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- Dec 16, 2004
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***If you are reading this post for the first time, please read my last post on page 4 as it is equally important to get a comprehensive view of the program***
Hello everyone I am in Drexels IMS/MMS program and I want to share information that no one was able to give me prior to applying and enrolling. Im trying to supply an objective view of the program because I dont want others to go through what my classmates and I have. This post is a little long but definitely worth the read.
Pros: This program lets you take 70% of the first year course load at Drexels College of Medicine. The classes are biochemistry, physiology, immunology, histology, nutrition, and neuroscience. This has the potential to help you make up your mind if you arent certain you want to pursue this line of study or if you need to boost your GPA to gain admission to medical school. Also, most of the professors within Drexel Med are top notch. If you come to learn, none of the shortcomings listed below are insurmountable.
Cons: Im going to break this section up so I can touch on most aspects of the programs inadequacy
Classes: You are never directly taught by a flesh and blood professor. All of your lectures are simulcast on a movie screen via projector. Sounds great in theory except it often doesnt work. There will be MANY times when you cant hear the lecture, see the pointer, clearly make out illustrations, or miss parts of the presentation due to the camera not being properly aligned. These are not rare occurrences. Even though you can access those missed portions from home on your computer, the quality there is rarely little better.
I wont comment on the quality of the medical school classes because the IMS/MMS program is the focus of this review. One class, however, is solely for the IMS year, Medicine and Society. This course is structured in the manner of an assigned reading, a summary essay, a small group discussion, and a large group discussion all on medical ethics. The problem here is that the grading for the course is COMPLETELY subjective. Your TAs determine your grade for the most part and they ALL GRADE DIFFERENTLY. With one TA everyone gets As and with another no one does. Its also a conflict of interest as these TAs are applying to medical school the same time you are. Many people will get a 4.0 in the med school courses only to have their GPA brought down by the subjective grading of this course.
Facilities: If you dont mind taking tests in a dungeon, this is the place for you. The lighting is horrendous in most of the random rooms you are asked to take an exam in during the first year. If you go on to the second year, the lighting is fine but dont be surprised if you end up taking a test on your neighbors lap. Thats what happens when you fit 40 people in a room built for 15. Whereas this happens, it does tend to be more of the exception rather than the rule. Furthermore, youll often times have your assigned room moved out from under you making a schedule useless due to the large number of programs that use the building. You have to check with the office right up until class time to verify your room. For the first year, you are generally in a lecture hall with desks. For the second year, you better get used to taking notes on your lap because not only has your viewing screen shrunk to the size of a television, they often dont give you desks.
Financial Aid: Good luck. Some people wait 4 of 5 months to have a loan dispersed. Drexels financial aid is also quick to point out that its no ones fault for these delays. If you like fighting a well entrenched beauracracy of ineptitude, sign on up. For the program itself, you pay about $19,000 the first year and $16,000 the second. Funny how you take 8 classes the first year and 1 the second yet pay similar amounts. Also, its interesting that this program generates millions of dollars annually which Drexel uses to plug the holes in its budget.
Admission to Medical School: Sure the program gets many of its students into medical school but it neglects to inform students before hand that those figures seem biased towards osteopathic school. Also, unless you are the top of the class with a killer MCAT and just had trouble in your undergrad years, dont expect Drexel to welcome you with open arms into their med school. Due to a restructuring, Drexel takes very few students into their first year class from the IMS/MMS program and you get next to NO preferential treatment in the admissions process.
The program will offer you a guaranteed interview with Drexel if you get a B or better in every class but, as we find out, youre interview can come anywhere in the admission cycle, including March or later, allowing many undergrads in before you.
The above is by no means an exhaustive list and I invite my classmates to sound off about any points that I may have missed or that they disagree with. In the end, you must make the decision yourself but I wanted to give you the information that isnt readily available. The truth is, if you have a good MCAT/GPA, save your $40,000. If you need to raise your MCAT to get in, dont go with this program because you learn nothing to improve your MCAT scores (Go with the MSP). Good luck and thanks for reading.
