FIU’s new College of Medicine receives more than 1,000 student applications for first class


MIAMI – More than 1,000 prospective medical students have applied to be part of the inaugural class of the Florida International University College of Medicine.

The College of Medicine, which will welcome its first class of 40 students in August 2009, began receiving applications in late June.

“We knew that our community desperately needed an affordable public medical school to provide educational opportunities and improve healthcare in South Florida,” said FIU President Modesto A. Maidique. “The flood of applications we have received indicates this community needs this medical school.”

Of the more than 1,200 applications received by early this week, about half are from Florida, with about a quarter of the total applications coming from South Florida. The rest of the applicants hail from 44 states and include students from every Ivy League school.

“I am delighted with the number of applications we have received and the quality of the students who are applying,” said Dr. John Rock, founding dean of the College of Medicine. “This bodes well for the caliber of our inaugural class and the first-rate doctors who will graduate from our College of Medicine.”

The process begins each spring, with prospective medical students submitting applications to their medical schools of choice through the American Medical College Application Service (ACMAS). Once the application is forwarded to FIU’s College of Medicine, administrators initially evaluate each applicant to determine which ones meet the minimum GPA and Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) requirements. Administrators also evaluate each applicant’s involvement in community service, research, work in a clinical setting and other extracurricular activities.

Students who make the cut then fill out a secondary application specific to FIU. The College of Medicine invites top prospects for interviews and, ultimately, an admissions committee made up of FIU professors and physicians from the community will select the top 40 candidates for admission.

The admissions committee will be seeking students with a commitment to a medical career and the ability to complete the rigorous educational curriculum at the FIU College of Medicine. Because community health is central to FIU’s medical school, the admissions committee also will be seeking students who show promise of being culturally sensitive doctors who want to serve South Florida’s underserved communities.

“We want highly qualified, diverse students who have an interest in community medicine,” said Dr. Sanford Markham, executive associate dean of student affairs for the College of Medicine. “We are establishing a community health-centered curriculum that will change the way doctors are trained in our country. We want students who share our vision.”

Central to the FIU College of Medicine is the innovative NeighborhoodHELP (Health Education Learning Program), an integrated interdisciplinary approach to medical education. Beginning in their second year, FIU medical students will team up with students in other disciplines such as nursing, social work, public health, law and business to assist individual families in some of Miami’s poorest neighborhoods.

The admissions committee will make a decision on “early decision” candidates by October 1. Early decision candidates are those who apply early and designate FIU as their only choice. Other applicants could receive acceptance letters beginning on October 15. The deadline to submit the ACMAS application is December 15.

-FIU-

Media Contact: Madeline Baró, 305-348-2234 or mbaro@fiu.edu

About the FIU College of Medicine:
The College of Medicine was approved in 2006 by the Florida Board of Governors and the Florida Legislature. Earlier this year, it received preliminary accreditation by the Liaison Committee for Medical Education and will admit its first class in the fall of 2009. Among the innovative elements of the FIU College of Medicine is a program called NeighborhoodHELP, which will send medical students along with their counterparts in social work, nursing and public health, into the community from the onset of their academic programs. The FIU College of Medicine is expected to have a billion-dollar economic impact on Miami-Dade County, bringing thousands of jobs to the area and eventually contributing millions to the state coffers every year.
For more information visit http://medicine.fiu.edu/

About FIU:
Florida International University was founded in 1965 and is Miami’s only public research university. With a student body of more than 38,000, FIU graduates more Hispanics than any other university in the country. Its 21 colleges and schools offer more than 200 bachelors, masters and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations and law. FIU has been classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a “High Research Activity University.” In 2006 FIU was authorized to establish a medical school, which will open in 2009. FIU’s College of Law recently received accreditation in the fastest time allowed by the American Bar Association.

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