CalMed MBS 2019-2020

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We have two temp sites now. The second one is dedicated to the MBS program. I think for MBS, they're considering splitting the class into two sections: one would have lectures in the morning, the other in the afternoon. Both sites are spacious. For a while, both the MDs and the MBSs were at the same building and we fit just fine - there are two very large lecture rooms and lots of study rooms plus a student lounge and student kitchen, along with the lab and clinical rooms, library, etc.
 
jazzmetal said:
We have two temp sites now. The second one is dedicated to the MBS program. I think for MBS, they're considering splitting the class into two sections: one would have lectures in the morning, the other in the afternoon. Both sites are spacious. For a while, both the MDs and the MBSs were at the same building and we fit just fine - there are two very large lecture rooms and lots of study rooms plus a student lounge and student kitchen, along with the lab and clinical rooms, library, etc.
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quick question: do you happen to know if the MBS program waitlist is ranked? Also, how likely is a waitlisted student usually accepted? Thank you for your help.
 
OCcalistud18 said:
quick question: do you happen to know if the MBS program waitlist is ranked? Also, how likely is a waitlisted student usually accepted? Thank you for your help.
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I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that, but I will see if I can find out. I don't think they had a waitlist last year so there might not be any precedent...
 
So may 31st is when we get the ye or nay?
 
OCcalistud18 said:
quick question: do you happen to know if the MBS program waitlist is ranked? Also, how likely is a waitlisted student usually accepted? Thank you for your help.
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Hi, doesn't seem that the waitlist is ranked. I was also told that the class is not yet full.
 
jazzmetal said:
Hi, doesn't seem that the waitlist is ranked. I was also told that the class is not yet full.
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Oh I see. I wonder how they are going to fill the remaining spots. The process seems a little weird to me. Thank you for the information!
 
OCcalistud18 said:
Oh I see. I wonder how they are going to fill the remaining spots. The process seems a little weird to me. Thank you for the information!
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Yes, it is weird. 🙂
Just remember that CalMed is still brand new - it was only a year ago that they got their preliminary accreditation! All is going very well on that front, but even the evaluation committee was marveling at how much they'd accomplished in such a short time: seated the first MD class, seated and are about to graduate the first MBS class, moved to the next stage of accreditation, moved to the next step in the federal loan eligibility process, managed a *lot* of transition among the founding leadership (our founding MBS Director stepped down and we have a new one, our founding Dean retired so our Dean of Admissions took over as interim Dean of the school; then our president stepped down and we've now just announced our new Dean and interim President: Dr. Lyons, one of the founders of UC Riverside SOM, Paul Lyons, MD: Chair, Family Medicine | UCR Health), broke ground on the permanent med school building next to Arrowhead RMC, and just had a very successful first Research Day at Arrowhead yesterday. Compare this to Kaiser, which is taking three times as long. CalMed is the scrappy startup of med schools right now. I personally love startups, even though they can be a little painful at times.
I see the MBS Admissions team as doing their best to make sure that every admitted student is prepared to excel in the program so that the MBS will be a boost to their med school application, not something that ends up keeping them out.
Hang in there, and continued best wishes to everyone applying!
 
jazzmetal said:
Yes, it is weird. 🙂
Just remember that CalMed is still brand new - it was only a year ago that they got their preliminary accreditation! All is going very well on that front, but even the evaluation committee was marveling at how much they'd accomplished in such a short time: seated the first MD class, seated and are about to graduate the first MBS class, moved to the next stage of accreditation, moved to the next step in the federal loan eligibility process, managed a *lot* of transition among the founding leadership (our founding MBS Director stepped down and we have a new one, our founding Dean retired so our Dean of Admissions took over as interim Dean of the school; then our president stepped down and we've now just announced our new Dean and interim President: Dr. Lyons, one of the founders of UC Riverside SOM, Paul Lyons, MD: Chair, Family Medicine | UCR Health), broke ground on the permanent med school building next to Arrowhead RMC, and just had a very successful first Research Day at Arrowhead yesterday. Compare this to Kaiser, which is taking three times as long. CalMed is the scrappy startup of med schools right now. I personally love startups, even though they can be a little painful at times.
I see the MBS Admissions team as doing their best to make sure that every admitted student is prepared to excel in the program so that the MBS will be a boost to their med school application, not something that ends up keeping them out.
Hang in there, and continued best wishes to everyone applying!
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I understand. It seems like a lot of changes are/have taken place. Although it sounds a bit hectic, it also seems like a lot of fun. I am definitely going to stay patient. This school/program is one of my top options. I hope to hear from them soon! Once again, thank you so much! You have been very helpful.
 
