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graduateguy

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Hey all, I have been a viewer of the SDN for quite some time but never posted anything to the site before, but after my experience, I believe I should put it out there for others to know.

I will do my best to keep this short and to the point. I attended Liberty's MSBS 1 year program and successfully completed the program well above their guaranteed interview qualifications. After many months of ignored emails sent to LUCOM I was finally able to get my interview, but I was told that it was not going to be taken seriously because my MCAT did not meet their competitive score. Now I understand MCAT is very important, but the reason we do these intensive master's degrees is to help outweigh the MCAT as much as possible and prove that we can handle the rigorous curriculum of medical school. Myself along with 11 other 1-and 2-year students were denied from fair interviews based on this. So I must ask, what is the point of the program?

Students cant retake the MCAT during the year because the schedule is too busy, it does not prepare you for any other section on the MCAT other than bio, but the program lets in students with a score as low as a 493. Again, why let in students with lower MCAT scores and guarantee them an interview at LUCOM, but it will not be taken seriously? 12 students thought this was not right, so we started to climb the ladder of Liberty University to get real answers. We had to climb all the way up to the Provost to actually get heard. We had a meeting with the dean of Liberty, and he told us that we are not any different from any other applicant even though we did this program. He also mentioned that the 2 year students will not be accepted because while they can handle the content, they cant handle the course load. all in all, it took them 4 months to respond to us and told us, thanks for applying to LUCOM, better luck next year. They disregarded everything that was brought to their attention.

Now time for some real numbers, we started with 22 (1-year) students at the beginning of the year, we ended with 12 students graduating on time. Of those 12, 2 got into LUCOM. When we first got to the program, we were told 90% of the graduating class will get into medical school of their choice mostly being LUCOM. Just 2 got in, and at their interview, the interviewers did not know the students were attending the MSBS program.

So if you are thinking about LU's masters program, think very hard about it. The classes are good, and they are tough, but you do not have an adviser, no one will stick up for you, LUCOM does not like the program since the new dean stepped in, and you will not get a serious interview if you do not have a score above 500. Liberty is a nice school, but it is a business, and they certainly act upon that notion. I am not saying dont attend this program, I just wanted to give you my experience at LU.

PM me if you have any more questions.

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Hey, thank you for sharing your experience! I got accepted into the one year program and trying to figure out if Liberty could be a good option to complete my post bacc. I recently called this week asking them on their stats about the success of the program but were not able to provide any. So this post helps a ton with my decision making!

Also, how many schools did you apply to other than LUCOM? What made you choose Liberty for your post bacc?
 
Sorry to hear of your story OP. It’s a shame they didn’t accept you, given you met the GPA threshold. A masters that only has a 10% success rate is more than just a risky bet.

If you can’t get past the MCAT, look into garunteed programs like LECOM or VCOM post bacc, if you still really want to be a DO. After so many years, you gotta ask “is it still worth it after all this debt?” No doubt you have a lot of student loan debt from undergrad and this program.

Personally, I would look into Podiatry (DPM) and see if it is something you can get into. Your MCAT score is fine for most programs, and if you met the interview threshold for your masters, I bet you have a high enough GPA. Good profession if MD/DO just isn’t in the cards for you.
 
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Hey, thank you for sharing your experience! I got accepted into the one year program and trying to figure out if Liberty could be a good option to complete my post bacc. I recently called this week asking them on their stats about the success of the program but were not able to provide any. So this post helps a ton with my decision making!

Also, how many schools did you apply to other than LUCOM? What made you choose Liberty for your post bacc?

Hey, so I applied to LECOM and Liberty. I visited Liberty a year before I applied there because I helped my cousin, that was currently attending LU, move into his house. He showed me around the campus, and I was just in shock of how beautiful the campus was and the setting of the med school. When I inquired about the program, they gave me a ton of stats about the program. At the time, they dropped some impressive numbers and that ultimately made my decision.
 
Sorry to hear of your story OP. It’s a shame they didn’t accept you, given you met the GPA threshold. A masters that only has a 10% success rate is more than just a risky bet.

