Hey Everybody

here are just a few experiences I have had in Miami. Hope they are of assistance and if you want any more info, check out www.rossmiami.com

Miami Traffic and saving Time

For all of you going to Miami, I have found that living in Miami near the airport is the best place to live as for convenience. It is only five minutes from the Ashe auditorium downtown (where you will meet once a week every week) and it is only 15 minutes from the 7000 building (where you will also meet at least once a week). As for ALL other rotations, it has been anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes from my apartment. So if time is a virtue for you, I would suggest living near the airport. The reason is because you are going in the opposite direction of Traffic. For example if you live in Kendall, it will take you an hour to get downtown in the morning and another hour to get home in the evening, and this is a generous estimate.

No offense to Miami, it is a great town, but the traffic here is atrocious. Traffic jams appear out of nowhere and not just during rush hour but even in the middle of the day. There is no rhyme or reason just traffic accidents, "rubber necking" and people driving 45 in the fast lane Sometimes it is worse than Asia, Cleveland and even some of the smaller cities like New York and New Jersey. JK Just like to rib my Jersey friends

Most of the rotations are Northwest of Downtown except South shore which is right across the bridge in Downtown Miami. So while everyone is trying to get downtown, you are traveling away from it. And even if you are going downtown, it only takes 5 minutes even in rush hour because you are so close.

Housing
Housing in general is anywhere from 500+ per person in Miami. And 500 is hard to find and it is usually a room in someone’s apartment. 600 is more the average and that is only if you have a roommate. This usually requries a deposit and first month rent.

I am staying at the "Airport Villas" with my two roommates. It is perfect, we share the car and the rent is split three ways for a single. There are one and two bedroom apartments all fully furnished, with ALL utilities included and no deposit or lease required. In fact you can rent for 9 weeks or 9 months. The apartments and pool are all enclosed within two parking lots with gates surrounding the entire complex which are only opened by your own personal remote. Also the place is very safe.

If you are the type of person who is always on the go or thinks there are never enough hours in the day and or just plain doesn't like sitting in Traffic, then a place like this is perfect. The price well serves the mean.

Start thinking about a roommate and or carpool partner now. You will all be parried up for rotations. Dr. ********* will give you further info on that when he comes to the island. (Class rep will set something up). It is not cheap in Miami, but neither was Dominica. However it is quite manageable with a roommate. Like I say if time is critical to you, check out "Airport Villas" contact Iris *****

Airport Villas
Airport Villas is five minutes from Downtown, and two large shopping malls. It has taken us anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes to get to all of our rotations. Three are 27 of us staying here now, but we were limited d/t there were only a few units available when we moved in.

The apartments are fully furnished with the exception of the pots and pans and your computer. Full utilities are included including cable TV, DSL air conditioning and local phone. They even supply a TV and DVD or VCR player.

The Manager is Iris ***** and she has went out or her way to help us. You can contact her for reserving a unit. There are more units available for your semester S4 than there was ours, but they go fast. We got the last unit and we reserved it 3 weeks in advance. So as the end of the semester approaches you might want to drop a line to this email or you can even call Mrs. *****. Here is a copy of her add:

Furnished 1 bedroom apartment complete with TV cable, Internet access, microwave and all kitchen appliances. $1.200/per month includes utilities.

Furnished 2 bedroom apartment complete with TV cable, internet access, microwave and all kitchen appliances. $1400/month includes utilities.

Apartment complex has secure parking, swimming pool and is near all Ross facilities. View our website:

Apartments are limited. Please inquire to Iris ***** 305-649-9000 or by e-mail iris@airportvillas.com

http://www.airportvillas.com/


Miami Academia

As for Miami AICM, it has been an excellent help in applying the knowledge base we have learned in a practical sense. There is everything from Cardiology to Family practice rotations. Furthermore lectures are on main focuses of today’s Modern medicine as well as review of important topics covered in the USMLE.

People will tell you oh Miami is so hard. It is like the "Little brother routine” where you are the target of kind harassment till you get a little older, a little smarter and a "little brother”. In fact I have found time to study for the USMLE I and take up golf. I think it is much easier than the island. If you can survive the "the Rock and the shacks” then you have nothing to worry about in Miami except the traffic. Good luck in Miami and don’t' stress about exams.

Repsectfully

Fred E. CLark III

Thanks Fred, I agree. I have found Miami more expensive than Dominica, but so are most places here in the States. The drivers in Miami are about the worst I've ever seen anywhere.

