LEEMAN, what it really came down to was the fact that I wasn't convinced that an MBS from TCMC would matter to any other school except TCMC - and there wasn't enough data for me to believe that I would have a fair chance of getting into their med school. (I feel that way about a lot of Masters programs - although I think that there are some schools that guarantee an interview if you maintain a certain GPA...TCMC makes no such promise. However, guaranteed interview doesn't really mean all that much if they have no intention of taking you.)
I was worried that even if I did well in the program, it might not matter. Also, I thought that my best shot of getting into a US school out of the MBS would be to wait another application cycle. If you apply this summer/fall to begin med school in 2012, the schools you apply to won't really have any new grades to see - they will have to wait until January to see your first semester grades. You are already at a disadvantage if a school waits that long to look at your file. So the best bet for US admission would be to apply in the summer of 2012, after you finish the MBS, to begin school in 2013. I wasn't willing to wait another 2 years to begin med school...especially if I didn't get into a US school and ended up going to the Caribbean anyway.
My undergraduate grades are not great. I was not pre-med, so I went back to school after 3 years of working in a totally unrelated field to do a post-bacc. I had a 3.9 in my post-bacc (which is all the pre-med pre-reqs), but that didn't put a dent in my overall undergrad GPA. I have volunteer work, good letters of rec, and I currently work for a world renowned non-profit research institution...there is not much more I can add to my application. The MBS program will be a graduate GPA...so my bad grades from undergrad (most of which are from freshman year, which was 2002-2003) will still hurt me - and that is something that cannot be changed.
Like I said, it was a personal decision. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that if I were 21 and had just finished undergrad, I might choose the MBS instead. But I'm 26 and not willing to wait another 2 years to begin school. Sure, there are some stigmas attached to being a FMG, but I believe I am intelligent and competent enough to overcome that and it dissipates more each year, in my opinion, as the doctor shortage becomes more of an issue. Weigh your options and decide what is most important to you. If you believe the MBS will help you get into a US school, and you don't mind waiting, then it's a good option. Going to a US school will make things easier for you down the road - so if you believe you can get in, then go for it. As for me, I've never done things the easy way...so this seems par for the course 🙂
Good luck to you in whatever you decide - feel free to PM me if you want to chat more...I'd love to know what you ultimately end up doing!
