BU MAMS vs. Tufts MBS

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Ian1223

Ian1223

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Where would you go?
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I guess no one knows...
 
how long after you were complete at tufts did you receive your acceptance and what are your stats
 
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meccadent said:
how long after you were complete at tufts did you receive your acceptance and what are your stats
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About a month between completion to acceptance online

3.5/3.5Sci
32P
 
Ian1223 said:
Where would you go?
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Hey there, I'm in the same boat as you. Oh and I'm considering Rosalind Franklin as well.

Here's what comes to mind:
BU has actual med classes
Tufts is smaller and possibly more supportive
BU has you write a thesis
Tufts is easier to complete in 1 year

I could probably go on and on...I can't decide either. I'm already 1 year out of school so I'd like to just get started, which makes Tufts more attractive in that respect. Also, I've spent this year doing medical research, I don't think it would be that helpful to have to write a thesis at BU. However, I like the fact that you can take classes with med students at BU, so when interviewers ask about your preparedness, you can show them your grades.

I'm pretty torn, what's your situation?
 
Ian1223 said:
Where would you go?
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Wait, I've got a lot of my info wrong. They do have you write a thesis, and the classes are taught by the med profs.

Sorry, I just got my acceptance today and I was going off of what I could remember, which turned out to be wrong.

Definitely not an easy decision!
 
SilverNeedle said:
Wait, I've got a lot of my info wrong. They do have you write a thesis, and the classes are taught by the med profs.

Sorry, I just got my acceptance today and I was going off of what I could remember, which turned out to be wrong.

Definitely not an easy decision!
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I am a MBS student at Tufts. PM me for my email if you have questions.
 
Both have Actual medical school classes

Both have Thesis requirement

BU is not easy to complete in one year
Tufts is too new to know

BU has 85% American MD success rate for 20 yrs
Tufts is too new to know

BU has 180+ Class size
Tufts has ~70

BU costs ~$5000 more than Tufts,
Both cost more than $30,000

Both have 2 year option for MPH

BUMedschool takes 5-10 1st years, 20-30 2nd years,
Tufts is too new to know

Both are within 2 miles of each other
 

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SilverNeedle said:
BU has actual med classes
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The fact that you are including this implies that Tufts MBS does not include medical school courses. While we don't take lectures with the med students, over half of the courses by unit length either are the exact same material as the medical students, including exams (molecular bio, biochem, histology, immunology, and physiology for a total of 19 units), or taught by the same professors that teach the medical students (anatomy, 4 units).

Also Tufts requires a thesis for a degree (offers a certificate of completion for people not completing a thesis) that can be either a lab or library thesis.
 
I got into both programs and have a lot of trouble deciding where to go. It seems like there is no clear cut advantage of one program over the other. I am also confused about when students apply to med schools in these programs. I want to be in med school after the first year of the program, but it doesn't seem like a very realistic idea. In both programs, most students typically apply to med schools after their first year in the program, right?
 
I read on a post on SDN that says BU definately prefers you do 2 years of their masters program.

Someone on this forum and Ive heard elsewhere that for Tufts it isnt as big a deal.

The general feeling Im getting is that there is more positive feedback in favor of Tufts than any feedback at all from BU.

Are there any BU GMS students that want to defend their turf?
 
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For the most part, it seems the two are nearly identical. BU is bigger, but that's because its reputation has built over time with its success. Both are good medical schools, so either way you're competing against good students. Whether or not you're sitting in the exact same classroom as med students doesn't matter, as long as the rigor/material of the coursework is comparable to medical school coursework (according to the med school adcoms I've spoken with).

It seems the major difference is the cost and class size. Tufts may be cheaper, but I think I'd pay a bit more for a program that's ironed out the kinks. A class size of 80 isn't all that small, so it's not like it's uber-personalized. BU has a better reputation and success history, so if I had to choose I'd go with the one with the better track record, BU.
 
Are there any Tufts MBS students out there who felt that their program had any kinks in it or want to make any other comments?
 
