Starting in the fall of 2004, the University of Miami School of Medicine began offering medical students two campus options at which to begin the medical curriculum. One of these sites is the parent medical campus in Miami next to Jackson Memorial Hospital. The new satellite medical school site is on the campus of Florida Atlantic University in suburban Boca Raton, Florida, approximately 60 miles north of Miami.
This satellite program is called The University of Miami School of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University (UMSM@FAU). It is supported by the State of Florida and is fully-accredited under the accreditation granted to the University of Miami School of Medicine by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the sole accrediting body for all allopathic medical schools in the United States and Canada. It is a unique collaborative effort between an established, nationally recognized private medical school and a large public university that is part of the State of Florida University System. FAU has more than 25,000 undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in a variety of bachelors, masters and doctoral level programs, including high-tech biomedical programs supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health and private industry. FAU and the world-renowned Scripps Institute have recently formed a partnership to explore common research interests and establish cooperative research ventures.
This new UMSM@FAU program offers University of Miami medical students the opportunity to complete all four years of the medical curriculum in Boca Raton.
Schmidt Biomedical Science Building
Selection of Students
Students wishing to start medical school in the UMSM@FAU program must apply to the University of Miami School of Medicine through AMCAS and make their desire to be a part of this program known to the Admissions Office at the time they complete the web-based secondary application. The 32 spaces at UMSM@FAU will be filled with students who are admitted to the University of Miami School of Medicine via the regular admissions process and who designate the FAU site as their preference. All campus preferences must be finalized by July 1 of the entry year.
Faculty and Students at the UMSM@FAU Open House
Highlights
q Enrollment in UMSM@FAU is limited to 32 students per year who will be selected from among the applicants who apply through AMCAS to the University of Miami School of Medicine.
q Students enrolled in UMSM@FAU are University of Miami medical students with all the privileges and responsibilities of all other UM medical students, regardless of their campus affiliation. Their MD degree will be granted by the University of Miami.
q The curriculum of the UMSM@FAU program is similar but not identical to the curriculum taught in Miami in terms of class learning objectives, small group discussion topics, and in all clinical experiences and opportunities.
q The emphasis is on live teaching rather than computer-aided distance learning. More than 25 world-class research and teaching faculty are already in residence at FAU to teach the basic science courses in the first two years of the curriculum.
q Brand new state-of-the-art teaching facilities including lecture halls, small group conference and study rooms, student lounge, gross anatomy labs, and clinical examination rooms.
q Decompressed atmosphere of a large suburban university campus that fosters a more relaxed approach to learning the material in the first two years of the medical curriculum. The atmosphere, like that at the parent medical campus, is one of collegiality, not competition.
q All UMSM@FAU students are fully integrated members of the Academic Societies and regular interaction with other class members is scheduled on a regular basis. UMSM@FAU students will travel to the Miami Campus and Miami students will travel to FAU for a variety of classroom sessions, clinical experiences, and social activities.
q UMSM@FAU students will have the same opportunities as all other UM medical students to participate during the first two years in community service and outreach activities in Boca Raton, the Florida Keys, Little Haiti, Little Havana, Florida City, and in a number of international medical experiences.
Disadvantages?
Perhaps the biggest disadvantage of being a member of the UMSM@FAU program is that students may find it difficult to attend the home games of the Miami Hurricane Football Team which are played in the Orange Bowl in Miami.? But relax! The man who started the UM football dynasty in 1983 by winning our first National Championship, Coach Howard Schnellenberger, is the head coach of the FAU Owls and they had a pretty good season last year!
Further Information
Further information about Florida Atlantic University can be obtained at their web site: http://www.fau.edu.
More specific information about the UMSM@FAU program can be obtained by calling the Office of Admissions at the University of Miami School of Medicine (305-243-3234), or the Office of Biomedical Science at Florida Atlantic University (561-297-2219).
