From Dr. (Mrs.) Mechaber:

“This will begin a series of emails and information you will receive periodically as we strive to provide you with up-to-date career and residency advice. Some important dates and upcoming events to be aware of:

During Senior Orientation, I will lead the first of several sessions on Being a Competitive Applicant for Residency. As Orientation is mandatory, I will have a chance to discuss much of what I am sending out with you in more detail. Shortly after orientation, I will lead another workshop on ERAS and the Introduction to the Match (date TBA).

In the meantime, you will likely find the attachments useful. You will be hearing more from your individual Advising Deans, and you will receive more info about the Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE aka Dean’s Letter) at Senior Orientation, and all of this information is also posted on the Office of Professional Development and Career Guidance (OPDCG) website:

http://www.mededu.miami.edu/MedEd/opdcg/index.htm

The website is being updated and in a couple of days will have 9 NEW SAMPLE CV’s with blurbs and descriptions about almost all the activities in which you all participate.

It is early in the process, but some of you are planning on the Early and Military Matches. Please see attached to start you thinking about the next exciting and important step in your professional careers.

As always, I am happy to answer any additional questions you may have.”

Residendy Application Timeline 2009-2010

Key Info for a Successful Match 2009-2010  

Hey everyone,
Here’s the data from the marketplace poll.

(on the last graph, the 10.75% is for people who replied that those who abuse the listserve should be PI’ed)

94 people replied to the poll.

This year, UMMSM students have been pooled with other UM students to expand benefits and services while keeping the premium down as much as possible. The annual student premium for AY 2009-2010 is $1907, this is $300 dollars less than the anticipated premium if we have not made any changes this year. Although the deductible is $400 ($200 more than last year), those who reach the deductible limit will still save $100 compared to last year’s plan.

Some of the new / expanded benefits and services include access to the Student Health Service on the Coral Gables campus (SHS-Gables), greatly expanded prescription drug coverage, and eligibility for medical students on official leave of absence to purchase the insurance plan. For more information about the plan, go to http://www.mededu.miami.edu/Admissions/files/2009_557_1_brochure_v3_web_v1.pdf.

In order to obtain this plan, we were required to implement a hard waiver policy. What that means is all UMMSM students will automatically be placed on the medical student health insurance plan and billed the annual premium unless they complete a health insurance waiver form in MyUM.

• If you wish to enroll in the medical student health insurance plan for AY 2009-10, you do not need to do anything! You will be enrolled and billed automatically when we generate your tuition and fees.
• If you wish to enroll a dependent (spouse, child) in the plan, you will need to obtain a dependent enrollment form from the MedEdu website or Dr. Hilit Mechaber’s office. You will need to pay dependent fees directly to UnitedHealthcare.
• If you wish to waive the insurance, you must verify that you have alternate, comparable coverage. The waiver must be renewed at the beginning of each academic year. The waiver period for the upcoming academic year will begin this month. In order to waive the insurance, you will need to do the following:

1. Log onto MyUM and click on the “Life at UM” tab

2. Click on the “Waive Health Insurance” button

3. Carefully read the policy requirements. If your health insurance policy meets or exceeds these requirements, click on the word “Agree”

4. Complete the student information form, including the name of your insurance company and your policy number.

5. Carefully read the statement at the bottom of the form. If you agree with the statement, click the “Submit” button.

6. A “Medical Student Health Insurance Waiver Acknowledgement’ will be generated. Print this page and keep for your records.

The deadline to waive or cancel coverage for rising sophomores, juniors and seniors is July 25th, 2009.

If you have any questions regarding the new student health insurance policy or the hard waiver process, please contact me or Dr. Hilit Mechaber.

Useful Documents:
choosing-a-medical-plan
answers-about-health-insurance-from-ahip

Poll Closed. Results coming soon

From our last poll on the listservs we learned two big things: 1) The listservs are getting too much “spam” and 2) we’re not going to moderate the listservs and risk the long delay in emails getting through.  From our discussions at the SG meetings we’ve decided there are two options moving forward and we need your opinions/ideas again.

The first option is to build an online marketplace ala “craigslist for med students.” Briefly some pros/cons:

Pros: 1) It’s available to everyone when they want it, on their terms, 2) no more e-mails, 3) it can potentially be opened to students from other schools (FIU etc) to increase the size of the market and supply/demand for goods (as well as maybe one day even providing a venue for finding sublets for externships)

Cons: 1) You have to go to the site to see what is for sale - no more emails. 2) Some attempts at this have failed in the past.

The second option is to create a dedicated “for-sale” listserv. Students could opt-out of it if they didn’t want to receive e-mails about goods that were for sale.

Pros: 1) You can opt out of the listserv or filter it to its own folder, thus un-clogging your inbox.  2) You still get the convenience of annoucements for new goods to your inbox.

