UMDNJ-GSBS MBS Fall 2009

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Yeah exactly and thats whats making me debate not spending the money this year on apps, and just holding off. I feel like the odds are better with a full year of grades anyways, and having saved the several thousand dollars it'd cost.
I feel like the risk is huge for doing it one yr both in long-term career options and $$. Whereas doing it for a 1.5yr program, i feel like the #s are better

Definitely, if you are a first time applicant I would have done that same route as well because I am inevitably in a situation where I need to reapply. I think my current situation is different from yours, I was a really late applicant (complete Nov. 2008) for the 2009 cycle. I am sure my application was not even looked at by most schools. People with close to 4.0 GPA's applying my time were getting rejected due to the lateness of submission. This time around I am submitting as soon as it opens. I don't think its as costly to apply to dental schools than med schools, I may be wrong. I only spent 1500?
 
On a different note, i might be changing my feelings about completing this program in one year. For a lot of us, this is our last chance. The risk of trying to rush through it and not getting As is huge. If it happens, one will be heading abroad or finding a different career path.

Thoughts? Just figure i'd throw it out there

Yea I am also not trying to rush it and finish it all in one year..i will take 3 hardcore classes per semester and then if need be add an extra like seminar class, something real light. This is my FINAL chance to make things right so I am not trying to mess it up at all. So 3 semesters for me....

and plus I want to relax this summer, maybe work and save up some $$..Cause before you know it August 19th will be here
 
Yea I am also not trying to rush it and finish it all in one year..i will take 3 hardcore classes per semester and then if need be add an extra like seminar class, something real light. This is my FINAL chance to make things right so I am not trying to mess it up at all. So 3 semesters for me....

and plus I want to relax this summer, maybe work and save up some $$..Cause before you know it August 19th will be here

Shoot you guys are making me feel bad. I feel like 4 science courses shouldn't be a problem in my current school standards, but I am not familiar with Grad school or the American curriculum. Do you know how much more you would learn in a Physiology grad school course vs a 2-semester long Physiology course in undergrad (3rd year course)? as an example.
 
Probably learn the same thing, except in grad school it is A LOT more detailed.
 
I am not gonna lie - I am getting frustrated. You asked for opinions, and I answered and you have the answers anyways. If thats the case then don't ask the question. I'm gonna waste my time giving you an answer when you've already made up your mind.

I'm going to wait until the fall to begin for similar reasons to you Albuterol, i'm in no rush. I'm already enrolled in some summer classes at UConn, but its the lack of having anything concrete on my AMCAS application over the summer which is making me consider making it a 1.5yr program and going for a concentration in something

Come on now. Let's not get frustrated. You have to admit, most of your answers are quotes from the already vague information that I have already done research - I am seeking clarification or elaboration. I value what you have to say and do take it into consideration.
 
Starting early seems like a good idea but I will probably wait until orientation and Fall semester starts. Also looks like the course selection is really limited during the summer session and I don't want to get stuck with a super hard class and find myself struggling just because I wanted to start early. Hopefully proper time management and studying will hopefully yield good results for all of us. As for legging out the program to 1.5years, right now I'm really trying to finish it in 1 year but if I feel that it would be in my best interest to extend it an extra semester I will probably do that. I just don't want my DAT scores to expire so if I apply and don't get in somewhere for Fall 2010, I can still reapply with the same scores for Fall 2011 and have all my grades to show for it.

Oh My your dat scores might expire? When did you take them if you don't mind me asking. They last 3 years from the time you took them, so I am guessing like 36 months from that date. If you took them sometime where they expire during the application cycle of the third year that would be some mess lol.
 
Come on now. Let's not get frustrated. You have to admit, most of your answers are quotes from the already vague information that I have already done research - I am seeking clarification or elaboration. I value what you have to say and do take it into consideration.

