University of Virginia – (UVA)

About University of Virginia (UVA)

The University of Virginia (UVA) is located in Charlottesville, Virginia and is a flagship university of Virginia (UVA) as well. It was established in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson. UVA is in its third century and provides a world-class education that has been continuously being ranked the nation’s best. UVA is ranked 4^th Best Public National University, U.S. by News and World Report, 2020, 2^nd Best Value Public University by U.S. News and World Report, 2020 and UVA has been ranked with the Best Hospital in Virginia by U.S. News and World Report, 2019-20.

University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine is one of the first schools that were established inside Virginia University. A properly equipped building was established in 2010

Vision and Mission of University of Virginia (UVA)

UVA’s vision as a Medical institute is to be a remarkable college known for its medical excellence around the World regarding research, facilities, education and patient care.

UVA’s mission is to be one of the World’s Best Medical Colleges which provides high-quality teaching and excellence in education as well as generate outstanding leadership qualities in the doctors the institution nourishes and makes. Along with all this, the institution aims to promote research as well as provide compassionate, patient-centered care of the highest quality.

Objectives of University of Virginia (UVA)

The objectives of the University of Virginia (UVA) are as follows:

• To effectively implement programs through creativity, innovation in teaching, learning and evaluation.
• To inculcate communication skills and scientific temperament among faculty and students through research-oriented activities
• Enhance competency through knowledge and skills, reading and learning activities, continuous objective oriented student performance evaluation.
• Nurture professionalism and behavioral skills in medical professionals.
• Incorporate medical ethics, moral values, team spirit, responsibilities and sense of integrity in medical faculty and students.
• Ensure academic, career and personal counseling.
• Adopt transparency and accountability in academic and administrative activities.
• Develop, design and implement innovative and translational scientific discoveries.
• Discover, understand and improve the health of populations, communities, and societies.

Applying to University of Virginia (UVA)

The University of Virginia (UVA)accepts applications through the website ‘Common Application’. Candidates applying are supposed to submit their applications online while counselors and teachers have a choice to submit their documents via mail or online.

Application Process

An admission committee is established which consists of 35 members; 10 4^th year Medical students and 25 faculty members. The committee members meet on Fridays between the first week of September and the first week of March. In those meetings, the committee members discuss the candidates that have been interviewed and then voting is carried out on who should be shortlisted.

Important Dates

Interviews

Virginia School of Medicine takes 650 interviews every year in groups of 6 or 8 on Mondays and Thursdays. The interview takes place for about 30 minutes and each candidate is assigned to one or two members of the committee of admission.

Conditions for Acceptance and continuation of Degree

• If you are currently an undergraduate, you must complete all bachelor’s degree requirements before matriculating at the University of Virginia (UVA). If you are currently enrolled in a graduate program, you must complete all advanced degree requirements before matriculation.
• To accept your position at the University of Virginia (UVA), you must return your Class Reservation Form and Declaration of Meeting Technical Standards Form within three weeks of our offer of admission.
• Applicants are permitted to hold only one medical school position (at a time) after April 30. AMCAS will report to the medical schools which acceptances you are holding. In fairness to applicants on the waiting list, please make your decision and inform our Admissions Office no later than April 30.
• International students must complete and submit all documents required by the International Studies Office by July 1, before matriculation.
• All acceptances to the Virginia School of Medicine are contingent upon satisfactory completion of all future course work. A grade of “C” will require a written explanation. A grade of “D” or below will result in a re-evaluation of your application.

Requirements

• All candidates applying should have completed at least 90 semester hours of course work in an accredited Canadian or U.S. college.
• Applicants who are not U.S. nationals or permanent residents in the U.S. can apply as well, provided that they have completed a minimum of 90 semester hours of course work in an accredited Canadian or U.S college.
• Applicants who present MCAT test scores, those test scores can be from the current version of MCAT or the future version of MCAT, however, the test should be taken no later than 30^th September of the year before matriculation.

Criminal Background Check

If legal or criminal proceedings are filed against you before matriculation, or if you are the recipient of any institutional disciplinary action, it is your responsibility to inform the Admissions Office immediately. Additionally, all students must undergo a mandatory criminal background check as a condition of acceptance to the School of Medicine.

Curriculum

Pre-Clerkship Period (First 1.5 Years)

In the first year, the students are started by learning about “Cells of Society”. This is a three-day program that guides the new students in investigating the disease’s cellular and societal dimensions. Students discover how the care of the patient raises questions in multiple domains in addition to clinical medicine.

After this, there is “Foundations of Medicine and Cells, Tissues and Mechanisms of Disease” which consists of monitoring and developing the foundational elements of human behavior, the doctor/patient relationship, decision sciences, and principles of biochemistry, genetics, histology, physiology, anatomy, general pathology, general pharmacology, and epidemiology.

