2023-2024 Ponce (St. Louis)

Started by chilly_md
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DocSherman said:
True. I definitely forgot what kind of B's I made, though I also made more A's than that.

Then again, even the straight A folks didn't make immediate admission, so still keeping my expectations low.
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Ya, i mean its all up in the air. Straight A people dont get into medical school each cycle.
 
Annamouse said:
DO NOT GO HERE FOR THE MSMS OR THE MD PROGRAM!!!!
1. The teachers don't know what will be on the test and therefore do not know what to teach. Many of the other MDs are worried about how they will pass the step because what we learn in class is inaccurate. They have teachers teaching subjects that they don't even know, so can't ask them the question, you have to look it up for yourself. They even changed the MSMS grading scale on the VERY LAST day and did not compromise in any shape or form after promising them some sort of resolution.

2. The main Puerto Rico campus is in charge and does not care about the students on the STL campus. They compete with each other and want to see us fail. If you request something they will 100% invalidate your reasoning. It is nearly impossible to have them agree on anything. They make you feel small and unimportant.

3. They switch things last minute OFTEN, it was the most frustrating thing ever. There is no stability in this school. You could be studying what the teacher told you on the STL campus only for the PR campus to change it up entirely.

4. They are a huge MONEY GRABBING corporation. It is a for-profit school so it does make sense but it's just a huge scam.

5. They don't take responsibility for their actions or words ever. They gaslight you by saying things like I didn't say that and then swallow their words after you show them the recording of their voice.
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Graduation for MSMS was last week, so it's interesting to me that you'd choose to post this now. This post makes it seem like you may not have done very well and/or didn't get into the MD program and are disgruntled about it.
 
Med4sci said:
Ya, i mean its all up in the air. Straight A people dont get into medical school each cycle.
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Ain't that the truth. It just personally unnerves me because these are folks that truly thrived in the gauntlet - their hard work, grit, and ingenuity gave them victory over these harrowing tests and challenging examinations.

Compare that to my time in MSMS, which had dings and bumps. I admit that I was probably on the upper side of the class, but it definitely wasn't a flawless ride that gave me top honors across the board.
 
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DocSherman said:
Ain't that the truth. It just personally unnerves me because these are folks that truly thrived in the gauntlet - their hard work, grit, and ingenuity gave them victory over these harrowing tests and challenging examinations.

Compare that to my time in MSMS, which had dings and bumps. I admit that I was probably on the upper side of the class, but it definitely wasn't a flawless ride that gave me top honors across the board.
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Same. Just nervous about how I even stack up to others.
 
koffeekween said:
Graduation for MSMS was last week, so it's interesting to me that you'd choose to post this now. This post makes it seem like you may not have done very well and/or didn't get into the MD program and are disgruntled about it.
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I mean some of the points may be valid. The Puerto rican campus and the main land campus do be on different pages and that was the complaints of many MSMS students .Also i was told idk if jt was for the inagural class or the class after, but the puerto rican admissions had the main say in who was accepted. Also i was told the med students were struggling with anatomy because of the disconnect between campuses regarding the nature of the exams. The professors at stl there at to act accordingly by teaching differently in order to save the grades of the students . Now i do admit this is all alleged and what i been told.
 
Med4sci said:
I mean some of the points may be valid. The Puerto rican campus and the main land campus do be on different pages and that was the complaints of many MSMS students .Also i was told idk if jt was for the inagural class or the class after, but the puerto rican admissions had the main say in who was accepted. Also i was told the med students were struggling with anatomy because of the disconnect between campuses regarding the nature of the exams. The professors at stl there at to act accordingly by teaching differently in order to save the grades of the students . Now i do admit this is all alleged and what i been told.
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Definitely a bit nervous about the Puerto Rico campus deciding who gets in. They were a hard crowd to read - polite, but pretty blank faced overall.

Then again, that is most interviewers.
 
DocSherman said:
Ain't that the truth. It just personally unnerves me because these are folks that truly thrived in the gauntlet - their hard work, grit, and ingenuity gave them victory over these harrowing tests and challenging examinations.

Compare that to my time in MSMS, which had dings and bumps. I admit that I was probably on the upper side of the class, but it definitely wasn't a flawless ride that gave me top honors across the board.
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I dont want to sound like a hater but allegedly some people in the MSMS program have cheated on exams and still was accepted in the MD program. You may think they had grit and got a 4.0 based on hard work yet some were cheating, some already did a masters program before, some didnt have a job etc. there are a variety of factors. Be confident in your own application and forget what everyone else had .
 
Med4sci said:
I dont want to sound like a hater but allegedly some people in the MSMS program have cheated on exams and still was accepted in the MD program. You may think they had grit and got a 4.0 based on hard work yet some were cheating, some already did a masters program before, some didnt have a job etc. there are a variety of factors. Be confident in your own application and forget what everyone else had .
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How can you even cheat on the MSMS exam? Not only are their eyes on you (in theory), but also the examinations are too complex for the index card / single sheet of paper trickery.