If you can’t get past the MCAT, look into garunteed programs like LECOM or VCOM post bacc, if you still really want to be a DO. After so many years, you gotta ask “is it still worth it after all this debt?” No doubt you have a lot of student loan debt from undergrad and this program.

Personally, I would look into Podiatry (DPM) and see if it is something you can get into. Your MCAT score is fine for most programs, and if you met the interview threshold for your masters, I bet you have a high enough GPA. Good profession if MD/DO just isn’t in the cards for you.

Hey, thank you for the advice. It is always appreciated. I most certainly have been looking into other programs. Like you said, the debt is a lot and unfortunately it creeps up on you.
 
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Thanks for sharing brother, I appreciate your courage to share your experience. Just got accepted into the program and will be starting this fall. I am shocked that of the 22 students that matriculated into the program, only 12 graduated on time. I hope to graduate on time rather than waste more money for another fall semester. Could you give me a rundown of what your experience each semester was llike in terms of courses, faculty, your classmates, professors to look out for, quizzes, exams, etc? You can PM me if you like. Thanks!

Hey all, I have been a viewer of the SDN for quite some time but never posted anything to the site before, but after my experience, I believe I should put it out there for others to know.

I will do my best to keep this short and to the point. I attended Liberty's MSBS 1 year program and successfully completed the program well above their guaranteed interview qualifications. After many months of ignored emails sent to LUCOM I was finally able to get my interview, but I was told that it was not going to be taken seriously because my MCAT did not meet their competitive score. Now I understand MCAT is very important, but the reason we do these intensive master's degrees is to help outweigh the MCAT as much as possible and prove that we can handle the rigorous curriculum of medical school. Myself along with 11 other 1-and 2-year students were denied from fair interviews based on this. So I must ask, what is the point of the program?

Students cant retake the MCAT during the year because the schedule is too busy, it does not prepare you for any other section on the MCAT other than bio, but the program lets in students with a score as low as a 493. Again, why let in students with lower MCAT scores and guarantee them an interview at LUCOM, but it will not be taken seriously? 12 students thought this was not right, so we started to climb the ladder of Liberty University to get real answers. We had to climb all the way up to the Provost to actually get heard. We had a meeting with the dean of Liberty, and he told us that we are not any different from any other applicant even though we did this program. He also mentioned that the 2 year students will not be accepted because while they can handle the content, they cant handle the course load. all in all, it took them 4 months to respond to us and told us, thanks for applying to LUCOM, better luck next year. They disregarded everything that was brought to their attention.

Now time for some real numbers, we started with 22 (1-year) students at the beginning of the year, we ended with 12 students graduating on time. Of those 12, 2 got into LUCOM. When we first got to the program, we were told 90% of the graduating class will get into medical school of their choice mostly being LUCOM. Just 2 got in, and at their interview, the interviewers did not know the students were attending the MSBS program.

So if you are thinking about LU's masters program, think very hard about it. The classes are good, and they are tough, but you do not have an adviser, no one will stick up for you, LUCOM does not like the program since the new dean stepped in, and you will not get a serious interview if you do not have a score above 500. Liberty is a nice school, but it is a business, and they certainly act upon that notion. I am not saying dont attend this program, I just wanted to give you my experience at LU.

PM me if you have any more questions.
 
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Hey brother i just got accepted into the program and I had a few questions relating to it. I would like to PM you but the way your profile is set up i can't seem to do that
Hey all, I have been a viewer of the SDN for quite some time but never posted anything to the site before, but after my experience, I believe I should put it out there for others to know.

I will do my best to keep this short and to the point. I attended Liberty's MSBS 1 year program and successfully completed the program well above their guaranteed interview qualifications. After many months of ignored emails sent to LUCOM I was finally able to get my interview, but I was told that it was not going to be taken seriously because my MCAT did not meet their competitive score. Now I understand MCAT is very important, but the reason we do these intensive master's degrees is to help outweigh the MCAT as much as possible and prove that we can handle the rigorous curriculum of medical school. Myself along with 11 other 1-and 2-year students were denied from fair interviews based on this. So I must ask, what is the point of the program?

