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NY Staff Interview: Nelly Alvarez, UMHS Associate Director of Enrollment Management

Posted by Scott Harrah
November 21, 2014

Two distinct things set Nelly Alvarez, UMHS Associate Director of Enrollment Management, apart from everyone else at the North American Administrative Office in New York City: Her laugh and her upbeat energy.

Nelly’s warm, jovial laugh precedes her whenever she walks into a room. Her positive outlook and cheerful spirit are the very things that make her such a natural at her new position, working with accepted UMHS students and guiding them through the process of getting ready to relocate to St. Kitts for the Basic Sciences portion of our top rated medical school.

Nelly started out a few years ago at UMHS as a Clinical Coordinator, helping students schedule their clinical rotations. Earlier this year, Nelly went on maternity leave to give birth to her beautiful new twin son and daughter. When she returned, she joined the Admissions staff in her current position.

For our first installment of the New York Staff Interview, a UMHS Endeavour series focusing on the people behind the scenes in our Manhattan headquarters, we sat down with Nelly to chat about her new job, working with UMHS students, motherhood, and more.

UMHS ENDEAVOUR: Nelly, tell us a little about your job and some of the ways you help UMHS students.

NELLY ALVAREZ: Once a student is either accepted into UMHS or invited into our ARP program, I reach out to them and assist them any way I can. Going to medical school and moving to a new place can be exciting but nerve wracking all at the same time. I just want to give them that reassurance that they are not alone and that we are here to help them. I try to assist them by helping them prepare all their documents, book their flights and get them ready to go.

What would you say to someone who's been accepted to UMHS but is slightly hesitant to make that final step of going to St. Kitts and making the dream of going to med school a reality?

That’s a question that has so many answers because there are so many benefits of coming to UMHS. I don’t have just one answer because each student is different and has his or her own reason for coming here. The biggest aspect that I really try to emphasize is we’re not your typical medical school. We’re here for the students. We’re not just here for numbers. Our goal is not just to get them accepted into medical school but to have them succeed as doctors. We want all our students to pass, we want all our students to graduate; we want all our students to get accepted into a residency program--of their choice, preferably. We’re not concerned with how many applicants we accept in a semester. We’re concerned with how many applicants we can get to graduate. That’s the biggest aspect that I try to focus on--that we really want them to succeed.

Here's a question we're often asked by students and parents. What type of housing is available in St. Kitts?

AT STUDENTS' SERVICE: Nelly Alvarez helps accepted UMHS students prepare documents, book flights & get ready to travel to St. Kitts for med schoolWe have different types of housing. This is the hot spot--everybody loves to stay at the Royal St. Kitts for convenience just because it’s kind of like staying at a hotel. We have a housing database and we actually have contracts with different landlords throughout the island. In essence, those are more apartment-style, while the Royal St. Kitts is more dormitory-style, but we have great housing for all the students. Generally, they are one bedroom, some are two to three bedrooms so students can get a roommate. Most of the apartments have WiFi included, furniture included, so that’s the type of housing we have in St Kitts.

(Photo, inset right) AT STUDENTS' SERVICE: Nelly Alvarez helps accepted UMHS students prepare documents, book flights & get ready to travel to St. Kitts for med school. Photo: UMHS

What can a student expect the moment she or he lands in St. Kitts?

Humidity! [Laughs.] Seriously, once you go through Customs, you have our Welcome Committee greet you at the airport and we have our UMHS shuttle bus there and they will take you to your housing when you arrive in St. Kitts. They’re very hands-on. You don’t have to worry about getting a cab or how you’ll get to your housing.

What can students expect from St. Kitts and Nevis Customs?

We give a list of what to expect from Customs. They also have the contact information for the people in St. Kitts just in case anything does arise, which doesn’t happen often because they recognize our school in Customs. They usually let the students through once they see they have all the required documents. That’s why it is so important for the students to communicate with me about their flight itinerary because in the end, I send that to the Welcome Committee and make sure that somebody’s there to greet them at the airport.

Is there anything students should not bring, besides obviously illegal things?

Besides the illegal things, you do have to be careful about any type of fruits or vegetables you’re bringing. You have to be careful with that because you may not be able to bring them with you [St. Kitts and Nevis has restrictions on bringing fruit and vegetables into the country]. I do always suggest that students bring snacks with them because, depending on the time your flight gets in, it’s an island, a small island and a lot of the stores close very early so you want to make sure you have something to eat when you get there.

We always say to bring something nonperishable to eat for the first day that you can carry with you.

