I'm an alumnus from the Midwestern Univeristy MBS program in Glendale, AZ and I was a predental student at that time. Out of 15 or so students in the MBS program, I was the first and only predental student. I sucessfully earned many dental school admissions with this program.
Let me dispell many of your myths. Yes the program's curriculum is set for two years, but your goal is to get out of that program after one year because hopefully you've successfully gained an admission to the professional school of your choice (med or dent or whatever) after one year of "great grades" in the post-bac program. If you get just one C+ in any of the classes in this program's curriculum, then in my opinion, you've defeated your purpose to be in this program. Getting into this program and then doing well in it is a way to demonstrate your truly academic ability to dental or medical schools' admission committees that you're low undergraduate GPA is not the true you. If you then get a C+ in this program, then you have no business doing there wasting your money or time because your chances of "demonstrating" that you're academically sound had just took a dive.
The year I enrolled (2001 - 2002), I believe it was the program's second year in running. The program director and I remain close friends today as he was one of my main supporter/reason to my academic success today. He bent backwards to get me into that MBS program and wasn't for this program, I would not be where I am today. I had numbers (undergraduate GPA) that were well below what the MU MBS program had required.
This MU MBS program in AZ is extremely effective to get students into their professional schools of their choices because first, it utilizes the quarter (10 weeks) system instead of semesters (16 weeks). What does that mean? That means with the quarter system, you the student can submit grades to dent or med schools that you've applied to sooner as they become available. Because of this reason, I was able to submit two quarters worth of grades to schools that I've applied by the end of December. If you were in a semester system, then you would only have one semester worth of grades to submit by the end of December.
The basic science ourses you take at this Post-bac program is extremely rigorous and challenging, but with GREAT teachers. You take them with the Osteopathic medical (DO) students and let me just tell you, after having experienced MU basic science faculties and their teachings, it really made the Nova Southeastern University (NSU) basic science department look like rookies! Courses are tough at MU, but because with great teachers teaching in ways that you'll learn and understand, students tends to do well.
Also, if you're a premed and don't mind becoming a DO, then this program is definitely for you! If you do well in this MBS program (get all As in the basic science courses), then you're guaranteed an interview with AZCOM for the next incoming class and if you were to be accepted, then you don't even have to take those basic science courses again when you're actually a 1st year med student. With the new dental school starting at MU, I guarantee you that MU MBS program will feed into the MU dental school just like the MU med school do. Whether you're predent or premed (if you don't mind DO), you can't go wrong with this program! If you want allopathic, then this can be effective as well, but since MU is linked to a osteopathic school, more MU MBS students become DOs.
My time line at the time: goal was to apply to dental school and start in Fall 2002
May 2001: Accepted to both Midwestern University MBS programs (IL and AZ)
Aug 2001: Enrolled and started the MBS program in AZ
Nov 2001: Submitted my applications to dental schools for Fall 2002
Dec 2001: Submitted my first two quarters (Fall & Winter quarters) of Post-bac grades to dental schools that I've applied to
Jan 2002: Retook my DAT (2nd time around)
March 2002: Received my first dental school interview, and then my second, and then my third....
March 2002: Earned acceptances to multiple dental schools
March 2002: Dropped out of MU MBS program only after two quarters of Post-bac because I acheived what I went there to acheive (to get into a dental school). Once I earned acceptances to dental schools, there was no more reasons why I should continue to pay tuition at MU and borrow loans to finish up the year. Of course I verified with the dental schools that it was OK for me to discontinue my Post-bac, once they confirmed, I was out-of-there!
August 2002: Started my dental school journey
As you can see, things progressed as planned and it went really well for me. I'm not saying that this will happen to you if go to MU, but I can tell you this. If you get accepted to MU MBS program and then you do well in it (getting all As and Bs), your chances of getting into a med or dent school of your choice will greatly increase. Of course, you must do well on your MCAT or DAT retakes. Between my success at MU MBS courses and my second DAT, I believe those were the key players of how I got into dental schools.
Good luck to you all and I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend Midwestern University's MBS program to anyone that wish to use an opportunity to demonstrate your true academic capabilities.
