UMKC 6-year BS/MD Program

Pre-Med & Medical School Multiple Degree Programs
2121

MaJaHa, the quantity and quality of research completed at the UMKC School of Medicine is very subpar in comparison to other medical schools, both in basic science research and clinical science research. That’s bc the UMKC SOM gets very little NIH or external funding. The research now seems like a big thing to you as you are in your first semester, now entering your second semester, of freshman year in college (although you are a Year 1). In truth, the research projects there are, in reality, little more than what a premed would be participating in. Wait till you are a Year 3, 4, or 5 and when you have to build up your resume by getting involved in research to compete for a specialty in the residency match, see if you feel the same way.

The better funded the research is at a medical school - that helps you attract top teaching faculty, who then teach medical students. The opposite also holds true - less funding, not as good faculty.

Getting published is actually not that huge of a deal. It might be for UMKC, since very little actual extensive research comes from KC. But on my residency interview trail, there were tons of applicants who were 4+4 med students, who had quite a few publications in peer-reviewed journals from their home med schools (and they weren’t MD/PhDs), bc they had a lot of research opportunities available to them early on when they were first or second year medical students, or which they were even involved in, when they were undergrads as their medical school happened to be very close by to their university.

There’s a reason why people at UMKC, who have wanted to later pursue competitive residencies, have to likely take an additional year off to go do research in the specialty they want somewhere else whether it’s a research fellowship, Doris Duke, Howard Hughes, etc. in order to increase their chances of matching - mainly bc such opportunities are not offered at all at UMKC, or for some, the clinical residency department doesn’t exist at UMKC. If you look at match lists, you’ll see a lot of competitive specialties missing from our lists, and that isn’t by coincidence.

See chart on page 19:
<a href=“http://webpub.umkc.edu/provost/blog/documents/Final_Report-Life_Sciences_Task_Force.pdf[/url]”>http://webpub.umkc.edu/provost/blog/documents/Final_Report-Life_Sciences_Task_Force.pdf&lt;/a&gt;

2122

Haha, so do you guys think its too late now for hearing back from umkc som? =P
I’m OOS Cali

2123

I am hesitant to tell you a definite answer because i dont want to lead you astray since im not 100% sure, but if i had to guess i would say yes, it is too late to get an interview since they re starting on Tuesday.

I would call UMKC SOM though just to make sure

2124

lolz yeah i just got my rejection letter

thanks for the response though! =D

2125

does anyone happen to know how much second semester senior year grades count for the program?

2126

Enemyunit, considering you are out-of-state and you’re in California (which has great undergrads even in the public UC system) as well as good medical schools, consider the rejection a blessing in disguise. Good luck to you.

2127

“does anyone happen to know how much second semester senior year grades count for the program?”

Well considering that you are accepted/rejected before 2nd semester senior year is over i would say that it most likely wont influence weather you get in or not… although after senior year is over UMKC gets a copy of your “final transcript” and im sure that if it shows that you have bad grades they will either put you on probation or take back your acceptance.

Just get good grades - its the safest way to play it :slight_smile:

2128

and, what about first semester grades? Do they check that at the interview as well??

2129

Yes, they do because of your transcript you send them during the application process.

2130

Hello,
I haven’t been in this thread in a while. I’m currently a year 3 in the 6 year program. I would agree with Roentgen that UMKC does a lot less research than the avg med school, but if you want to do research, I think it is still quite possible to get a fair number of publications, depending on the lab you work in (especially in years 3-6). I work in a UMKC SOM lab and have already gotten 4 publications in the pipeline (it takes a few months to go through the peer review process), with less than a year’s experience under my belt. Again, if you’re in the Northwestern HPME or something you’ll probably have a lot more opportunities, but I wouldn’t say there are none here. The administration is working reasonably hard to attract researchers who get lots of those NIH grants, so hopefully we’ll see some significant improvement. I’ve already noticed a fair amount of improvement since I started here.