Cons: 1) Once you opt out you won’t be able to find out about goods that are for sale unless you opt back into the listserv.  2) There is no “repository” for old ads like you’d have on a website.

Last, but not least, we need a way of making people use the new system, whatever that new system may be. We’ve included a poll question on how best to regulate the

From the President:

The listservs have been up for a lot of discussion. Historically, the listservs have been monitored and emails were delivered within 24-hours (most of the time). However, due to students’ dissatisfaction with the delay, the Dean’s had decided to have the listservs unmonitored and thus without delay. 

Student Government has recently received positive and negative feedback in regards to this and as a result a poll was instituted and 133 of you responded. Once again, we reiterate, only voters and the voices that speak up are heard and thus decisions have and will continue to be made with regards to this. The results of the poll indicated that the majority of voters did believe that there were too many emails being distributed via the listservs, however, did not want the listservs to be monitored. Please visit the SG-website for further details and results.

This issue was discussed at the SG General Council Meetings and the following consensus was established and discussed with the Deans:
The listservs will continue to be unmonitored. SG will continue to monitor this issue and research other options that will serve the best interest of the majority. In fact, there is a promising option on the table as I write. In the meantime, on behalf of the student body, Student Government will like to encourage everyone to be professional and thoughtful in regards to what you send via the listserv. If you do not appreciate a particular email, there are several appropriate options: 1) you can simply press delete, 2) email that individual directly to express your concern or discontentment, rather than respond via “reply all”, 3) report your dissatisfaction with the content of an email to your SG Class Council and/or SG Executive Board.

Please be reminded that this is a professional environment, which many of us like to regard as a family; with a Code of Honorable and Professional Conduct that we sign every year. Please keep this in mind when you send an email to the family and especially when you respond to an email. If you have any further concerns, please feel free to email me directly. 

Dean’s meeting Minutes from April 29.  We discussed the issues from our SG meeting (listservs, AMA) as well as a lot of other important stuff.  Check out the meetings below.

Deans Meeting 4.29

Check out the minutes from out meeting on April 28.  Among the issues discussed:

• AMA funding
• Listservs - Too much Spam? 

sg-minutes-4-28

Hey everyone,

After a great response from you guys (133 responses) we have the survey results:

Student Group Annoucements: 98%

Selling books: 55%

Housing Requests: 45%

Requests for books: 45%

Furniture and Misc: 31%

What do these results mean?  Seems like there is too much e-mail, but moderation is not how to fix it.  Any ideas on what we could do?  Comment away…

From Jim:

As a reminder, Friday, May 1st is the deadline for expensing funds from your Student Government allocations. By now, you should have already spent all or most of your allocation.
Please note tomorrow (Tuesday, April 28), at 4 p.m. will be the last day to request any PURCHASE ORDERS as I must have the invoice and Purchase Order at least a week BEFORE the date of your meeting/event.
Any expenses after tomorrow will need to be paid up front and you will have until NOON Friday, May 1st, to submit for reimbursement.
 
Here are some answers to frequently asked questions:
 
1.      Can the deadline of May 1st be extended?

Answer: No, you cannot have an extension beyond May 1st . Please keep in mind, you will not be “penalized” next year if you do not spend all your allocations this year.

2.      What is the current balance of my organization?

Answer: The TREASURER of your organization is responsible for authorizing and keeping track of every expense and the up to date balance. If you don’t have  a treasurer, then you should have appointed someone to serve as treasurer who authorized expenses. I do not have updated balances of ANY student organizations.

3.      Can our organization have a year-end party or spend any remaining funds on anything?

Answer: No, all “last minute” expenditures will be reviewed to make sure you are not spending these funds on “parties” and unnecessary items, just  because you have a remaining balance. Any and all remaining funds should be spent according to your budget proposals submitted at the beginning of the year.

4.      Can any remaining funds be carried over to next year?

Answer: No, university accounts used for student organizations, do not allow for funds to be carried over to the next year.

5.      What if our organization has an “outside” account?

Answer: If your organization has a separate account starting with “9” or “7”, there is no deadline; funds in these type of accounts are automatically carried over from year to year and can be spent at any time.

Thanks for your cooperation

Three things on the agenda today:
1) If you haven’t already, VOTE in the survey about the listservs.  This data is how we’ll make a decision about how to run the listservs in the future.

2) SG General Meeting TOMORROW.  12PM.  3rd floor RMSB.  Don’t miss it. We’ll discuss the results of the listserv survey and much more.

3) Junior - Remember there is a career dinner tomorrow night.  See Dr. Mechaber’s e-mail:

“Dear Juniors

It is NOT too late to attend the Career Dinner Tuesday night. Just to clarify, we are eager for you to RSVP to Sharon Goni (Sgoni@med.miami.edu<mailto:Sgoni@med.miami.edu>) if you plan to attend, but you are welcome to join us even if you have NOT yet RSVP’d.”