Loyola

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If you got accepted at EVMS, I really wouldn't worry about Loyola. When I do decide to apply to med school, Stritch SOM will be one of my top choices. However, I have major concerns with the MA in Medical Sciences program. In my opinion, it is poorly designed.

Some things to consider:

The program is only in its first year and the program is not designed for those who wish to apply during the program. What does this mean? It means that no one can say at this point just how effective it is; there is no track record. The website says something about a 75% acceptance rate into med schools for Loyola students, but that rate has nothing to do with the MAMS program.

Most special masters programs are designed to be very rigorous so that you can prove you're med school material. This means several things:

First, a good program should consist of close to 30 credits in the first year. Loyola's program is only 24. If I did this program, I would at least add one or two more graduate-level science courses to make up for the low credit hours (even though Loyola advises against this). Twenty-four credits wouldn't be so bad if med school courses were included in that number. This brings me to my next point...

Second, the program should include medical school courseS (capitalization for emphasis). For the program currently underway, there are ZERO medical school courses. The basic science years of Stritch SOM are done in Maywood. In contrast, the MAMS program is in Chicago. A student currently in the program informed me that for next year, Loyola is considering adding one med school course to the MAMS program. Two problems: (1) I don't think just one med school course is enough (2) this would probably mean that you have to go to a different campus just to go to that class. Even if a pre-professional graduate program does not have med school courses, the courses should be very demanding. For example, the VCU certificate programs don't include any med courses, but at least the programs are very rigorous (some say harder than the 1st year of med school), have more credits than Loyola (and yet Loyola gives a master's degree, go figure), and include courses with MS and PhD students. In the MAMS program your classmates are the students in the program. That's it--no MS, PhD, DO, or MD students.

Third, a special masters program needs to offer something other than just coursework. The well designed special masters programs include med school courses and possibly a laboratory component(s) and research component such as a thesis. Loyola does not currently offer these components.

Another thing that some people don't seem to understand is the guaranteed interview at Stritch. You are guaranteed an interview with a certain undergrad gpa, a certain gpa in the MAMS program, and a specific MCAT (28 or better, if I remember correctly). If you get into the program with a 26 and retake for a 28, guess what? No interview. Stritch averages your MCAT scores, so to be eligible for the guaranteed interview you need to average 28 or better. I realize this particular piece of info probably doesn't apply to the OP, but I just thought I'd throw that out there for others considering the program.

Loyola's MA in Medical Sciences is worth considering, but I think there are many programs out there that are much better.
 
calbear15 said:
Loyola gave me the stiff-arm today. 🙁 bummer.

My numbers: 2.3 BCPM/3.1 Cume/ 32Q


good luck to the rest of you.


I'd think that your stats are pretty "okay"/if not good for loyola's program. especially with the great mcat score 😕
 
Phil...I love you man. I can't believe I ever thought of challenging you to a post-bacc dual. 🙁

Loyola definitely deflated my ego a little bit (what little of it that I had left) but you're absolutely right. I already knew everything you said but somehow it made me feel a lot better to read it again. So thanks to both gh and Phil.
 
calbear15 said:
Loyola definitely deflated my ego a little bit (what little of it that I had left) but you're absolutely right. I already knew everything you said but somehow it made me feel a lot better to read it again. So thanks to both gh and Phil.


hi calbear - yeah, i wouldn't let it worry you, you should be proud of your MCAT accomplishment. i've been looking at layola too for 2006, but i'm so unclear on who they want, what they do, and what happens to people afterwards, it's lower on my list at this point. it's such a time, money, and soul investment, i don't want to feel so unsure about the program, and if they weren't to accept me, well it wouldn't be the first obstacle (sp?) i've encounted on this journey 😳

hahah, and that's funny about phil_anthropist, i challenged him to an august mcat duel 😀
 
In my opinion, given many other SMPs out there, Loyola would not be a wise choice.

Just to give some updated facts:

1) About 40-50% of the 1st class has been admitted to medical school this year. I don't expect this to change significantly over the summer. Most of the students were excellent students before coming to the program, so it's unlikely this success can be attributed to the program. To note: NO students have been accepted to Stritch. I believe 4 recently interviewed, and were placed on the alternate list. However, there were a lot of politics behind this: students in the program were irate at the lack of attention from Stritch (no interviews at all). This prompted the Director to hand-choose students that she felt would be a good match at Loyola. 👎 Needless to say, this upset many students in the class, since this promoted competition between students, and was evidence of favoritism (i.e., it was not clearly merit-based).

2) It is very unlikely that a class will be taught at the medical school campus next year. In fact, the MAMS advisor said there wouldn't be one next year for sure. Even if there was, the class wouldn't be a medical school class. It would be simply a class, taught at Stritch. The general consensus (confirmed by the former assistant {fired earlier this year for unknown reasons} was that Stritch wants very little to do with MAMS. I cannot emphasize enought that LU MAMS is NOT a linkage to Stritch.

3) The courses in MAMS do not have a clinical focus, and are not rigorous. Depending on your preference, this is either a positive or negative. However, as Phil mentioned, it dilutes the credibility of the program. If a majority of your classmates graduate with a 3.75+, yours will mean that much less when it's in a pile with your classmates.

4) Not only is there no lab work, there's not much of anything besides coursework. Meaning if you have to work on your MCAT, you will get very little support from the staff. This year, a few students who did well on the MCAT volunteered to tutor fellow classmates on the test. The tutoring consisted of reviewing the basics, and proctoring practice sessions. Also, if you want to seek volunteer opps, you're pretty much on your own. Again, the students themselves are organizing a list of "preferred" volunteer activities right now, which will hopefully be available to next year's students. But, the admin. will give you very little support in seeking meaningful opps.

By far, the biggest gripe current students have is with the administration of the program. In fact, the students were so upset at this, that a committee of students was formed to formally raise complaints to the Director and head of the Bio department. No significant changes were effected from this well-intentioned committee.

If anyone has any specific questions on the program, feel free to PM or post. I don't frequent as much these days, but pop in once in a while.
 
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