Urgent--Drexel IMS or CMS BMS?

[bedazzledrules]

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Hi I have been accepted to the Drexel IMS program and the Chicago Med School's BMS program, but I'm not sure which one I should go for? I want to make a choice based on which school will give me more "guarantee" for their M.D. program next year and how easy/hard their courses are. I need to make this decision today.. Any help/suggestion would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Ggnome]

Hey, congrats on your acceptances!

Those are two programs that I have applied to, as well.

I'll share with you the BMS info I found out about this year's class:

78 started
34 have been accepted to a med school (as of last week)
4-5 of those acceptances are to schools other than CMS.

So, most of the acceptances that came out of the BMS program this year were for CMS.

However, I do not know how many of those 78 applied to med school this year, nor do I have any idea what their stats are.


Some good things about CMS:

-It seems easier at CMS to petition the med school courses that you took to count for actual credit as a MSI. At Drexel, the info. I found said that you had to test out of taking the courses.

-I believe that all BMS students get an interview to CMS? I may be wrong about that, but I know that at Drexel, you must get all B's in your first semester (not a 3.0, you must get all A's or B's) to get an interview. If you get a C at Drexel, you're not guaranteed an interview.

Some things to think about:

-It is more expensive than the IMS program, by far. ($22,000 for IMS vs. $36,000 for BMS). If that matters to you, it's something to think about.

-The courseload for BMS seems a little more demanding to me than for the IMS program. Moreover, the BMS program has a fair amount of masters/online courses in there, whereas the IMS program is overwhelmingly actual MSI classes.

-While a near 50% acceptance rate to CMS is good, if you don't like CMS for any reason after your first year, it seems it may not be that great of a program for getting accepted to another med. school.

-I've heard that the acceptance rate from the IMS program is between 60-80% after the first year and 90% after the second year. I don't know how
much of that is to Drexel's med school.

Talking to some of the people that have gone through the BMS program, as well as some admin people there, the concensus is: if you kick buttin the BMS program, you've got an excellent shot of getting in. I've heard the same for Drexel, as well.

I know that you said that your ultimate goal is to get accepted to a med school, ANY med school. I feel the same way (I'm a reapplicant this year), but definitely look into the schools/areas that you'd be living in this year. If you haven't been to RFU, it may be quite a change for you if you're living in a big city this year, or have spent the last four years in a big city going to college. Not that RFU's "ruralness" is bad by any means, but it's something to consider! The locations are very different: downtown Philly vs. a small city north of Chicago. It's just another thing to think about.

Good luck with this decision! I think that both are potentially great programs- if they get you a spot in med school. You just have to choose which one you think is best for you!🙂

 

[bedazzledrules]

Thanks Ggnome..that made a lot of things clear..I was under the impression that CMS was easier than IMS because at Drexel you would be taking 7 med school courses which would be online whereas at CMS you'd be taking 5 med school courses with the med school students and have the same professors. Do you by any chance know if Drexel/CMS look at your mcat scores/undergrad gpa when considering you for the M.D. prog or do they just look at your performance in the IMS/BMS prog?

 

[Ggnome]

I haven't ever asked that question. What you could do is call both med schools (Drexel and CMS) and ask them. Considering that the masters programs are separate from the med schools, you could get info from them without the masters programs even knowing.

Regarding which program is "easier"- I also wouldn't say that Drexel is easier than CMS. I think it would be tough for anyone to make that call. CMS does have more Masters classes than Drexel does. As far as the classes being online at Drexel: I'm sure that if you wanted to, you could go sit in on the classes at the SOM. I interviewed there this year and the med student who gave us the tour said that many students stop showing up to class around the 2nd week, and often just watch the lectures on their computer at their convenience. I know a Drexel student who does the same thing- and it has allowed her to go home on weekend visits to see her family in CA, on occasion.

They both seem like rigorous programs. It boils down to preference as well- personally, I don't care much about the masters (although getting one after one year at RFU is nice compared to 2 years at Drexel), so I'd prefer to take more med school classes than Masters classes. However, you may be different! You should do what you think would be best for how you learn.

If in doubt, call both schools today (med schools) and talk to someone about how the Masters applicants have fared in admissions in the past. Call other med schools you're interested in- many I think will tell you which program they'd prefer to see. I've heard of others doing that and getting good advice.

Good luck! Let me know which program you end up choosing. I could be joining you! 🙂

 

[kingsingh]

I was accepted to both those programs as well. I chose Drexel's IMS just because I thought it gave me a better shot at admission at other medical schools (besides Rosalind Franklin and Drexel). Also, it is about $15000 cheaper than Rosalind. I think if you don't care about what medical school you end up at you might have a better chance at getting into Chicago after completing the BMS program.