Sorry, I should have clarified, I did not complete the IMS program, but the one year M.S. in molecular medicine at USF. The main difference between them being that the IMS is essentially the entire first year with the M1's (w/o any patient contact) while the other program consist of graduate level courses. I'm not very familiar with IMS, but it is very intense and it carries no guarantees, not even for an interview (though I believe most of the participants are interviewed around the end of the cycle). I would say the M.S. program is easier than the IMS program, but my program was still very challenging. The courses are taken at the med school, from the med school faculty, often the exact same powepoint, but some of the differences are that we were required to know things in a little bit more detail in some cases, and our overall load wasn't nearly as heavy. I think the majority of the people were attempting to go to med school, but we had some that were trying to go to dental school, and a few chose to just put their credits earned in the master's toward a PhD program (which is a good aspect of the program).
As far as overall success rates go, I don't know for sure and I don't know if USF would know. We had some people get accepted to D.O. programs and a couple went to the caribbean. As for me, I retook the MCAT while in the program, got all new letters of rec, did research at USF, and continued volunteering. My ugrad science GPA was mediocre at best, but I got several interviews, including USF and UM, and have been accepted to a US M.D. program. I'm not sure where I'll end up yet, but I know I wouldn't be in w/o having done the program. There is also another person in the program that followed the route I did and has had similar success.
I think the differences between the M.S. program at USF compared to a more traditional SMP program were as follows: 1-it won't make up for a mediocre MCAT. We had people do extremely well in the program, but had poor MCAT scores so they still ended up choosing D.O. programs. Good grades combined with a good MCAT can lead to success. The good part is that the courses taken in the M.S. program, especially the biochem class in the first semester, make the bio section of the MCAT a walk in the park. I think it's very easy to improve your score being in these classes. 2-I think you have to go above and beyond the program itself to get into med school. In a more traditional program, the courses are so intense that just showing success grade-wise will probably get you far, but I think that those individuals who just expected to take classes then get into med school in this program weren't successful. Staying busy with things like research, volunteering, shadowing, etc. are great ways to "maximize" the program, and also to get to know the people around the med school, who might be sitting on the admissions comittee or writing you letters. The good part about this though, is that these opportunities are easy to get, you just have to have the initiative to ask and go after them.
Overall, I'm glad I chose the program, but I don't think it compares with a program like Georgetown, EVMS, or others like that. I think it fits students who are self-motivated and willing to extend themselves to succeed, and who may also already have the MCAT (or GRE or DAT) to get in, and maybe just need another year of difficult classes to push them over the edge. Good luck.
