UNIBE - Admission Requirements In Detail (English Version)

     I took a little time off to relax and visit some cool places around the country but now i'm back and running! I'm going to be doing a series of posts dedicated to UNIBE (Universidad Iberoamerica, Dominican Republic) from the most simple things such as admission requirements to how the admissions exam went and when I get accepted, what the procedure is like. I applied into the Spanish program of Medicine at UNIBE. Before I was thinking to enter into the English but the Spanish program was the best method to handle my situation. Here are the requirements for applying to the English Medical Program at UNIBE:

"Click Here for UNIBE's Admission Requirements page for Medicine in English"

1) UNIBE Application for Admission Form (printable version available on our website): This can be found on this web link => CLICK HERE It is the first PDF.
2) Consent for Release of Academic Information Form (printable version available on our website): This form can also be found on the link given for number 1 or you can CLICK HERE. The form is under the PDF document named "Student Request Form".
3) Four (4) photos (2"x2"): you can take these pictures practically anywhere passport pictures are taken because that is what they really are, passport pictures. The cheapest place I could find to take these pictures was at Costco. I believe they were US$5 compared to Walgreens, US$11.
4) ORIGINAL Birth Certificate notarized by the Department of State/APOSTILLE in the Country of Origin: I live in New Jersey and looked at this page for reference (cover letter, costs, etc.) CLICK HERE If you live in a different state I suggest you follow your state's procedure! Also, please do not send your documents to the apostille without a tracking number, please do not! I beg of you! Read the 3rd and 4rth paragraph on my past post about my experience with the Apostille! CLICK HERE It will save you a lot of time and you won't have to worry as much! Do not hesitate to email the Apostille or call them for any reason! Lastly, have the document stamped by a Notary Public and make copies of everything you send to them!
5) Photocopy of Passport notarized by the Department of State/APOSTILLE in the Country of Origin: UNIBE says that they won't accept any copies of any documents and that no document will be returned to you at any time but, in this case i'm pretty sure you won't send your actual passport to them so don't. You already know what i'm going to say about the Apostille so re-read number 4. Also, in my experience, my photocopy of my passport was sent back to me from the Apostille because I had to write "I, ___(my name)___, certify that this is a real copy of my passport." Signed by me. Make sure you write this on the bottom of each document before you send them to the Apostille. Then, have this stamped by a Notary Public.
6) Police Certificate, recently issued by Federal Authorities: I followed the link they had (which is this one CLICK HERE) and looked under "How to Request a Copy of Your Record", following Option 1's procedure. As for obtaining my fingerprints, I had to print the "standard fingerprint form (FD-258)" CLICK HERE (could be on copy paper) and bring it to my police station because mine did not offer fingerprint forms. My friend who is also coming to the Dominican Republic to study for a semester in another school had to get a police certificate but he said he just went to his police station and that was enough. I suggest sticking to what UNIBE says because if they say something is wrong you can say you did what was on the website. After I sent everything in, it took about 3 months to get it so make sure you have enough time before officially applying to receive your police certificate.
7) UNIBE Health Certificate (printable version available on our website): CLICK HERE It's pretty much a physical form that your doctor will fill out.
8) Hepatitis B Vaccine Record - 3 Doses: When you get your physical done, ask your doctor for this record. He/She can give you a copy of it. Highlight the dates.
9) Two (2) Official transcripts one (1) notarized by the Department of State/APOSTILLE; one (1) mailed directly by each College and/or University attended to out Mailing Address: This only applies to transfer students who have attended college before applying to UNIBE. *Note: You have the option of applying as a new student meaning that you would be starting all over again and can skip this step. Some people have told me that even if you had credits in college they couldn't transfer them to UNIBE so it was a waste of time. Nonetheless, you can still attempt. All you have to do is contact your school's registrar and ask for 3 OFFICIAL college transcripts. "OFFICIAL" meaning that it is signed by the registrar and everything. UNIBE will not accept copies or unofficial documents. In my college you don't have to pay for transcripts. Also note that your college will ask you why do you need official transcripts and why do you need 3 of them. First, you need them to be official because like I said before, no copies will be accepted. And secondly, you need 3 because one will be mailed to UNIBE (the address you will mail it to is Universidad Iberoamericana, UNIBE P.O. Box 770310 Orlando, Florida 32877), the 2nd one will be sent to the apostille, and the 3rd one is just in case the 2nd one gets lost. Again, when you send the transcript to the apostille you must write, "I ___your name___, certify that this is a true copy of my college transcript."and your signature. Don't forget! Have two stamped by a Notary Public before sending them to the Apostille. (Please look at number 7 on the Notes section below for Ministry of Education information: Very Important!)
10) Two (2) High School Transcripts: Again, they both must be official. Your high school will give you an official copy in a sealed envelope and tell you not to open it but, you must open it to write "I ___your name___, certify that this is a true copy of my high school transcript." and your signature. This copy will be sent to the apostille. The second one will be sent from your high school to UNIBE to the same address as above. Have it stamped by a Notary Public before sending it to the Apostille. (Please look at number 6 on the Notes section below for Ministry of Education information: Very Important!)
11) One (1) Official 8th Grade School Transcript: When I went to my middle school to pick this up, they said that they had sent all of my grades to my high school. It might be different for you but call and  double check just in case. This must also be official and sent to the apostille. Don't forget the magical phrase on the bottom! Have it stamped by a Notary Public before sending to the Apostille.
12) Photocopy of High School Diploma: I photocopied my high school diploma and once again put the phrase at the bottom. Then, I sent it to the apostille.

