University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB)

History of University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB)

The School of Medicine of the University of Alabama (UBA) traces its roots back to 1989 when the Medical College of Alabama was founded in Mobile, Alabama. The school got affiliated to the University of Alabama in the early 1900’s. In 1920, the school moved from Mobile to Tuscaloosa and then the school moved to Birmingham in 1945 where the university’s Medical Center was also founded. The Medical Center and the Extension Center were merged into one in 1965 which then formed the University of Alabama.

About University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB)

The School of Medicine of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a public sector university with various branches all over the U.S. according to the 2020 ranking University of Alabama is ranked Number 30 in Best Medical School: Research and it is ranked Number 35 in Best Medical Schools: Primary Care.

The School consists of 800 students, 1400 faculty members, more than 900 residents, and around 27 academic departments.

Hospitals

University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB) Hospital

This is the main hospital for the school and is fully-equipped and has very professional staff. It is the 20^th largest and well-equipped hospital in the United States. UAB Hospital has 1,157 beds, up-to-date primary and specialty care services, innovative and up-to-date treatments and a center for clinical research.

Specialty hospitals

• Alabama Heart Hospital for the medical and surgical treatment of patients with cardiovascular diseases
• Lurleen B. Wallace complex for the treatment of patients with cancer
• Spain Rehabilitation Center for the treatment of patients with spinal cord injuries
• Diabetes Hospital for the treatment of patients with diabetes and metabolic diseases
• West Pavilion neurological inpatient beds, orthopedic inpatient beds; and a special care unit
• The Center for Psychiatric Medicine for the treatment of patients with mental disorders

Eligibility

Before applying to the college there is certain criteria which needs to be fulfilled. The candidate applying should have appeared in the MCAT exam and should have a minimum score of 495

Admission Process of University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB)

After appearing for the MCAT exam the candidate should prepare and submit their AMCAS application. American Medical College Application Service is a centralized application processing service for American Medical Schools. In the AMCAS application, the candidate should attach letters of recommendation. There are different types of submission for the letter which are:

Committee Letter – Preferred Option

A committee letter is a letter authored by a pre-health committee or pre-health advisor and intended to represent your institution’s evaluation of you. A committee letter may or may not include additional letters written in support of your application. If you have committee letters from two different programs/schools, list one here and include the other as an individual letter.

Letter Packet

A packet or set of letters is assembled and distributed by your institution, often by the institutions career center. A letter packet may include a cover sheet from your pre-health committee or advisor; however, in contrast to a committee letter, a letter packet does not include an evaluative letter from your pre-health committee or advisor.

Three Individual Letters

At least one letter from a faculty member (preferably a science faculty member)

Two letters from other faculty or individuals who can provide in-depth evaluation and recommendation

            Note: Applicants should not submit more than five individual letters of recommendation.

After the AMCAS application has been processed the candidate will be asked to submit a secondary application before the due date assigned.

After the completion of the application process, the selected candidates will be called in for an interview with the admission committee which will get to know the candidate better and will also have access to the AMCAS and secondary application of the candidate.

The sequence of events on the interview day is as follows:

• Overview- An overview of that days’ activity plan will be given to all candidates.
• Mini-Interviews- Seven to ten stations will be placed where interviewers will be seated and the candidates will have rotations with the interviewers and give them mini-interviews.
• Traditional Interview- Each candidate will have an interview with the admission committee and the interview can be as long as 25 minutes.
• Break
• Lunch
• Tour
• Student Services- Here the candidates will get to know more about the programs offered by the Medical School as well as the services and activities that occur around the year.

Important Dates

Medical College Admission Test (MCAT)

Almost all U.S., as well as the Canadian Medical Colleges requirement for the candidate, is to take MCAT and every school has a test marks threshold. MCAT has the following four sections:

1. Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems
2. Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems
3. Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior
4. Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills

Tuition and Scholarships

Out-of-State Tuition

Year	Tuition
1st	$65,854
2nd	$65,454
3rd	$65,125
4th	$64,775

The college provides financial aid as well as scholarships to the candidates that fulfill the eligibility criteria.

Scholarship

The school has a scholarship committee which meets 3 to 4 times a year to select the scholarship candidates based on their ability, academic excellence, and financial need. All recipients must qualify each year by completing the School of Medicine Application for Scholarships and FAFSA.

Departments of University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB)

• Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics
• Biomedical Engineering
• Cell, Developmental & Integrative Biology
• Dermatology
• Emergency Medicine
• Family & Community Medicine
• Genetics
• Medical Education
• Medicine
• Microbiology
• Neurobiology
• Neurology
• Neurosurgery
• Obstetrics & Gynecology
• Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
• Orthopedic Surgery
• Otolaryngology
• Pathology
• Pediatrics
• Pharmacology & Toxicology
• Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
• Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurobiology
• Radiation Oncology
• Radiology
• Surgery
• Urology

Facilities

Housing

The number one concern for students who come from far off places is the condition of the lodging facility provided by the Medical School. The School has state-of-the-art housing facility and the housing fee is included in the course fee that is provided by the UAB International Medical Education.