The third program the students are introduced to is the “Integrated Organs System” which consists of Microbes and the Immune System; Musculoskeletal and Integument; Gastrointestinal; Mind, Brain and Behavior; Renal; Cardiovascular; Pulmonary; Endocrine/Reproductive, and Hematology.

The “Clinical Performance Development (CPD)” experience runs concurrently with and is fully integrated into each course and organ system. CPD-1 consists of clinical case studies that students solve in small group tutorials led by physicians. Clinical Performance Development is continuous through the Clerkship and Elective time. These are called CPD-2 and CPD-3 respectively and continue the clinical skills development of medical students. CPD also has a developmental assessment program throughout medical school designed to ensure that students are developing their clinical skills appropriately and have achieved a level appropriate for success on the USMLE-2CS and transition to post-graduate training.

The last experience in the Pre-Clerkship period is “Social Issues in Medicine/Exploratory”, this program helps the students in analyzing the relationship between socio-cultural environments and the occurrence, prevention, and treatment of disease.

Clerkship

Midway through the second year students engage in more advanced clinical training. Students will complete clerkships in medicine, surgery, pediatrics, family medicine, geriatric medicine, peri-operative (anesthesia), emergency medicine, psychiatry, and obstetrics and gynecology. There is extensive direct contact with patients; students will work with a well-balanced patient population, which includes primary, secondary, and tertiary care.

Students gain practical experience under supervision in the wards and outpatient clinics of the University of Virginia (UVA) hospitals, Bon Secours Hospital in Richmond, the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Salem, the Western State Hospital, and Inova Fairfax Hospital in Northern Virginia. The teaching programs at the affiliated hospitals allow students to observe the practice of medicine in multiple settings and gain exposure to a somewhat different spectrum of illnesses not seen at the University of Virginia (UVA). During their third year, students may spend as much as 16 weeks away from Charlottesville in affiliated clerkship locations.

Post-Clerkship

At the end of the third year and beginning of the fourth year students engage in an extensive Electives program that allows students to pursue their interests. Under the guidance of a faculty advisor, students choose clinical rotations, basic science, and humanities courses and research activities. Medical students are required to complete at least one Advanced Clinical Elective during their fourth year. Clinical rotations are available at sites in Salem, Roanoke, Lynchburg, Fairfax, and Charlottesville. Programs are tailored to meet individual interests and needs, including a selection of programs in other domestic and foreign settings in appropriate community medicine programs, or in other activities of suitable educational merit.

Programs

• Generalist Scholars Program (GSP)

This program was established to develop student leaders interested in pursuing a career in one the following three fields of generalist medicine – general internal medicine, family medicine or general pediatrics.

• Medical Science Training Program -MSTP
• MD-MBA through the Darden School of Business
• MD-JD program
• MD-Masters in Public Health (MPH)
• MD-Medical Science in Clinical Research (MS-CR)
• MD-Masters in Data Science

Departments

Clinical Departments

• Anesthesiology
• Dentistry
• Dermatology
• Emergency Medicine
• Family Medicine
• Medicine
• Neurology
• Neurosurgery
• Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Ophthalmology
• Orthopedic Surgery
• Otolaryngology
• Pathology
• Pediatrics
• Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
• Plastic and Maxillofacial Surgery
• Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences
• Radiation Oncology
• Radiology and Medical Imaging
• Surgery
• Urology

Basic Sciences

• Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics
• Biomedical Engineering
• Cell Biology
• Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology (MIC)
• Molecular Physiology & Biological Physics
• Neuroscience
• Pharmacology
• Public Health Sciences

Facilities

Learning Studio

This is a technology-enabled, active-learning (TEAL) classroom, which was designed for the Next Generation curriculum. This interactive learning environment uses the latest technology to engage students in active learning. This space incorporates the five modalities of adult learning. There are 5 technology sophisticated screens which are 20 feet in width and tie into each group table where students can share with a small group of the class.

Library

There are two libraries located on the campus; Claude Moore Health Sciences Library and Jacob D. Zylman Health Sciences Library. The Claude Moore Health Sciences Library is spread over 12,000 sq. feet with the latest facilities, books, journals, and E-journals. The Jacob D. Zylman Health Sciences Library is an on-site medical library at the Inova Campus.  There are three study/conference rooms and 16 individual study carrels as well as tables for group work in the library.  Students have full 24/7 access and are supported by an outstanding team of librarians as well.

Clinical Skills Center

The Clinical Skills Center, located on the basement floor of the building, contains 20 outpatient exam rooms and inpatient rooms used to train students on clinical skills with standardized and real patients. All of these rooms are fully equipped with audio and video capabilities as two or three cameras capture various views. An observation hallway has one-way mirrors into four exam rooms.

