Greetings Everyone!
I was privileged to be a part of the inaugural class of the ABS program, and I must say that it was a huge blessing for me! I was not a science major in college, but I was pre-med. So, I felt that in order for me to be succesful in med school I needed this type of program.
Fall semester we took, Biostats, Histology, Biochemistry and Physician & Society. Histoloy is taught by GTown Med professors and Biostats and Biochem are taught by George Mason professors. Awesome courses, but very intense.
Spring semester you take the Fundamentals Physiology (bascially medical physiology) and Human anatomy (where you attend GTown Medschool gross anatomy lab on Saturdays for anatomy review sessions using pre-dissected cadavers once a month).
Classes will be held at the Prince William campus of George Mason University in Manassas, VA. Living is not too bad, if you live in Manassas. It is a quite area, and many may even say rural. However, there are a great deal of stores and the main mall (Manassa Mall). D.C. is about a 35-45 minute drive depending upon traffic.
Overall, this program is awesome and I highly recommend it. It was a lot of work, and definitely you will work at least 2-3X harder than in ugrad to get the higher grades. I would say also to use every possible resource including the TAs. Also, I would say that if you can refrain from working for the year, do it! If not, make sure you have an understanding boss...so,that when exams roll around you'll have the week/weekend before off to complete your studying...especially considering that tuition for the year is ~24,000(at least this year it was, it may be slightly higher). You want to make sure that you do all you can do to ensure that you are successful and have made a wise investment! From this year's class there are (3)MD acceptances; (3)DO acceptances; (2) Dental school acceptances (that I know of); and the rest are going into Master's programs and/or working and applying this June. Total class size was about 45-50.
Best advice: stay on top of the material and take advantage of all the resources! Best to you all in your future endeavors!!!🙂