smp or ugrad classes at usf (or mph...?)

[dblue10]

hey all
i've asked some people about my situation and i thought i had come to a decision, but now i'm not so sure anymore. i think i might be just one of those applicants who could conceivably take any route...which is why making this decision has been so hard. here it goes...

i applied this cycle, pretty late too. sent in my primary mid july, got my secondaries in august/september and didnt fill them out immediately (very dumb, i know). i ended up turning most of them in late september/october. i then was lucky enough to get 2 interviews...an oos oublic school, and selective state school (UCF). basically got rejected from ucf and could be on the waitlist for the oos public school. naturally i'm making back up plans.

mcat 340, sci gpa 3.24, cum gpa 3.31 (top 5 school, if it matters). (i didnt exactly have an upward trend. my grades have gone up and down, except the last two semesters where i have shown an upward trend.) good ecs, shadowing, volunteering, but apparently could use a little more volunteering...i was told i had an "average" amount/type of experiences.

i decided on applying to smps. my parents would be funding this so an smp would be a good option. also, they're upset i didnt get in, etc, etc. basically, they just want to see me settled and in a med school, so they think the smp is the best way of getting me there at this point. also, i didnt think more ugrad classes would suffice because i am a bio major and i've taken many bio classes already. i also want to do something in public health later in my life, but i suppose an mph would not help my app at all b/c my grades are a huge blemish on my application.

thank you for reading through this entire thing, and sorry it's so long...
any opinions would be appreciated, thanks!

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[dblue10]

oh, and i applied to 23 schools. all 6 FL state schools and i only got attention from UCF. i also think my secondary essays were weak/off so that may have played a role...

 

[TyrKinase]

You should ask yourself where you want to be in a year and that does not mean where your parents want you to be. Lots of students in SMPs get into medical school during the SMP year, but a significant portion do not. You're looking re-applying at least once and perhaps twice.

SMPs are also quite risky. If you ace every class, you'll be set but that is easier said than done. If you do poorly, you're going to close a lot of doors and you don't want that either.

If I were in your shoes, I'd go with the undergraduate coursework. It'll be easier to bump up that GPA, you'll have more time to do more ECs and with a less hectic schedule you'll be able to devote some more time to doing secondaries. This will also be a one or two year process (just like the SMP) but it'll cost less and there will be fewer risks.

Best of luck!

 

[tmntdonjuan]

An SMP would be the fastest but toughest route. Someone from my program had similar stats as you and got into UNC Chapel Hill before finishing the program. I think an SMP is do-able as long as you're prepared to focus all of your time on school. There is an inherent risk in SMPs and there are people who had decent undergrad grades who do poorly in SMPs (I think primarily because they didn't know what they were getting themselves into). You seem like a capable person and as long as you dedicate yourself to working hard in an SMP there's no reason why you won't do well. By the way your stats would be perfect for an SMP. You could definitely apply to Georgetown, EVMS, UofC, etc. Good luck.

 

[tmntdonjuan]

I should probably correct myself. If you're looking to get in anywhere, you wouldn't need the SMP. I think informal post-bacc with more undergrad classes and applying earlier more broadly would suffice. However, if you're looking to get into a top school doing well in Georgetown would open up a lot of doors for you.

 

[dblue10]

thank you for the vote of confidence and great advice!

 

[adg4403]

An SMP would be the fastest but toughest route. Someone from my program had similar stats as you and got into UNC Chapel Hill before finishing the program. I think an SMP is do-able as long as you're prepared to focus all of your time on school. There is an inherent risk in SMPs and there are people who had decent undergrad grades who do poorly in SMPs (I think primarily because they didn't know what they were getting themselves into). You seem like a capable person and as long as you dedicate yourself to working hard in an SMP there's no reason why you won't do well. By the way your stats would be perfect for an SMP. You could definitely apply to Georgetown, EVMS, UofC, etc. Good luck.

Can you provide what SMP they were in?

 

[DrMidlife]

Can you provide what SMP they were in?

The info would be useless because the post is nearly 5 years old and SMPs change.

 

[darklabel]

Can you provide what SMP they were in?

Op might be referring to either USF MS in Medical Sciences or USF IMS.

USF MSMS is 200+ students that take graduate school classes together, but also has an MCAT class you can take that it part of the program. I don't recommend it since according to the office, only 10-15 student are accepted per year in USF-MCOM and they don't keep on hand the percentage of people accepted into any medical school after the program.
http://gradaffairs.health.usf.edu/preprofessional.html

USF IMS would be the best out of the two, accepts ~15 students and takes the classes alongside medical students. It also has an acceptance rate of 90% into USF-MCOM within 1 year. However, it is the most competitive program and receives 100's of apps. I sadly didn't get in, but I would recommend it if you do nab an acceptance.
http://health.usf.edu/medicine/osde/msms.htm