Don't "come on now" me. Instead of asking on here, why not contact the school directly? I am done giving you vague answers. The topic is over. I've moved on
 
Don't "come on now" me. Instead of asking on here, why not contact the school directly? I am done giving you vague answers. The topic is over. I've moved on


Listen Rob, we are future classmates and you still haven't got anything out of what I said to you other than "come on now". This attitude is not necessary. Don't tell me you're frustrated with me asking questions when I have not once asked you any questions directly, usually Albuterol. This forum is to ask questions no matter how dumb they may seem and to get help from the wealth of information others may provide. You are doing a good example of what I have been getting when contacting the school myself - quotes from the website or calendar, and in addition you are spending your time trying to prove me wrong or spending time to seek answers to prove me wrong. I'm not lazy, I have done the research.

And Yes I have already spoke to Dr. Wagner on numerous occasions about courses. However, what you read on a website and what you hear from Admin is not always representative of what to expect. That is why I am in this one-year masters predicament in the first place. False advertisement, having only the successful students speak on behalf of the program, having the professors that were known give discussions of their research, the positive statistics given, all led me to a very bad first year because I was in the wrong program.

Now I would propose we squash this topic, however if you have anything else to say feel free.
 
if there are classes offered in the summer, can't we just take 12-13 credits each semester and finish off the rest during summer break and still make it in time before Dental/Med school? Obviously it requires much foresight and planning into what classes will be available during the summer and what not but it seems pretty feasible. I am in the same situation as albuterol. I took my DAT last June. Hitting the one year mark soon. With grad school, that will put me in the 2 year mark. If i make the program a year and half, then i have a half a year about where my DAT score will still be viable for schools. I think that still gives me enough time, but best option would be to finish off in a year so as not to waste an extra year, pending of course that my application this june actually results in an acceptance.

Of course this is all dependent on the difficulty of the courses. I think I will start off moderately with the selection of courses so as to ease my way into the difficulty that is sure to follow. That seems to be the best way to transition from a year of off-time doing nothing but occasionally teaching for Kaplan. After the fall semester, I should have a better idea of whether I will actually be able to complete in a year and more importantly, whether i can be a competitive applicant while doing so.
 
Yeah everyone let's squash the beef..we will all be future classmates. And we will all be meeting up in the Fall and wouldn't want to have "drama" before we even get to shake hands lol.

And artanis, honestly do what you feel that you are capable of doing. If you feel that you can do it..then more power to you. I am being cautious cause I have to make sure that I do not fail any classes which means getting nothing lower than a B. And if anyone here is worried about timelines and application stuff..I would suggest maybe meeting with an advisor at the dental/medical school..their advice will definitely help you decide on what to do..
 
Userah,
IF you apply this cycle, are you going to use the HPO committee letter? I didn't meet the gpa cut off and they were pretty strict about this but I got 4 science and 1 dentist letters. Any word on how schools feel about this?
 
yea I'm gonna use the committee letter. My gpa was also bleh but I did well enough on the DAT that they reconsidered and interviewed me for the HPO letter. I will be using that as well as my others from rutgers and hopefully i can get 1 or 2 letters from grad school teachers. If/When you get interviews, they might ask you about why you don't have HPO letter? I'm not too sure though.
 
Listen Rob, we are future classmates and you still haven't got anything out of what I said to you other than "come on now". This attitude is not necessary. Don't tell me you're frustrated with me asking questions when I have not once asked you any questions directly, usually Albuterol. This forum is to ask questions no matter how dumb they may seem and to get help from the wealth of information others may provide. You are doing a good example of what I have been getting when contacting the school myself - quotes from the website or calendar, and in addition you are spending your time trying to prove me wrong or spending time to seek answers to prove me wrong. I'm not lazy, I have done the research.

And Yes I have already spoke to Dr. Wagner on numerous occasions about courses. However, what you read on a website and what you hear from Admin is not always representative of what to expect. That is why I am in this one-year masters predicament in the first place. False advertisement, having only the successful students speak on behalf of the program, having the professors that were known give discussions of their research, the positive statistics given, all led me to a very bad first year because I was in the wrong program.

Now I would propose we squash this topic, however if you have anything else to say feel free.

