most of the nbme finals were straight from pathoma and first aid. If you couldn't manage to get at least an 80% after the curve, you clearly didn't apply yourself or just didn't understand the material considering there were students getting 97-100% in classes. Even if you are -2.0 std, you still pass if you get above 80% in all your classes. It just never happened in your class as there were always people much lower than this. As far as I know, the class of 2017 has had the worst attrition rate of any class and has drastically been reduced in the classes below.

So you place the blame for attrition on the admission committee? Fair enough, but there’s enough time for additional members of your class to quietly disappear.

The use of NBME exams for a portion of the tests is one of the few things I love about FIU. Saying that the in-house tests are straight from the powerpoints is laughable though. I know that some of the worst profs have left FIU since my time, but I can't imagine such a drastic improvement. Every single in-house exam I took was followed by lengthy discussion about the ~5+% of the questions that needed to be thrown out. Combine that with the ridiculous process to “challenge” a test question…
 
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...But the reasons you mentioned as "absolutely no reason to attend medical school at FIU unless..." are absurd.

Care to share your reasons for attending FIU? Or share any reasons that are not absurd?


I submit to you a quote from last year's application thread that echoes everything I'm saying.


"@Ignatius M.D. , any chance of getting another opinion on all the things @Lifschitz has brought up?"

I've been roused from my 4th year slumber, I'll try not to be too cranky. Those comments have not really been my experience, though what he/she said has some truth. Our weakest pre-clinical area is in anatomy (strongest is pathology) and some rotations get full. Sometimes you don't get exactly what you want, but this happens at every school in the country essentially, particularly with new schools who are still expanding clinical affiliates. I got >90% of the courses and locations I requested. His/her experience may be what was said, but that is not typical like he/she is making it out to be. Additionally, getting the exact schedule you want for 3rd year is essentially irrelevant. Every school has their rumors about what is the "best" order but that's nonsense, and everyone wants the same few rotation blocks, which cannot happen. I got my 3rd choice and it was perfectly fine. Regarding the former issue, our anatomy is prosection, without high quality, "fresh" cadavers, so we mix up our learning with computer based systems and physical models. We still use the cadavers for tagging muscles, and some 2nd/3rd degree types of anatomy questions, just not for detailed stuff. If you want more you can do more after 1st year. I though that was fine. Being pimped by surgical attendings on esoteric nth branches of X vessels/nerves is old-school and useless, and I did extremely well just by knowing most essential/clinically important surgical anatomy. Spending months dissecting is a waste and will not help your surgical skill. What does help is the fact that we get to close on a ton of surgeries, be first assist, do minor excisions start to finish, etc., which most other schools' surgically inclined students dream of doing. Some students even do more advanced things after proving themselves capable, but if this person was timid they may have had more "shadowing". You have to be assertive. I almost never had more than a few days of a rotation where I was "shadowing", but actually got much more hands-on experience than most of my 20+ friends at other medical schools (especially highly academic ones where you get to do nothing as a medical student).

Class attrition varies by class, of course, but my class had a normal attrition rate and was extremely strong. If their class had a higher rate than any other class I doubt it was because of the curriculum, which the students help design, or because of a sudden change in admin policy (if it didn't affect other classes, why would it be a cause for his/her's?). Lifschitz is not counting at least 4 people we had do research years, 3-4 who left but did not fail out (some people do just leave), and a couple others. They shouldn't speak about what they don't know. A few unmatched students is normal from nearly every school, can happen for a large variety of reasons, and we ended up with 1 person unmatched to my knowledge. My classmates are excellent, our average step 1 was just below 238, we do well on shelf exams, and we had a great match overall. I got the rotations I wanted, had good clinical hands-on experience, went through the normal frustrations of medical school, and matched high on my list in a competitive field and feel very prepared for residency. This is my experience, and this other student has theirs, but take things with a grain of salt.


The old post does bring up several points that I can address better now that I've all but finished 4th year.

I completely agree that:
1. Anatomy is very weak at FIU
2. You don't always get the rotations you want because as a new school, FIU does not have the most stable clinical affiliates. In 4th year, I've had 1 attending schedule vacation unannounced during my rotation, effectively cancelling it, had my emergency medicine rotation site changed to probably the least desirable site <2 months before the rotation was to begin, and also had my requested geriatrics site switched without option/explanation. FIU takes 4th year rotations way too seriously making it a huge pain in the ass for applicants to competitive specialties to go on the necessary number of interviews.

Also, unless something has changed, 3rd years have minimal say in the choice of site for their rotations, and typically find out where they are going to be rotating a couple of days before the rotation begins. And adding to the earlier post about how saturated the medical education market is in South Florida, there really is little room to switch out of awful sites that you're assigned. Some people get lucky. Others get assigned crap and are stuck with it.
 
Random thoughts:

NHelp - NHelp is so hated that in the AAMC Graduation Questionnaire, the class of 2016 answered the question regarding participation in “Field experience in providing health education in the community” affirmatively only ~75% of the time. The administration is coaching our class to remember NHELP when answering this question, but I suspect the response rate will remain the same.

