Special Masters Program (SMP) Questions

[IAmTetris]

Hello, I'm contemplating the SMP. I've seen mixed views on it, so I'm really not sure how I feel. Some threads say the SMP was great at getting them into med school/doing well in it, some threads say that not doing well in SMP = no med school ever.

Some questions for those who have actually gone through an SMP before:

1. For those who have gone through the SMP before, what was the coursework like? How much time is spent learning pathophysiology? How much time is spent learning anatomy/dissections?
2. What percentage of time is dedicated to classes with medical students? How much time outside of classes did you spend studying?
3. What GPA do you need to maintain in the SMP in order to be considered a good candidate for medical school? What does this GPA equate into in terms of class rank against medical students?
4. Approximately how much of the coursework/material covered in the SMP will also be covered by Step 1?
5. How well does the SMP prepare you for medical school? If you went to the same med school you did your SMP at, is the first year pretty much the same then?
6. In what ways does it prepare you for medical school? Not just getting into medical school, but succeeding in it.

Thanks

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Abraxas65]

Hello, I'm contemplating the SMP. I've seen mixed views on it, so I'm really not sure how I feel. Some threads say the SMP was great at getting them into med school/doing well in it, some threads say that not doing well in SMP = no med school ever.

Some questions for those who have actually gone through an SMP before:

1. For those who have gone through the SMP before, what was the coursework like? How much time is spent learning pathophysiology? How much time is spent learning anatomy/dissections?
2. What percentage of time is dedicated to classes with medical students? How much time outside of classes did you spend studying?
3. What GPA do you need to maintain in the SMP in order to be considered a good candidate for medical school? What does this GPA equate into in terms of class rank against medical students?
4. Approximately how much of the coursework/material covered in the SMP will also be covered by Step 1?
5. How well does the SMP prepare you for medical school? If you went to the same med school you did your SMP at, is the first year pretty much the same then?
6. In what ways does it prepare you for medical school? Not just getting into medical school, but succeeding in it.

Thanks

Honestly you aren't going to get good answers for these questions because it varies greatly program to program. The answers for my program are below.

1. We largely take the same classes as the M1s and same tests. We get a different anatomy though.

2. Nearly all of our course work is with M1s. I find I do rather well if I spend 4 additional hours a day on top of going or viewing recordings of my lectures. But this is going to be very person specific I know people who are in the library 8+ hrs a day 5-6 days a week.

3. This will be very school dependent but the general rule of thumb I have heard (and this is for multiple programs) is that you should shoot for 3.7 or above. My program doesn't post rankings for M1s or postbac students but I have beaten the class average on every exam both the average for my program and that of the M1s.

4. 99% but this again is going to vary widely with different programs. Also a SMP is meant to get you into medical school it isn't and should be looked at as a way to prepare for step 1.

5. It will prepare me very well in fact my 1st year would be nearly identical with a few small differences.

6. SMP don't prepare you for succeeding in medical school it's not their purpose. If you really wanted to push it you could say it prepares you for the pace of medical school but that would be it.

 

[IAmTetris]

Honestly you aren't going to get good answers for these questions because it varies greatly program to program. The answers for my program are below.

1. We largely take the same classes as the M1s and same tests. We get a different anatomy though.

2. Nearly all of our course work is with M1s. I find I do rather well if I spend 4 additional hours a day on top of going or viewing recordings of my lectures. But this is going to be very person specific I know people who are in the library 8+ hrs a day 5-6 days a week.

3. This will be very school dependent but the general rule of thumb I have heard (and this is for multiple programs) is that you should shoot for 3.7 or above. My program doesn't post rankings for M1s or postbac students but I have beaten the class average on every exam both the average for my program and that of the M1s.

4. 99% but this again is going to vary widely with different programs. Also a SMP is meant to get you into medical school it isn't and should be looked at as a way to prepare for step 1.

5. It will prepare me very well in fact my 1st year would be nearly identical with a few small differences.

6. SMP don't prepare you for succeeding in medical school it's not their purpose. If you really wanted to push it you could say it prepares you for the pace of medical school but that would be it.

Thanks for the reply. What's the grade distribution like for SMP and med students? So what percent of students get A's, B's, C's, etc? I'm trying to get a sense of what a 3.7 means.

Yeah, I agree the purpose of SMP is not to prepare for Step 1. But since tuition is quite expensive, I'm trying to weigh the advantages/disadvantages.

 

[whoisshane]

I can share some of my perspectives on SMPs. I agree with the post above, however some things are a little bit different.

1. In terms of coursework, treat it like medical school. Everything you are learning is essentially what you will cover in M1 and M2 year (depending on the program). The amount of time you spend on each course depends on how comfortable you feel with the material. For example, if you've never taken anatomy before, you will most likely be spending a good amount of time in the lab. It's all about balance, but its something you will figure out when you're in the program.