I just got off the phone with people from BU and Tufts and have learned the following:

BU's most recent class size was 220. They wouldn't tell me this year's class size, or the attrition rate, or even give me an average of how many people get into BU med school from the program. They did say that about 85-95% of students get accepted to medical school.

Tufts' class size will be about 75, and their attrition rate last year was only 2 of 53. They said that even though the class size got bigger, they're going to keep the same advisor to student ratio (1 to 10). They will consider splitting the class up for lectures to make sure the students get more attention. Also, Tufts' MCAT course is not a required class, if that's an issue for you.

BU people were pretty unhelpful. I explained I wanted more info on the program because I'm trying to decide where to go, and they barely gave me anything. They kept giving me other people's numbers to call. Also, I'm kind of turned off by the growing class size. From what I've gathered, it was 120 in 2002, 180 in 2006, then 220 last year. They're like meatpackers over there, and I can't imagine that they'll stop growing. Also, since when is class size and attrition rate "confidential information?"

I'm leaning more towards Tufts now. Are you planning to fly out there at any point?
 
Ive always been leaning towards Tufts because subconciously I believe it will be better.

I created this thread because I wanted to make sure I didnt make the wrong decision.

The more I look into it I hear good reasons for going to BU but better reasons for going to Tufts.

I believe Ive made my decision.

Thanks guys!
 
Congrats Ian1223 for deciding! For those of you still curious on what to choose: I've been accepted to the BU program so I'm by no means an expert on what the program will be like, but I've done alot of research into it and talked to some people who are true advocates of it. I really feel like it's a great option. I asked a current student if he had any negative experiences while in the program and his words were "No negatives at all. I'm one of the few with a 4.0 and I'm confident that I will be accepted to medical school because of BU." He said that at orientation they give you a binder full of information and the list of schools that have accepted BU students is over 3 pages long! You can't really beat that, in my opinion. However, Tufts has a great reputation and I'm sure it will be a great choice. Both are in Boston, and you can't really beat Boston's med center!
 
Please take into account the opinions of many and not of one student alone when considering schools. I have had a great experience at Tufts; as in any class there are students who complain about anything they can reason as being unfair.

Life itself is not fair, perhaps its time "aspiring physicians" who believe it is learn a life lesson; before they have to explain to a patient how the fair world decided to dole out cancer that day.

With that said, Tufts has done everything in its power to help us gain admission to medical school. The scheduling can be annoying, but if forces you to manage your time well. You may have a lot to get done in a short amount of time, deal with it. Medical school is not supposed to be easy. The MBS program is designed to strengthen and prepare students for medical school; if you cant handle it maybe you should consider another field.

I think its extremely inappropriate to state that the MBS administration designed our semester to delay our applications. Many people including myself have done fine in our classes, are prepared to take the MCAT in 3 weeks, have all our LORs in for our committee letter, and have prepared our AMCAS for submission. To claim that being complete at a school in August will make you a delayed applicant is a misrepresentation of the facts.
 
Ah, the LOR-> August issue.

Yes, the committee letters are going to be released in August, especially if you want a letter from your thesis advisor (because, you know, your advisor needs something to write about). BUT, LORs are due for your application to be complete. That doesn't mean you can't start turning in secondary applications prior to the LOR being released. Also, anyone taking the MCAT in June are going to have a slight delay due to their MCAT scores anyways.

In essence, I think that having a complete file in August shouldn't affect an application in any measurable sense, provided you stay on top of your secondaries. Just use that extra time to write kick *** essays.
 
Hi!
I'm a current GMS at BU. i'll be finishing up this summer. If anyone is attending the BU MAMS program this coming fall of 2008 and is looking for affordable housing close to campus, let me know. I live literally across the street from school (i'm serious) and rent would be ~$680/month. Message me for more details. i'm also willing to answer any questions abt the program too. 🙂
 
If there are any future students looking for housing I have a 1400/mo apartment available in the Metropolitan, right across the street from Tufts and only a bus ride from BUMC.
 
