I was just wondering what everybody's opinion is about The UMKC 6 Year BA/MD Program.
UMKC 6 Year Program
- Thread starter drizzy
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I think on college confidential there's a 1000 page thread on this. I'm serious.
There are several threads on SDN about UMKC, granted they are older, but still, they're a good read. IMHO, I have NEVER heard anyone say anything positive about the program: this comes not only from UMKC students who have posted in SDN, but also directly from conversations I've had with 3 separate UMKC 6-year students.
The schedule is crazy, the student end up being miserable, their board scores don't
tend to be the highest, and their residency match lists aren't the best. I don't think the students, faculty, or institution are bad, but craming a BA and an MD into 6-years makes everyone miserable
The schedule is crazy, the student end up being miserable, their board scores don't
tend to be the highest, and their residency match lists aren't the best. I don't think the students, faculty, or institution are bad, but craming a BA and an MD into 6-years makes everyone miserable
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I hear a lot of the 6-year students are kind of miserable, because the schedule is so intense and they didn't get the "normal" college undergrad experience. I applied on a whim while I was in high school and got rejected (thank god)
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/multiple-degree-programs/10493-umkc-6-year-bs-md-program.html
With that said, I have not heard a single positive thing about this program. There is a poster in the linked thread who graduated from the program and is an Anesthesiologist, and I don't even think I've seen him recommend the program to anybody, especially to OOS students.
Oh yeah, there's that issue of OOS tuition. 🙄 If you're OOS, expect to be paying 56k every year for the next six years, with little to no financial assistance (even my B.S./M.D. program is giving me financial assistance as an OOS). I'm not joking.
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Got accepted and turned it down - students looked miserable during the tour and at dinner I heard a decent amount of comments about regretting missing out on the college experience. Decided that being surrounded by the same 80 people for 6 years would be exponentially worse than high school, chose a regular route and have never looked back. Ran into a UMKC grad at the gym and she basically told me that was the smartest decision I've ever made
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Yes. And if you think pre-meds are neurotic, wait until you see pre-pre-meds (and their parents). That thread has been going on since about 2004 or so I think.
I go here, but as an "MD-Only Student" and am now entering my sixth year - so I can't speak for the 6 year students. However, I am always curious about these "everyone there is miserable" statements. That hasn't been my experience, and I get along well with all my classmates. I know of a few people who have had their struggles with whether they jumped into medicine too early and no matter what you do, you are going to have to deal with some sort of "what if" question.
On the whole, I can't say my classmates are "miserable". I am not disputing the other poster on here. Maybe they were only exposed to 1st years who were getting slammed their first semester or what not. At any rate, I strongly contest this notion that this place is a bastion of sorrow or some sort of vortex that sucks the spirit out of everyone.
As for the "comparison" shopping between the 6 year and a traditional 4/4 program (which is what this thread is really about), I can't answer that. There are some good points on this thread. I wouldn't give up my undergrad experience for anything. That's not institution specific. Knowing now what I didn't know then, I wouldn't forego what I did as an undergrad for an assured spot at Harvard, etc. The OOS tuition is absurd.
Finally, my class beat the national average on Step 1 both in mean score and first time pass. That comes directly from the Dean's mouth. I don't know about years past, but it doesn't appear that Step 1 was a huge stumbling block for my class as a whole.
Yeah I also attend this school. There are people that regret coming here but far more that are happy that they are doing what they want to do in life. About the competitiveness of students at our school. I believe we are above the national average on boards and our match list has been getting better and better each year. Adding the fact that most kids in the program are two years younger than the average resident applicant and step 1 taker, I would say that as a school we are doing quite well.