I’ll be leading student tours on Feb 4 (tomorrow) and Feb 18, so perhaps I’ll see some of you then (though, of course, you won’t know who I am). If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me. I understand this is a difficult decision–I myself struggled with deciding whether to go the 4+4 way and party, or work hard for 6 years, but I am glad I chose UMKC overall. I have visited friends at many other undergraduate institutions and the premeds amongst them seem to work pretty hard.

One thing no one seems to notice is that by saving 2 years you are gaining 2 years of income as a physician, assuming you retire at the same age. That difference in income is generally more than the cost of the whole 6 years for the in-state people, and covers a good chunk of the cost for out of state. Certainly it would cover the difference in cost between UMKC and any other 4+4 program I can think of. For some, the need for a “real college experience” outweighs this, but for me it did not, mostly because I’ve never felt deprived of such experience here (though, being from the Midwest, my standards may be lower than those living on the coasts).

2131

During the interview, will they ask really hard ethical questions. For example abortion, birth control pills, etc… Any advice is appreciated.

thanks

2132

i was asked about abortion in my interview, you should have a defensible opinion about the major ethical issues. i wouldn’t be surprised if you were asked about health care reform.

1 Like
2133

I’m intererested in how students are paying for this program at 35K-40K a year? From my understanding, the first 2 years are figured as a dependent undergrad with my parents income/savings playing a major role in my ability to receive goverment loan money and the last 4 years are figured as a independent grad student so I should be able to get goverment loans for the entire amount. I (we) can probably swing the first 2 years, but after that I’ll have nothing left for the last 4 years. Can I easily finance the entire last 4 years on my own with goverment loans?

2134

I must clarify that if you are out of state you must budget for spending of 60K+ every year. If you’re instate then I suppose your numbers are pretty accurate. I think if you get stafford unsubsidized government loans you should be able to cover the whole time, or private loans are also an option but are more expensive. Generally speaking it’s pretty easy to find financing, medical school is a relatively low risk investment for most banks

2135

Whataboutumkc, are you an in-state, regional, or out-of-state student? [University</a> of Missouri - Kansas City](<a href=“http://www.med.umkc.edu/med_admissions/BAMD_finance.shtml]University”>http://www.med.umkc.edu/med_admissions/BAMD_finance.shtml)

Yes, the first 2 years you are classified as an undergraduate student for FAFSA financial aid purposes. Years 3 (starting in June after Year 2 is completed in the Spring Semester) till you graduate you are classified as a professional student. To answer your question, “Can I easily finance the entire last 4 years on my own with goverment loans?” the answer is No. The amount of government loans (whether it’s federal subsidized or federal unsubsidized) won’t be enough to cover the entire amount, so you’d have to get a private loan which will be at a higher rate of interest.

2136

Hey Guys! Looks like I haven’t posted on here before! but i’ve read this thread since like page 1 wayy backk from 2005! its been great! Well the time is almost here! I got my interview with SOM this thurs, feb 11th! Im pretty excited! I am a regional student i believe, from oklahoma city! any ideas on how many people will interview per day? and TWO one on one interviews i believe? with 2 physicians? or one physician, one faculty? well congrats to the rest of you all too! email me if you need anything
<a href="mailto:mathews032■■■■■■.com">mathews032■■■■■■.com</a>

2137

hey i got put on the waitlist for umkc 6 year med program and i was wondering if anyone knows how long i should wait before considering my chances at umkc nonexistant

2138

i usually see groups of about 15-20 per interview day. i believe you get one physician and one “nonphysician” interview.

waitlist…the last day to commit to colleges is may 1 IIRC, so after that i think they start taking people from the wait list

2139

the total instate tuition cost for now is about 160k, and stafford loan limits are about 224k, so i would think you should be able to cover it with gov loans…not absolutely sure tho

2140

Awesome so the interviews went really well! and they were both really lax and chill! i had Dr. Barnes and Greenspan!