We are all in the same boat. We read the same website, read the same stuff, so i'm not particularly sure what you are expecting to achieve. there are a lot of things we are unclear about. So don't get snippy with me regarding recycling official information. Unless there is someone in this thread that has been through the program a lot of the questions will go unanswered or will have vague answers. im not implying your lazy by any means, you've clearly done your research, and kudos to you but you ask for opinions when we are all pretty much in the same boat and then prefer your own answers to that of others.

in addition, very few of your questions have been specific ones, mostly open ended ones. so dont act like its me jumping on discussions.

if you have anything else - PM me, or if you want answers from individual members why not PM then rather then posting generally.

i apologise to everyone else for hijacking the thread for the last page or so.
 
yea I'm gonna use the committee letter. My gpa was also bleh but I did well enough on the DAT that they reconsidered and interviewed me for the HPO letter. I will be using that as well as my others from rutgers and hopefully i can get 1 or 2 letters from grad school teachers. If/When you get interviews, they might ask you about why you don't have HPO letter? I'm not too sure though.

Hmmm if they ask I will just be honest. I will have to find out if HPO will reconsider interviewing me since I have done well the past year (3.9 over 28credits) and I have a solid DAT score.
 
yea you should definitely give them a call. With your current stats, they should definitely be willing to reconsider. When I called, I think part of the reason they wanted to do it is because they were curious themselves to see the drastic difference between my gpa and my dat score and that sorta helped them make a decision to let me come in for an interview. Are you at rutgers? or another school cuz they were pretty nice about it when I asked at rutgers. Not sure about other schools. You mentioned HPO, so i'm assuming it's Rutgers but other schools might also have HPO so i'm not too sure. Just explain it to them that you've been doing well and you have solid DAT scores and you would really like to get a formal letter from the HPO and they should definitely agree to writing you one. Good luck =) let me know if you have any other questions.
 
So... I made my decision guys... I'm unfortunately going to RU/UMDNJ-RWJ and have sent the non-refundable deposit.

I sent my deposit out to Newark last week but I am calling to get a refund and hopefully open up a seat for someone who wants to go there. I actually recently took the MCAT and did really well. My reason for choosing the other program is that the professors at Robert Wood Johnson Med School have been kind to me and have allowed me to enroll in 2 1st year fall sem courses: Anatomy (7 credits) and Cell and Genetic Mechanisms (6 credits). Next semester I can continue with Histology (2 cr) and Neurobiology (4 credits). I am by far the only graduate student they have given permission to take med school classes and can't turn the offer down. This, by far is the better choice for me because it also allows me to buy "time" to get my app together and I may even get a full ride come mid-May.

I'm really sad bc I started this forum with high hopes that I was going to Newark but I guess this is life and I just have to do what I gotta do. To all of you--you guys will get into your school of your choice someday. Just prioritize and I know all you guys will kick ass in the MBS program so it wouldn't even matter!

😍Much love & good luck!--JXC
 
Best of luck to you JXC - and congrats on what sounds like a sweet situation at RWJ
 
aww damn haha. oh well. That's really good news for you though. From what I hear, robert wood is better than newark anyway haha so good for you =). Good luck in your future endeavors!
 
So... I made my decision guys... I'm unfortunately going to RU/UMDNJ-RWJ and have sent the non-refundable deposit.

I sent my deposit out to Newark last week but I am calling to get a refund and hopefully open up a seat for someone who wants to go there. I actually recently took the MCAT and did really well. My reason for choosing the other program is that the professors at Robert Wood Johnson Med School have been kind to me and have allowed me to enroll in 2 1st year fall sem courses: Anatomy (7 credits) and Cell and Genetic Mechanisms (6 credits). Next semester I can continue with Histology (2 cr) and Neurobiology (4 credits). I am by far the only graduate student they have given permission to take med school classes and can't turn the offer down. This, by far is the better choice for me because it also allows me to buy "time" to get my app together and I may even get a full ride come mid-May.

I'm really sad bc I started this forum with high hopes that I was going to Newark but I guess this is life and I just have to do what I gotta do. To all of you--you guys will get into your school of your choice someday. Just prioritize and I know all you guys will kick ass in the MBS program so it wouldn't even matter!

😍Much love & good luck!--JXC

aww thats wonderful..congratulations!!
 
