Hi,
I am the student who completed the accel masters at NYMC last year. A fellow applicant who interviewed pointed me to this thread and asked me to state a few of my experiences.
Please understand that I may not have time to answer every individual pm.
I know that every student who interviews either has the chance to pick my brains in person or is offered my email address for this purpose.
So should you be in the position of having to decide where you go next month, you will certainly have the chance to get in touch with me as much as you want.
That said, I will try offer a few of my thoughts on the Master's route in general and where this particular program is positioned, imho.
There is a plethora of master's programs and postbachs frequently hijacked to up one's application ante, but they are not programs geared towards the sole purpose of application "gameness". They have their place, but discussing them is laborious.
examples: MPH, post-bachs that are of the "MCAT prep" (point a finger to chitown...), gather me my premeds (ubiquitous)....
Of the single purpose master's programs I see two types:
1.)
Research and thesis driven programs that aim to strengthen the life science background.
(ex. the semi invitation only deal at Mt. Sinai which from a competitiveness basis compares very nicely with the NYCm program in the sense that they try to recruit off the barely fail AMCAS app. pool)
2.)
GPA driver programs of which georgetown represents the original archetype and model.
1:
This makes a lot fo sense if the undergraduate has no science exposure beyond the premed cookie jar. And certainly is lightyears from being published or having research background. Furthermore this is chocie if you like science and want to do the medical scientist track. The better of these programs not only do not set you up to improve your GPA, they dial the clock against you achieving this. At Mt Sinai I was told very upfront that improving the GPA had never been done in their track and wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Logically this should make sense. (I do like their program VERY much for research if you are wondering.)
2:
These programs are the opposite of above. They aim to improve the undergraduate GPA in two ways. They provide a very solid background of the MD1 material so that one can argue he is "prepared" and they rig the program to give the student a chance to shine. (If they have a decent program.)
Recently there 2.) has brought forth a new breed that aims to streamline and intensify by merely giving MD1 on the rocks. Tufts and NYMC are the purest forms of this approach as far as I know. There are others, but for various reasons I would not consider something like BU to be as purist.
(a pointer would be that it isn't exactly possibly to be a pretend med student among the MD1 class if there are 150 of "you". Would you really take every course and test with them? If not WHAT courses are you taking with the Meds? Biochem is the least MDish course and the holy grail is most likely gross anatomy...)
I think that given that the program I was in was that new breed, I should quickly mention who I think might benefit from this type.
1.) You are already very close, but you need something to get you over the edge.
2.) You believe you belong in medical school and the reasons why that isn't currently obvious on paper are no longer applicable to you. You want to simply sit down do MD1 and show the world that you went and outscored a class of MD1. [THAT is the golden cookie you can get in these accel deals, but you don't need to do it to benefit]
I honestly do not see these programs any good if you want to groom yourself in terms of MCAT preparedness, finding out if med school is for you or if you do not have everything else in your personal life sorted. Many times there was zero difference between me and the MD1 students, and I was exactly as busy as them. That doesn't leave terribly much room for anythign else. This brings me to another nugget.
This program is probably not good if you are the type to send out 15 applications and already plan to do about that number while you are in the program. That is a surefire disaster. The only type of person that could possible handle 15 bomb specific secondary essays, a realistic interview count of above five and still outscore their MD1 peers on the side is not the type of person that didn't get in last year...
Do you see what I mean? Do NOT apply during the high intensity Master's programs if it didn't work without a master's before. These programs place serious demand on you. If you do badly they close as many doors as they could open. I think that is something you may not hear everywhere. I do not know.
It is true that one CAN apply during the Master's program, but you need to take a few things into account.
A.) How close were you last time? (remember close to nothing is different applying during. A few running exams and one completed course do not outweigh four plus years of your history)
B.) No you cannot recycle your primary if you have any repeat apps in the pool.
C.) For the NYMC Master's there are specific times during which you will have an easier time interviewing. If you do it at NYMC have ur primary in during June. Applied to more than 15? Do only the secondaries for the 5 most realistic schools. (imho) Every good secondary is many days work. If you are going to recycle and write half-assed essay's you are wasting your and their time spreading yourself thin and makign yourself crazy. Save the sanity you can muster during the app cycle. It is hard on everyone.