Grading - Why hasn’t FIU adapted the more humane pass / fail grading system? The reason given was that since the school is so new, it allows for the top x %ile of students to distinguish themselves as being in the top x %ile (because the FIU name obviously adds nothing to their competitiveness). This comes at the expense of more stress, being forced to learn what FIU thinks is important (no bueno), and intraclass competition.

Misc - The school is trying to do too much at once, and certain faculty interests get way too much influence on the curriculum, in my opinion. You’ll have genetics forced down your throat even through 3rd year, which wouldn’t necessarily be such a bad thing if not for mediocre lectures and mandatory time consuming busywork. The biostats and epidemiology faculty will come back to haunt you over and over again up until graduation, and this group includes some of the worst of HWCOM. Instead of going to the hospital on Fridays in 3rd year, you go to the largely useless "Osler Fridays" and the pain continues with time consuming online clinical modules in 4th year. The curriculum people are obsessed with PBL, TBL, “reverse classroom” bull**** and this will plague you as well. I guarantee 90%+ of the class would vote to eliminate all of that in a heartbeat. You quickly learn at FIU that “mandatory” is a keyword for the bull**** sessions / classes that no one would attend if they had the option. These include all the pet subjects and teaching modalities that everyone hates.

Misc - The administration has mentioned that 4th years doing away rotations, HWCOM alumni, and their residency program directors have indicated that FIU grads do not know how to function well on day 1 of internship in the medical education hierarchy of medical student, intern, resident, etc. Sure, working directly with an attending can be advantageous in some instances, but not all. There are few settings in the clinical years where you have the chance to work with residents, and like most things clinical at FIU, you don't get to pick them.
 
And back again. This is exhausting. I want to point out that this attempt to “show the other side of FIU” has just turned into a couple people bashing the school. If anyone that interviewed has further questions, I encourage you to reach out to students you met while interviewing as opposed to those disgruntled on forums.

The things required of the Nhelp course are meant to actually teach you something and if you read the points contending against the Nhelp course, I think some may admit that this is just annoyance at having to do work outside of studying for other courses. I will admit they are dull and take away time that could be spent studying for these other courses. ALL schools have these types of courses in addition to the basic sciences. I would contend we have it better because we take one basic science or organ system course at a time with one test every 2 weeks as opposed to other curriculums that have overlapping courses and exams that occur at the same time so there is more to study for. Also, all of the humanities courses are pass/fail, so they are not stressful, just require some time.

You also do have the freedom to address the issues that your household has (which is the entire point) but you also have competencies to complete that require practicing skills you might not otherwise have the opportunity to practice in clerkships, such as preventative care counseling, end of life planning, patient-centered behavioral guidance, etc. These things might not necessarily apply to your future specialty but they provide you with the exposure to them so that you can talk about them intelligently from experience.

You also have to complete one visit every 3-4 months (about 3/year). There are strict guidelines because…come on, it’s one visit every 3-4 months. If you procrastinate until the last second, then yeah it’s going to cause you stress. Also, you call once per month to keep up with your household and their needs. I leave it to you to determine if that is unreasonable. These visits are not “low-yield” if you take the time to understand the purpose behind what you are being asked to do.

Sometimes, we can be limited in what we can provide. Often, we must provide information on resources available for these households that they might not have otherwise known about. If a household does not have insurance, we are able to provide care through our mobile health clinic, but understandably these resources are limited and that is why it is limited to those without insurance. Those with insurance are provided with resources for low-cost clinics that they might be able to attend. I helped my household both obtain insurance and they were able to receive care through our mobile health clinic in the meantime and found an affordable PCP after they got insurance. Why is this so important, especially in Florida? Because the Medicaid coverage gap exists. If you make less than around 30% of the poverty level AND qualify in another category (eg, pregnant woman, child) you can otherwise receive Medicaid. If you make >100% of the poverty level, you can receive vouchers to make insurance cheaper. Anywhere in between? You are on your own. How did I learn about this and more on healthcare policy? Nhelp. I also urge you to learn more about the coverage gap in general as Florida is one of the few states that chose not to expand Medicaid under the ACA.

It’s true that households leave the program for one reason or another. That can’t be controlled and sometimes students end up in that position. It comes with the program; you can’t control what a household will do, but they are told that a requirement for participating in the program involves household visits with students, and while they may initially agree, they may not understand the commitment fully and back out later. It can be tough to schedule visits, and again look at the poster’s reasons for why. They may work a number of jobs or something else. They have LIFE to worry about. We provide the care we can, but sometimes it doesn’t work out. It seems a little short-sighted to complain about not being able to schedule a visit in light of this, especially considering the good otherwise done overall by the program, regardless of some people seemingly having poor experiences.

As a side note, the faculty understands this and works with you assuming you didn’t wait until the last weekend and YOU put your household in a bind trying to schedule a visit in a short period of time. Note what was mentioned about completing a competency with a standardized patient. The remediation assignments were pretty lame, but you didn’t fail, you just did something lame for a couple hours if you actually weren’t able to complete the requirements.

Again, most of the complaints about the Nhelp program seem like they could have been rectified with better time –management skills, whether it is in the classroom or in scheduling visits.