Good luck JXC!! Seems like a sweet deal since you will get to take real med school courses for sure and have an opportunity build relationships with RWJ professors who will be able to vouch for you and your academic ability. good luck!!
 
thanks guys! It is pretty sweet and I am reallllly excited! I wish you guys can take it with me! We should all get together sometime haha. I feel like we're a big family here!
 
haha come by newark sometime. we'll all go get a drink together 🙂
 
I'm new to this thread. I just want to say grats to everyone who got into somewhere =)

I got into the UMDNJ-Stratford and Newark MBS programs and I expect to get into the BU MAMS and Drexel msp program

I'm leaning towards just attending the UMDNJ-Newark program, but are the Stratford, BU and Drexel programs significantly any better?

I also got M.S. programs at NYU, Columbia, so my other question is, would going to one of those postbac-type programs geared towards pre-med students a much better choice than just attending a masters program...doing well...and then applying to med school?

Any advice/help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Depends where you want to be for med-school. If you want to go to one of the UMDNJs then I would say to go to NJ and network within the community there.

If you have no preference, my gut tells me BU is the better program. I applied to BU too but I'll prob end up picking UMDNJ over it if I get in

Depends what the MS is in regards to your last major question. If its an MPH then I'm not sold on it helping, but if its in bio/biochem then you should be fine.

*edit: Oh and rumour has it stratford is better. A lower acceptance rate due to fewer seats I think. I didn't apply there, namely cos I didnt wanna live in that area*
 
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Thanks for your advice, much appreciated.

Has has anyone gone through the Stratford program...and what was your impression of it?

One of the professors that wrote my letters stressed to me that I should not go there, basically saying that past students that have went there thought it was kind of a mess, something about they just changed from being a DO school and was still a little unorganized...but I'm sure they are fixing those problems.

I have met a lot of UMDNJ students who have gone through the UMDNJ-Newark program and have only said really good things about it.

Would you recommend doing a M.S. in bio over any of those programs...if it makes no difference, I'd think I'd prefer to just do a program geared towards premed.
 
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Thanks for your advice, much appreciated.

Has has anyone gone through the Stratford program...and what was your impression of it?

One of the professors that wrote my letters stressed to me that I should not go there, basically saying that past students that have went there thought it was kind of a mess, something about they just changed from being a DO school and was still a little unorganized...but I'm sure they are fixing those problems.

I have met a lot of UMDNJ students who have gone through the UMDNJ-Newark program and have only said really good things about it.

Would you recommend doing a M.S. in bio over any of those programs...if it makes no difference, I'd think I'd prefer to just do a program geared towards premed.

Seriously, there are so many mixed messages about all these two programs, especially because they are relatively new. I think that the Stratford program is a great program. I know some people that went through the program and did well and were able to go to medical school. I think the reason why people like Stratford over Newark is because it is a smaller class therefore more tight knit. Also with it is very popular and well known by osteopathic med schools so a lot of students can benefit from that fact alone. But of course Newark is just as great, and they have been recently been trying to recruit and revamp the program so that a lot more students will choose Newark over Stratford.

I think that you might as well do a program like this because its cheaper than most and they definitely give you great assistance to help you during the application process which you might not find at a "regular" masters program. Also its a one-year program so that definitely cuts back on time whereas i heard BU MAMS is 2 year (right??)
 
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Yeah BU MAMAS is a 2 year program. Thanks a lot for your advice.
 
ok so i just sent my application in for the non thesis at Newark campus because I live like 10 mins away. Im debating on whiter i should send Stratford an application or send the umdnj newark another application but with a thesis instead just as a back up . does any one have any experience with sending two applications to the same school? and if so do u have to submit two scores lor and transcripts? Thanks also im think about applying to tufts and barry does any one else have any other suggestions under grad gpa is a 3.3 and DAT was a 17AA 19 TS.
 
I applied to both campuses and was accepted at both. I do not think sending both applications will negatively impact your application with the other one. Yes you need to submit DAT scores, Transcripts, Application to each school. Stratford seems to be more selective in who they admit since there are fewer seats available for the Fall semester. Midwestern out in AZ also has a masters program which has success of students getting into their dental school, but not sure if u want to move that far out. Good luck, let me know if u have anymore questions.
 