A few points on the Master's I attended:
The attention I was given was obviously very close. I know that the class size was indeed limited to 25 as someone her ementioned. I also know they they are flooded with apps and currently regret a few of the acceptances they gave. That is typical of every program even MD
I also know they they probably will not allow a full 25 students this year.
There are two professors who are the brainfathers of this program. One of them heads the physiology course for MD and the other the Cell bio/Histology course for MD. Both are on the MD admissions board at NYMC. One is also the director of their long running 2 year program. Both deeply care about the success of this program and their students. They have a vested interest in this going well. (I like to see other people's self interest goign in the same direction as my interests...)
What comes next is the closest thing toa pitch you will hear from me and I have to try hard not to say things that one knows but cannot be stated overtly:
A program with 150 students and a long track record cannot and does not have a personal interest in your success. They cannot protect this itnerest as no school has that many spots in their entering MD class. That much should be obvious.
Take your thought one step further: The amount of interconnectedness between the people who hold your success in the master's in their hands and the people who hold the key to an MD admission matters. A LOT.
The wet dream is them being one and the same...
I think if that isn't obvious enough I suggest you ask the following direct question at every one of your candidate programs:
1.) Are you guys on the admissions committee? (we work WITH them is not at all the same, but it is better than what is at MT. Sinai)
The implied question is whether they can FDIC insure your success if you do your part. This is very sensitive and borders on pushing integrity of the process. knowing the powers and the interests of those who designed your program of choice tells you a lot about the underpinnings.
A few things about NYMC layout:
A well designed master's does this whole "set up for good GPA" thing. So how does that look when you are thrown in with the MD's and you essentially need to at least keep up or outdo the one's you didn't beat at getting in????
simple:
at NYMC you have three blocks 2 courses per block.
Block1: MD gross anatomy/Histo YOU biostats/Histo
biostats is a freebie. I don't want to say too much here, but believe me when I tell you that block1 you have essentially an unlimited amoutn fo time to master a course the MD's have almost no time for as they are adjusting to med school and dying in anatomy. A very fun start for your epic success.
Block2: You both takes the same courses Biochem/Physiology.
By this time I was craving for a fuller schedule and I welcomed the change. You retain an edge as they are stuck with soem clinical visits weekly that you do not have to dilly with.
Block3: MD neuroscience and anatomy / behavioral (psych) YOU: Neuro
Again you are down to one course. This time the Neuro course is the major lion though. It is the hardest course in MD1 at NYMC. It far surpasses Anatomy. It is fun it is challenging and you have an edge again. IF you do have extra time you can start your thesis here. I quickly abandoned that Idea and did just the course. You won't be bored...
Apart from this, keep in mind a few things outside of the program. Is the location right for you? Does the pricetag of a Master's specifically this one seem proper for your situation? These things matter. My now wife is at Albert Einstein, that was initially the only reason I viewed NYMC as superior to Tufts.
I know feel NYMC has many very serious advantages over everything else I got to see, but they are subtle and do not often cross the mind when you look from the outside. NYMC is a small campus with a tight community feel on campus. I know they cannot guarantee you on campus housing. I do know your chance of getting it at the absolute last minute is actually quite good.I was not willing to live with that uncertainty I went off campus. That is NOT hard to find, but you must factor its cost.
My close circle of master's candidates when i applied were:
Tufts, BU and by matter of recruitment Sinai and NYMC.
I had been offered spots at pretty much every Master's that i know. You will notice the same for yourself. They are not actually very competitive compared to MD school. I kicked the big names like Bu and georgetown very early, though I can now say that soem of my peers stem from these and they obviously had success and most of them liked what they had.
(an acceptance will do that to you
)
I assure you I did not structure this well, proofread it or capitalize anything that I ought to have capitalized. I am also sure it is way too long and way too offensive. But maybe it helped somebody.
PS: Try to save your sanity and igonre SDN as much as you can bear. Most of the time people posting here are looking from the outside in and 90% of the posted stats are lies. SDN spreads a lot of angst in my friends who use it. I hate seeing them worry. (and seriously most of it is just not substantiated or helpful)
PPS: By now I probably angered every last one of you. Accept my sincere apology I really did try to help you choose the best path for your situation.
I'm in NYC now but still working and busy until the end of the month. See you guys in a couple weeks! 
) 