Hey Ian i also saw your posts about NYMC accelerated program why have you decided to not got there?
 
I am trying to decide between BU's MAMS and Tufts' MBS. I know BU has the proven track record, but their class size worries me. Tufts on the other hand has very little to show for in terms of track record but seems to be trying to follow (and modernize) BU's blueprint for a succesfull SMP. Decisions, decisions...

I would be delighted to hear your opinions!
 
Does anyone know which program is less expensive? Tufts or BU?
 
I saw on a post somewhere that at least 90% of those from Tufts MBS now have interviews. I was just wondering which schools these people are interviewing at? Also is there any concern that Tufts does not have as many linkages with other schools since it is a newer program or this not a problem?
 
Hi,

I wanted to know if anyone who has completed one of the programs can help me make a decision between the two? 🙄
 
sorry im new to the forums, i didn't realize that face was rolling eyes i thought he looked confused. i'm sorry to seem like a dummy but can you direct me to that thread, i feel like i keep ending up on this one. thank youu
 
gujuDoc said:
Also to the person that asked, Tufts is 30,000 I believe vs. almost 38,000 and then continuing education fees that make it more like 47,000 for BU not including the 15,000 for cost of living.
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Yeah, the general difference is considered about an extra 12k for the BU program, all inclusive.
 
Attention every Tufts MBS graduate!!

Since Tufts is unable to provide us with statistics of any kind...CAN YOU PLEASE HELP US??

Can you tell us if any of you or your colleagues have gotten in any medical schools other than Tufts Med? If so, where??

Thanks for your input! Your posting could save our lives!!
 
Moo746 said:
Attention every Tufts MBS graduate!!

Since Tufts is unable to provide us with statistics of any kind...CAN YOU PLEASE HELP US??

Can you tell us if any of you or your colleagues have gotten in any medical schools other than Tufts Med? If so, where??

Thanks for your input! Your posting could save our lives!!
Click to expand...
that would be awesome to know.
 
If anyone is still contemplating BU vs. Tufts, just go with BU. Safer bet.

Do Tufts grads get into other schools? Yes. Where, I couldn't say.
 
camaras2480 said:
If anyone is still contemplating BU vs. Tufts, just go with BU. Safer bet.

Do Tufts grads get into other schools? Yes. Where, I couldn't say.
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It might be the safer bet, but not the right bet. Although no one has answered my question yet, I thank you all for your input. Especially you "bleargh".

And to JJMountainMan: If you get a 4.0 at Tufts MBS, you'd be guaranteed an interview at Tufts Med since you'd probably be in the top 25% of the class. I don't know if BU MAAN (that sounds really awkward) can make that guarantee. So Tufts MBS may be a better steppingstone for your medical school aspirations.

Cool Guys Don't Look At Explosions
 
Moo746 said:
It might be the safer bet, but not the right bet. Although no one has answered my question yet, I thank you all for your input. Especially you "bleargh".

And to JJMountainMan: If you get a 4.0 at Tufts MBS, you'd be guaranteed an interview at Tufts Med since you'd probably be in the top 25% of the class. I don't know if BU MAAN (that sounds really awkward) can make that guarantee. So Tufts MBS may be a better steppingstone for your medical school aspirations.

Cool Guys Don't Look At Explosions
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why are you interested in this anyway? aren't you pre-dent?
 
Moo746 said:
Attention every Tufts MBS graduate!!

Since Tufts is unable to provide us with statistics of any kind...CAN YOU PLEASE HELP US??

Can you tell us if any of you or your colleagues have gotten in any medical schools other than Tufts Med? If so, where??

Thanks for your input! Your posting could save our lives!!
Click to expand...

Technically not a Tufts MBS grad, but I finished with the course work past may and working on the thesis now.

