Update on Nassau

[hypotenuse]

Well the honeymoon is over. They are telling kids that they have to do their 4th year at Nassau. If you try and schedule say an ER elective elsewhere and Nassau has an ER elective, then somehow you are forced into doing it at Nassau. I guess this isn't a big deal for those who want to stay there for 2 years. I also understand they are giving trouble to Canadians.


There have also been some pretty serious (negative) developments with Kern that I should be able to post next week

[davidlg16]

oh no...not kern

fingers crossed

[FOID]

what's wrong with kern?

[georgelucas45]

So is Nassau ~ Kern in that you have to pretty much do everything there?

[FOID]

well, for kern, you have to do all your cores there... you can choose to go elsewhere for electives

[hypotenuse]

Nassau....I really can't disclose about Kern til next week. But like I said Nassau ..... they are just trying to lock everyone into the 4th year there.

[FOID]

now i'm really curious.

[DRDRWMD]

Will it not be possible to do electives there if we did cores at say, "caritas"? Will they not take students who need to find peds; somewhere?

[kemper6036]

this should be interesting

[kemper6036]

There have also been some pretty serious (negative) developments with Kern that I should be able to post next week

what is going on??

[Skipper]

nassau providing all 4th yr electives is a great thing...with the way things are going it will be harder and harder and harder to schedule electives at other sites...this is a good thing

skipper

[hypotenuse]

I sure as hell don't want to sign away 2 years of my life like that. We don't even know if Nassau will be a good educational experience as no AUC kids have passed through yet. What if the place ends up worse than Wyckoff.

[georgelucas45]

I sure as hell don't want to sign away 2 years of my life like that. We don't even know if Nassau will be a good educational experience as no AUC kids have passed through yet. What if the place ends up worse than Wyckoff.
Yea, that's a big if... I would love to stay in the same place the whole time but if the education sucks, I wouldn't want to be stuck there for two years. Yikes!

[CaptainInsaneO]

On one hand, it is less of a headache and a good develpment for a full clinical center.

But I might want to do an audition rotation somewhere to get the requisite interview and forcing me to stay at Nassau seems a bit mean spirited in that sense.

[Skipper]

well, it is getting very hard to get outside electives. with the way hospital are going, they are requiring either your school have an affilation or have to be LCME....LCME schools are now moving to a centralized elective application, where their students submit apps into a database and see if they get the elective.

so now, with Nassau wanting to provide all 2 years of clinicals, it makes for a great situation for AUC kids not having to worry about finding and dealing with setting up electives.

trust me setting up electives is painful. I gave up and just did them at an AUC core site.

[ds_in_tx]

well, it is getting very hard to get outside electives. with the way hospital are going, they are requiring either your school have an affilation or have to be LCME....LCME schools are now moving to a centralized elective application, where their students submit apps into a database and see if they get the elective.

so now, with Nassau wanting to provide all 2 years of clinicals, it makes for a great situation for AUC kids not having to worry about finding and dealing with setting up electives.

trust me setting up electives is painful. I gave up and just did them at an AUC core site.

This is, unfortunately, more and more true. Several med schools I contacted for electives last year when I was scouting things out (who said they would take me then) have since told me that their policies for visiting students have changed and I am no longer eligible. Having been to four hospitals and two continents for cores, I am a bit envious of you guys who'll have 2 yrs in one spot. It's kind of a drag to still have three electives to setup after literally dozens of applications and hundreds of phone calls.

OTOH, it really sucks that the hospital may be forcing you to stay for all clinical rotations; I would guess that the hospital wants to recruit AUC kids into their residencies. My inner conspiracy theorist says that they'll lock you in to make you feel like you have no other options...

[nl9569]

I talked to MEAS yesterday and the way they worded it was that they "strongly prefer," that you spend year 4 at NUMC. I kept asking her, specifically, if it was a REQUIREMENT and there it got a bit fuzzy. She seemed to dodge the question a bit and said that O.A. was meeting with the hospital this coming week to clarify the policy on electives.

