UNTHSC MS Medical Science Program

[noshie]

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Hey guys, I am usually not over here on this side, but I know that more Texans are here so I thought this would be a better venue. Anyways, I have applied to the 1 year MS medical science program at the University of North Texas Health Science Center (associated with TCOM) for next year and I am just finishing up my application. I have some specific questions about it and although the website gives a ton of information it is pretty non specific for this program. So:

1. Should I send my PPAC packet that I sent to the med schools to them for the letters of recommendations they want? The letters are specific for medical school and DO school, even though this is a masters program going to medical school is the overall goal for doing it so would it be a bad idea? Has anyone else that has been admitted to the program sent their med school letters of rec?

2. Do they interview for the program? I am pretty sure that I heard they do but I wanted to know about when they do them and what the whole interview is like. Is it a group interview? Is there more than one interview on the same day?

3. What are some of your GPA and MCATs for those of you that were admitted to this program. Also did anyone take the GRE? Did this help you if you had a low MCAT? I am taking the GRE at the beginning of January for my back up back up plan (getting my 2 year Masters in Microbiology just in case I cant get into med school this year or get into this program, I dont want to be sitting around doing nothing for a year) so I can turn these in by the due date in March.

4. Did anyone reget taking this path? Would you have rather done something else with this time? Could you work while in this program? I was thinking of still being a Scribe and moving over to Fort Worth in the ER at Harris Medical Center but only working like 8 shifts a month, does anyone think this is possible with the amount of work and classes I would have to take?

Well, thats about it. Anything else that anyone thinks is helpful would be great!
Thanks, Kim

 

[63768]

i'm currently in the MS program, so here goes:

1. yea, send in your LOR packet for med school to them. it's a masters but supposed to be for the purpose of getting into med school.

2. they don't interviews, at least not this time last year when i applied.

3. GPA was 3.32, MCAT was 32Q. i don't know anyone else who took the GRE in my class, but i think you can turn in both MCAT and GRE. i'd call the office to ask. i also think most of my classmates had problems with MCAT more than GPA i.e. MCATs around 20-23 area with good GPAs.

4. some of my classmates actually do regret taking this path. the reason is that in order to even be considered for admission to TCOM following this program, you have to attain a 3.5GPA in this program consisting of 35 hours. my classmates regret getting into this program because they are afraid they won't be able to make that 3.5, and if they don't get the 3.5 and aren't admitted elsewhere, it looks like they can't handle graduate/medical level coursework. if they quit now, it also doesn't bode well for them. their only choice is to bust their butt in this program and hope for the best.

that being said, i think this program is a great program because it really does prepare you for med school. you take courses like biochem, cell bio, physiology, pharmacology, and anatomy (neck down dissection) among a variety of other allied health courses like epidemiology, health disparities, etc. however, the only caveat as i talked about earlier is that the 3.5 is a strict cutoff. if you aren't able to get that 3.5, i'm not sure what you'd do.

if you have any other questions, let me know.

 

[noshie]

So even if you get a around a 3.2 or something lower than 3.5 they will not even consider you for an interview? I mean I knew that they will pretty much automatically give you one if you have a 3.5+ but I did not realize that they will for sure not give you one with less than that. Are the classes extreamly hard? Like a big jump from Undergrad 4000 level courses?
Thanks for all the good info!

 

[momgracea]

So even if you get a around a 3.2 or something lower than 3.5 they will not even consider you for an interview? I mean I knew that they will pretty much automatically give you one if you have a 3.5+ but I did not realize that they will for sure not give you one with less than that. Are the classes extreamly hard? Like a big jump from Undergrad 4000 level courses?
Thanks for all the good info!

I'd really love to know the same. While it is very likely that I'll get in to an OOS DO school this year, as a non-traditional with a teenage son there is a huge advantage to being able to remain in the Ft. Worth area. I really thought I'd have no problems getting into TCOM this year, but problems at TMDSAS, and then a lost DO letter put my ap at the bottom of the pile. (I wasn't complete at TCOM until nearly the Nov. 1 cut off...) Maybe this program is exactly what I need.

 

[noshie]

I'd really love to know the same. While it is very likely that I'll get in to an OOS DO school this year, as a non-traditional with a teenage son there is a huge advantage to being able to remain in the Ft. Worth area. I really thought I'd have no problems getting into TCOM this year, but problems at TMDSAS, and then a lost DO letter put my ap at the bottom of the pile. (I wasn't complete at TCOM until nearly the Nov. 1 cut off...) Maybe this program is exactly what I need.

You know all the sudden when you said "a non-traditional with a teenage son" I realized that I may know you. Do you go to UNT? I think I saw you after finals the other day when you were saying you were going to ground your son, I could be wrong though since I was very very very tierd that morning. By the way, I have heard that TCOM is done with interviewing, they are apparently just going to take out of the pile of interviewees they already have set up. If you already have one planned I guess you are ok though.

 

[63768]

every postbac student is interviewed by TCOM along with all other interviewees. at this time, you'd be in the fall semester of the program. the only difference here is that the decision will not be made to admit the postbac student/applicant until may after the postbac program has been completed. from what i gather, a student with a 3.499 will not be considered for acceptance. thus far, 100% of the students attaining a 3.5 have been admitted to TCOM. a few others that completed the program with lower GPAs were admitted to other medical schools, but there are still a large portion, something like 50% of the postbac class that is left with nothing.

it sucks, but i guess they don't want to make getting into med school easy. this is why you have to know/believe that you can do well in the main science classes of biochem, cell bio, phys, pharm, and anat. to tell you the truth, the other classes like epi, biostat, health disp are a joke and even the profs of those classes know it.

 

[noshie]

*bump* I know there are more of you guys in this program or who have more info about it!

 

[chaeymaey]

You may want to try the postbacc forum.

 

[longhorn20]

Is 3.38 gpa last 60 hours and 3.49 gpa competitive for the program? How heavily are LOR's weighted? And I have a DAT of 23