futuredoc9977 said:
I had my interview today and it went well! She said it'd take a few weeks for them to get back, but she didn't indicate anything about the class being full or a waitlist. Guess we'll wait and watch. Hoping the best for all of us 🙂
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Do you know if they are still accepting people? I just found out about this program and am extremely interested.
 
premedbrah said:
Hello! I just applied and have been granted an interview for the MBS program at CUSM. Anyone else currently applying or in the program?
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premedbrah said:
Just realized, the class of 2019 had 36 students but the incoming class they are capping at 60 students. I wonder if they're planning on increasing the number of seats for the med school class with the new campus opening in 2020..
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Hello, I recently got an interview to CUSM's MBS program! I am really nervous and I would like to be as prepared as possible.
What should I know about the program? (apart from what is on the website)
Do you remember the questions that you were asked?
Any tips?

Thank you so much for your time!
 
FatePrevails said:
Hello, I recently got an interview to CUSM's MBS program! I am really nervous and I would like to be as prepared as possible.
What should I know about the program? (apart from what is on the website)
Do you remember the questions that you were asked?
Any tips?

Thank you so much for your time!
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I wrote about it previously in this thread I believe. It was very casual, just know your own resume/academic record as well as basic interview responses (why you wanna be a doctor/medicine, how you think the program will benefit you, what does professionalism mean to you, etc.)
 
Hey everyone, I have read through this year's and last year's CUSM MBS and SOM threads and have a few questions.

1) Is it too late to apply? My stats are sGPA 3.2, cGPA 3.5, MCAT 519 balanced. Competitive ECs. ORM.

2) Why is the linkage to CUSM SOM so abysmal? I saw a former student say that 2 out of 8 MBS students that applied were accepted. They were also told that doing the MBS gave them no advantage at the SOM. That last part is extremely concerning and with the program doubling in size this year, I imagine the competition from within the program will only increase. CUSM should have pride in the rigor of their Master's program and if you do well in it, why would it not be a big plus to your application? The only thing that I can think of is that the average MBS MCAT is supposedly around 500 which is obviously much lower than the 513-514 average for the medical school. I understand new schools really like to boost MCAT percentiles up. Maybe that wouldn't be an issue for me given my MCAT.

3) How do MBS students pay for living expenses without federal loans? I see nothing about cost of attendance on the website...only tuition prices (which are quite reasonable).

I've been fortunate enough to be accepted into all of the "original/established" SMP's but being in California (I grew up in the South and would like to see the west coast) and possibly getting into a new medical school intrigues me. What do you all think?

Edit: I just reread the thread and it looks like 4/8 were accepted but two of those came off the waitlist...that is less concerning and also I am probably overthinking it, especially with the sample size. The application fee is pretty low for this program (comparatively), so I will probably just shoot my shot and let everyone know how it goes.
 
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@jazzmetal or any other current students, what is the exam schedule like? From the website is looks like it is a semester worth of 6 classes and then two weeks of finals? That seems really cumulative and like it would be hard to track your progress.
 
Deadline for application is May 31st, with your stats I’m sure you’ll get accepted but why would you want to do a MBS with your star? I’m sure you would get into med school somewhere. I also agreed with you that this program is a little concerning with their linkage. People will think I’m neurotic for saying this but 8/36 applying to the COM still make me feel uneasy haha.
 