So First year of the program (kids who finished classes may 2008) there were about 50 total who made it through ( i believe a handful dropped out). From the directors mouth, all but 8-10 are now in some medical school... he wouldnt distinguish between md/do, but i'm sure most are in md. Half of the 8-10 are still doing the MPH option and applying in the current cycle. i personally know 3 of them, and i'm convinced they won't have an issue getting in, they just waited to apply cuz of the MPH. And of the 40, 20+ got into Tufts Med (got in, dont know if they are matriculants). Last october during a presentation, we were assured by the dean and our director that the med school "takes care of its own." 20+ of 50 is well above the auto interviews of the top 25%.

Hope that helps. As for specific school names, he wouldnt tell me. I think they dont wanna give privileged information out just yet. I think they wanna establish solid relationships with other schools before ppl abuse the info and ruin it for the program.

One discouraging note of ppl applying while in the program: I had heard of 10 kids in my class who were applied last cycle (during classes). I only know the fate of 2 of them, one waitlisted at his state school, and the other didnt get in anywhere. I dont know about the rest.

btw, ppl are welcome to ask me questions about Tufts MBS, pm if its easier.
 
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Moo746 said:
It might be the safer bet, but not the right bet.
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For most, safer would be right. Though I agree there will be those that like the gamble. Not that BU is not a gamble.
 
gujuDoc said:
Yeah but both of these programs are for both predental and premed students so wouldn't they have a valid point regardless of whether they are premed or predental.

I know that BU MAMS, Tufts MBS, and EVMS all take predental kids too. Though most predental who do BU MAMS prefer their oral health concentration though I've heard only a handful of people get in such.

But anyhow I'm glad for the answers as a premed myself and think its interesting to note what the MBSer above noted.

I do believe in time Tufts will do well among SMPs and create a strong reputation but they need to become more known with other schools and that doesn't happen over night. UCincy was lucky to have such a huge success in few years but I'm sure it took quite a few years or any of these older programs like BU and Gtown to establish itself and become what they are today among SMPs.
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Ya, the courses the meds and dents take here are very similar, atleast first year. They take them in a different order and some of the focus is changed, but the prof's and lectures are essentially the same (atleast for like biochem, cell bio, etc). That being said, there wasnt anyone in our year who was only interested in dental. So i dont think there is a track record as of yet for it here.
 
to follow up my first post in here, i learned the other day that a kid in my year got into Med Coll Georgia, his state school. He was applying while he was taking the classes
 
gujuDoc said:
Yeah I'm curious to know this as well.

Cali anteater if you are out there please do respond. Same to you siggy.

We'd be glad to hear.
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To be honest, I haven't tracked where everyone went to school. I know myself and one other who just started classes at Western/COMP, and I know another person who got into Nova. Besides that, people were getting in all over the place at various levels of schools.

Quick stroll through Face book reveals (not inclusive): Dartmouth, UNE, Western, Tufts, Nova, University of South Florida, Tulane, St. George, Howard, Albany, Medical College of Georgia, and University of Connecticut. There's a lot of people that went to Tufts. There's also a lot of people where it doesn't look like they've updated their profile.
 
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I think Tufts' program is amazing. I was also caught between BU & Tufts but my gut feeling kept leaning towards Tufts, so I went with it.

The thing I like most about Tufts is the structure of the program. Unlike BU, Tufts has 1 course schedule that everyone in the program follows. The only flexibility you have is in deciding which elective you take in the spring and whether or not you want to take the MCAT course in the spring, summer, or not at all. From my perspective, this is nice when considering that you are ultimately ranked amongst your peers when Tufts/BU decides who they want to interview/accept from their MBS programs...i.e. at BU, I heard one of the tracks was "easier" than the other, and that you had the option of substituting some courses for others...I thought this could put some people at an unfair advantage (if I decided to take all of the recommended courses).