Thanks for the reply albuterol but i would really like to go to the newark campus do u think applying to thesis and non thesis at the same time is frowned upon? and if i do apply to both of them do i have to re submit the lor, scores and transcripts again for the newark?
 
I know this was directed at albuterol, and please tell me to shut it if you so wish - but what do you mean thesis and non-thesis? The two programs I am aware of MS and MBS. The former is a thesis and requires 5 credits of research and the latter does not include a thesis nor 5 required credits of research
 
MunecaDDS- I'm not really sure if it would look bad if u applied to both and I'm not sure if you would have to resubmit all your documents. Maybe it would be best if you contacted someone at UMDNJ-GSBS Newark to answer those specific questions. I don't want to mislead you with my guess.

Rob- Thats exactly what the thesis and non-thesis programs are.
Thesis 25 credits classes + 5 credits research
Non-Thesis 30 credits of classes
 
Ok just checking thats what he was referring to. I was hoping I hadnt overlooked something massive!
 
How long does it take for your deposit check to clear? I sent mine in I think on the 13th of April and it hasn't cleared yet. I'm hoping they are waiting till the end of the month.
 
my check took two weeks to clear..after they received it...so maybe another week or two...
 
hey guys when they recieve all your stuff do they email you or send you a letter by mail. Also if they accept or reject you do they send it by mail or via email?? Thanks
 
Well stratford never sent me a complete mail, newark did.
Both acceptances were via mail.
 
Newark sent completion and acceptance via mail

Although I did get my immunization stuff through email
 
Hey Guys,

Sorry if it's somewhere in this thread, but I was wondering if anyone knew what the percentage of students getting into Dental school for those who complete the Newark Program. Thanks!
 
Does anyone know how heavily UMDNJ dental school favors in-state applicants and if taking this program helps getting to UMDNJ dental easier?
 
umdnj is one of the dental schools that has a higher percentage of acceptance for people in state as opposed to out of state. I remember reading that but I can't remember the exact percentage sorry.
 
Hey guys, I just got accepted in the GSBS program in Stratford and I talked to the Dean out there (Dr. Worrad) about this program. My primary goal is to get into dental school ASAP. She recommended to me that I spread out my classes (10 credits per semester) and finish in 1.5 years and apply for the Fall of 2011. I was just curious to see if most of you are doing that, or is everyone shooting for Fall of 2010?
 
bap5001,
My understanding is that UMDNJ emphasizes the 1.5yr program over the 1yr program because in the 1yr program u are basically applying with what u have right now. With the 1.5yr program you will have a year of graduate school grades to show dental schools and bump your gpa a bit. Ultimately, its your call whichever you prefer. I for the same reason as u want to get into dental school ASAP, that is why I am applying this year and planning on completing the program in 1yr.
 
not sure I am asking this question too soon, but has anyone received any financial information? I sent all the stuff in just waiting for my W2 forms to be reviewed..how is it going for everyone else??

and also...am I the only one SUPER excited about this Fall?? 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀
 
I havent heard anything about financial aid either. I sent it all in, and i need to go on the portal and see if its all been received.

I vaguely remember reading somewhere not to expect any financial aid stuff for a while. I think I saw a line that said along the lines of "be prepared to finance yourself for the first few weeks"
 
I havent heard anything about financial aid either. I sent it all in, and i need to go on the portal and see if its all been received.

I vaguely remember reading somewhere not to expect any financial aid stuff for a while. I think I saw a line that said along the lines of "be prepared to finance yourself for the first few weeks"

wow really..interesting, that means a JOB is in order...
 
Has anyone had any trouble with the Stratford application? Everytime I try to fill out the education section I get redirected to an error page and am signed out.

If anyone has had luck could you please pass on a working link.

Thanks
 
Hmm reading the sudden crop of other UMDNJ-GSBS posts that have suddenly cropped up got me thinking.

Does anyone know the criteria or number for selection of the people that get to take the med/dent classes (specifically the med)? It's a major factor in my selection of school and I realized I didn't know much about the process
 
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