KEPT said:
Deadline for application is May 31st, with your stats I’m sure you’ll get accepted but why would you want to do a MBS with your star? I’m sure you would get into med school somewhere. I also agreed with you that this program is a little concerning with their linkage. People will think I’m neurotic for saying this but 8/36 applying to the COM still make me feel uneasy haha.
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Waitlisted at my state school because of my sGPA and they recommended a master’s or post-bacc. Just because my MCAT is high doesn’t mean it makes up for a 3.2 sGPA, especially because I had a downward trend my senior year :/
 
memdoctobe said:
Waitlisted at my state school because of my sGPA and they recommended a master’s or post-bacc. Just because my MCAT is high doesn’t mean it makes up for a 3.2 sGPA, especially because I had a downward trend my senior year :/
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If you are CA and ORM than I think an SMP will be quickest way to get an MD acceptance. Have you thought about doing a DIY postbacc at a state school to increase your c/sGPA? Given your high MCAT and slightly lower GPA, I think you'd be a great candidate for an SMP.
 
Dr.Gains said:
If you are CA and ORM than I think an SMP will be quickest way to get an MD acceptance. Have you thought about doing a DIY postbacc at a state school to increase your c/sGPA? Given your high MCAT and slightly lower GPA, I think you'd be a great candidate for an SMP.
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I’m an OOS resident. I normally wouldn’t wanna give that much detail but it’s in my post history haha.

I already have taken a gap year and really want to get in this cycle (my MCAT is only good for this cycle). I want to do a SMP over a post-bacc because I want to show the biggest improvement to medical schools in terms of handling course work.

Oh and also I was a science major so it would take 30+ post-bacc credits just to get my sGPA to something decent. And a SMP will better prepare me for med school than more upper level bio classes (already took quite a few).
 
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KEPT said:
Deadline for application is May 31st, with your stats I’m sure you’ll get accepted but why would you want to do a MBS with your star? I’m sure you would get into med school somewhere. I also agreed with you that this program is a little concerning with their linkage. People will think I’m neurotic for saying this but 8/36 applying to the COM still make me feel uneasy haha.
Click to expand...
You're forgetting about the *additional* 8 who already had a provisional acceptance to the MD program, plus 3 students dropped out of the MBS, so it's 16 who applied, 12 of whom were accepted. Many others weren't ready to apply this cycle. I'm not saying the linkage is anything special, but it's more than 8/36. 🙂
 
memdoctobe said:
Hey everyone, I have read through this year's and last year's CUSM MBS and SOM threads and have a few questions.

1) Is it too late to apply? My stats are sGPA 3.2, cGPA 3.5, MCAT 519 balanced. Competitive ECs. ORM.

2) Why is the linkage to CUSM SOM so abysmal? I saw a former student say that 2 out of 8 MBS students that applied were accepted. They were also told that doing the MBS gave them no advantage at the SOM. That last part is extremely concerning and with the program doubling in size this year, I imagine the competition from within the program will only increase. CUSM should have pride in the rigor of their Master's program and if you do well in it, why would it not be a big plus to your application? The only thing that I can think of is that the average MBS MCAT is supposedly around 500 which is obviously much lower than the 513-514 average for the medical school. I understand new schools really like to boost MCAT percentiles up. Maybe that wouldn't be an issue for me given my MCAT.

3) How do MBS students pay for living expenses without federal loans? I see nothing about cost of attendance on the website...only tuition prices (which are quite reasonable).

I've been fortunate enough to be accepted into all of the "original/established" SMP's but being in California (I grew up in the South and would like to see the west coast) and possibly getting into a new medical school intrigues me. What do you all think?

Edit: I just reread the thread and it looks like 4/8 were accepted but two of those came off the waitlist...that is less concerning and also I am probably overthinking it, especially with the sample size. The application fee is pretty low for this program (comparatively), so I will probably just shoot my shot and let everyone know how it goes.
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Hi, I'll reply to these questions and to your other post separately.

1) It's not too late to apply to the MBS (I don't think), but too late for the MD (if that's what you were asking).

