Congratulations! I applied back at the end of October and I'm very excited about this program! Do you mind if I ask about your stats prior to the smp and how you did during the smp? Also did you take a gap year following the smp before being accepted? Thanks!
Hi! I graduated from the program and I am a current medical student at UC. The atmosphere amongst students in each class varies, but I can say that, for the most part, everyone is supportive of one another. Being a program with ~32-40 students and great stats, no one feels the need to compete with others. Everyone is simply trying to do well and everyone can equally succeed. Moreover, the M1's who graduate from the program provide tons of support too (i.e. how to succeed in classes, how/when to prepare your applications, etc.). There are always people who are lone wolves and do their own thing, but in general, the whole class feels supportive in my opinion.
Hi, there! SMP grad here too and current UC med student. The atmosphere is incredible. I made some lifelong friends in the program. It's a lot of work, as any of these programs is, but the small class size means that folks can lean on each other for support. Don't get me wrong, there might be one or two folks who you don't mesh with, but that's fine. No one is "out to get" anyone else. Far from it. There's sharing of study resources, group gatherings, commiserations, and celebrations. You will never find another group of people who understand quite as well how difficult it is to get into medical school, and that commonality really generates some deep bonding.
Hi! Everyone has different stats coming into the program. You tend to find that there are three groups that people fall into: a) low undergrad GPA with upward trend + decent MCAT, b) low MCAT + decent undergrad GPA, c) folks who came from a major with too few science classes and only performed at an average level in their med school prereqs. Lots of folks take a gap year afterward, especially with the guaranteed interview (depending on SMP performance) these days; for some, this is a great opportunity to retake the MCAT. Successful applicants to UCCOM will likely have performed at an A- average or better in the program, with more emphasis on medical school blocks, and have gotten a 514+ on the MCAT. This varies a bit based on life circumstances/experiences and interview performance. Hope that helps 🙂
Thank you so much for your reply! How available is advising or informal help with applications and obtaining LORs? I am several years outside my undergraduate degree and I feel like my "academic" LORs are a little stale due to the elapsed time and I'm hoping to get some fresh new ones. Also are there many students who get research positions at the university during the gap year, as I would love to stuck around the cincinnati area and work during that time.
In our year, we were assigned a faculty mentor as well as an alumni mentor who did provide "informal" help with applications and LOTRs! Of course, this did depend on the relationship and availability of the mentors you were paired with. Halfway through the program, we had a meeting with the program director who provided explicit tips on how we could improve our application.
Thanks for the information!! I'll shoot more questions later!
Our cohort of SMPers had a range of stats, so I would definitely encourage applying.
Your stats are definitely competitive and I would recommend applying, if you are interested! I think you would bring a lot of valuable experience as an ICU nurse. What kind of committee letter is it? I would reach out to the program administrators directly about this!
No it is not too late. When I applied it was mid June.
I was accepted with a 3.46 cGPA, 3.73 sGPA and a 513 MCAT.
Your stats are great! Thanks for sharing. Will you be attending this program?
At the beginning of the year there was a representative from financial aid that gave a presentation about declaring in-state residency. You seem to have done the leg work since the information you found is the same that was told to us. The 12 months starts as soon as you start living in the state so say Aug. 2021 for example. As long as you follow those guidelines you should be viewed as a "in-state applicant" for Ohio. Many of my classmates and the alumni have done this same thing. But if you have more questions about your specific case I would send an email to UC's financial aid office since they handle the in-state stuff.
I have the exact same question and have not been able to find any info on this. Any current/former student able to help with this please? 🙂
To answer this question for you and @ThePACK. The guaranteed interview is only given AFTER completion of the program with a B+ or higher in FOMM, FOCM, MSK. So for the guaranteed interview it will take place during your "gap year". Some people that apply to UCCOM the summer before the program might get interviews at UC but that's based on mostly their metrics from undergrad with some help from grade updates during the fall classes.
Some of the alumni might be able to speak to this more since us current students are still dealing with COVID regulations. Hopefully you all won't have to deal with this. There are typically many opportunities for shadowing since you meet many physician professors, who are eager to share their specialty with students. Students have been getting exposure through volunteering with hospice groups, COVID response, part time gigs with the hospital. Some of the alumni who are in the M1 class are trying to expand student clinic experiences to the SMP students but that is not a sure thing at this time. After graduation there are a lot of opportunities for research in a clinical setting or a job in a clinical setting.
Can you talk about how many students from each class they interview and how many matriculate? I know this is dependent on a few different factors but I am speaking generally. Do they take about atleast half of their own students or is it more/less?
Sadly I can't say exactly because the program does not publish the number of students that receive the guaranteed interview. There is no cap to how many will get interviews. If all 40 students earn the needed grades and don't meet exclusion criteria, all 40 will be interviewed. During the latest website rework a lot of the valuable data of matriculant and other acceptances was not added. The data is still there for the class of 2015 and 13 out of 30 students received acceptances from Cincinnati. The numbers are very reassuring. If you join this program and perform well your chances at UCCOM greatly expand.
How many of your classmates applied to schools during the SMP and were successful? Or do they recommend waiting until completion of the program?
waited until the completion of the program to apply and as far as I know I think roughly 3 people applied during the program and one got into Cincinnati and one got into Rutgers. I would say this doesn't really reflect the how beneficial the program really is though as they had already applied with one of them being accepted around September and I can't remember when the other was accepted. I would say for most people applying (low gpa, high mcat) the best strategy would be to wait until after completion. I personally believe it shows adcoms you're willing to take the time to correct your past academic mistakes.
Have you found that Adcoms generally view the program favorably? I know for low GPA students, alot of advisers recommend a post-bacc over an SMP because post-baccs can improve UG-GPA. It seems like the UC program is specifically tailored to parallel M1, so I thought maybe adcoms would appreciate it more?
I can't really answer that question since it would be purely speculation but I had a pretty low UG gpa and I really don't think I could have raised it very much without essentially completing another bachelors degree. I always thought about it as just showing adcoms that I could be a good student, and it's hard to offer better proof than excelling in classes with real medical students. I personally don't think I would have gotten into med school with just doing a few post-bacc classes here and there. So it really depends on your situation
Thanks for your response!
Hey ThePACK,
I heard back in just over 4 weeks!
Hey, sorry it was closed. It should be open now
That's a tough call. It is kind of a case by case basis I'd say. If you're at a point academically where you could probably get in but you're just adding a little extra on top to give yourself the edge, I think it would be good to consider applying before. If you apply before hand the program will give you update letters for the 2 or 3 classes that you potentially would have grades in time to make a difference. These could help with schools that you're applying to or interviewing at. However, I have been seeing that schools have been holding out making a accept/reject decision. I don't know what specifically is causing that, but potentially they want to see how all the course work turns out? Just my speculation.
I'll let you know after Tuesday when I take a practice test! There are at least 10 of us retaking the test at various times throughout the summer. Pretty much everyone before us that retook the test was able to improve their score with a short but intense self study throughout June.
Keep us updated.