13) Personal Essay (Why do I want to become a Medical Doctor?): There is no page or word limit on this essay just make sure you are compelling and demonstrate your passion and future dreams. Most importantly, be honest. They can tell when you're B-S-ing.
14) Three (3) Letters of Recommendation printed on official letterhead and mailed directly by recommenders to our Mailing address (from 2 professors and 1 professional in the Medical Field): This is self explanatory. I asked my Biology and Italian professors from college and my pediatrician for these letters.
17) Official SAT Scores and ACT Scores: You can find these on the SAT and ACT websites. I never took the ACT but the SAT costs US$10 to send it to UNIBE. By the way, UNIBE's federal code is 5952.
19) US$150.00 non-refundable Application Fee - Money Order: If you have a bank account, you can just ask for a money order of this amount and they will charge you a small fee. No big deal.

Notes:
1) All documents must be original with translation into Spanish: You can't even get around this. Every document minus the forms they have available on their website have to be translated. Go to a translator and they will translate and sign on the bottom. Also, all the translations must be stamped by a Notary Public.
5) It should be understood that all original documents submitted become University property and will not be returned to student... : As mentioned before these documents will not be returned to you. Make sure you make 2 sets of copies of all your documents before you send them to UNIBE.
6) In case you completed high school in a country other than the Dominican Republic, you must notarize your high school transcript with the Apostille from the Department of States in your country and the Ministry of Education in the Dominican Republic.: This is extremely important. Go to the Ministry of Education and talk to the Receptionist. Note: You can't walk in with cut off shirts on the shoulders or open toed shoes. This is a government place. You must also be ready with loads of original and copies of all the documents you have. I had to do this and have everything from my birth certificate to copies of my official high school transcript with me. There were so many papers that I forgot which ones I needed. Not to mention my transcript had to come from the Apostille too. You might want to send more than 1 official high school transcript to the Apostille. I also included translations so that they can understand it. Just so you know, almost if not all government offices are open from Monday to Friday only and close at 4 p.m. Also, once you give in all the papers and you're good to go, the Ministry will give you a note saying that your high school transcript is in the process of validation. You can still apply to UNIBE. Make a copy of this note and give UNIBE the original. The Ministry will make you wait 20 days for it to be validated. Then, you go back and pick up your high school transcript in the "Centro Educativo", which is another department in the Ministry of Education. Call to make sure it is ready so you don't waste your time. Once you have the document, give it to UNIBE immediately.
7) Students seeking admission must notarize their university and/or college transcript with the Apostille from their Department of States and submit them to the Ministry of Higher Education in the Dominican Republic.: This is also extremely important for transfer students. I didn't do this but just know that the Ministry of Education is different from the Ministry of Higher Education. The Ministry of Higher Education is actually called "El Ministerio de Educacion de Ciencia y Tecnologia" "MESCYT". It is not found in the Ministry of Education where you will take your high school transcript. They are very close to each other though. I believe a street away.