2) As a new school, CalMed is paying a lot of attention to MCAT score. You're good there. We had 8 apply "fresh" plus 8 came into the MBS with provisional acceptances to the MD program. Of the 8 who applied fresh, 4 ended up getting in (2 got in outright, another 2 got in from the waitlist). MCAT was the deciding factor, as far as I can tell.

3) We have access to private loans at interest rates of something like 4-9%. Interest-bearing but deferred payments so long as you're in school full time. The loan process was easy. You get living expenses on top of tuition. Cost of living here is pretty low; I am a non-trad used to having an income, but I was fine.
4)

I will reply to your other post separately. 🙂
 
jazzmetal said:
You're forgetting about the *additional* 8 who already had a provisional acceptance to the MD program, plus 3 students dropped out of the MBS, so it's 16 who applied, 12 of whom were accepted. Many others weren't ready to apply this cycle. I'm not saying the linkage is anything special, but it's more than 8/36. 🙂
Click to expand...

You’re right. I was being overly paranoid. Compared to Georgetown (20-30/180), Boston (1-2/180), and Tufts (0-1/200) stats for accepted students during the program, it isn’t bad at all. Especially if people needed to improve their MCAT and didn’t feel ready in terms of ECs.
 
memdoctobe said:
@jazzmetal or any other current students, what is the exam schedule like? From the website is looks like it is a semester worth of 6 classes and then two weeks of finals? That seems really cumulative and like it would be hard to track your progress.
Click to expand...
Hi, it's actually 8 courses at a time each semester, and closer to one week of finals plus a couple of study days. I won't lie, the schedule was rough!! Especially last fall. They made adjustments for the spring so that we wouldn't have more than two exams in any given week (until finals week, then it's every other day), but that doesn't include all the other stuff: quizzes, homework, papers, presentations, in-class exercises, etc. Our courses weren't in blocks, either. Not all of the finals are cumulative and the ones that are, are heavily weighted toward the material at the end of the semester. But - it's a lot. Expect to be studying pretty much all the time. We studied so much that the med students felt sorry for us!

The good news is that you'll get a lot of grade feedback along the way so you'll go into most of your finals with a pretty good idea of what score you need for what grade. Some courses had two exams (midterm + final), others had three, one had four. One of the eight courses is "Critical Thinking" aka journal club where you'll do one presentation sometime during the semester, then you're done. The 1-unit Ethics course in the fall was actually a lot of work, with a lengthy discussion post + reply each week, midterm and final. The 1-unit Careers course in the spring was pass/fail with a fairly light workload.
 
jazzmetal said:
Hi, it's actually 8 courses at a time each semester, and closer to one week of finals plus a couple of study days. I won't lie, the schedule was rough!! Especially last fall. They made adjustments for the spring so that we wouldn't have more than two exams in any given week (until finals week, then it's every other day), but that doesn't include all the other stuff: quizzes, homework, papers, presentations, in-class exercises, etc. Our courses weren't in blocks, either. Not all of the finals are cumulative and the ones that are, are heavily weighted toward the material at the end of the semester. But - it's a lot. Expect to be studying pretty much all the time. We studied so much that the med students felt sorry for us!

The good news is that you'll get a lot of grade feedback along the way so you'll go into most of your finals with a pretty good idea of what score you need for what grade. Some courses had two exams (midterm + final), others had three, one had four. One of the eight courses is "Critical Thinking" aka journal club where you'll do one presentation sometime during the semester, then you're done. The 1-unit Ethics course in the fall was actually a lot of work, with a lengthy discussion post + reply each week, midterm and final. The 1-unit Careers course in the spring was pass/fail with a fairly light workload.
Click to expand...