Also, you may have heard rumors about students experience in the past. Ignore the rumors - most people I speak with here in Miami are very happy with everything so far. The Epidemiology professors is EXCELLENT and very knowledgeable about what we need to know for practice and the USMLE. Dr. Coutinho has done a great job with his lectures as well and our small-group case study the other day was very helpful. Additionally, the program is very well organized by Dr. *********. These faculty members here literally are ALWAYS working and with our class of 274 students, they are doing very well.

MitchDC

__________________
MitchDC/MD
RUSM 2006 Graduate

Mitch and Fred,

Thanks for your great posts to put some insight into the land of unknown (ie Miami). What I really want to know is if you think the AISM program is helping you as you prepare for Step1? Drs. Perri and ********* were here a few days ago and kept on spouting how the AISM program was created to "better prep students to take the Step1". From what I hear form previous students and related posts this isn't the case. I would assume that if one has done relatively well here during S1-S4 then prep time on our own would be sufficient. I'm asking all this really to see if it would be best for me to srite the Step during my 1st week in Miami so as to give myself a greater margin of safety in making the 2006 match.

Let me know what you think. Thanks.

AICM is a mini-Step 1 prep. It has been excellent so far. Ignore the stupid rumors about Miami, just like the island rumors 99% of them are **.

While everybody is different, it seems like it will be a great help for the boards for me. For example, this past week we did a great case study on several high yield autoimmune diseases from Pathology.

Fred and I are also taking the UMBR (University Medical Board Review) which we have enjoyed very much so far.

MitchDC

__________________
MitchDC/MD
RUSM 2006 Graduate

I agree with most of the others about Miami and Dr. *********. The part about the traffic in Kendall is also very true (trust me it has been the worst part of living here!).

As far as if this helps for the boards, I would say in some ways it helps and in some ways it hurts. The lectures and case studies with Dr. ********* and Dr. Couttino are great, no doubt these can help. Also as Mitch states the epi prof is excellent (even though I here this is very low yield compared to other subjects, but it can't hurt). I also feel that our clinical experiences will help our future rotations..overall though, I think this semester prepares you more for the future than it does for the boards (b/c we don't have much time to study). I feel like I could have done better on the boards if I studied for 6 weeks or so before miami (having just comleted path, micro, and pharm ), and then came here to prepare for my future rotations after taking step 1.

Does everyone have a car or do students use public transportation. Are there apartments within walking distance to the sites. If students have cars what is the rental costs. Do all students go to the same places at the same time so they can share the costs of the car?

Thanks

A car is a must in Miami. You get paired with a partner (you choose a partner who lives near or with you) and it is your responsibility to get to your sites. In reality, you only need one car between the 2 of you b/c partners go everywhere together. I do know some partners that only have one car, but most have 2 and they split the driving duties. You MUST have a care and cannot rely on public transportation b/c you can't get everywhere we must go on public transportation (director actually says car is mandatory). I don't know how much a rental would be..I rented a car for a day and it was around $20.

yes, traffic is crazy in miami. i have figured out why too. i have driven in colombia and venezuela, and they all kind of drive ina controlled lunacy. they have no real problems with the traffic down there for the most part. the reason why miami is screwed up is because only 75% of the people are driving in the controlled lunacy form, the others are driving sanely, and the two dont mesh!!! as for having a car, it is a must. Miami does have public transportation, and unlike the one post stating otherwise, it goes everywhere. but it is by far the most innefficient system i have evr seen. to get to most places requires multiple bus changes. we had a couple people who tried the public stuff(my class was the 1st full class to go to miami, and as such, we had no idea what awaited us!!). the ones who rode the bus said that usually they averaged about 4 to 5 hour travel times one way, with sometimes as many as 5 bus transfers. the sites are all over miami, so dont even think you can just get a place close. as for places to live, i lived just east of FIUs main campus out by Tamiami and 107thSW, and seemed to be a a "traffic vacuum". you would look at a map and think its not a good place to live, but for soem reason, when i was going to clinical sites, generally traffic was going the other way, and i usually had a fast trip everywhere, even to south shore and palm springs. when i was there, we didnt have the housing options that you guys have had( your welcome). back then, short term leases usually were impossible to find. the place i was at , when i looked at the map i didnt want to live there, but it was the only place i could find witha short term lease (7 month) , and it was only $825 a month for a studio. most of my classmates paid much more,and most just got year leases and then skipped out on em. I have heard that now, thanks to Ross, and semesters after mine, they have a list of places that willdeal with Rossies and give shorty leases for much less money. now if Ross can make a deal with miami transit, you guys will be set!