Got a call from Denise this morning that I was accepted! I think I will be attending Wake Forest, but if anybody has any suggestions about choosing one school over the other, it would be really helpful.
I am not a Florida resident, and the post somebody made yesterday about the tuition increase at UF is concerning. What will UF's tuition be next year?
I really loved UF during my visit but was not super crazy about Gainesville from what I saw.
One thing that was really appealing about UF was the high board score average. Does anybody have an opinion whether this is the result of a great curriculum that teaches towards the boards, or just naturally smart students? I feel like one of the main reasons I would be choosing UF is becase of board scores and I have always been told that is a bad idea. I know I sound lame for saying that, but it is definitely something in the back of my head so I'm just being honest.
Again, any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you.
UF has an intense curriculum. From what I heard speaking with med students, their exams take place usually at one time; for example, for the first "semester" of courses, you take sessions of exams that last for about 6 hours encompassing all those courses. They also take place in CBT format that mirror the Step 1. So from the beginning, you train for the format of the exam, the style of questions, and the endurance. They also focus quite heavily on the basic science curriculum the first two years, which is what the Step 1 is based on. IMO, you're not going to find such a curriculum in many other places. Their board scores are also among the best too in terms of their averages, which has a lot to do with their training because other schools in the country tend to accept schools with even higher MCAT scores and GPA; UF still tends to do better than many of those schools. So, in a sense, they do teach towards the boards.
That being said, I wouldn't base your decision solely on these averages. There should be many other factors that you consider - curriculum, location, research opportunities, tuition, clinical experiences etc.
Gainesville is the quintessential collegetown, but you have to ask yourself, as a medical student, would you really take advantage of the city atmosphere? It really is a great atmosphere to concentrate, and even better if you're a football/basketball fan. It isn't as though you only spend time in Gainesville either; during your preceptorships, you have the opportunity of going to a number of locations in north/central FL. I met one student that did his in the panhandle, in a location that was a few hours from New Orleans. You also do rotations in Shands at Jacksonville; med students have a lot of responsibility here, more so than in other schools. Their proton beam facilities are also cutting-edge in radiation oncology.
As an OOS student, you pay OOS tuition the first year. But you can then apply for state residency, and pay IS tuition the next three years - the staff is very helpful in making this happen. The tuition tends to decrease slightly each year as you go from the 1st to 4th year, but this also is influenced on tuition increases set by the state and board of trustees of UF. I know Wake is private, so in the end, you will be saving money in Gainesville.
Good luck in making your decision! You really can't go wrong.
