By Wendy Sarubbi | April 18, 2014 12:50 pm

Choosing a medical school is one of the most important decisions a future physician has to make. For that reason, more than 60 accepted students for the Class of 2018 gave the UCF College of Medicine a “Second Look” April 14 to learn more about its academic program and meet faculty and students.

“This is a chance for all the students to come back, to meet one another, and to see different parts of the program,” Admissions Director Rel Larkin said. “They’re going to these Second Look events to get another connection back with that medical school.”

Students began the day by getting a closer look at some unique aspects of the College of Medicine curriculum, including clinical skills modules where students work with standardized (actor) patients, real patients and computerized mannequins starting in the first year. During a meeting with anatomy professor Dr. Andrew Payer, prospective students saw a video of the autopsy reports that first-year students give at the conclusion of Anatomy Lab. Unlike students at most medical schools, UCF students do know the cause of death of their cadaver. They spend 17 weeks in lab investigating the life and death of their first patient.  “They saw that our students were in their first 25 weeks of medical school and performing at a very high-quality level, and demonstrating a lot of medical knowledge,” Dr. Payer said. “We wanted it to stimulate discussion, so they might ask questions of faculty and other students they met during the day.”

Second Look 1Prospective students toured Nemours Children’s Hospital in Medical City, which provides pediatric clerkships for third- and fourth-year students. Then they visited Florida Hospital’s massive complex in downtown Orlando. During the three-hour tour, the prospects met with doctors in specialties including surgery, radiology and family medicine, and toured the Walt Disney pavilion for Children.

“The greatest thing about today was the ability to be a part of the culture and environment that going to UCF would entail,” said University of Miami senior Andrew Nashed. “Now I can confidently say I know a bit more about the school, instead of hearing about it from other people, I witnessed it first-hand.”

The day concluded with dinner at the Citrus Club, where prospects joined faculty members, current students and College of Medicine Dean Deborah German to ask questions about all that UCF has to offer. The class of 2018 is UCF’s sixth since it opened and will number 120 students, the second at full enrollment.

Second Look 4

“This medical school is for students who are all in,” Dr. German told them. “Who share the vision of what we are now, and what we will become. We’re all building it together.”

As Second Look came to a close, some students were still considering their options for medical schools while others are firmly decided that they’ll be in Medical City this fall. “My heart is set on UCF, I’m definitely going to be a Knight for another four years,” said UCF senior Kyle Cox. “I’ve already decided to come here; my next steps are to come to the White Coat Ceremony on August 4 and get to work.”

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