In regards to last minute changes and rotations being changed…come on. I can understand the frustration as you might now have to drive further or work harder at one rotation vs. another, but this is just complaining. The doctors are people too and take vacations and things happen and the schedule needs to be changed. If you were forced to sit out a couple weeks and make it up the following year, then you have reason to complain. Also, FIU does not make 4th year rotations any more difficult than any other school. The LCME has specific requirements for what you must complete. Go talk to the students at other schools, they have it tough. We get 10 weeks off in 4th year to schedule PLUS 8 more weeks if you completed the summer research assignment early. At another school, they have 10 weeks off for ALL of third and fourth year and they obviously have to save them because they have to schedule this time for interviews in 4th year. Be glad for the way the 4th year is set up. If you’re in a competitive specialty, it is possible that you have to use vacation time to do extra aways in addition to what’s allowed. That’s how it would have been elsewhere. Feel free to ask students at other schools.

One thing I will say about FIU is, because we don’t have one central hospital (eg. Shands and UF) you will have to drive to the different sites. Some are far, some are close depending where you live. Some people get good sites one rotation, some get further sites for others. That’s the way it works and you have to know that going in.

“The administration is coaching our class to remember NHELP when answering this question ‘field experience in providing health education in the community’”- They are telling us to remember this when answering this question because people honestly forget. I didn’t even think to talk about Nhelp when I was going to do interviews prior to doing a practice interview and, let me tell you, Nhelp was a HUGE talking point (especially for someone like me who didn’t really volunteer in the traditional sense). So when someone asks what the most fulfilling thing you’ve done is, you have a great thing to talk about that interviewers love- and, guess what, you aren’t B.S.ing because it’s true.

“Why hasn’t FIU adopted pass/fail?” – Because we are a new school and don’t yet have the reputation to just go off of P/F. UCF also has grading as well as other new schools. Schools with P/F have been around longer with established reputations. We have only 5 (soon to be) classes graduated. You have to know this going in as well.

The genetics is, admittedly, probably busy work for most, but some students probably benefit. Biostats and Epi is extremely useful to know, and they bring it back every year to really establish a base considering it’s a difficult topic. And I’m not going to address the rest of the paragraphs from this student because it is mentally exhausting addressing all of these individual complaints from one student’s experience. I refer you to what I said in the first post, please take one person’s opinion with a grain of salt (including my own) and feel free to talk to those students you met at interviews.

Edit- Humanities courses are P/F, changed in the paragraph
 
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And back again. This is exhausting. I want to point out that this attempt to “show the other side of FIU” has just turned into a couple people bashing the school. If anyone that interviewed has further questions, I encourage you to reach out to students you met while interviewing as opposed to those disgruntled on forums.

The things required of the Nhelp course are meant to actually teach you something and if you read the points contending against the Nhelp course, I think some may admit that this is just annoyance at having to do work outside of studying for other courses. I will admit they are dull and take away time that could be spent studying for these other courses. ALL schools have these types of courses in addition to the basic sciences. I would contend we have it better because we take one basic science or organ system course at a time with one test every 2 weeks as opposed to other curriculums that have overlapping courses and exams that occur at the same time so there is more to study for. Also, all of the basic science courses are pass/fail, so they are not stressful, just require some time.

You also do have the freedom to address the issues that your household has (which is the entire point) but you also have competencies to complete that require practicing skills you might not otherwise have the opportunity to practice in clerkships, such as preventative care counseling, end of life planning, patient-centered behavioral guidance, etc. These things might not necessarily apply to your future specialty but they provide you with the exposure to them so that you can talk about them intelligently from experience.

You also have to complete one visit every 3-4 months (about 3/year). There are strict guidelines because…come on, it’s one visit every 3-4 months. If you procrastinate until the last second, then yeah it’s going to cause you stress. Also, you call once per month to keep up with your household and their needs. I leave it to you to determine if that is unreasonable. These visits are not “low-yield” if you take the time to understand the purpose behind what you are being asked to do.

Sometimes, we can be limited in what we can provide. Often, we must provide information on resources available for these households that they might not have otherwise known about. If a household does not have insurance, we are able to provide care through our mobile health clinic, but understandably these resources are limited and that is why it is limited to those without insurance. Those with insurance are provided with resources for low-cost clinics that they might be able to attend. I helped my household both obtain insurance and they were able to receive care through our mobile health clinic in the meantime and found an affordable PCP after they got insurance. Why is this so important, especially in Florida? Because the Medicaid coverage gap exists. If you make less than around 30% of the poverty level AND qualify in another category (eg, pregnant woman, child) you can otherwise receive Medicaid. If you make >100% of the poverty level, you can receive vouchers to make insurance cheaper. Anywhere in between? You are on your own. How did I learn about this and more on healthcare policy? Nhelp. I also urge you to learn more about the coverage gap in general as Florida is one of the few states that chose not to expand Medicaid under the ACA.