MAKE COPIES OF EVERYTHING ONCE, TWICE, THREE TIMES! I'M SURE THAT IN ONE INSTANCE YOU'RE GOING TO NEED IT. ALSO, PUT A TRACKING NUMBER ON EVERYTHING YOU SEND, INCLUDING THE REQUIREMENTS SENT TO UNIBE & THE APOSTILLE. 

ANY QUESTIONS CONTACT ME 

@     mydominicanjourney@gmail.com

or comment below :D

I'm here to help!

How to Become a Citizen of the Dominican Republic - For Children of Dominican Parents

           If all goes well I will officially become a citizen of the Dominican Republic on Thursday. In this post I will explain to you the process of becoming a citizen if you are a child of Dominican parents, which was my situation being born in the United States. You need two things, your birth certificate and the birth certificate of your Dominican parent, whether it be your mother or father or both if you’d like. I paid for two birth certificates of mine, which were US$25 each, just in case I needed an extra one. I would recommend using a real birth certificate throughout this process and not a copy of one. As for your parent/parents’ birth certificate, if they don’t have it at home, you can get a copy when you come to the island. You will have to make a trip here either way.

The next thing I did was send my birth certificate to a translator and got the translation signed by her and stamped by a Notary Public. Later on, you might have to translate your birth certificate in the Dominican Republic but it is always good to have a back up before you leave.

         Once you’ve done that you can go ahead and send the birth certificate to your state’s apostille so it can get an official seal pretty much saying that the document is real and legal. Before you send the documents make sure to check your state apostille’s website and call them for requirements and other details. For example, I had to send a cover letter with my name, address, number of documents, credit card information, and where the documents were going to be used. I will tell you now, and this is extremely important, do whatever you can to pay extra money to have it sent and returned with a tracking number! 

            True story, I sent about 7 documents to the apostille through regular mail and they were sent back to me three times because I had some errors to correct. Well, the last time I sent them back to the apostille was the last time I saw those documents. It’s been over a month and a half now and the documents still have not shown up. I’ve called the apostille and they said they sent it to my house and that there’s nothing they can do to locate it because I didn’t put a tracking number on it. The man said, “It’s like trying to find a needle in a hay stack and the only way to get them back is if for some reason they get marked as “return to sender”, which will take about a month to get back to us.” So please save yourself the stress and worry that someone may have your documents and possibly take your identity, and make sure that you send and return your document(s) with a tracking number. How do you return your documents with a tracking number you ask? Well, when you go to UPS (for example this is where my parents went), you tell them that you want an air bill. An air bill is a form that you will fill out that will be placed in your envelope so that it can be sent back to you and you can track the location of those documents. I also paid US$40 per document for expedited mail. If you pay for regular mail it will be US$25 per document but it takes about 2 weeks to get back to you. Expedited on the other hand will take about a week. The documents that I sent were not only pertaining to getting my Dominican citizenship but also applying to UNIBE, which is the school I am trying to transfer to. So imagine, losing all those documents, worrying about where they ended up, waiting each afternoon to see if they came in the mail, loosing time to apply to the school you want to go to, and paying all that money for nothing. *Disclaimer: You can send the documents any way you want. I am just advising you that you pay extra for tracking numbers. Also, this is the process I had to follow for the apostille in the state of New Jersey. It may be different in another state.

            When you get your birth certificate back, it should be stapled with a page from the apostille with a seal. Do not remove this page. Now its time to travel to the Dominican Republic, where the party really starts. Luckily I had a family member who guided and helped me through this part of the process. First, if you were not able to get your parent/parent’s birth certificate in the states, you must find it in the Dominican Republic. You can get it at La Junta de Distrito. First, you will ask for the birth certificate and then, they will send you to La Procuraduria to legalize the birth certificate. If they can’t get the birth certificate of one of your parents, you will have to go to the place of birth of your parent(s) and get it there and then go to La Procuraduria to legalize it. In my situation, I could only locate my mother’s birth certificate. I also translated my birth certificate and in La Procuradoria, I had to legalize the translation. I am not sure why I had to translate my own birth certificate if it was already translated but I just followed orders. *Note: you don’t have to translate your parent’s birth certificate because it is already in Spanish.* I wrote down how much I paid for this whole process and it came out to about US$100-US$150 so just be prepared.

