University of Maryland Post-Bacc Med School Acceptance rate

[urnextshrink]

They swear up and down on their website that they don't keep track of those statistics and I had been unable to find them on the internet. But I went to their orientation session last month and Dr. Presson, the director of the program, quoted 60% two admissions seasons ago and 75% last season.

They do not strike me as a program with the interest or capability to get long shot or borderline students to not apply like many premed programs, post-bacc and otherwise, are known for doing, so I find those numbers pretty impressive. Go Terps!!

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[NaijaMed10]

Hey I'm doing the program this fall too!! 👍 I couldn't go to the orientation because I have a physics class during the time but I did meet with Dr. Presson this past Friday. When I asked her about the success of the program she stated that overall at UMDCP about 50% of the undergrad that apply to med school get in, however, for SIE student that average is a little higher at 60% (the same stats she told you). But the most important thing you have to consider is you reap whatever you sow in to the program....so you and I need to get ALLL A's!

What classes will you be taking?

GO TERPS!!!!🙂

 

[SunChip]

🙂

 

[NaijaMed10]

Hey guys, I'm part of the SIE program too and have orientation in a week. Does anyone know of the difficulty level of the classes? Is there a limit to how many credits per semester we can take?

I think the classes will have about the same difficulty as a regular science course, keep in mind that you are still in a university. As for a limit to the number of classes, I personally haven't heard of a limit (i am currently registered for 2 classes)...but I wouldn't over work yourself, like I said before this post-bacc is your chance to pull up your grades, but if you overwork yourself you may not get the results your want.

 

[SunChip]

Thanks!

 

[clausewitz2]

I can offer some specific advice about the Science in the Evening program at UMDCP. First, the Physics department is lovely, and they are very helpful in accommodating schedules and what not. The Chemistry department is...less so; might come with the territory of being largely a professional/industrial program themselves. They have very rigid procedures, and the lab coordinator is an especially brittle sort of person, but treat them with kid gloves and follow their stupid rules and you'll do alright in Gen Chem.

Orgo is a different phenomenon. Labs are fairly well put together, but seriously re-think the courses you are signed up for if it means Dr. Kipnis will be one of your instructors.

It's not the fact that the man simply reads from slides that bothers me, or the fact that the slides he uses were clearly not made by him (they have someone else's name from a DIFFERENT UNIVERSITY on them). It's the fact that he reads them wrong, and gets confused if you ask questions. His exams are terribly written and don't make a lot of sense; he will not answer questions about them during the exam, so you will have to go challenge every single question he's graded wrong after they are handed back.

My grades improved when I stopped showing up to class. I was lucky enough to walk away with a B, but many, many people left that class very unhappy.

Otherwise, SIE has been pretty good to me, so I can offer a qualified recommendation.

 

[SunChip]

Thanks! Great tips. How are the upper bio courses? Microbiology, immunology, physiology?

 

[NaijaMed10]

I can offer some specific advice about the Science in the Evening program at UMDCP. First, the Physics department is lovely, and they are very helpful in accommodating schedules and what not. The Chemistry department is...less so; might come with the territory of being largely a professional/industrial program themselves. They have very rigid procedures, and the lab coordinator is an especially brittle sort of person, but treat them with kid gloves and follow their stupid rules and you'll do alright in Gen Chem.

Orgo is a different phenomenon. Labs are fairly well put together, but seriously re-think the courses you are signed up for if it means Dr. Kipnis will be one of your instructors.

It's not the fact that the man simply reads from slides that bothers me, or the fact that the slides he uses were clearly not made by him (they have someone else's name from a DIFFERENT UNIVERSITY on them). It's the fact that he reads them wrong, and gets confused if you ask questions. His exams are terribly written and don't make a lot of sense; he will not answer questions about them during the exam, so you will have to go challenge every single question he's graded wrong after they are handed back.

My grades improved when I stopped showing up to class. I was lucky enough to walk away with a B, but many, many people left that class very unhappy.

Otherwise, SIE has been pretty good to me, so I can offer a qualified recommendation.

How successful do you personally think the program was in improving your chances of getting into med school? Have you applied yet?

 

[shenanigans327]

very poorly run program...

I was at UMD as an undergrad in 2003 and went bac as a post bacc student and it seems as though the instructors at night teach at night because if they taught during the day, they'd be fired in the first week....

The only instructor that I was very happy with was Tammatha O'Brien (she was the Lab Instructor for BSCI330 - Cell Biology, I believe she is also the Professor for Genetics BSCI222) I agree with the above poster that Dr. Kipnis was AWWFFFUUULLLL!!! I would suck it up and try to take it during the day if possible....and the fail rate for Organic Chemistry II was a whopping 60%, so if I were you, I would take that somewhere else other than UMD...

If possible, I would try to stay with a reputable post bacc program like Johns Hopkins/Goucher, or at least take the classes during the day to get access to a better instructor. The professors during the day have a full time job in education, my Cell Bio professor worked at NIH and came to campus at night, Dr. Kipnis worked in the chem stockroom and only taught at night...

 

[xunshyn]

yikes! good to know.. I may try to take orgo in during the day! =( will have to work part time next semester.

 

[Lazarus]

Those acceptance rates...are they med school acceptance or PA + Med + other professional schools?

All programs have their winners and losers, that is why it seems so critical to research your professors beforehand. Rate my professor is an OKish resource if just to get a incredibly biased sense of your professors.

Good luck.

 

[urnextshrink]

Those acceptance rates...are they med school acceptance or PA + Med + other professional schools?

Good luck.

My impression upon hearing them was that they were strictly med school acceptance rates. The program serves those with other goals but most students are pre-med and the program staff know that.

The real selling point of the program should be value and accessibility. UM is the 5th best value in U.S. education right now and even non-residents can pay in-state tuition in this program (but only during the fall and spring semesters). I doubt I'd be accepted to many formal programs. On their apps, they are interested in undergrad math/science GPA: mine is dismal. Given the fact that that was a decade ago it's nice to be somewhere that I can simply show up and put the work in without writing essays about what a jerk I was when I was 18.