I said that I would love to go to NUMC if AUC could provide me, in writing, an assurance that I would not have to complete all of my electives at NUMC. Reason being that its a bit like putting all of your eggs in one basket when you're trying to make connections for the match. They said that I could always complete most of my electives at NUMC and do a few ("10 weeks") elsewhere, and that students would not be contractually bound to do all rotations at NUMC and that "after all, things can come up with family, etc." They said they would email me with the details next week when O.A. returned

[nl9569]

Oh, also, here's a facebook group I found for students planning to go to NUMC this September:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=19133404823

[BiologyBY]

Thanks for update nl

[FOID]

where's the update on kern?

[DrShikima]

:shock:Wow! No kern still???

[FOID]

we're all still waiting...

[hypotenuse]

Basically...if you are not a cali resident...there is no chance you are going to Kern anymore. Kern is even going so far as to verify that you did your undergrad work at a school instate.

[FOID]

that's it?

thanks for the news. (no sarcasm)

[hypotenuse]

That's pretty significant news that one of our best sites is only taking Cali residents now

[FOID]

is kern themselves making sure you're a cali resident or meas checking?

[hypotenuse]

Kern is making these rules

[kemper6036]

that's what the kern people said at the last clinical fair but i thought they were mixed up since no one on here had ever heard that......they also said a 220 step 1 score was required but i havent heard that either

[hypotenuse]

Nah the step score still won't be a factor. I assure you residence is.

[kemper6036]

hopefully the nassau site will work out and that will offset the fact that kern will be CA residents only

[Nelphus]

I thought preference was already given to CA residents? With the waiting list for Kern and preference to CA residents -- hasn't this been the norm. for the most part thus far? (Good news for CA people nonetheless - I was getting really worried waiting on your news brief :))

[hypotenuse]

No this criteria was never actually used before

[FOID]

I thought preference was already given to CA residents?

that's what i thought too

[FOID]

maybe kern is taking it seriously this time?

[ds_in_tx]

Why does Kern care one way or another which state you are from?

Tangent: how many of you California people wouldn't have gone to AUC if Kern was not available for clinicals?

[dave is cool]

Why do they want to force AUC students to do their rotations there?

[apple usr]

i am assuming to ensure that the million's of dollars contract gets paid by the attending students' tuition v.s. auc's own pocket. but not really sure.

[mke0908]

Why does Kern care one way or another which state you are from?

Tangent: how many of you California people wouldn't have gone to AUC if Kern was not available for clinicals?

Kern wasn't even a factor in my decision to go to AUC.

The opportunity to be back in CA isn't enough to draw me to Kern County.

[kemper6036]

Why does Kern care one way or another which state you are from?

Tangent: how many of you California people wouldn't have gone to AUC if Kern was not available for clinicals?

maybe along the lines of some public med schools give preference to residents of their own states....

i'm from CA but i dont think the kern site had much to do with my decision. while i'd like to go back, its not a deal breaker for me personally

[kemper6036]

kern county is not what most people picture when they think of CA =P

[BiologyBY]

Any update on NUMC and 4th year rotations, also, anyone knows how many spots are taken or available in that hospital out of 64 as of now?

[kemper6036]

knowing how meas and ocsa work, that info is probably a well guarded secret....

[PPGMD]

Here is what is known thus far and I am speaking from experience. There is a minimum step score requirement for this site and they conduct an interview via telephone. More to come as I go through it.

[nl9569]

I just did my phone interview, its actually a rep from AUC, very informal. The gentleman was very friendly and helpful, no big deal really.

He didn't say anything about a score/GPA cutoff, but he did comment on my grades and scores and said they were fine, so maybe there is one. He also said that he likes to see students have over a 200, I'm not sure if thats an official "cutoff" per se. But 200 isn't really that high as far as a "cutoff" goes anyway (185 is passing) so if that's it, I would imagine it wouldn't affect a whole lot of students.

[BiologyBY]

What's the deal with 4th year electives?, any word on that?

[nl9569]

I forgot to ask, he asked if I would be open to the idea of doing a residency in Long Island, because they are trying to recruit. He was careful to say that I'm not obligated to anything, but that they are just trying to attract students who might stick around. I didn't ask the question about 4th year directly though.