Every student has their own bedroom along with an attached bathroom. Each suite has a fully equipped kitchen, internet, washer, and central air conditioning.

Housing Amenities are as follows:

• Controlled-access entry
• 24-hour fitness center
• Resort-style swimming pool
• Clubroom with gaming tables, TVs
• 24-hour computer centers
• Tanning booth
• 24-hour emergency maintenance

Lister Hill Library

Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences (LHL) at UAB was established in 1945 and is the largest biomedical library in Alabama and serves as a Resource Library for the Southeast/Atlantic Region in the National Network of Libraries of Medicine. The library is 5 floors tall, including a basement.

The library has a collection books and journals. There are computers available for all students and staff, 19 study rooms which are available for individuals, as well as groups and the rooms, are assigned on the first come first basis.

The library is also proud to have a few special collection items which are unique and rare collections of items ranging from the 14^th-Century manuscript texts to 21^st-Century photographs and medical apparatus.

Food Services

UAB Medical School has various cafeterias around the campus that serve a range of different cuisines that are tasty, hygienic and easy on the pocket as well. Apart from this, there are vending machines located around the campus as well so that one can get an easy snack on their way to a class.

Apart from these facilities UAB School of Medicine also provides good sports facilities and has and has 17 varsity teams and around 350 student-athletes. There are transportation facilities provided to the student and staff as well.

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Life as a Medical Student

When you get in a Medical School you need to be consistent in keeping up with your syllabus and assignments. There will be times when the work-load will be too hard to bear but with good company and a good studying strategy as well as balancing everything out you can enjoy your time at med school and achieve good grades as well.

How to study at University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB)?

At University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB) a lot of conceptual learning involved in all the lectures taught so you need to keep up with the professor and start building your concepts as well as learning things by heart. This way at the end of the year you will have everything on your fingertips and things will be easy for you to revise.

While studying smart work will be more beneficial than hard work. This can be done by first identifying which is a more important topic, this can be known by the emphasis the teacher lays on every topic. If a teacher repeats one thing again and again then that is definitely an important topic.

After identifying which topics are more important than the others you need to organize the information, starting with the most important concepts and then memorizing the information while building your concepts along the way.

Get copies of past papers

Many professors that you will study with would have been teaching that subject for a while now and repeat previous questions in their tests. So getting hold of the past papers will be highly beneficial as you’ll also learn where you stand and how much more you need to study after solving them and will get a better idea of the level of difficulty.

Learn what best suits you

There are some people who study better alone but many people learn more when studying in groups. It is easier to study in groups as well as everybody has a strong grasp on a certain topic and they can teach that topic to the rest. However, some people focus more in quiet places and so they study better when they’re alone.

Making friends

Making friends whose vibes match yours is a very crucial part of choosing your friends. These people will be there with you through your ups and downs in med school so choose wisely. Be around people who encourage you towards betterment, whose energy is positive and who helps you out in your time of need. You will meet people who will somehow not match your personality and your friend circle might also change a bit during this time but don’t worry as this is very common. As time goes on people who are your sincere friends will remain while the others will eventually be filtered out.

Dr. Najeeb Lectures

For instance, you end up in a situation where nothing is working for you or you aren’t benefiting from any of the things mentioned above or you don’t feel like putting the effort in all that stuff, then you can always go to Dr. Najeeb’s Lectures for getting help. As I mentioned before, what if your teacher’s learning method doesn’t match your learning method? Well, I can guarantee you that Dr. Najeeb’s lectures will definitely match your learning method! If you don’t feel like getting help from other people and you want to rely on self-study, then these video lectures are going to help you a lot. Dr. Najeeb’s Lectures are the world’s most popular medical Lectures, covering all the topics of Gross Anatomy, Neuro-anatomy, Embryology, Histology, Physiology, Biochemistry, Genetics, Pharmacology, Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology.

These lectures almost cover all the topics included in the current medical curriculum of most of the medical colleges and are a great source to understand every topic you’re being taught in your class. These lectures don’t contain that bookish knowledge due to which you don’t understand things in the class, whereas it is the visual representation of that knowledge which will help you understand things better. The hand-drawn illustrations included in these lectures will make you grasp every concept really quickly. Furthermore, one can get lifetime access to these lectures and even download the app to avail them anytime, anywhere.

Enjoy!

Keep the balance between studying as well as enjoying with your friends and participating in extra-curricular activities. These are the last few years after which you will have to truly enter the world of ‘adult-hood’ so enjoy as much as you can because the memories made during this time will last a long very.