After you have your birth certificates and translations in order, it is time to take a trip to the Junta Central Electoral (JCE). The first time I went to the Junta it was so beautiful. In front of the building they have what they call La Plaza De Las Banderas. It's a monument with about 50 Dominican flags surrounding it. I never got to go up and see it but from far it was amazing. Once you enter the Junta, you go straight to the side of the building on the right (depending what side you’re on). I forgot the name of the department we went to but, if you see the cafeteria, to the right of it you will see stairs. Go up the two flights of stairs and you will see a lot of people. I went twice and there was less people at 10 in the morning than at 1 in the afternoon. Get in line and give the person at the window your documents. Be aware that they will tell you to take a number and sit down. DO NOT DO THIS! You will end up spending the whole day there, trust me. Also, the number machine where it tells you what number they are serving doesn’t even work. I can guarantee you the number is still 60. Stay in line until they help you. They will also ask you where you want your documents sent to and here you will have to find out what place is closer to where you are. For me, my family member chose La Plaza Naco, which is a plaza that has small stores in it and the department I will need to go to after my papers are ready. It is very quiet and not too many people go there. Once they check that everything is okay, they will send you to the windows towards the entrance of the room and here you will pay about RD$500 for them to look over your documents and give you the green light. They will give you a slip and a receipt of your payment. The white slip will have a bar code on it and the receipt will be pink. Do not lose these because you will need it when you return. I waited about a month before they told me that the papers were ready. Keep calling them to ask what’s the status on your papers. One way to speed up the process is if you get a letter from the school you are transferring to saying the date of the application deadline. If they see that you are in urgent need of your citizenship, they’ll speed up the process and you can get your “cedula” faster. A cedula is like a social security card in the states and is very important. With this number you can apply as a Dominican and be treated like one (tuition and all). Technically you don’t even have to become a citizen to apply as a Dominican because all you need is one of your parent’s birth certificates but, having a cedula has a lot of benefits. Now, all you have to do is wait.

When you call them and they tell you that everything is ready, return to the Junta and go to the left side window. Give them the slip and receipt they gave you last time, and they’ll scan and look for your papers. They will tell you to sign and write your passport number then give you your documents. Outside of the Junta there will be a guy who makes copies. He has a small hut with a copy machine in it and charges you RD$5 for each copy and RD$10 for a folder. Make sure you make copies of your documents before you move on to the next step.

Arrive to the place where you wanted your documents sent to, like Plaza Naco. In Plaza Naco you just have to keep to your right on the first floor. You will see that on the window there is the JCE (Junta Central Electoral) logo. Enter and don’t even grab a number, go straight to the window and tell the person why you are there and what documents you have. He/she will direct you inside and you will give another person your papers. They will look them over and ask for a copy of the apostille page and a copy of your birth certificate, which is why it’s important to make copies before you get there. Then, they will keep those documents and give you back your original birth certificate. After that, they’ll send you to the front window again and you’ll pay RD$400 for your Dominican birth certificate. They won’t give you the birth certificate right away but, they’ll tell you to come back in a couple days and pick it up. At the same time you can get your cedula.

          I know it’s a long process but, it’s definitely worth it. Once you get your cedula you can get your own cellphone and a lot of other things will I will talk about in another post. Be patient, pack your bags, and Bienvenido a la República Dominicana!

This is la Junta Central Electoral (JCE). If you go to the right of the building, facing this way,  you will pass the cafeteria and go up the stairs i was talking about.
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The many people you will see sitting down when you arrive.
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This is La Plaza de las Banderas. Bring your camera! It's beautiful!
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Junta Central Electoral (JCE): This is the logo you will see on the doors in Plaza Naco.
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Dominican with his cedula.
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Click here for "How to Become a Citizen of the Dominican Republic - Part 2"

ANY QUESTIONS CONTACT ME

@ mydominicanjourney@gmail.com

or comment below : D

I'm here to help!