Hello everyone I am in Drexels IMS/MMS program and I want to share information that no one was able to give me prior to applying and enrolling. Im trying to supply an objective view of the program because I dont want others to go through what my classmates and I have. This post is a little long but definitely worth the read.
Pros: This program lets you take 70% of the first year course load at Drexels College of Medicine. The classes are biochemistry, physiology, immunology, histology, nutrition, and neuroscience. This has the potential to help you make up your mind if you arent certain you want to pursue this line of study or if you need to boost your GPA to gain admission to medical school. Also, most of the professors within Drexel Med are top notch. If you come to learn, none of the shortcomings listed below are insurmountable.
Cons: Im going to break this section up so I can touch on most aspects of the programs inadequacy
Classes: You are never directly taught by a flesh and blood professor. All of your lectures are simulcast on a movie screen via projector. Sounds great in theory except it often doesnt work. There will be MANY times when you cant hear the lecture, see the pointer, clearly make out illustrations, or miss parts of the presentation due to the camera not being properly aligned. These are not rare occurrences. Even though you can access those missed portions from home on your computer, the quality there is rarely little better.
I wont comment on the quality of the medical school classes because the IMS/MMS program is the focus of this review. One class, however, is solely for the IMS year, Medicine and Society. This course is structured in the manner of an assigned reading, a summary essay, a small group discussion, and a large group discussion all on medical ethics. The problem here is that the grading for the course is COMPLETELY subjective. Your TAs determine your grade for the most part and they ALL GRADE DIFFERENTLY. With one TA everyone gets As and with another no one does. Its also a conflict of interest as these TAs are applying to medical school the same time you are. Many people will get a 4.0 in the med school courses only to have their GPA brought down by the subjective grading of this course.
Facilities: If you dont mind taking tests in a dungeon, this is the place for you. The lighting is horrendous in most of the random rooms you are asked to take an exam in during the first year. If you go on to the second year, the lighting is fine but dont be surprised if you end up taking a test on your neighbors lap. Thats what happens when you fit 40 people in a room built for 15. Whereas this happens, it does tend to be more of the exception rather than the rule. Furthermore, youll often times have your assigned room moved out from under you making a schedule useless due to the large number of programs that use the building. You have to check with the office right up until class time to verify your room. For the first year, you are generally in a lecture hall with desks. For the second year, you better get used to taking notes on your lap because not only has your viewing screen shrunk to the size of a television, they often dont give you desks.
Financial Aid: Good luck. Some people wait 4 of 5 months to have a loan dispersed. Drexels financial aid is also quick to point out that its no ones fault for these delays. If you like fighting a well entrenched beauracracy of ineptitude, sign on up. For the program itself, you pay about $19,000 the first year and $16,000 the second. Funny how you take 8 classes the first year and 1 the second yet pay similar amounts. Also, its interesting that this program generates millions of dollars annually which Drexel uses to plug the holes in its budget.
Admission to Medical School: Sure the program gets many of its students into medical school but it neglects to inform students before hand that those figures seem biased towards osteopathic school. Also, unless you are the top of the class with a killer MCAT and just had trouble in your undergrad years, dont expect Drexel to welcome you with open arms into their med school. Due to a restructuring, Drexel takes very few students into their first year class from the IMS/MMS program and you get next to NO preferential treatment in the admissions process.
The program will offer you a guaranteed interview with Drexel if you get a B or better in every class but, as we find out, youre interview can come anywhere in the admission cycle, including March or later, allowing many undergrads in before you.
The above is by no means an exhaustive list and I invite my classmates to sound off about any points that I may have missed or that they disagree with. In the end, you must make the decision yourself but I wanted to give you the information that isnt readily available. The truth is, if you have a good MCAT/GPA, save your $40,000. If you need to raise your MCAT to get in, dont go with this program because you learn nothing to improve your MCAT scores (Go with the MSP). Good luck and thanks for reading.