I also liked the way our courses reflected that of the medical school's. We take the same exact exams as the med students and almost always have the same professors. One thing that might deter you from Tufts is the exam structure during the 1st semester -- you have 4 cumulative/integrative exams that cover all the material you learned in 3 - 5 courses (i.e. the 1st exam covered Biochem, Cell Bio, and Genetics). I liked this because I was only having to study for 4 exams and since each exam is about 90 questions, it meant that each class could only ask an average of 3 questions per lecture, which made it easy to focus on the concepts stressed in lectures. This semester, each course has its own exam schedule. It's a little more stressful because it seems like you are constantly studying for an exam (you have them at least every other week), but you study less content per exam, which is nice since you are starting to burn out.

Also, I'm not sure about BU but Tufts has something called TUSK, which is an online database of the syllabus, lecture slides, and lecture recordings (with or without video). The lecture recordings have been MONEY, in my opinion.

Overall, the faculty are pretty great, the facilities are amazing (the library is my best friend AND there is a gym in the basement of the building), and the program is well-organized.
 
To the two most recent posters: do you know anything from classmates about which med program, BU or Tufts, takes more of their own students from the SMP?

I have just found out I have been accepted to both and I have NO idea what to do! I am a BU undergrad and so I have heard that the medical school likes to see that you have been with BU from the beginning, through the SMP, and then finally at the medical school. I don't know if this is true or not, though...

ANY advice anyone has to give me on choosing which program to do would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
at bu you're never competing against your classmates as you do 2nd semester in tufts. additionally, the 2nd semester courses are by and large not med school equivalents. same name, sure, but not the same. i've also been told by good friends who did the mbs program that they were not allowed to be in the lecture hall for a couple of their classes, and when they went anyway, there were complaints.

either program is fine for getting to med schools, but the above sounds pretty sheisty imo.
 
does tufts publish the % of students that get into med school? i saw ~70% on BU's site, but couldn't find any info on the tufts website.
 
A couple of things..

At Tufts, we are never graded against each other; we are graded against the medical school students. BUT, since the top 25% are guaranteed interviews, it is essentially as if you are being graded against each other.

On that note, since the program here is relatively new, there aren't any "hard" statistics regarding the % of interviews offered or % of students matriculating into medical school. However, the Dean of the medical school has said that they estimate they have invited more than 50% of MBS students for an interview. I have also noticed that almost all of our TAs were in the MBS program last year, which is a significant proportion of the M'14 class.

As for "getting in trouble" for attending the medical school lectures and the lectures not being med school equivalents, that's a crock of :spam:. First off, I went to maybe 3 lectures with the MBS students, and in the 50+ lectures I attended with the medical students, I have never heard anyone complain. The medical students were actually friendly and held conversations with me.

In terms of med school equivalents, the content in the MBS lectures are literally the same as in the medical school lectures. Here's where the difference arises:

1. As gujudoc said, Tufts' curriculum is systems-based. Therefore, the med students have their CV block, where they learn all the physiology/pathology/anatomy of the CV system, and the respiratory block, etc. Essentially, you can think of the med students as having a bunch of courses, each focusing on a body system. The MBS students, on the other hand, take physiology, pathology, and anatomy. Usually, the 3 courses attempt to cover the same body systems at the same time, but they don't always align. Thus, you can think of the MBS students as having a bunch of courses, each focusing on an aspect of the body (the physiology of the body, the pathology of the body) instead of covering everything about one body system.

2. The med curriculum goes WAY more in depth (which is expected since the CV block, for example, occurs in the 2nd year of med school and is all the students learn about for several weeks/months). But, if you took the first 5 physiology lectures of the CV block, the respiratory block, etc., and combined them all together, you would get the MBS physiology course.

3. The above ONLY applies to 2nd semester. 1st semester is literally identical to the medical students (with the exception of the last 3 weeks where MBS students have Intro to Clinical Medicine & pharmacology instead of pharmacology + beginning systems blocks).

I don't know anything about BU other than what I've read in this forum, so I am not drawing comparisons here...I am just trying to describe how the Tufts program works. It's ultimately up to each person to decide which aspects of whatever program they prefer, so they can determine which program is the better fit.

In that respect, I think other people in this forum need to do the same -- talk about what you know and not what you think your friends know.
 
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