[Liz12382]

how long can that last .... people aren't going to want to go there if they force people to stay

[kemper6036]

maybe you can just say something non-committal, like i'll go to long island if there's an opportunity for me there

[CaptainInsaneO]

You would be surprised how much people want to stay in one place and get it all done in the US.

[nl9569]

You would be surprised how much people want to stay in one place and get it all done in the US.
No lie, it was either Nassau or move to a new state every 8-12 weeks. I'll say whatever they want to hear rather than spend 3 hours a day searching for a decent/cheap apartment on craigslist for the next 2 years of my life.

[BiologyBY]

I hear you, but I definitely would want to do an elective or two outside especially if I have an idea where I want to go for residency

[D.Fish]

I presume it may be a little while before we get feedback from AUC students who rotate at Nassau? (ie. to get a first-hand account of how good a teaching facility it is)

Does October sound like a good time to expect some NUMC "reviews"?

[kemper6036]

maybe, there are students there now to my understanding

[D.Fish]

Oh, really?? I thought they started rotations there in September...

[BiologyBY]

Oh, really?? I thought they started rotations there in September...
That was my understanding as well

[nl9569]

I'm slated to go there, start date is Sept 22. None of us have even received our "official," confirmation. Not sure what the hold up is...

[Z Disk]

I was speaking to MEAS yesterday and they told me that the list of 32 students was submitted to NUMC on 08/06. I was also told that NUMC may opt to remove student(s) from the list, but AUC was hoping the list would be accepted as is. If all goes well, I was told to expect a final confirmation on Friday...maybe Monday.

I was anticipating a 9/14 start date with 9/17 official start of rotations.

[kemper6036]

why would they opt to remove some students?

[D.Fish]

why would they opt to remove some students?

Yeah, good question kemper (no sarcasm!)... I would like to know as well

Also, did MEAS give any reason as to why they reduced the number of spots from 64 to 32? It's as if they made a simple mistake... in binary.

[BiologyBY]

it is 64 spots, but 32 are core and 32 electives

[nl9569]

yeah I just got my confirmation email from the hospital, it looked like there were about 30 something students on the CC: list for cores at NUMC, though I didn't count exactly.

[D.Fish]

it is 64 spots, but 32 are core and 32 electives

Oh ok... thanks for the clarification.

[abciximab]

So if there are 32 Core schedules starting at NUMC in September - and those core schedules have students starting in all cores - and those 32 students rotate at 6 or 12 week intervals until all of their cores are complete - when will there be more slots available at NUMC? Does this mean there will be no one else going to NUMC until roughly a year from now?

Can anyone confirm this from MEAS or NUMC?

[BiologyBY]

Yup you got it, OCSA said next core round will start next year

[AndyDufrain]

looks like the current 5th semester class lucked out. too bad.

[kemper6036]

unless you arent trying to make the 2010 match

[D.Fish]

looks like the current 5th semester class lucked out. too bad.

What do you mean lucked out? Cuz they get to rotate there?

[AndyDufrain]

What do you mean lucked out? Cuz they get to rotate there?

they got unlucky since they wont get to rotate there.

[CaptainInsaneO]

The whole point of Nassau was to make more room for the other places already available to AUC students (along with the clinical centre aspect).

[BiologyBY]

The whole point of Nassau was to make more room for the other places already available to AUC students (along with the clinical centre aspect).
That was the plan...but adding one hospital and then dropping another one doesn't make it more spaces..just a substitution

[DrFraud]

That was the plan...but adding one hospital and then dropping another one doesn't make it more spaces..just a substitution

What about the double-top-secret clerkship site that we were promised?

[kemper6036]

dont hold your breath on that one fraud

[BiologyBY]

What about the double-top-secret clerkship site that we were promised?
Oh it may come, just after you finish your rotations

[inline4g63]

okay, when i read the first few posts, I thought...how did these fools figure out the top secret info before me? I am currently in my rotations, so I figure I would be the first to know.... But after reading through all 8 pages, it is clear that the secret it still a secret...or maybe hypotenuse is still holding back?

Although i must comment that Kern accepting only CA students was somewhat of a surprise for me...I mean I had a notion of this and firmly believed it, but there was no official word and it seems hypotenuse got it from a good source?