2016-2017 Florida International University Application Thread

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pandasaregreat said:
Thanks! Is there a Thanksgiving or winter break? Or just off for actual Thanksgiving and Christmas/New Years?
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There are thanksgiving and winter breaks
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Could someone shed some light on when the best time to look for apartments around FIU are? I'll have to try to sign a lease remotely but unfortunately the places I contacted won't let me apply until closer to the actual move in date, say like a month before. Is this normal for Miami? Or should I still try to secure an apartment now before the decent places are taken

Will be moving here from OOS so any advice/insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you !
 
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kpop said:
Could someone shed some light on when the best time to look for apartments around FIU are? I'll have to try to sign a lease remotely but unfortunately the places I contacted won't let me apply until closer to the actual move in date, say like a month before. Is this normal for Miami? Or should I still try to secure an apartment now before the decent places are taken

Will be moving here from OOS so any advice/insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you !
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I started looking early and I would advise anyone to do the same (especially OOS). Most students tend to live nearby in Doral (Camden Doral, Doral View, Amli Doral, Fontainebleau Milton) and I believe if you contact most of them they shouldn't have a problem with you signing a lease early.

Edit: We got an apartment and roomate guide from the upperclassmen which were posted on our FB class group. I assume the same would be done for 2021.
 
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wolfofparkstreet said:
I started looking early and I would advise anyone to do the same (especially OOS). Most students tend to live nearby in Doral (Camden Doral, Doral View, Amli Doral, Fontainebleau Milton) and I believe if you contact most of them they shouldn't have a problem with you signing a lease early.

Edit: We got an apartment and roomate guide from the upperclassmen which were posted on our FB class group. I assume the same would be done for 2021.
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Are there many, if any, students living in the 109 tower across the street that you know of?
 
MiamiBoyy said:
Are there many, if any, students living in the 109 tower across the street that you know of?
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I think there may be a handful from the class but I've generally heard its avoided by med students. It's predominantly populated by undergrads and could get pretty loud/wild at times given the close proximity of residents. I've also heard that they are pretty lax with respect to maintenance issues and complaints. However, I've never lived there and all my advice is anecdotal. I know of 4 guys from the year above me sharing an apartment in there and they seem to be fine so it really depends on your tolerance level. Most of the students tend to live in "working adult" apartment complexes like the ones I listed above.
 
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Looking forward to seeing those accepted at the "Welcome Back" event tomorrow! And of course, congratulations on getting into medical school!
 
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I came across the posts regarding FIU and I wanted to weigh in as objectively as possible. As I noticed classmates remediating courses and some who ultimately had to repeat a year or withdraw from medical school completely, I was concerned about how many were failing. Just to clarify on our grading policy, failing a course is designated as getting below 75% OR being below the -1.7 SD, whichever is lower. Meaning if the class average is in the high 80's and the -1.7 SD comes out to be 78%, you aren't going to fail the class if you get a 75%. The -1.7 SD is meant to help you, meaning if the -1.7 SD turns out to be 65%, you are passing as long as you get a 65%, and in the scenario the course grades are modified so that the -1.7 SD is reported as a 75 on your transcript, and scores above that are also adjusted accordingly. However I do agree with @NEU305 in that there is some sort of black magic in how the scores (above the -1.7 SD) are curved. Will your raw 80 become a 83 or a 87? It was always a bit of a surprise to see how the curve would be. However I wouldn't worry about the issue of passing. I know it sucks, but the bottom line is if you are failing courses in medical school, or you are just barely passing, you need extra help, and repeating the year may not be the worst thing ever. The worst thing ever would be to take Step 1 and fail or barely pass. Failing is essentially the kiss of death and you will be at a huge risk of not matching, which means you end up with 100's of thousands of dollars in debt with no job. Repeating a year and paying an extra year of tuition is nothing compared to the former scenario as most of the people I know who repeated a year are doing exponentially better. So I personally don't believe FIU is holding students back simply to boost our step 1 average. I believe they do it because these students are legitimately at risk of failing Step 1.