It’s true that households leave the program for one reason or another. That can’t be controlled and sometimes students end up in that position. It comes with the program; you can’t control what a household will do, but they are told that a requirement for participating in the program involves household visits with students, and while they may initially agree, they may not understand the commitment fully and back out later. It can be tough to schedule visits, and again look at the poster’s reasons for why. They may work a number of jobs or something else. They have LIFE to worry about. We provide the care we can, but sometimes it doesn’t work out. It seems a little short-sighted to complain about not being able to schedule a visit in light of this, especially considering the good otherwise done overall by the program, regardless of some people seemingly having poor experiences.

As a side note, the faculty understands this and works with you assuming you didn’t wait until the last weekend and YOU put your household in a bind trying to schedule a visit in a short period of time. Note what was mentioned about completing a competency with a standardized patient. The remediation assignments were pretty lame, but you didn’t fail, you just did something lame for a couple hours if you actually weren’t able to complete the requirements.

Again, most of the complaints about the Nhelp program seem like they could have been rectified with better time –management skills, whether it is in the classroom or in scheduling visits.

In regards to last minute changes and rotations being changed…come on. I can understand the frustration as you might now have to drive further or work harder at one rotation vs. another, but this is just complaining. The doctors are people too and take vacations and things happen and the schedule needs to be changed. If you were forced to sit out a couple weeks and make it up the following year, then you have reason to complain. Also, FIU does not make 4th year rotations any more difficult than any other school. The LCME has specific requirements for what you must complete. Go talk to the students at other schools, they have it tough. We get 10 weeks off in 4th year to schedule PLUS 8 more weeks if you completed the summer research assignment early. At another school, they have 10 weeks off for ALL of third and fourth year and they obviously have to save them because they have to schedule this time for interviews in 4th year. Be glad for the way the 4th year is set up. If you’re in a competitive specialty, it is possible that you have to use vacation time to do extra aways in addition to what’s allowed. That’s how it would have been elsewhere. Feel free to ask students at other schools.

One thing I will say about FIU is, because we don’t have one central hospital (eg. Shands and UF) you will have to drive to the different sites. Some are far, some are close depending where you live. Some people get good sites one rotation, some get further sites for others. That’s the way it works and you have to know that going in.

“The administration is coaching our class to remember NHELP when answering this question ‘field experience in providing health education in the community’”- They are telling us to remember this when answering this question because people honestly forget. I didn’t even think to talk about Nhelp when I was going to do interviews prior to doing a practice interview and, let me tell you, Nhelp was a HUGE talking point (especially for someone like me who didn’t really volunteer in the traditional sense). So when someone asks what the most fulfilling thing you’ve done is, you have a great thing to talk about that interviewers love- and, guess what, you aren’t B.S.ing because it’s true.

“Why hasn’t FIU adopted pass/fail?” – Because we are a new school and don’t yet have the reputation to just go off of P/F. UCF also has grading as well as other new schools. Schools with P/F have been around longer with established reputations. We have only 5 (soon to be) classes graduated. You have to know this going in as well.

The genetics is, admittedly, probably busy work for most, but some students probably benefit. Biostats and Epi is extremely useful to know, and they bring it back every year to really establish a base considering it’s a difficult topic. And I’m not going to address the rest of the paragraphs from this student because it is mentally exhausting addressing all of these individual complaints from one student’s experience. I refer you to what I said in the first post, please take one person’s opinion with a grain of salt (including my own) and feel free to talk to those students you met at interviews.

Last minute rotation changes and and cancellations - just complaining? Come on. Why is this a reasonable expectation for a medical student? Why would anyone choose this kind of chaos if they had another option? FIU's decentralized rotation system creates a lack of oversight. No one at FIU knows what my rotation schedule is at certain sites and has no idea if I'm forced to work with problematic attendings that students are not supposed to work with and have been disciplined in the past.

The organ system type curriculum is not unique to FIU and in no way justifies the level of nonscience/nonsense courses. "Also, all of the basic science courses are pass/fail" - if not a typo, this is blatantly false.

Above is an example of the type of student that thrives at FIU: one so excited to hold an acceptance to medical school that they tolerate any form of abuse, abhor flexibility, choice and stability, and like to blame the victim.

The people that you meet while interviewing are the same kool-aid drinkers that can see no wrong at FIU. Who knows, maybe the stars aligned and they got the perfect rotations and are miraculously still with their original NHelp household. As with most things, sometimes you need to read the bad reviews to see what's really going on.
 
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Kool-aid's delicious :happy: To all the prospective students on this forum, come to FIU or don't, it is up to you. I'm graduating so this has no bearing on me. Just don't let disgruntled forum posters be the deciding factor in your decision.
 
Applicants, every school is going to have it its negative aspects, just as its going to have its cheerleaders who refuse to admit any apparent deficits. I understand wanting to increase the reputation of your alma mater, but I just refuse to urinate in your face and tell you that you should smile because it's raining. Sometimes, you should you've got to stand up and say, "Excuse me, sir, but that's actually pee that's dripping down my face.".