…but you’re right. You can only pay attention to your own record.
 
Med4sci said:
I dont want to sound like a hater but allegedly some people in the MSMS program have cheated on exams and still was accepted in the MD program. You may think they had grit and got a 4.0 based on hard work yet some were cheating, some already did a masters program before, some didnt have a job etc. there are a variety of factors. Be confident in your own application and forget what everyone else had .
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don't want to be that person but I defiantly saw some cheating. Because what could be so interesting
DocSherman said:
How can you even cheat on the MSMS exam? Not only are their eyes on you (in theory), but also the examinations are too complex for the index card / single sheet of paper trickery.

…but you’re right. You can only pay attention to your own record.
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ive seen people looking at another screen a little too often. (for example, they would be on zoom on there laptop and take the test on their tablet). They could definetlly have other screens open on zoom. At first i thought they were just staring at another student taking the test. Its definitely possible to cheat i just never took the risk didn't think it was worth cheating in the masters. We actually need to know this knowledge.
 
BrettMontana said:
don't want to be that person but I defiantly saw some cheating. Because what could be so interesting

ive seen people looking at another screen a little too often. (for example, they would be on zoom on there laptop and take the test on their tablet). They could definetlly have other screens open on zoom. At first i thought they were just staring at another student taking the test. Its definitely possible to cheat i just never took the risk didn't think it was worth cheating in the masters. We actually need to know this knowledge.
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I just studied my tail off too. That was, in my opinion, the only way to reliably do well in this gauntlet.
 
I was at one of the partner institutions and we couldn’t have any cheating as we were actually in a classroom. I found the experience to be much more fulfilling as we truly had classmates and the interface was just different than it must have been if it was all or mostly online. Only can speak from my own experience but the fact we were all together daily, for an entire year made the MSMS program different for me. It was the first time since almost elementary school that I was with the same group of people for a year. It was nice so I look back on the experience fondly.
 
Numbers&Letters said:
I was at one of the partner institutions and we couldn’t have any cheating as we were actually in a classroom. I found the experience to be much more fulfilling as we truly had classmates and the interface was just different than it must have been if it was all or mostly online. Only can speak from my own experience but the fact we were all together daily, for an entire year made the MSMS program different for me. It was the first time since almost elementary school that I was with the same group of people for a year. It was nice so I look back on the experience fondly.
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I will second this; the two students I know personally were in a classroom and took all of their exams in person. There was no way for them to cheat, because they could only have a single device.
I have felt that those who were completely online could have been cheating, but our school had consistently higher averages, so maybe they were being truthful. Hard to say. Nonetheless, I agree that meeting daily with the same group was a great experience and I think it made all the difference to my time in the program. A little friendly, in-person competition is a great way to push yourself 😀
 
DocSherman said:
How can you even cheat on the MSMS exam? Not only are their eyes on you (in theory), but also the examinations are too complex for the index card / single sheet of paper trickery.

…but you’re right. You can only pay attention to your own record.
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Like someone said below, they can look at other screens, in person they can go to the bathroom , etc. people get creative . I never cheated, its not worth it.
 
Med4sci said:
Like someone said below, they can look at other screens, in person they can go to the bathroom , etc. people get creative . I never cheated, its not worth it.
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I don’t think going to the bathroom one time is enough to cheat for those exams. Second screens and cheat sheets are of course possible at home.
 
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Med4sci said:
I mean some of the points may be valid. The Puerto rican campus and the main land campus do be on different pages and that was the complaints of many MSMS students .Also i was told idk if jt was for the inagural class or the class after, but the puerto rican admissions had the main say in who was accepted. Also i was told the med students were struggling with anatomy because of the disconnect between campuses regarding the nature of the exams. The professors at stl there at to act accordingly by teaching differently in order to save the grades of the students . Now i do admit this is all alleged and what i been told.
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Certainly, some points may be valid. We are still a new campus, especially for the medical school, and there have absolutely been growing pains that, in my opinion, are to be expected. I did not accept an offer to a brand new campus thinking that everything would be perfect from the get-go, and if that's what you're expecting, I wouldn't recommend coming to this school (or to any medical school, to be honest - the stuff that goes on at Ponce is the exact same stuff my partner deals with at WashU med...pretty sure some of this admin/scheduling stuff is fairly universal).

That being said, it didn't seem to me like the intent of the original poster was to convey legitimate concern, but rather to discredit an institution that they perhaps weren't happy at, for one reason or another.

If anyone has any specific questions or concerns they'd like clarified (I just finished M2), please feel free to ask on the thread or DM me.
 
Just wanted to touch base. Just got a post-II rejection. I also know someone who got a decision yesterday, so they might be wrapping up decisions? Good luck to whoever else is waiting and those who were waitlisted!!!
 