Exactly. Bring a bag of cookies, potato chips, dried fruit, trail mix, things like that.

Off the top of your head, what are things you think every student should bring to UMHS? Any tips?

Bring an umbrella, school supplies, laptop, hair products…Hair products are very important because of that humidity. [Laughs.] You want good hair products. Also, music just because they may not play your favorite music on the local radio station. I was very big on having my music when I studied. Make sure you bring your white coat, plus a stethoscope and a blood pressure cuff.

Notebooks and school supplies are important since everything in St. Kitts is imported,it is going to be more expensive but at the same time, it’s that double-edged sword: You don’t want to carry so much on the plane because there are weight restrictions with your luggage. You should have things shipped to you there [via services like Tropical Shipping at https://www.tropical.com/external/en/]. Just try to bring what you can to avoid spending so much money

What's the greatest thing about working at UMHS?

This may sound cliché, but it really is getting to know all the students, especially the position that I’m in. I get to interact with the students in a different way that other employees don’t. It really is gratifying just getting to know them, helping them out. I may not necessarily make a difference in their education but it helps me to know I helped get them to where they want to go. They may not see it that way, but I see it that way.

You’ve worked here long enough to see people graduate and go on to their residencies, knowing them from back when they were just a name in our database.

Yes. That is the greatest thing. I used to be a Clinical Coordinator at UMHS. I started with getting all the students’ rotations and then seeing them graduate. It was just so great and exciting to have so many students call and e-mail me and tell me where they matched.

I think that’s an important thing for people to know. People are always asking us about the match rate and where people match. Our students graduate and go on to really great residencies in all kinds of specialties, family medicine, child neurology, psychiatry, you name it.

We’ve even had people match in surgery residencies, which is very competitive, plus physical medicine, pediatrics. Our students are very well rounded in matching. That’s always great to see. They go on to work at great hospitals.

You recently became a new mom and had twins. Anything you'd like to share about that?

Oh, yeah. First of all, I am so happy being a mom. It’s something so different but at the same time, it seems so familiar. It’s just great. I had a rough pregnancy. I was on bed rest for the bulk of my pregnancy and then my babies were born very premature, so they were actually in the ICU for four weeks. One thing I can say, especially with working here, I was able to really get to know all the doctors. Even though I know how important it is for our students to graduate, you see it from a different light as a patient. Because of my case, I had a lot of medical students coming in to see me, taking care of me alongside with the doctors and asking me questions. I had students that had just received their residency also taking care of my babies. They were great. It was just good to see because I got to see firsthand what our students have to go through with other doctors, with patients. There was even a student that was in the room when I was giving birth and all I kept thinking was , ‘Wow, she’s going to have a great story to tell her other classmates, “Oh, I saw a woman give birth to twins.” [Laughs.]

But it’s great being a mom and it’s also great being back at work

Are there any parallels to motherhood and working with students?

I kind of feel the students are like my babies in a way and I try to…not that I mother them but I try to guide them along the way in terms of helping them because I just want them to succeed so bad that I end up kind of nurturing them like a mother. [Laughs.]

What are your baby’s names?

My baby’s boy name is Grayson Bernard. My daughter’s name is Shea Emerald. And yes, she is named after Shea Stadium [Laughs]. I am a Mets fan. My husband and I are Mets fans.

Is there anything else that you'd like to add?

I hope everybody knows, whether they are newly accepted or already an established student, to feel to ask questions to anyone on the UMHS staff or administration because at the end of the day, we’re here for them and we want to help them as much as possible. I hope students always feel comfortable coming to us with any question or concern that they might have.

Contact UMHS Associate Director of Enrollment Management Nelly Alvarez at nalvarez@umhs-sk.net or book an appointment.

(Top photo) HERE TO HELP ACCEPTED UMHS STUDENTS: Nelly Alvarez, Associate Director of Enrollment Management


About UMHS:

Built in the tradition of the best US universities, the University of Medicine and Health Sciencesfocuses on individual student attention, maintaining small class sizes and recruiting high-quality faculty. We call this unique approach, “personalized medical education,” and it’s what has led to our unprecedented 96% student retention rate, and outstanding residency placements across the US and Canada. UMHS is challenging everything you thought you knew about Caribbean medical schools.

Posted by Scott Harrah

Scott is Director of Digital Content & Alumni Communications Liaison at UMHS and editor of the UMHS Endeavour blog. When he's not writing about UMHS students, faculty, events, public health, alumni and UMHS research, he writes and edits Broadway theater reviews for a website he publishes in New York City, StageZine.com.

Topics: Campus

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