After Getting Admitted into UVA School of Medicine

Getting into a good medical college is everyone’s dream and let’s be honest, it is one of the toughest things to do and getting into an institute like UVA is a big achievement. UVA is among one of the top medical colleges of the US, and it is known for providing the best medical knowledge to its students which helps them develop and become future doctors of the world. If you get into UVA School of Medicine, you’re one of those few intelligent and hardworking people who deserved to be here and be the best doctors in the world with the help of great faculty members at UVA School of Medicine.

Anyway, Congratulations! You have cleared the first and the toughest step of this journey. Now, what next? Now, comes the next step and a bit tough one comprising of a lot of challenges for you but don’t worry, if you can qualify for the first step, it’ll be easy for you to clear the next step too. It will require a bit of hard work and your focus to overcome these challenges. Here are the few tips mentioned below to help you:

Managing Time:

First things first, MANAGING TIME! Time is the key to your success and of course, failure. If you have a hold on your time, you’re going to be successful no matter what. I’m not specifically talking about a medical college but if you talk about any university, managing time is really important to survive there. If you’re going to get into all this stuff of managing your time from the very start, the medical college will be comparatively easy for you because you’re already a champ but the results are going to be opposite if you’re not going to manage your times.

Now, the question is how to manage time? Firstly, take notes of everything from day one. Yes, it helps a lot. Take notes in the classes, how is everything going to work, the processes and procedures, etc. Once you know how things work at your campus and make a schedule for them assigning most of the time to the most important tasks and try to complete each task within the timeframe provided. This will help you be on track and make things easier for you.

As you have taken notes and assigned time to each task, it was more of a generalized schedule. Time to be a little more specific. All the homework, assignments, test or quizzes, everything should be noted by you separately in a daily to-do-list. Every task should be noted in that with the due date and several reminders should be set to avoid delays. Procrastination should be strictly avoided in medical college because completing your tasks as soon as possible will help you be on track. Otherwise, you’ll be in a big mess because you won’t be able to cope up with all the daily stuff. Regularly following that to-do-list will help you complete all the tasks on time and meet your deadlines.

Self-Study:

Is it necessary that your teacher’s teaching method will match your learning method? Well, it’s not. This is the main reason, a lot of the students who were pretty good in their studies before getting into a medical college becomes frustrated and unable to continue. They had this image in their mind that they have always been pretty good, then why aren’t they good enough over here too? Well, don’t worry and don’t stress about this. It happens with everyone but do remember that you can’t control everything. One can only try to do those things which are in his control rather than stressing over those things which were never in his control.

Whenever you don’t understand anything in the class, ask a friend or any other classmate to help you out with it. Try to make that thing clear to you as soon as possible and not leaving it for later because you’ll end up missing something and you won’t understand another thing because you missed that thing in the first place and BOOM, you don’t know anything. Try to get things clear when they’re fresh in your mind, it’ll help you understand faster! Try to indulge yourself in self-study but if it doesn’t work for you, go for the group study. You can benefit a lot from group study, do try to seek help and help others too if needed. Again, allocating time to self-study and group-study is the key thing.

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 into 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 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 quickly. Furthermore, one can get lifetime access to these lectures and even download the app to avail them anytime, anywhere.

Self-Care:

The only thing you have to do for the rest of your time in a medical college is study? NO! Don’t overburden yourself. Despite all the rigorous studying, a very tight schedule, frequent exams, and tests, you need to take some time out for SELF-CARE. Try to indulge yourself in several extra-curricular activities happening in the college, they’ll help you to have a break from your studies. Just try to complete everything on time, so that you can enjoy everything else too to keep yourself relax!

Reward yourself frequently whenever you achieve something, for instance, you got the highest marks in a class test. You need to reward yourself for your continuous hardships. Find a hobby which will help you freshen your mind so that you can work and learn better.

Pick Your Friends Wisely:

This step is very important and should be kept in mind from day one. Be very careful and very picky about people. No, it doesn’t mean that don’t talk to anyone but chose your friends wisely. Help every person who asks for help from you and avoid getting into any conflict with anyone. If you end up getting into one, try to resolve that as soon as possible, so that you don’t get distracted from your studies because of that.

Carefully observe the people around you and make friends very carefully because friends can help you spend the rest of your time in the college nicely or they’ll ruin it. Making more allies than enemies is a good option, help people a lot because they’ll help you out too when you’ll need it. Try to be a little sharp-minded and keep yourself from getting exploited. Help out others, this way you can make more allies than enemies and they could end up helping you in your time of need.

In the end, we would like to assure you that there are always ups and downs in life. Don’t lose hope, keep our tips in mind and Good luck!