I see there are some concerns about the grading of the preclinical years, and I had the same apprehensions when I started. As stated by other we get a numerical course grade. A lot of people seem to like the P/F system, but in my understanding those schools still rank the students which will be reported in the deans letter that you send when applying to residency. So it doesn't really matter because those places are not truly P/F so it's not like you can just rest easy because your rank still matters, especially for AOA. That being said, program directors don't really care that much about your preclinical grades. So just because you see your grade reported as an 80 or an 85, it doesn't really matter because the Program director is most likely just going to look for your class rank and go with that. In addition to that, our class is super helpful with each other. We would always share notes via Facebook and look out for each other. So realize that wherever you go you should always try your best, but realize your preclinical grades don't have that much weight unless you are really trying to get AOA.

We do have a lot of BS assignments, especially during first and second year. I honestly don't know if we do way more than other schools, but I would be surprised if it's not quite a bit above average. FIU is very into community outreach and engagement, as such you will spend many hours hearing about health care disparities and social issues. Every year we tell the faculty about how these lectures and assignments don't provide much educational value, and it does seem like the workload has decreased over the years, and I hope it continues to decrease. I would speak to current first and second years to see how they feel about it. Nhelp was actually something that I was excited about, but I unfortunately have to agree with Neu305 in that it has a lot of problems. It seems like the requirements have gotten less stringent and allowed for more flexibility with your household, but there are still problems as Neu305 explained. I really hope it gets better as I do believe it provides a great service to the community and also can be a better educational experience for the students. The Nhelp lectures during second year did suck, but doing three visits during the second and third year weren't too bad. However doing the visits during fourth year was difficult because there is so much to do during the first half of the year. I really hope they stop having fourth years do visits.

In terms of study space on campus becoming more crowded due to more students, I can't really comment on that because I haven't studied on campus in years, and even during the first two years I barely studied on campus. That being said, when I do for whatever reason have to walk through the 6th floor or through AHC4, it doesn't seem like there is no place to study. I personally wouldn't let this factor into your decision much at all.

For rotations, we definitely do differ from a lot of med schools in that we don't have a central hub such as UM does with Jackson. In my opinion there are pros and cons with this. On the pro side, you are able to see how doctors in different settings practice. You will notice that doctors in the academic settings will do one thing, which simply doesn't really work in a community hospital because they don't have the same resources. I think this is particularly important because I feel that a lot of medical students in other places don't really get to see what private practice neurosurgery or ortho looks like for instance. Another benefit is that if there are no (or few) residents/fellows then you get one-on-one time with the attending and if you are in a surgical or procedural rotation, you will get way more hands on experience. I was first assist for C-sections, GYN surgeries, traumatic ex-laps, hernia repairs, etc. And I don't even like surgery.

Now for the cons: At the community sites you are working with private practice docs. Because of this it can be hit or miss with your attending. Some attendings seemed like they were super busy with their practice, and as such I felt like I was in the way at times. However this was definitely the minority. The vast majority of attendings seemed very eager to teach me, not only about medicine but also about life in medicine. Now sometimes you will get screwed on sites. Broward is a far commute, especially during rush hour. Combine that with the malignant nurses and midwives and your OB/GYN rotation is not going to be enjoyable, but most students will not be at broward. I think my biggest complaint about the different sites is simply all the driving. You unfortunately will spend a good amount of time in traffic. You do get to give your preference of sites for the different rotations, and in my personal experience, I was able to get my first choice for a large portion. I personally didn't have an issue with having too many med students while on rotation. In the vast majority of my rotations I was either the only med student there or with one or two other students there at the same time. This may be changing, but this was my experience.

There was a comment about program directors remarking that FIU grads aren't familiar with the hierarchy of academic. I can't imagine this has anything to do with our sites. The notion that you have to spend two years fully in an academic center to "learn" how to interact with residents V's attendings is very silly to me. We all rotate through Miami children's where we work with residents, and there is a good amount of other sites where you work with residents such as mt Sinai, Kendall regional, west Kendall baptist, baptist main for Neuro IR and I believe we have spots at Jackson too now. So trust me in saying you will be fine in that regard.

