Hello Pre-Meds! I graduated from the Georgetown SMP program and am writing this post with one of my friends who graduated from the regular MS program. This post is geared towards anyone considering doing a post-bac program or someone who wants to supplement their application to medical school, raise their science GPA, or trying to get into medical school. Both of us will write some notes; me on my experience with the SMP program and her with her experience in the regular Master's program.
Before going into details both me and my friend would like to show our support for post-bac programs in general or one year Master programs as we believe they do help better your chances for acceptance into medical school. That being said we both believe you should NOT consider Georgetown AT ALL. While it is known that these programs are academically challenging and mentally exhausting it is our belief that all Georgetown cares about is money and we both regret going to school here. The facilities are extremely poor and you will be lucky to find a faculty member that goes above and beyond to help at all. A majority of faculty are tenured so they have been teaching the same material since 1980 and are unable to explain material in a way that students can comprehend. We were promised help with finding jobs in a clinical setting upon completion of this program but received an email once a month (maybe) with one job. One professor even told us "Use Google to find jobs." The tuition cost is almost $55,000 and this does not include cost of living. While it is true the top 10% or so of the SMP class does get admission to Georgetown Medical School, it is not worth it. I was fortunate enough to be in this group and declined admission there and am attending another medical school. Though I made close friends in this program it is very cut throat and everyone is against each other. There are so many kids fighting to be in the top portion of this class and it becomes overwhelming and while we will have to learn to deal with this either now or in medical school, you receive absolutely no help from faculty or staff in terms of support so a support system of your family or friends in class is absolutely necessary. Many of the professors take their lectures from other schools and many of the assignments and exams are from Quizlet and many assignments are collaborated between several or more students so it is not fair. All of this is not representative of what we thought "Georgetown" would be like. Halfway through this program I met with the Dean to discuss my concern and was told "everyone has their own opinion and they would look into this" yet nothing resulted from this conversation. A majority of our fellow classmates share our sentiments. Not to mention that there are also mice everywhere you turn and in the classrooms and bathrooms. With regards to the regular MS program it is worse than the SMP program as no one got even an interview for Georgetown and since this program is not with the actual medical students, even less care or energy is put into it by the faculty and staff. You will have to do everything yourself to make sure you get letter of recommendation, a job after the program, and even teaching yourself the materials. Also like the SMP program many professors use lectures from other universities and a majority of quizzes and exams are on Quizlet. Many people had previous exams that were passed around throughout the year. I took a huge loan for this and regret doing so and hope this post saves at least one from choosing to do this program or attending school here. As graduate students in this program you are treated below all other graduate students and it is clearly seen with the lack of funding, educational opportunities, and personal building workshops. The point of any program like this is to help prepare you for the MCAT and help get into medical school; this program did neither nor did they provide me with anything I could not have done myself to get into medical school.
We did not write this post to deter anyone from attending these types of programs; we wrote this because where you go, what faculty you learn from, how much you or your family pay, and your mental/emotional health is an extremely important decision and one that should not be taken lightly. Other than being in a large city like Washington, graduate school at Georgetown was not worth it. All in all we felt like these programs were a scam and Georgetown was using their name to lure students for a pointless degree. There are numerous programs around the country that students should consider before Georgetown. If we could go back and do it again, we would go somewhere else and hope this information helps others in their quest to become a physician.
Before going into details both me and my friend would like to show our support for post-bac programs in general or one year Master programs as we believe they do help better your chances for acceptance into medical school. That being said we both believe you should NOT consider Georgetown AT ALL. While it is known that these programs are academically challenging and mentally exhausting it is our belief that all Georgetown cares about is money and we both regret going to school here. The facilities are extremely poor and you will be lucky to find a faculty member that goes above and beyond to help at all. A majority of faculty are tenured so they have been teaching the same material since 1980 and are unable to explain material in a way that students can comprehend. We were promised help with finding jobs in a clinical setting upon completion of this program but received an email once a month (maybe) with one job. One professor even told us "Use Google to find jobs." The tuition cost is almost $55,000 and this does not include cost of living. While it is true the top 10% or so of the SMP class does get admission to Georgetown Medical School, it is not worth it. I was fortunate enough to be in this group and declined admission there and am attending another medical school. Though I made close friends in this program it is very cut throat and everyone is against each other. There are so many kids fighting to be in the top portion of this class and it becomes overwhelming and while we will have to learn to deal with this either now or in medical school, you receive absolutely no help from faculty or staff in terms of support so a support system of your family or friends in class is absolutely necessary. Many of the professors take their lectures from other schools and many of the assignments and exams are from Quizlet and many assignments are collaborated between several or more students so it is not fair. All of this is not representative of what we thought "Georgetown" would be like. Halfway through this program I met with the Dean to discuss my concern and was told "everyone has their own opinion and they would look into this" yet nothing resulted from this conversation. A majority of our fellow classmates share our sentiments. Not to mention that there are also mice everywhere you turn and in the classrooms and bathrooms. With regards to the regular MS program it is worse than the SMP program as no one got even an interview for Georgetown and since this program is not with the actual medical students, even less care or energy is put into it by the faculty and staff. You will have to do everything yourself to make sure you get letter of recommendation, a job after the program, and even teaching yourself the materials. Also like the SMP program many professors use lectures from other universities and a majority of quizzes and exams are on Quizlet. Many people had previous exams that were passed around throughout the year. I took a huge loan for this and regret doing so and hope this post saves at least one from choosing to do this program or attending school here. As graduate students in this program you are treated below all other graduate students and it is clearly seen with the lack of funding, educational opportunities, and personal building workshops. The point of any program like this is to help prepare you for the MCAT and help get into medical school; this program did neither nor did they provide me with anything I could not have done myself to get into medical school.
We did not write this post to deter anyone from attending these types of programs; we wrote this because where you go, what faculty you learn from, how much you or your family pay, and your mental/emotional health is an extremely important decision and one that should not be taken lightly. Other than being in a large city like Washington, graduate school at Georgetown was not worth it. All in all we felt like these programs were a scam and Georgetown was using their name to lure students for a pointless degree. There are numerous programs around the country that students should consider before Georgetown. If we could go back and do it again, we would go somewhere else and hope this information helps others in their quest to become a physician.