1. Although you haven't started med school yet, do you think the MBS program was helpful in preparing you for the difficulties of med school?
Not really, but I had an extremely rigorous undergraduate experience.
2. Was it really difficult handling 17 credits a semester? No, they organize it relatively well (especially in the first semester) to make it easy to coordinate all the classes. This semester is harder because three of the four main courses are on the same exam schedule, so every 3 weeks we have a week with 3 exams. It's not as difficult as it sounds, though.
3. Can you explain a little about the research project that is required? Is it lab work or book/journal research? It's actually a community research project, so it's epidemiology. For example, I'm collecting data about cancer incidence in the 67 PA counties. Some other groups are working with, for example, HIV clinic use, and sending out surveys to patients. It's a group project, and each group has ~6 students.
4. How were the professors? How were the exams? Did they give any supplementary material on the topic being covered? There is HUGE variability in the professors and exams. Some are extremely good teachers and write good exams, some not so much. Some will provide study guides or suggested readings, some won't. For the most part, I can say that our program is about 90% lecture/power-point instruction with bits of group work or problem-based learning thrown in. So the quality of education really varies a lot, which I hope is a side-effect of it being a new school.
5. Did you have time to have a life outside of class? How was living in Scranton i.e. Is there stuff to do, what were the people like? I did have time to do things outside of class. Last semester I left town almost every weekend, actually. That's connected to your second question - there is not much to do in Scranton. Most of my classmates hit the bars on the weekend, or go skiing now that the weather is good for it, but that's not really my thing. As for "the people," in general, Scranton is an extremely conservative and largely Catholic area. That was really rough for me, but depending on your own lifestyle and ideals it might be just fine.
6. Did you take the princeton review class given? The teacher might change from year to year but how was your teacher? I know it can be hit or miss with these kind of classes I did take the Princeton Review - it was mandatory for my class. The teachers were, as you said, hit-or-miss, but actually were good for the most part. I think some of the teachers will stay the same, since they are local and there aren't too many MCAT teachers around, but the non-local people will probably change. It was definitely worth it though, and since you're already paying for it you might as well do it. Also, it really helps for getting to know your classmates early.
7. Were you accepted to TCMC? How did the med school treat you? Did they seem to favor you at all since you are a MBS student? I had a unique experience that being here actually hurt my application. I have a lot of issues with how my application was reviewed. I was waitlisted. However, it seems to have helped some of my classmates - they did hold the 10 spots the promised, so 1/3 of my classmates who applied to TCMC got in and a lot of people were waitlisted, only a couple of outright denials. However, there are some schools that will offer much higher chances of getting in to their school if you do their master's program, so I highly recommend looking into them if that's something you really want. TCMC does have a pretty high rate of MBS students getting in to school in general, and I did get into EVMS. So.... I didn't like how the med school treated me, but the whole process is a crapshoot anyway.
I hope that answers your questions, ask away if you have more!