I absolutely agree that we need to defend our reputation aggressively. We are building a great reputation and we need to keep pushing. The story about a Caribbean student saying they were an FIU student is very alarming. And I have passed this info along to our class representatives. We still are a pretty new school, so you will have to work harder for the most competitive specialties. That being said we did have a good amount of competitive specialty matches including ortho, ophtho, neurosurgery, ENT, Uro as well as great matches in other specialties.

Overall I really enjoyed my time here at FIU and am very pleased with my medical education. I'm very proud of my classmates and I have made great relationships here that I hope to keep for life. There is also something to be said about living in a city where you can really enjoy what free time you have (year-round).
 
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FIUStudent said:
I came across the posts regarding FIU and I wanted to weigh in as objectively as possible. As I noticed classmates remediating courses and some who ultimately had to repeat a year or withdraw from medical school completely, I was concerned about how many were failing. Just to clarify on our grading policy, failing a course is designated as getting below 75% OR being below the -1.7 SD, whichever is lower. Meaning if the class average is in the high 80's and the -1.7 SD comes out to be 78%, you aren't going to fail the class if you get a 75%. The -1.7 SD is meant to help you, meaning if the -1.7 SD turns out to be 65%, you are passing as long as you get a 65%, and in the scenario the course grades are modified so that the -1.7 SD is reported as a 75 on your transcript, and scores above that are also adjusted accordingly. However I do agree with @NEU305 in that there is some sort of black magic in how the scores (above the -1.7 SD) are curved. Will your raw 80 become a 83 or a 87? It was always a bit of a surprise to see how the curve would be. However I wouldn't worry about the issue of passing. I know it sucks, but the bottom line is if you are failing courses in medical school, or you are just barely passing, you need extra help, and repeating the year may not be the worst thing ever. The worst thing ever would be to take Step 1 and fail or barely pass. Failing is essentially the kiss of death and you will be at a huge risk of not matching, which means you end up with 100's of thousands of dollars in debt with no job. Repeating a year and paying an extra year of tuition is nothing compared to the former scenario as most of the people I know who repeated a year are doing exponentially better. So I personally don't believe FIU is holding students back simply to boost our step 1 average. I believe they do it because these students are legitimately at risk of failing Step 1.

I see there are some concerns about the grading of the preclinical years, and I had the same apprehensions when I started. As stated by other we get a numerical course grade. A lot of people seem to like the P/F system, but in my understanding those schools still rank the students which will be reported in the deans letter that you send when applying to residency. So it doesn't really matter because those places are not truly P/F so it's not like you can just rest easy because your rank still matters, especially for AOA. That being said, program directors don't really care that much about your preclinical grades. So just because you see your grade reported as an 80 or an 85, it doesn't really matter because the Program director is most likely just going to look for your class rank and go with that. In addition to that, our class is super helpful with each other. We would always share notes via Facebook and look out for each other. So realize that wherever you go you should always try your best, but realize your preclinical grades don't have that much weight unless you are really trying to get AOA.

We do have a lot of BS assignments, especially during first and second year. I honestly don't know if we do way more than other schools, but I would be surprised if it's not quite a bit above average. FIU is very into community outreach and engagement, as such you will spend many hours hearing about health care disparities and social issues. Every year we tell the faculty about how these lectures and assignments don't provide much educational value, and it does seem like the workload has decreased over the years, and I hope it continues to decrease. I would speak to current first and second years to see how they feel about it. Nhelp was actually something that I was excited about, but I unfortunately have to agree with Neu305 in that it has a lot of problems. It seems like the requirements have gotten less stringent and allowed for more flexibility with your household, but there are still problems as Neu305 explained. I really hope it gets better as I do believe it provides a great service to the community and also can be a better educational experience for the students. The Nhelp lectures during second year did suck, but doing three visits during the second and third year weren't too bad. However doing the visits during fourth year was difficult because there is so much to do during the first half of the year. I really hope they stop having fourth years do visits.

In terms of study space on campus becoming more crowded due to more students, I can't really comment on that because I haven't studied on campus in years, and even during the first two years I barely studied on campus. That being said, when I do for whatever reason have to walk through the 6th floor or through AHC4, it doesn't seem like there is no place to study. I personally wouldn't let this factor into your decision much at all.

