Established Program vs. New? Full vs. Part-time?

Started by neural84
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neural84

Full Member
15+ Year Member
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Hi,

I would greatly appreciate opinions on these issues:

1.) How important is it to adcoms that a student complete a masters or SMP that is "established" compared to a fairly new program at a reputable school?


2.) Do adcoms look down upon students if they are registered part-time at these programs? Do they believe that a part-time graduate curriculum may not be indicative of one's ability to succeed in a full-time med school curriculum?

My alma mater's grad school/med school offers a Physiology & Biophysics MS program, but it is only in its second year. Since it is a state school, tuition would be ridiculously cheap (under $10k for NYS residents), and the program can be completed within a year. There's also a thesis option available.

Like comparable programs, it takes 30 credits for completion. 8 of those credits could be done via the medical physiology class, which is taken with the med school students (or so it would appear).

I am strongly considering this program as a part-time student b/c I have had no coursework in biochem (and undergraduate biochem is a prerequisite for completion of the program; a masters student may take the undergrad biochem --which would not count towards the 30 credits--- or take the med school biochem, which would count; both are taught by the same professor).

Thanks in advance!