Regardless of where you want to place the blame, I believe that 26 people repeating a year or failing out of one class is a huge red flag. And, I believe that a school going from graduating their first med school class in 2013 to creating a PA school to becoming a Caribbean med school affiliate to starting an online med school within 4 years is another huge red flag. And I believe that our colleagues refusing to acknowledge any negative aspects of our school is a red flag. Sadly, when I applied, I only had bright-eyed M1s available to me who either didn't know or didn't want to disclose negatives about FIU, and I fell in love based on their enthusiasm. This brewed some skepticism and cynicism, yes, but I don't think it's unfounded. I would have loved to have had this information when I was applying so that I could have been a more informed consumer. As the saying goes, if something sounds too good to be true, it most likely is.

Seriously, though, reach out to our cheerleaders and ask Viola05 and DooyaEvanlift what they feel are the worst aspects of FIU. If they say "on-campus parking or Miami traffic between all of our wonderful clinical sites," they are not being honest with you. Read the conflicting sides that have been presented, ask intelligent questions at your interviews and second looks, and make informed decisions. That is what I hope this discussion has inspired you to do.

As those who have reached out to me via PM can attest, I'm not bitter or disgruntled, and I'm actually not discouraging anyone from attending FIU. On the contrary, I've actually encouraged a few applicants to attend FIU. I matched very well, and I was relatively happy at FIU. I was just very disappointed that a lot things I thought would be as described, but were not as described. I just think that applicants should be privy to a proper informed consent before the risky procedure of medical school. Feel free to continue to reach out to me with questions and concerns. You'll obviously get my 100% unabashed opinion supported by facts and statistics where applicable.
 
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Responses to Viola05:
"You also do have the freedom to address the issues that your household has (which is the entire point) but you also have competencies to complete that require practicing skills you might not otherwise have the opportunity to practice in clerkships, such as preventative care counseling, end of life planning, patient-centered behavioral guidance, etc. These things might not necessarily apply to your future specialty but they provide you with the exposure to them so that you can talk about them intelligently from experience."

This sounds an awful lot like the learning objectives for the Family Medicine Clerkship, and there is no reason to mandate specific competencies be done that are covered in another rotation. There should be enough flexibility given to us to complete only those things that are relevant to our patients. Sure, it's nice to practice things in med school, but if a patient doesn't need it, it's pretty messed up to force them to have it done to them.

"It’s true that households leave the program for one reason or another. That can’t be controlled and sometimes students end up in that position. It comes with the program; you can’t control what a household will do, but they are told that a requirement for participating in the program involves household visits with students, and while they may initially agree, they may not understand the commitment fully and back out later. It can be tough to schedule visits, and again look at the poster’s reasons for why. They may work a number of jobs or something else. They have LIFE to worry about. We provide the care we can, but sometimes it doesn’t work out. It seems a little short-sighted to complain about not being able to schedule a visit in light of this, especially considering the good otherwise done overall by the program, regardless of some people seemingly having poor experiences."

You're missing my point here. Yes, being uninsured and financially challenged is absolutely terrible; however, I don't think that students should be negatively effected by circumstances beyond their control. If a patient cancels last minute, students should not have to worry about their grades. I seriously doubt that you haven't legitimately worried about NHELP requirements at least once during your time here.

"FIU does not make 4th year rotations any more difficult than any other school. The LCME has specific requirements for what you must complete. Go talk to the students at other schools, they have it tough. We get 10 weeks off in 4th year to schedule PLUS 8 more weeks if you completed the summer research assignment early. At another school, they have 10 weeks off for ALL of third and fourth year and they obviously have to save them because they have to schedule this time for interviews in 4th year. Be glad for the way the 4th year is set up. If you’re in a competitive specialty, it is possible that you have to use vacation time to do extra aways in addition to what’s allowed. That’s how it would have been elsewhere. Feel free to ask students at other schools."

There actually isn't any LCME requirements for MS4 clerkships. Literally none. In fact, there's a growing number of schools that offer programs without a fourth year. FYI, the University of Miami has 14 weeks of M4 electives and 4 weeks of any floor-based specialty. We're not special in that we have elective time. Also, you know this, but most people don't finish our research project before the start of M4.

"“The administration is coaching our class to remember NHELP when answering this question ‘field experience in providing health education in the community’”- They are telling us to remember this when answering this question because people honestly forget."

Come on now, why would people forget about a three year longitudinal experience of going into people's houses if it were so impactful? It's literally our flagship program.
 
Really loved the discussion.
It definitely brought up points that were worth considering.
But, it's the last week they were sending out interviews and I didn't get an invite so I guess none of it will apply to me.

Good luck to everyone that will interview, has interviewed, or has been accepted!
 
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Applicants, every school is going to have it its negative aspects, just as its going to have its cheerleaders who refuse to admit any apparent deficits. I understand wanting to increase the reputation of your alma mater, but I just refuse to urinate in your face and tell you that you should smile because it's raining. Sometimes, you should you've got to stand up and say, "Excuse me, sir, but that's actually pee that's dripping down my face.".

Regardless of where you want to place the blame, I believe that 26 people repeating a year or failing out of one class is a huge red flag. And, I believe that a school going from graduating their first med school class in 2013 to creating a PA school to becoming a Caribbean med school affiliate to starting an online med school within 4 years is another huge red flag. And I believe that our colleagues refusing to acknowledge any negative aspects of our school is a red flag. Sadly, when I applied, I only had bright-eyed M1s available to me who either didn't know or didn't want to disclose negatives about FIU, and I fell in love based on their enthusiasm. This brewed some skepticism and cynicism, yes, but I don't think it's unfounded. I would have loved to have had this information when I was applying so that I could have been a more informed consumer. As the saying goes, if something sounds too good to be true, it most likely is.