That is insane! Congrats for keeping up with that workload. That definitely makes me lean towards other programs that have a more block-like schedule where you get slammed with one 5-6 credit class at a time (with maybe 1-2 pass/fail classes where you just show up) versus juggling EIGHT classes. Block scheduling is how most medical schools have restructured their curriculums so I wonder why CalMed as gone with the old school approach for their MBS. That amount of different assignments reminds me a lot of high school.
 
memdoctobe said:
That is insane! Congrats for keeping up with that workload. That definitely makes me lean towards other programs that have a more block-like schedule where you get slammed with one 5-6 credit class at a time (with maybe 1-2 pass/fail classes where you just show up) versus juggling EIGHT classes. Block scheduling is how most medical schools have restructured their curriculums so I wonder why CalMed as gone with the old school approach for their MBS. That amount of different assignments reminds me a lot of high school.
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Yeah, it's a little strange especially since the MD program *is* in blocks. I suspect that the MBS curriculum will change down the line, but that they don't want to mess with it until the school gets accredited (which is on track).

And thanks! I'm still adjusting to life on the outside. 🙂
 
Hi, just wanted to let everyone know that CalMed MBS is still accepting applications through May 31 and the class is not yet full. Admissions are rolling.
 
Is it safe to say that those who haven't heard back after interview are just waiting for rejection on May 31st?
 
You can find rental listings on Craigslist, realtor.com, zillow.com. Popular places to live are Redlands, Loma Linda, Grand Terrace, Riverside. You'll hit a bit of commute traffic coming from Riverside; the others are closer. San Bernardino city, Colton and Rialto are close to campus (and Arrowhead RMC), but not as nice/safe. People spend around $700-900/month on average for a room in a shared apt or house; some places are pricier especially if you want to live on your own. Feel free to message me with other questions.
 
Any news for May interviewers?
 
KEPT said:
Any news for May interviewers?
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Still waiting on more information about my interview tomorrow. Did they give you more information about the interview of the day of the interview? Also the time that Amber gave us for the interview is in PST right? How did the interview go for the guys that interviewed?
 
jazzmetal said:
You can find rental listings on Craigslist, realtor.com, zillow.com. Popular places to live are Redlands, Loma Linda, Grand Terrace, Riverside. You'll hit a bit of commute traffic coming from Riverside; the others are closer. San Bernardino city, Colton and Rialto are close to campus (and Arrowhead RMC), but not as nice/safe. People spend around $700-900/month on average for a room in a shared apt or house; some places are pricier especially if you want to live on your own. Feel free to message me with other questions.
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Thank you, this was very helpful.
 
PaulP540 said:
Still waiting on more information about my interview tomorrow. Did they give you more information about the interview of the day of the interview? Also the time that Amber gave us for the interview is in PST right? How did the interview go for the guys that interviewed?
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I received my interview instruction the day prior to the interview. And yes, the time is PST zone. My interview went pretty well my interviewer went straight to the questions and then allow me time to ask them question toward the end of the interview.
 
KEPT said:
I received my interview instruction the day prior to the interview. And yes, the time is PST zone. My interview went pretty well my interviewer went straight to the questions and then allow me time to ask them question toward the end of the interview.
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What type of questions did they ask for you? If you don't mind telling me.
 
tell me about yourself, why medicine, what make you a better candidate for our program. I think a few more question but don't remember specifically. They're just the usual interview questions.
 
Anyone interviewed early May hear back from the program yet?
 
Hai! I'll be attending this year and am looking for a roommate if any other girls here are committed and needing a roommate!
 
Also, I interviewed May 8th, got my acceptance May 15th. Pretty fast turn around for me! Questions included things like: tell me about your research, service, why would you be a good fit for us, and all your typical interview questions. Not to sound like I'm show off or anything, but I guess I had too much to share for each question so my interviewer would often just cut me off after one or two things and be like "yeah... I can tell you've got a lot so you're good" and then would move onto the next question. SO seemed like they were just looking to see if you had at least something for all the categories they asked; kinda like "checking off a checklist" type of thing. Then he asked me if I had questions at the end. The whole thing took 25 minutes. Very chill. Hope this helps 🙂
 
Congrats to those accepted. For those on the waitlist, don’t lose hope. I look forward to meeting you all in August!
 
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