For rotations, we definitely do differ from a lot of med schools in that we don't have a central hub such as UM does with Jackson. In my opinion there are pros and cons with this. On the pro side, you are able to see how doctors in different settings practice. You will notice that doctors in the academic settings will do one thing, which simply doesn't really work in a community hospital because they don't have the same resources. I think this is particularly important because I feel that a lot of medical students in other places don't really get to see what private practice neurosurgery or ortho looks like for instance. Another benefit is that if there are no (or few) residents/fellows then you get one-on-one time with the attending and if you are in a surgical or procedural rotation, you will get way more hands on experience. I was first assist for C-sections, GYN surgeries, traumatic ex-laps, hernia repairs, etc. And I don't even like surgery.

Now for the cons: At the community sites you are working with private practice docs. Because of this it can be hit or miss with your attending. Some attendings seemed like they were super busy with their practice, and as such I felt like I was in the way at times. However this was definitely the minority. The vast majority of attendings seemed very eager to teach me, not only about medicine but also about life in medicine. Now sometimes you will get screwed on sites. Broward is a far commute, especially during rush hour. Combine that with the malignant nurses and midwives and your OB/GYN rotation is not going to be enjoyable, but most students will not be at broward. I think my biggest complaint about the different sites is simply all the driving. You unfortunately will spend a good amount of time in traffic. You do get to give your preference of sites for the different rotations, and in my personal experience, I was able to get my first choice for a large portion. I personally didn't have an issue with having too many med students while on rotation. In the vast majority of my rotations I was either the only med student there or with one or two other students there at the same time. This may be changing, but this was my experience.

There was a comment about program directors remarking that FIU grads aren't familiar with the hierarchy of academic. I can't imagine this has anything to do with our sites. The notion that you have to spend two years fully in an academic center to "learn" how to interact with residents V's attendings is very silly to me. We all rotate through Miami children's where we work with residents, and there is a good amount of other sites where you work with residents such as mt Sinai, Kendall regional, west Kendall baptist, baptist main for Neuro IR and I believe we have spots at Jackson too now. So trust me in saying you will be fine in that regard.

I absolutely agree that we need to defend our reputation aggressively. We are building a great reputation and we need to keep pushing. The story about a Caribbean student saying they were an FIU student is very alarming. And I have passed this info along to our class representatives. We still are a pretty new school, so you will have to work harder for the most competitive specialties. That being said we did have a good amount of competitive specialty matches including ortho, ophtho, neurosurgery, ENT, Uro as well as great matches in other specialties.

Overall I really enjoyed my time here at FIU and am very pleased with my medical education. I'm very proud of my classmates and I have made great relationships here that I hope to keep for life. There is also something to be said about living in a city where you can really enjoy what free time you have (year-round). .
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Thank you for your input. Hopefully I get taken off the waitlist soon!
 
Hey guys I heard you need AOA for good residency programs. how do you get it at FIU (I coming here incoming FALL)

i couldnt make it to welcome back to ask that question
 
parserfan said:
Hey guys I heard you need AOA for good residency programs. how do you get it at FIU (I coming here incoming FALL)

i couldnt make it to welcome back to ask that question.
Click to expand...
I think by being top 25% of class. But I could be wrong with the percentage. I'm pretty sure it's based on grades.
 
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.
 
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Hey guys stupid question. Do we have to apply for the graduate plus loans through student loans.gov in order to receive them or is that already done when we completed the FAFSA? I know the Direct loans are automatic but for these you need a credit check. Thanks.
 
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Just got accepted today, first one! I feel like I've been waiting for this decision forever and I'm so stoked!
 
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Surgeongirl said:
Hey guys stupid question. Do we have to apply for the graduate plus loans through student loans.gov in order to receive them or is that already done when we completed the FAFSA? I know the Direct loans are automatic but for these you need a credit check. Thanks.
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It will be offered to you by FIU once you have completed a FAFSA. No extra applications needed.
 
Has anyone been notified that they've received a grant/scholarship? Or do any past students remember when they were notified of grant/scholarship disbursements?
 
beenthere&donethat said:
When did you Interview ?
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Feb 20th. When I called, they said that if you were told you would hear back on March 20th, all decisions would be released this week instead. I guess they were pretty good about that!
 