Seriously, though, reach out to our cheerleaders and ask Viola05 and DooyaEvanlift what they feel are the worst aspects of FIU. If they say "on-campus parking or Miami traffic between all of our wonderful clinical sites," they are not being honest with you. Read the conflicting sides that have been presented, ask intelligent questions at your interviews and second looks, and make informed decisions. That is what I hope this discussion has inspired you to do.

As those who have reached out to me via PM can attest, I'm not bitter or disgruntled, and I'm actually not discouraging anyone from attending FIU. On the contrary, I've actually encouraged a few applicants to attend FIU. I matched very well, and I was relatively happy at FIU. I was just very disappointed that a lot things I thought would be as described, but were not as described. I just think that applicants should be privy to a proper informed consent before the risky procedure of medical school. Feel free to continue to reach out to me with questions and concerns. You'll obviously get my 100% unabashed opinion supported by facts and statistics where applicable.

I dont know why you label me as a cheerleader as I told you I agreed with a lot of stuff you said. I just think you blow some of the stuff a little out of proportion to fit in your rant.

I personally went on an interview and had someone telling everyone they were an "FIU student" during the day. Meanwhile he was from the Caribbean and just paid FIU to rotate at our sites. I have a major problem with that just as you probably do.

If you want to have something to rant about for your next topic, feel free to address the "free laptop".
 
Have any of you guys who were accepted in February received your admissions packets yet? Does anyone know when we suppose to get them? Thanks!
 
Members don't see this ad :)
As another member of the MS4 class at FIU, I felt that I should provide my outlook to FIU and respond to what I’ve been reading on here since match day last week. I would like to start by applauding NEU305 for providing prospective students with information that could be vital to their decision making process as this application cycle approaches its end. That being said, I understand why other posters have risen up to “defend” FIU since then. No one wants to see their baggage laid out in public for everyone to see. Personally, I believe everyone in my class must have at least some positive emotional connection to FIU (even Lifschitz). The past four years have been life changing, we all have made friends here, and had some good nights living the Miami lifestyle. So when we hear any negativity regarding our Alma Mater we immediately think that “I made it through and it wasn’t so bad”. I know that FIU faculty and staff do a great job emphasizing all the positive aspects of FIU. Similarly, the student ambassadors do a great job minimizing the issues to traffic and parking. It is easy to brush these issues off as “a few disgruntled forum posters”.

Unfortunately, a large percentage of our class have been “disgruntled” by the way things are handled at FIU. I can tell you for sure that the few posters here are not the minority, they are simply the only ones who care enough to speak out about the issues at FIU. You could say I have been one of the “kool-aid-drinkers” for the past 4 years. I witnessed friend after friend disappear throughout the years and didn’t think much of it. In third and fourth year, I also experienced rotations with a 10:1 Carribean medical students to attending ratio and just dealt with it without complaining. I have met students from American U. of Antigua that introduce themselves as FIU medical students at our affiliates and just shrugged it off. I paid no attention to the newsletters with all the additional programs FIU has taken on. I only came close to failing one course over the years: NHELP. Perhaps, as a previous poster stated, I did procrastinate scheduling my household visits. Also NHELP was indeed a positive talking point in my residency interviews but I must admit it did fall into the category of “sounds great but is actually terrible”. I dealt with the “terrible” for 3 years and finally had the opportunity to make it “sound great”.

Regardless of who is to blame, my main point is that these are not isolated incidents and I refuse to believe that the class of 2017 is the only class that has dealt with these issues on a regular basis. I would expect that the classes below us must have had some improvement but many of these issues still remain in one form or another.

The important thing is that prospective students realize that there are some risks to attending FIU, as there are with every other medical school. Everyone accepted here this year has received the golden opportunity to discover these negative aspects prior to signing on for four years of medical school. If these don’t sound like issues that may affect you (or you really enjoy kool-aid), perhaps you should consider attending after all.

Bottom line, if given the opportunity to attend a different school I probably would have taken it. However, FIU was the only school that accepted me and I literally fit right under all of Lifschitz’s “4 reasons to attend FIU”. I passed. I survived. I matched. There are definitely better schools in Florida, and there are probably worse schools in world. FIU sounds great, could be terrible, but it’s definitely mediocre.
 
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To those of you that took the time to write all of this... Thank you for the transparency and good luck with residency!
 
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I received mine shortly after my acceptance
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but is the admissions packet different from the acceptance letter we get in the mail? Because I remember we both got accepted on the same day but I have only received the acceptance letter in the mail so far. So I might need to call them :laugh:.
 