Students cant retake the MCAT during the year because the schedule is too busy, it does not prepare you for any other section on the MCAT other than bio, but the program lets in students with a score as low as a 493. Again, why let in students with lower MCAT scores and guarantee them an interview at LUCOM, but it will not be taken seriously? 12 students thought this was not right, so we started to climb the ladder of Liberty University to get real answers. We had to climb all the way up to the Provost to actually get heard. We had a meeting with the dean of Liberty, and he told us that we are not any different from any other applicant even though we did this program. He also mentioned that the 2 year students will not be accepted because while they can handle the content, they cant handle the course load. all in all, it took them 4 months to respond to us and told us, thanks for applying to LUCOM, better luck next year. They disregarded everything that was brought to their attention.

Now time for some real numbers, we started with 22 (1-year) students at the beginning of the year, we ended with 12 students graduating on time. Of those 12, 2 got into LUCOM. When we first got to the program, we were told 90% of the graduating class will get into medical school of their choice mostly being LUCOM. Just 2 got in, and at their interview, the interviewers did not know the students were attending the MSBS program.

So if you are thinking about LU's masters program, think very hard about it. The classes are good, and they are tough, but you do not have an adviser, no one will stick up for you, LUCOM does not like the program since the new dean stepped in, and you will not get a serious interview if you do not have a score above 500. Liberty is a nice school, but it is a business, and they certainly act upon that notion. I am not saying dont attend this program, I just wanted to give you my experience at LU.

PM me if you have any more questions.
hey brothe
 
I'm glad I read this thread!

If you don't mind, what were the stats of people who got in? and when did you apply/ hear back? I would be applying late in the game for 2019 due to needing the MCAT so I'm anxious about classes filling up.

Thank you!
 
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I was considering applying to this MSBS program but I haven't seen any concrete evidence on the medical school linkage. The fact that you are stating that their Medical School admissions did not even realize that the 2 students were in the program is an eye opener.
Do you have any stats on the students that were not given an interview?
 
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Hey all,

I was perusing the web and stumbled across this post. I too was a student at Liberty's MSBS program last year (one year program), and I can verify that what OP said was in no way exaggerated. My best advice is to steer clear - the professors that are integral to the MSBS program are phenomenally gifted and have it in their best interest to see you succeed, but they are not tied in with LUCOM. With that being said, their statistics of the past are indeed correct - for the classes before the class of 2018, the MSBS program was absolutely a great gateway into LUCOM. The new dean, however, is less than enthused towards believing the MSBS program is a preparable program for the difficulties of LUCOM, and because of that, a lot of us and our future plans fell in short. Please feel free to message if you have any questions!
 
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My question is, what do you do now? What did people end up doing? I soppose you could always teach because it’s a masters.

Have you looked into alternatives like Podiatry or Optometry school?

Hey all,

I was perusing the web and stumbled across this post. I too was a student at Liberty's MSBS program last year (one year program), and I can verify that what OP said was in no way exaggerated. My best advice is to steer clear - the professors that are integral to the MSBS program are phenomenally gifted and have it in their best interest to see you succeed, but they are not tied in with LUCOM. With that being said, their statistics of the past are indeed correct - for the classes before the class of 2018, the MSBS program was absolutely a great gateway into LUCOM. The new dean, however, is less than enthused towards believing the MSBS program is a preparable program for the difficulties of LUCOM, and because of that, a lot of us and our future plans fell in short. Please feel free to message if you have any questions!
 
A lot of these masters and post bacc programs used to be a nice gateway to the medical school but they are becoming so much more competitive now. There are still a few gems out there. I'm would not consider LU anymore. What a shame
 
How is the passing/failing rate? Do many students pass their classes or struggle?
 
Everyone in the program has the right mindset. If you think about it, it's almost like a second chance to get into medical school after underperforming in undergrad. And if you have the right mindset, you'll succeed in the program. It prepares you well (imo) and people did well, without a doubt. But at the end of the day, it's up to LUCOM to decide whether to let you in or not.
 
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