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SSS9195 said:
Feb 20th. When I called, they said that if you were told you would hear back on March 20th, all decisions would be released this week instead. I guess they were pretty good about that!
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+1
Pretty surprised they told me April 11 and I was actually told April 11! (with 50 minutes to spare..haha)

OOS, 510, 3.7

Is there a facebook page made? Too lazy to check back through previous posts...
 
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withdrew from here today, good luck everyone!
 
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Accepted from 3/24 interview!
 
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Is April 30th the earliest waitlisted people will be getting pulled off?
 
McNerdy said:
Has anyone been notified that they've received a grant/scholarship? Or do any past students remember when they were notified of grant/scholarship disbursements?
Click to expand...

The diversity scholarship award is done on a rolling basis while the need based grants are offered in your financial aid package.
 
pandasaregreat said:
Do we apply for the diversity one? If so, how?
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You should have been given an opportunity to when you got accepted. Its usually an essay about what makes you diverse or what diverse experience can you offer FIU etc. I'm not sure if its different this year.
 
wolfofparkstreet said:
You should have been given an opportunity to when you got accepted. Its usually an essay about what makes you diverse or what diverse experience can you offer FIU etc. I'm not sure if its different this year.
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oh hmm I don't remember receiving that, do they only give it to select applicants?
 
pandasaregreat said:
oh hmm I don't remember receiving that, do they only give it to select applicants?
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Every accepted student was offered the opportunity to apply in my year. However, the selected candidates came from the pool of those who completed and submitted the essay.
 
wolfofparkstreet said:
Every accepted student was offered the opportunity to apply in my year. However, the selected candidates came from the pool of those who completed and submitted the essay.
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Just checked my emails, nothing. Could any other admitted students confirm this?
 
pandasaregreat said:
Just checked my emails, nothing. Could any other admitted students confirm this?
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It was in the matriculated student website where all the white coat and orientation info was. As I said before, it could be a different process for you'll this year. I would suggest calling admin to enquire.
 
pandasaregreat said:
Just checked my emails, nothing. Could any other admitted students confirm this?
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Its in the "Class of 2021 Welcome and Financial Aid Information" email. Its lowkey hidden but they attached the application with it as mentioned in the email.
 
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Have any of you guys completed the Master Promissory Note or the Entrance Counseling forms yet?
 
pandasaregreat said:
how do we know our panther ID?
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We won't have one until after April 30th. For the Diversity Scholarship, I called them and they told me to leave the Panther ID blank and they will add it for us, when it is available. Also for "FIU Email", they just want us to put our personal email for now.
 
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vmpclass said:
We won't have one until after April 30th. For the Diversity Scholarship, I called them and they told me to leave the Panther ID blank and they will add it for us, when it is available. Also for "FIU Email", they just want us to put our personal email for now.
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thanks for all your help :)
 
pandasaregreat said:
thanks for all your help :)
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Anytime. I hope you get it!!! I haven't heard back and it's been over a month so I'm not getting it prolly . They meet every other week to review applications and only people that are selected for a scholarship are informed through email and letter.
 
vmpclass said:
Anytime. I hope you get it!!! I haven't heard back and it's been over a month so I'm not getting it prolly . They meet every other week to review applications and only people that are selected for a scholarship are informed through email and letter.
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I wish you the best in getting the scholarship as well! However, I think maybe we are too late...the money may all be distributed. we may have to wait for people do withdraw acceptances with scholarships...who knows!
 
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Just withdrew my acceptance here. Good luck to everyone still on the waitlist!
 
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My husband just withdrew as well so hopefully that's good news lol.
 
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gives me hope for waitlist movement lol
 
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Anyone know when they'll send us the email to pay the deposit?
 
kpop said:
Could someone shed some light on when the best time to look for apartments around FIU are? I'll have to try to sign a lease remotely but unfortunately the places I contacted won't let me apply until closer to the actual move in date, say like a month before. Is this normal for Miami? Or should I still try to secure an apartment now before the decent places are taken

Will be moving here from OOS so any advice/insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you !
Click to expand...
I recommend you start finding now because in the summer the prices tend to rise here in Miami
 
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