Hey everyone, I wanted to post on my experience in MAMS as I know it is coming to that time of year where people start to look at these type of programs to bolster their medical school applications. I am currently a first year medical student at BU and the only reason why I am here is because of the MAMS program.
To start, I went to a small liberal arts school for undergrad and finished with a GPA below 3.5. I wanted to go to medical school so I decided to look into programs that could help me improve upon my application. I applied to the MAMS program and got in and I also decided to take the MCAT before I entered. I ended up entering into MAMS with an MCAT below 30.
Right from the start of the program the faculty and second year MAMS students were incredibly supportive. During the first semester everyone in the class took Biochemistry, a Histology course, and a physiology course. These courses contained a great amount of material, but they were fun to take because they were all clinically based and most of the information taught in these courses was also taught to the first years. Therefore, I knew if I could do well in these courses, I would be able to perform well in medical school.
In order to succeed in these courses I had to change my study habits. I was able to do this with the help of second year MAMS students, faculty and my advisor. The second year students provided study tips for each of the courses, which I was able to try out and see what worked best. Also, the atmosphere at MAMS was very collaborative as the teaching faculty encouraged group studying and also stayed after class to answer any questions on the material. This exceeded my expectations, as I came in thinking that it would be pretty cut throat and competitive. Instead, the attitude of the class was that we're all in this together, which is something I really liked. This atmosphere helped me succeed in both of the semesters.
During that summer, I studied for MCAT and took it in June and also applied for medical school. The MCAT was an easier test after the first year of MAMS because the way I studied had changed and MAMS also helped me become a better multiple choice test taker. I was able to improve my score, and all of my friends who took it after MAMS improved their scores as well.
In the second year of MAMS I was able to take part in a few activities that were incredibly rewarding. First, I was able to TA and tutor courses for the first year MAMS students. This was amazing, as I was able to help teach the material that I learned in the previous year and discovered that I really enjoy teaching. Second, I was able to conduct research at BUSM in a biochemistry lab. I did not have any lab experience before MAMS and this allowed me to gain a year's worth of research experience. During this time I learned a great deal and also had a great research advisor who helped me along the way. During the second year, I also interviewed for medical schools. Many of my friends from MAMS had multiple interviews and acceptances that year. I was hoping that I would get into BU because my experience in MAMS program made me really like the school and faculty and once I got in I accepted the spot right away.
This year at BUSM has been great. My friends from MAMS and I are always well above average when it comes to test scores among the first years and I learned that this is a common occurrence with MAMS students. This is because we are very well prepared for the workload in medical school and we all have developed study habits that allow us to be efficient and perform well on tests. Additionally, I studied and also taught some of the material that is taught in the first year of medical school, so some of it is a review rather than new material. Lastly, at BU, many of the faculty who taught me in MAMS also teach the medical students, which was a huge selling point for me because of how helpful they were in MAMS.
Overall, MAMS is a great program that helped me get into medical school. After undergraduate I wasn't sure that I would be able to accomplish this, but after the first year of MAMS I was much more confident in my abilities. One thing about MAMS is that you get what you put in. If you come into MAMS and decide that you do not want to work hard and that you do not want to buy into the system and never see your advisor or other faculty then your experience may be more negative. MAMS provides you with all the tools to accomplish your goal, but you have to utilize them. That being said, if you are willing to do the work and have a strong desire to go to medical school, MAMS is great program that can help you accomplish this goal and I recommend checking it out.
If anyone has any questions, feel free to message me. I am happy to answer.