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but is the admissions packet different from the acceptance letter we get in the mail? Because I remember we both got accepted on the same day but I have only received the acceptance letter in the mail so far. So I might need to call them :laugh:.
oh wait, I got the acceptance letter and magnet... I thought that is what you meant? are you talking about something else?
 
oh wait, I got the acceptance letter and magnet... I thought that is what you meant? are you talking about something else?
I got the acceptance letter and the magnet sticker. But yea I was talking about admissions packet, if there is such a thing. But I guess the acceptance letter with the magnet is what we call admissions packet. I'm low-key confused.
 
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I got the acceptance letter and the magnet sticker. But yea I was talking about admissions packet, if there is such a thing. But I guess the acceptance letter with the magnet is what we call admissions packet. I'm low-key confused.
+1
 
Anybody on here who was told they would hear the week of March 20 and still haven't heard anything?

Not that I'm terribly eager after these concerning posts...which by the way have been very insightful and thank you all for posting! I so wish all the rest of the school threads had similar people willing to be so candid.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
Anybody on here who was told they would hear the week of March 20 and still haven't heard anything?

Not that I'm terribly eager after these concerning posts...which by the way have been very insightful and thank you all for posting! I so wish all the rest of the school threads had similar people willing to be so candid.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
I think you should have heard by now. Check your spam folder. Also check your portal, if a decision has been made on your application, it should be on the portal. This is the link:
College of Medicine - Secondary Application
 
As another member of the MS4 class at FIU, I felt that I should provide my outlook to FIU and respond to what I’ve been reading on here since match day last week. I would like to start by applauding NEU305 for providing prospective students with information that could be vital to their decision making process as this application cycle approaches its end. That being said, I understand why other posters have risen up to “defend” FIU since then. No one wants to see their baggage laid out in public for everyone to see. Personally, I believe everyone in my class must have at least some positive emotional connection to FIU (even Lifschitz). The past four years have been life changing, we all have made friends here, and had some good nights living the Miami lifestyle. So when we hear any negativity regarding our Alma Mater we immediately think that “I made it through and it wasn’t so bad”. I know that FIU faculty and staff do a great job emphasizing all the positive aspects of FIU. Similarly, the student ambassadors do a great job minimizing the issues to traffic and parking. It is easy to brush these issues off as “a few disgruntled forum posters”.

Unfortunately, a large percentage of our class have been “disgruntled” by the way things are handled at FIU. I can tell you for sure that the few posters here are not the minority, they are simply the only ones who care enough to speak out about the issues at FIU. You could say I have been one of the “kool-aid-drinkers” for the past 4 years. I witnessed friend after friend disappear throughout the years and didn’t think much of it. In third and fourth year, I also experienced rotations with a 10:1 Carribean medical students to attending ratio and just dealt with it without complaining. I have met students from American U. of Antigua that introduce themselves as FIU medical students at our affiliates and just shrugged it off. I paid no attention to the newsletters with all the additional programs FIU has taken on. I only came close to failing one course over the years: NHELP. Perhaps, as a previous poster stated, I did procrastinate scheduling my household visits. Also NHELP was indeed a positive talking point in my residency interviews but I must admit it did fall into the category of “sounds great but is actually terrible”. I dealt with the “terrible” for 3 years and finally had the opportunity to make it “sound great”.

Regardless of who is to blame, my main point is that these are not isolated incidents and I refuse to believe that the class of 2017 is the only class that has dealt with these issues on a regular basis. I would expect that the classes below us must have had some improvement but many of these issues still remain in one form or another.

The important thing is that prospective students realize that there are some risks to attending FIU, as there are with every other medical school. Everyone accepted here this year has received the golden opportunity to discover these negative aspects prior to signing on for four years of medical school. If these don’t sound like issues that may affect you (or you really enjoy kool-aid), perhaps you should consider attending after all.

Bottom line, if given the opportunity to attend a different school I probably would have taken it. However, FIU was the only school that accepted me and I literally fit right under all of Lifschitz’s “4 reasons to attend FIU”. I passed. I survived. I matched. There are definitely better schools in Florida, and there are probably worse schools in world. FIU sounds great, could be terrible, but it’s definitely mediocre.

Welcome back, Lifschitz
 
Welcome back, Lifschitz

LOL too exhausted to reply, but not enough for baseless accusations? It's okay, I don't expect a response with substance from you tonight. I know you've blocked out the next couple of hours to pour your heart into the final NHelp reflection essay.
 
I think you should have heard by now. Check your spam folder. Also check your portal, if a decision has been made on your application, it should be on the portal. This is the link:
College of Medicine - Secondary Application

Nothing in spam and portal still says "Admissions Committee Scheduled"..guess I'll just have to wait until Monday to call now womp womp. Thanks for trying to help!
 
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Rejected. IS. Lower LizzyM. Pre-Interview Invite but after preliminary review completed.
 
Is FIU generous with merit/diversity scholarships?
 
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Anybody on here who was told they would hear the week of March 20 and still haven't heard anything?

Not that I'm terribly eager after these concerning posts...which by the way have been very insightful and thank you all for posting! I so wish all the rest of the school threads had similar people willing to be so candid.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
I'm also still waiting to hear back. My interview was Feb 20th and we were told we'd hear back the week of March 20th. I think I'll call on Monday and see if there are any updates.
 
