UCF COM vs FIU HWCOM

[dr.vegapunk]

Hey everyone, I recently got accepted to both UCF and FIU, and I can’t decide between them. I haven’t decided what specialty I would like to go into, although my current interests are in pediatrics, surgery, and oncology/hematology. Ideally, I would like to get involved in research in these fields as a med student. For residency, I would prefer to go out of state.

FIU
Pros:
- Stronger clinical rotation sites (diverse patient population, lots of partnering hospitals, and new partnership with Baptist Health for home residency program)
- Miami is a fun city with a lot to do and I am from South Florida so I am quite familiar with the Miami area.
- Partnership with Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, one of the best and most diverse children’s hospitals in the state. Also have a lot of docs who actively do research I’m interested in. Peds is the specialty I currently lean towards most and Nicklaus is a stronger program than UCF’s Nemour’s.
- Pass/fail coursework
- Urban campus

Cons:
- Miami is so expensive. COA would end up being about $15-20k higher than UCF
- Not research focused so I’d have to search for opportunities on my own


UCF
Pros:
- Mandatory research initiative so students are introduced to mentors and projects early on
- COA almost $20k cheaper
- Orlando has a lot to do and it’s only 20 minutes away. I wouldn’t mind a fresh start in a new area.
- Large hospital systems nearby with significant research in areas I am interested in (AdventHealth and OrlandoHealth)
- During my interviews, seemed like they had a really strong mentorship program

Cons:
- The most worrisome aspect of UCF for me is the partnership with HCA. I’ve heard many horror stories and apparently, this partnership has led to UCF COM students being blacklisted from other hospitals in the area. I’m worried this would affect research opportunities and the breadth of clinical experience offered
- Rotations in clinical years are only with HCAs around Central Florida. The patient population is not as diverse.
- Lake Nona is pretty isolated
- Suburban campus
- Grade based curriculum

Any advice would be appreciated!

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[BenzeneToluene]

Disclaimer: Accepted to UCF, withdrew the A

I don’t know too much about FIU, but I do know that these are pretty comparable schools honestly. I personally think the biggest issue with UCF as you alluded to is the fact that UCF has the HCA partnership, and that you have to travel a lot during clinical rotations as a result. I did undergrad at UCF and got to talk to a lot of UCF med students, and the struggle during clinical rotations is real. They also don’t have an established teaching hospital with good home programs, so keep that in mind.

I think the thing UCF does have going for it in terms of your personal goals is that they do seem more “research-focused” than FIU and you’re immediately involved in research through the FIRE project. I will say that despite this, research opportunities at UCF genuinely seem hard to come by outside of FIRE.

Lastly, UCF is one of the few MD schools that is not P/F preclinical and uses letter grades. A lot of the med students I talked to didn’t seem to care too much about it, but another thing that you should really consider.

I would go with FIU! P/F preclinical, more diverse patient population, more hospital partnerships, and probably comparable research. Slightly more expensive, but 15-20k extra is worth it to avoid the myriad of difficulties UCF has imo.

 

[dr.vegapunk]

Disclaimer: Accepted to UCF, withdrew the A

I don’t know too much about FIU, but I do know that these are pretty comparable schools honestly. I personally think the biggest issue with UCF as you alluded to is the fact that UCF has the HCA partnership, and that you have to travel a lot during clinical rotations as a result. I did undergrad at UCF and got to talk to a lot of UCF med students, and the struggle during clinical rotations is real. They also don’t have an established teaching hospital with good home programs, so keep that in mind.

I think the thing UCF does have going for it in terms of your personal goals is that they do seem more “research-focused” than FIU and you’re immediately involved in research through the FIRE project. I will say that despite this, research opportunities at UCF genuinely seem hard to come by outside of FIRE.

Lastly, UCF is one of the few MD schools that is not P/F preclinical and uses letter grades. A lot of the med students I talked to didn’t seem to care too much about it, but another thing that you should really consider.

I would go with FIU! P/F preclinical, more diverse patient population, more hospital partnerships, and probably comparable research. Slightly more expensive, but 15-20k extra is worth it to avoid the myriad of difficulties UCF has imo.

I agree that the schools are pretty comparable but UCF's HCA partnership makes me lean more towards FIU. Had UCF partnered with one of the large public hospital systems in the area, it would have been a beast of a program in my opinion. Thanks a lot for your advice, I appreciate it!

 

[Sandman23]

Pre-clinical letter grades got me whoozy, idk why any top tier schools do it. I dropped off a couple acceptances almost solely for that reason. Otherwise. Orlando woulda been it

 

[pr12]

ucf has a new grading system/curriculum for this incoming class, going to honors/hp/p/f now

 

[premed155180]

ucf has a new grading system/curriculum for this incoming class, going to honors/hp/p/f now

That’s the same as letter grades lol

 

[pr12]

That’s the same as letter grades lol

true but i mean a lot of schools also have honors hp p f, i think others were just commenting on having straight up letter grades is archaic for medical school lol

 

[spongebobdoc]

Yeah FIU also partnered with Baptist, so they’re basically gonna have a new teaching hospital with hella new residencies. This and P/F is enough to go there tbh. Although UCF has that program, I feel like FIU is a big public school and definitely will have research opportunities.

Additionally, is the tuition for FIU more expensive than UCF? I feel like orlando’s pretty expensive and could be comparable to the miami area.

 

[dr.vegapunk]

Yeah FIU also partnered with Baptist, so they’re basically gonna have a new teaching hospital with hella new residencies. This and P/F is enough to go there tbh. Although UCF has that program, I feel like FIU is a big public school and definitely will have research opportunities.

Additionally, is the tuition for FIU more expensive than UCF? I feel like orlando’s pretty expensive and could be comparable to the miami area.

Committed to FIU! The tuition is a bit more expensive at FIU and I feel like UCF is a bit more open on offering aid. A lot of people I talked to who also got accepted were offered at least a little financial aid. Also, COA still ends up being about $20k higher at FIU. Orlando is getting expensive but I was able to find cheaper places for rent. In Miami it’s been impossible so far so I’d say Orlando is still a bit more affordable!

 

[spongebobdoc]

Committed to FIU! The tuition is a bit more expensive at FIU and I feel like UCF is a bit more open on offering aid. A lot of people I talked to who also got accepted were offered at least a little financial aid. Also, COA still ends up being about $20k higher at FIU. Orlando is getting expensive but I was able to find cheaper places for rent. In Miami it’s been impossible so far so I’d say Orlando is still a bit more affordable!

Best of luck!