Magnolias said:
Just wanted to touch base. Just got a post-II rejection. I also know someone who got a decision yesterday, so they might be wrapping up decisions? Good luck to whoever else is waiting and those who were waitlisted!!!
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did you get an email?
 
Absolutely DO is a wonderful career path. Some of the best physicians I have worked with have been DOs. So that is no an issue at all. If I don’t get off of the alternate list myself then I will certainly apply to some DO schools during the next cycle. One could say I should have covered my bases this cycle I just didn’t want to do another app. But hindsight is 20/20 😅

For anyone that gets a rejection and doesn’t have a back up plan. It is disappointing but doesn’t define you or ultimately keep you from where you want to be in life. You can and will make it if you keep trying, revaluate go in to the next cycle with confidence on how to achieve your goal of becoming a physician. You and will do it! Just might take a bit more time.
 
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BrettMontana said:
Post II rejection. DO schools here I come lol. I wish there still wasn’t a bias against DOs but I’m still grateful
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it is not too bad. The hard part is that you have to do well on both the USMLE and COMLEX. The bias is no longer that bad and if you work hard enough you can match into any spot. It will be a bit tougher but it is possible.
 
Numbers&Letters said:
Absolutely DO is a wonderful career path. Some of the best physicians I have worked with have been DOs. So that is no an issue at all. If I don’t get off of the alternate list myself then I will certainly apply to some DO schools during the next cycle. One could say I should have covered my bases this cycle I just didn’t want to do another app. But hindsight is 20/20 [emoji28]

For anyone that gets a rejection and doesn’t have a back up plan. It is disappointing but doesn’t define you or ultimately keep you from where you want to be in life. You can and will make it if you keep trying, revaluate go in to the next cycle with confidence on how to achieve your goal of becoming a physician. You and will do it! Just might take a bit more time.
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My top choice before getting A from Ponce was DO! The best doctors I’ve worked under were also DOs too and were so proud of going to an osteopathic school. I would 100% go DO if that was the other option. Once Good luck to you and everyone else!
 
I’m so thankful for my A and how quick the process has been with Ponce in my experience, but after reading this thread I’m really curious as to why it seems like they’re prioritizing the MSMS students last. Especially since you already put in so much work at this institution I can only imagine how frustrating it would be. Is the MSMS program supposed to have linkage? Anyone know why this is? I’m just very curious after reading all of this.
 
Pinkscrubz said:
I’m so thankful for my A and how quick the process has been with Ponce in my experience, but after reading this thread I’m really curious as to why it seems like they’re prioritizing the MSMS students last. Especially since you already put in so much work at this institution I can only imagine how frustrating it would be. Is the MSMS program supposed to have linkage? Anyone know why this is? I’m just very curious after reading all of this.
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Very thankful for A as well! I had one other A, but similar situation to PHSU (newer school). My other waitlist spots maybe one I could have waited but I wouldn't want to wait another year if that didn't workout. I did have one DO school I thought about applying to this round, in my hometown that was affiliated with a large hospital system, but decided not too once my first A came through. Yeah, someone said it earlier to two board exams is a tough, but same content just very different question style. (USMLE and COMLEX).

Actually wondering the exact same thing doesn't make much sense, but there seems to be a lot of linkage schools that partner with PHSU from what I can tell reading this. That may be something with multiple schools for linkage lots of applicants, but idk there's still probably more that apply from amcas so idk. MSMS peeps any ideas?
 
totilue said:
You should check your portal. Someone mentioned before that they found out by randomly checking their account.
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True but Eh i’ll pass. If i was accepted it would come through via an email. That’s all that matters to me. Until then, i will wait and occupy my time with other things until then or u til there is an email with a rejection
 
totilue said:
You should check your portal. Someone mentioned before that they found out by randomly checking their account.
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Yeah still haven’t received an email about being on the alt list but on the portal I definitely am. It says Your Decision Is Ready! Then going in it tells me I’m on the alternative list. Called Wendy and she confirmed the other day. I asked why I didn’t get an email. She says sometimes it doesn’t go through. Recommended checking my email and portal regularly.
 
Med4sci said:
True but Eh i’ll pass. If i was accepted it would come through via an email. That’s all that matters to me. Until then, i will wait and occupy my time with other things until then or u til there is an email with a rejection
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I got mine through a phone call saying we are updating your portal and that was all (no email or anything came until weeks later) , but I get not wanting to check and creating unnecessary stress so gotta do what's best for the mental. Hopefully something comes soon!
 
derek dixon said:
I got mine through a phone call saying we are updating your portal and that was all (no email or anything came until weeks later) , but I get not wanting to check and creating unnecessary stress so gotta do what's best for the mental. Hopefully something comes soon!
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Was the number the traditional number 314-499-6540?
 
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