Ack lots of stuff. Let's see what I can answer.
Ahh thanks for the tips. The only way I got As in my undergrad science classes is by typing up everything the lecturer said on my laptop. That made studying so much easier.
robflanker's advice regarding this is important to consider and will ring true for much of medical school. I should probably heed it as well and try to condense my study methods, but for MGM I did the following:
-went to every lecture
-re-watched every lecture with the slides in front of me
-re-wrote every slide in a notebook and added additional information from the lecturers.
So, I ended up with a notebook with every fact from the slides and every added fact added by the professors orally. This was extremely time consuming - you must not let yourself get behind if you are going to do something like this. I would finish my master notebook a couple days before the exam and go over it and make lots of flashcards to drill knowledge into my head i would forget immediately post-exam
mnemonics come in handy
I know the Genetics book is not recommended, but what about the Biochemistry book? They're using Principles of Medical Biochemistry by Meisenberg and Simmons this year. Also, if you do well in the course and are exempt from it when you start NJMS the following year, what do you take in place of MGM? I plan on finishing the Masters program regardless if I get in or not.
The biochem book you stated was never the recommended text in past years. It used to be
Lippencotts Biochemistry which people recommend for shelf/step studying anyway, it's a great book. I guess I can't comment on the new book.
Hey WUBear, congrats on your acceptance to NJMS!
I was thinking about applying to the MBS program next year and was curious if you could explain something to me. You can take two med schools courses right? I know these are contingent on the MCAT and everything though. It seems like though from your last post, that NJMS really weights these highly if you get interviewed. Would honoring the courses def increase your chances by a bit at getting accepted? Thanks!
Absolutely, they like to see you get honors in the med classes, and as I said earlier, if you have an application open this cycle and they see you're taking MGM, they're not going to decide until they see your MGM grade. You can take physiology in the Spring as well, in which honors would also look favorable. Now, I should catch myself - there is no longer honors, but honors just used to be >90%, and on your GSBS transcript >90% would show up as an A, so get A's. Same thing as 'honors' used to be.
Oh really? That's pretty good for the MS-Is! Congrats on your acceptance to NJMS too robflanker!
Also, does anyone know if there is certificate program for the MBS rather than the full Masters? I saw some certificates on the GSBS site, but none for the MBS so I though I might as well ask to see if anyone has heard of this haha. Thanks again!
There are certificates but I believe the vast majority of the people that do them are people who were not accepted to do the masters program that were recommended to do the certificate while proving they had the capabilities to handle the academics --> later matriculating into the masters program.
GMM is a 5-credit Medical Biochem course that attempts to mirror MGM for students in GSBS that were not accepted to MGM that want to take a similar course. They also take the Biochem shelf exam at the end, apparently.
anyone hear of this program called "medical scholars?" (specifically theWUbear). its says that if you get a 28+ and a 3.5 in the masters after taking 20 creds you get a guarenteed interview @ njms. obviously your chances of getting in are slim if you have only a 28, but i was just wondering, has anyone ever heard of someone getting in from the masters program via this program?
I have heard of this recently. It is new. Previously, getting "honors" in MGM tacitly gave you an auto-interview. Now they have this deal (the person who told me about it said you have to take MGM and Physio - but maybe that's not the case? She was my year and this program was not available to us). Because it hasn't existed until now I can't comment on it really, but it doesn't seem like something you have to enroll in, right? So you can just keep on doin your thang and get straight A's and know you have an auto-invite coming...right?
i'm hoping to have 20 credits by the end of the spring semester. although i haven't taken MGM i was wondering how much would this hurt my chances of getting in next cycle especially since i won't be taking MGM in the fall of 2011 and would be taking it in fall 2012 (assuming i get a decent enough score on my mcat).
thewubear - i know you said that some people were given acceptances based off them receiving honors in MGM in october, so i was just wondering that since i won't be taking it until after i begin to apply how much do you think it would affect me. (i would be apply next cycle for class of 2017). thanks again man.
I imagine they will not rule on you until they get your MGM grade. I don't think this will effect you in a bad way (timing-wise) unless you are doing early decision. You should schedule a meeting with Dr. Heinrich to discuss your application, by the way. He will give you individualized recommendations - and it will help you a lot to follow his advice.