What does it take to get an interview? I was rejected with a 3.88 gpa and a 30 mcat score. I have great EC's, Patient Contact, Volunteer etc.... Is it because I have not taken the new MCAT? FIU and many other schools refuse to give any feedback as to why I was rejected.
 
What does it take to get an interview? I was rejected with a 3.88 gpa and a 30 mcat score. I have great EC's, Patient Contact, Volunteer etc.... Is it because I have not taken the new MCAT? FIU and many other schools refuse to give any feedback as to why I was rejected.

those seem like good stats on par with fiu..surprised you didn't get an interview. are you IS or OOS? I know some schools want mcat scores within a certain amount of years so maybe yours was out of the window?
 
those seem like good stats on par with fiu..surprised you didn't get an interview. are you IS or OOS? I know some schools want mcat scores within a certain amount of years so maybe yours was out of the window?

I am IS. Also, I saw they don't accept any scores before 2014, and this is the year that I took it and earned my 30.
 
Do update letters/letters of interest hold much weight here? I really enjoyed my interview at FIU but was waitlisted in January. I'm feeling discouraged about getting off of the waitlist, and I want to do whatever I can to get off of it.
 
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Do update letters/letters of interest hold much weight here? I really enjoyed my interview at FIU but was waitlisted in January. I'm feeling discouraged about getting off of the waitlist, and I want to do whatever I can to get off of it.

Im sure other individuals may be able to speak about this to a greater extent and many will likely disagree with me, but my advice would be to go for it and write the letter yet expect nothing to come from it. I feel that the typical consensus is that LOI's don't hold much weight anywhere because they are not binding and the admissions committee knows you want to go there, otherwise you wouldn't have applied. Therefore giving them the good ol grey's line (pick me, choose me, love me) doesn't really make them reconsider your application because I mean FIU has 5-600 interviewees clamoring for 120 spots? This being said, I personally had two of my top picks medical schools respond extremely well to letters of interest (not intent) of that were a mix of updates/interest so I think it just depends. If you have something new and cool to update them on (progress in research, new grades, new extracurriculars) throw a little something together and declare your interest.
 
Im sure other individuals may be able to speak about this to a greater extent and many will likely disagree with me, but my advice would be to go for it and write the letter yet expect nothing to come from it. I feel that the typical consensus is that LOI's don't hold much weight anywhere because they are not binding and the admissions committee knows you want to go there, otherwise you wouldn't have applied. Therefore giving them the good ol grey's line (pick me, choose me, love me) doesn't really make them reconsider your application because I mean FIU has 5-600 interviewees clamoring for 120 spots? This being said, I personally had two of my top picks medical schools respond extremely well to letters of interest (not intent) of that were a mix of updates/interest so I think it just depends. If you have something new and cool to update them on (progress in research, new grades, new extracurriculars) throw a little something together and declare your interest.

Thank you so much for the response! I'm thinking I'm just going to do it because it can't hurt. I would write a letter of intent, but am hesitant to do so because I don't have any other acceptances yet and thought that you were only supposed to write a letter of intent if you were also accepted elsewhere.
 
Anyone know when merit scholarships come out?

Any current students receive one? What were your stats like?

Thanks!
 
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Called today because I was told I would hear back the week of March 20 and didn't. They were not entirely helpful over the phone..kind of seemed like she was talking in circles due to not knowing the answer (she could have just said they were behind or something, would have been fine with that)..but I believe, if I understood correctly, that they just finished interviewing and all decisions will be made by April 11. Again, don't quote me on that..but pretty sure it is what she meant.
 
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Any waitlist movement that anyone knows of?
 
Called today because I was told I would hear back the week of March 20 and didn't. They were not entirely helpful over the phone..kind of seemed like she was talking in circles due to not knowing the answer (she could have just said they were behind or something, would have been fine with that)..but I believe, if I understood correctly, that they just finished interviewing and all decisions will be made by April 11. Again, don't quote me on that..but pretty sure it is what she meant.

Could I ask what day you interviewed on? I'm in the same situation :(
 
Could I ask what day you interviewed on? I'm in the same situation :(
My status never ever changed. Why wait for an interview if they do not know that ... in certain land I exist!!!!!!!!!!!!!! F-disappointed!!$$@%@$$@ what a waste of hope, time, money
 
Looking at the interview schedule, it seems that there are no more interviews this cycle.
 
My status never ever changed. Why wait for an interview if they do not know that ... in certain land I exist!!!!!!!!!!!!!! F-disappointed!!$$@%@$$@ what a waste of hope, time, money
:( I'm sorry friend
 
There isn't going to be any movement until May. Last year didn't start until after the April 30th deadline.

Last year didn't get much waitlist movement
You think this year would be the same?
 
Are there any breaks in the curriculum? Comparing this curriculum overview to other schools, I do not see any breaks during the periods. Do they not show this or we really don't have any? Like Labor Day off, or winter break, etc.. Someone please let me know :)
 
Are there any breaks in the curriculum? Comparing this curriculum overview to other schools, I do not see any breaks during the periods. Do they not show this or we really don't have any? Like Labor Day off, or winter break, etc.. Someone please let me know :)

We get the usual Federal holidays off.
 
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