Which SMP Should I Attend?!

[perrcoxmd1]

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Hey there,

I've been accepted to both BU MAMS and Georgetown SMP. I'm hoping to get a consensus on which program people think I should attend.

Much appreciated!

 

[deleted289061]

Hey there,

I've been accepted to both BU MAMS and Georgetown SMP. I'm hoping to get a consensus on which program people think I should attend.

Much appreciated!

Which one are you leaning towards? I don’t know much about BU MAMS but I think both of these programs are pretty remarkable. Both are tremendously difficult. I think as long as you understand that this is a do or die opportunity, either would accomplish what you are looking to achieve.

 

[perrcoxmd1]

Which one are you leaning towards? I don’t know much about BU MAMS but I think both of these programs are pretty remarkable. Both are tremendously difficult. I think as long as you understand that this is a do or die opportunity, either would accomplish what you are looking to achieve.

I'm probably leaning towards Georgetown, though I don't really know why. Seems to have a better reputation based on the limited research I've done. Might just come down to where I'd rather live. This is all assuming I don't get into the Temple program I guess. I appreciate the feedback, any other thoughts?

And yeah I know they're both going to be brutal, but gotta do what you gotta do I guess...

 

[Wokemon]

You might want to look into how many SMP students were able to secure acceptances at the parent medical schools in successive years. What do those trends look like? I would go to whichever program has a higher acceptance rate for its SMP students at its parent medical school. I would also try to connect with former SMP students from both programs to see how supportive the faculty and administrators were, what the student body culture was like (super cut-throat vs. laidback), how easy was it to network with the parent medical school's admissions committee members, etc.

If I were in your shoes, I would choose to attend the program that made it easier for me to land an acceptance at the parent medical school (while also making my application more attractive to other medical schools, but only as a contingency plan).

 

[Wokemon]

One more thing: When I was thinking of applying to the BU MAMS program a few years ago, I met with its program director, Dr. Offner. She was really nice and open to meeting with me right away. She was also a straight-shooter and told me that I should not apply to the program at that point because there were other areas in my application that needed to be fixed before even a post bacc program could help me. Both my father (who had accompanied me to the meeting) and I appreciated her honesty. She seemed to genuinely care that the students that were admitted into the SMP actually succeeded in getting into medical school (as opposed to just making money off of desperate premeds). On our way out, we noticed that the office of the Dean of Admissions for BU med school was right next to her office. It made me think that any student who did really well in the post bacc program and made a good impression on Dr. Offner might have a leg up while applying to BU med school if she had such easy access to the Dean.

I don't know if things are still the same at BU, nor do I know anything about Georgetown. But it's something to explore if you are dropping thousands of dollars on an SMP.

 

[deleted289061]

One more thing: When I was thinking of applying to the BU MAMS program a few years ago, I met with its program director, Dr. Offner. She was really nice and open to meeting with me right away. She was also a straight-shooter and told me that I should not apply to the program at that point because there were other areas in my application that needed to be fixed before even a post bacc program could help me. Both my father (who had accompanied me to the meeting) and I appreciated her honesty. She seemed to genuinely care that the students that were admitted into the SMP actually succeeded in getting into medical school (as opposed to just making money off of desperate premeds). On our way out, we noticed that the office of the Dean of Admissions for BU med school was right next to her office. It made me think that any student who did really well in the post bacc program and made a good impression on Dr. Offner might have a leg up while applying to BU med school if she had such easy access to the Dean.

I don't know if things are still the same at BU, nor do I know anything about Georgetown. But it's something to explore if you are dropping thousands of dollars on an SMP.

Did you end up attending an SMP?

 

[Wokemon]

No, Dr. Offner convinced me to take a few years to fix some of the major problems I had with my post-bacc application (and potential medical school candidacy). She even told me to avoid the temptation to attend a different post-bacc program if I were accepted because she didn't think I would have success gaining an acceptance to a U.S. allopathic school without addressing all of the other problems first.

I took her advice seriously, and have been working toward remedying the problems (many of which took significant time and money to fix). I expect to apply to SMP/ linkage certificate programs in the 2018-2019 admissions cycle.