2. Again, the amount of time spent on classes with medical students varies. It doesn't matter who is in your class, what really matters is how well you understand the material. That is how you should cater your studying.

3. In my program, I would say you need above a 3.5 to be competitive for their medical and dental school classes. Don't worry too much about class rank, a lot of programs don't even have it.

4. Here's where I disagree with the first post. It's true that an SMP is designed to get you into medical school. But I don't like to look at things that way. In my program that faculty is EXTREMELY helpful and they really want you to take away as much as you can from their courses. An SMP will, most definitely, prepare you for step 1. In fact, a lot of the classes i'm in right now include mock board questions that are designed to help you succeed on an exam like that. If you have a good understanding of the coursework, you WILL be well prepared for medical school. Most of the students who did the SMP at my school who matriculated into medical school are at the top of their class right now. It really gives you an upper edge. It all depends on how you look at it. If you simply view an SMP as a means to get you into medical school, it'll be exactly that. However, I tend to look at the material in a way that will help me become a better clinician and get ahead in my med school class. That is the biggest perk to these programs and I think everyone should take advantage of it (especially since you are paying a lot of money).

In regards to your above post, I would say don't worry about the grade distribution or what a 3.7 GPA looks like. It depends on what program you are in. Focus on what you can control and that is your understanding of the material. If you nail that, the GPA will fall into place and you will get into med school. I think the biggest difference that I see from undergrad and an SMP is that these courses are really not designed to "trick" you. All my professors have good intentions and want you to succeed. If you put in the work, there is no doubt in my mind that you will do well.

 

[Abraxas65]

Thanks for the reply. What's the grade distribution like for SMP and med students? So what percent of students get A's, B's, C's, etc? I'm trying to get a sense of what a 3.7 means.

Yeah, I agree the purpose of SMP is not to prepare for Step 1. But since tuition is quite expensive, I'm trying to weigh the advantages/disadvantages.

The first bit of information is not freely available but I would say I am in the top 1/3 of my class. Also people get in with a gpa below 3.7 it's just a good target to shoot for.

The advantage/disadvantage you should be looking at is first how success the program is, if there is a connection with an established medical school and the cost. Anything but these three things should be so far down the totem pole of what's important that you can all but ignore them unless you find two identical programs then you can start looking at more intangible things like whether or not the program prepares you for step 1.

If given a choice between a program with a 50% historical success rate that does a great job preparing you for step 1 and a program that has a 95% success rate of getting people in that concentrates nearly solely on underwater basket weaving well I guess I would end up being really damn good at basket weaving. Moral of the story worry about the challenge in front of you, getting into medical school, not the challenge you might have three or more years from now.


You can see I differ quite a bit from the other poster on this topic. Not that I think he/she is wrong just that there are so many other things you should worry about in a program before you worry about whether it's preparing you for step 1 that it becomes almost meaningless to worry about step 1. There are much better parameters to rank programs by, trust me. But I will agree with them that a good program will in all likelihood prepare you for step 1 and that their approaching (i.e. Clinical understanding) is a very good idea.

 

[Abraxas65]

If it's ok with you, could you tell what you're GPA is? I don't know what the top 1/3 relates to in terms of GPA.

I'm hesitant because should I do poorly, I've pretty much have no chance. So I'll be out a lot of $ and will have no chance at med school.

My gpa is roughly ~3.8. The truth of the matter is an SMP is scary and expensive but let's be honest the only reason why most of us are looking at an SMP is because we slipped up somewhere so eventually you just have to bite the bullet. For me it took some serious introspection over a couple years to figure out exactly why I wasn't successful when I first went to college (my problems were almost certainly worse then yours so I doubt it will take you years). I would suggest you do the same, having a real idea why you weren't successful will help you avoid the same mistakes. But you are right in the end if you screw up a SPM your dream of medical school (at least in the US) are pretty much done.

Go look at programs I looked at 10 or so but I was limited by being married so I would suggest looking at about 20 or so. Find what you like and dislik about programs and start cutting programs from your list once you get it down to 4-5 (or maybe even fewer programs) come back and ask questions.

Not sure if you caught it but I edited my first comment, just so you know.

 

[Abraxas65]

Yeah, it really sounds like a great opportunity. Anyone know how financial aid is for this sort of program? I'd assume not too great/depends on program.

A true SMP will be offering a masters degree so financial aid works exactly like any other grad program for the most part. Don't expect scholarships.

 

[Abraxas65]

Glad to help. But make sure you come back once you have narrowed it down to a few programs there are a ton of helpful people here and there is a good chance you can find someone who has done or is doing what ever program youre interested.