I've been accepted to the Lincoln Memorial (LMU) Master's in Biomedical Professions and the William Carey University (WCU) Master's in Biomedical Sciences programs, and having a tough time deciding on which to attend this fall. Both programs are one year, have similar curriculums, and claim to have high matriculation rates into medical school. Due to my lower stats, wherever I go for the MS program I will likely **hopefully** go to med school. So it’s pretty much a yearlong interview. Because of this, I have been looking at both med schools’ curriculums, rotations, research opportunities, etc., which is factoring into my current decision. If I’m putting the cart before the horse, please let me know.
LMU Pros:
- Guaranteed interview at LMU-DCOM if Fall GPA is >3.0
- Opportunity to earn up to 15 credit hours for med school
- 80% acceptance rate into med school
LMU Cons:
- Larger class size (~125 for both MS programs)
- Cost is higher (34k)
- Location isn’t ideal, but I can get over that
WCU Pros:
- Classes taught by the WCUCOM professors
- Small class size, easy to make connections/make a name for yourself
- Cost is lower (20k)
WCU Cons:
- 50% (7/14) of MBS students that applied to WCUCOM were accepted
- Relatively new program
- Seems to be mixed emotions about the medical school (prep for boards and mandatory attendance)
- Tornado wiped out their entire campus, however, they promise that everything will be rebuilt by August 2017.
Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I'm closely related to someone in the WCU MBS program. To say that the level of disappointment in this program is high would be a disappointment. We're all disappointed. Go to LMU if they guarantee interviews if you hit the targets.
Dr. Roark is a nice guy from what I've heard. However, they've currently sent out 6 secondaries to current MBS students. 17 applied out of the program. There was allegedly a 3 person MBS committee that decided whether or not an MBS student got a secondary and therefore got an interview. They cut off the MCAT at around 495 from what I've been told. They essentially disregarded MBS performance as the student of the year, who had a 4.0 GPA in the MBS program, did not get a secondary. There were several other students who I've been told have fairly strong (above 3.5 MBS GPA) performances but were not given an interview.
According to the operating rationale, Dr. Weir, the Dean of Admissions, believes there is a correlation between MCAT and board scores, which might be fair in general, but the research does not bear this rationale out given one thing that's currently circulating, which will be addressed with a link below. I've read two of the widely referenced articles published on this topic and there is a GENERAL correlation between between MCAT and board scores, but there is no research that would allow anyone to conclude that a 500 would indicate an increased probability over someone with a 495 to pass/score well on the USMLE/COMLEX. The separation and classification of these studies based on scores is not a major consideration. The only study I read considered "high" scorers as 35 and "low" scorers as 28. That's an 11 point difference for the purpose of the study converted to the new MCAT, and the conclusion was the 11 point difference had moderate to low correlation generally speaking. A 5 point difference is half that and the correlation would be even lower.
Anyway, I say all that to say this:
WCU College of Osteopathic Medicine and Millsaps College confirm partnership for medical students | William Carey University
Students have found out that Dr. Weir initiated a partnership with his alma mater, Milsaps, to GUARANTEE admission to the WCU COM. The requirements are 500 MCAT and 3.25 UGPA. So, 500 MCAT is the baseline to operate from. There are students in the low to mid 490s with relatively strong performances (above 3.5) in WCU's own Master's program who didn't receive interviews. So you go from 100% chance coming from Milsaps with a 3.25/500 to a 0% with 495/3.5+ MBS GPA at WCU. The board score argument is also not germane given the separation between 500 and 495. Even at 492 it would be a low correlation because the University of Minnesota's study concluded low to moderate correlation.
One obvious question is why WCU COM partnered with a Methodist school to guarantee admission to 10 students to increase recruitment efforts at Milsaps when WCU's OWN UNDERGRADUATE UNIVERSITY DOESN'T HAVE THIS TYPE OF AGREEMENT IN PLACE. It's a recruitment tool for Milsaps. Why WCU wants to recruit good students to Milsaps as opposed to their own school is beyond me. Mississippi College would make more sense. I promise, though, Dr. Weir would not want to commit 20% of his class potentially to students tied into Milsaps and WCU.
The other obvious question is why they don't consider the Master's work in their own program taught by the WCU's COM faculty as superior to an undergraduate education at Milsaps.
The glaring deficiency in their rationale is published stats by the AAMC indicate one is more likely to be accepted to allopathic medical school with a 3.6/494-497 than someone with a 3.2/500. Yet, the new initiative that guarantees admission to Milsaps students bucks this trend. The sliding scale descriptively employed seems not to apply here. Also, this is master's level work and it's less respected than Milsaps UGPA.
So DO NOT EXPECT THIS PROGRAM TO GET YOU INTO WCU COM WITHOUT A 500ish MCAT. They'd argue it's not portal and it doesn't replace MCAT. But last year students with lower MCAT scores were accepted leaving the current students confused to say the least. They're partially arguing the competitive applicant class with higher average MCAT scores this year as the reason for fewer interviews. However, if that's the case, and it fluctuates depending on the applicants, WHY AGREE TO GUARANTEE ADMISSION TO 10 MILSAPS STUDENTS WITH 3.25/500? In 3 years, 500 may be low for WCU.
So, the 50% stats MIGHT have been true last year BUT they must be contextualized. Several got in off the WL. And this year's class WILL NOT get 50% of applicants into the COM as of now. At best, 6/17 will be admitted as it stands now.
I'll update if it changes, but the secondary submission deadline has passed. There is more I've been told, but this accurate summarizes many current MBS students' attitudes toward the MBS program.
