UMKC 6-year BS/MD Program

I have just accepted my offer to the 6 year program!

Thank you all for you suggestions and criticisms. I will take those into account in my future applications and interviews. I’m not exactly frustrated, just confused. The reason is because I was accepted into other combined programs (e.g. SLU’s Medical Scholars program, EMSAP at UAB) and some pretty prestigous universities as well. Many of those required interviews too, and apparently I performed pretty well since I was accepted. @PursuitToExcel - I didn’t mean to offend you by saying this program only accepts “mediocre students.” It was just a possibility, but I’ve been proven wrong now so I retract that statement. But programs that do only accept mediocre students do exist in order to give them more opportunity. For example, there were numerous scholarships that only allowed students with GPAs between 3.29 and 3.79 to apply in my state. Also, I will call the School of Medicine at UMKC as you suggested to ask them why I was not offered a spot.

I got an offer to the 6 year program and will probably go there! My question is does anyone know if there is a facebook page for students accepted into the ba/md program?

@KCA22017 whether you believe so or not, you more likely are an exception to the rule. You scored 2 standard deviations above the average on the USMLE (that’s like a 260+). That means you beat 98% of all U.S. and Canadian med students (21,788 people) who took the test, at the age of 20, which means you most likely entered the program at 16 and graduated med school at 22 (when most people are just entering med school). You would have probably been successful no matter where you went, as you’re already at the top of the bell curve in terms of raw intelligence and raw talent (leaving aside hard work for the moment). This is just my opinion. The average board score at UMKC is much much lower (when >60% of the class is Asian)

If you look at the UMKC match lists for those who matched into Wash U for Internal Medicine (IM), which is a relatively non-competitive specialty, those were students who were members of the AOA honor society - which means they ranked at the very top of their specific med school class. Your average medical student going for IM coming from UMKC is not going to be matching at WashU - a Tier 1 institution. Your average medical student coming from WashU, however, going for IM is going to get into pretty great places. See here: <a href=“2014 Match Lists | Student Doctor Network”>http://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/threads/2014-match-lists.1061707/&lt;/a&gt;

I think the key here for high schoolers deciding whether to go to UMKC is what your career goal is:
—If your goal is to do: Pediatrics, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine you should be perfectly fine. These specialties are relatively non-competitive, unless you’re aiming for top institutions, in which case it will be just as hard as the competitive specialties.

—If you’re wanting to go for fields that have very good lifestyle or are more competitive such as Dermatology, Radiation Oncology, Ophthalmalogy, Radiology, Plastic Surgery, Urology, ENT, , Neurosurgery, etc. you WILL (not if) have a much harder time matching, even if you are at the top of the class at UMKC. That’s just a reality. Part of the problem is that UMKC doesn’t have residency programs in many of those fields, so you don’t get the ability to network like you would at places that do have those residency programs. UMKC’s mission is more towards primary care.

You can compare match lists for yourself:

  1. Wash U: <a href=“2014 Match Lists | Student Doctor Network”>http://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/threads/2014-match-lists.1061707/&lt;/a&gt;

  2. Mizzou: <a href=“http://medicine.missouri.edu/students/match-lists.html”>http://medicine.missouri.edu/students/match-lists.html&lt;/a&gt;

  3. UMKC: <a href=“http://www.med.umkc.edu/sa/match.shtml”>http://www.med.umkc.edu/sa/match.shtml&lt;/a&gt;

@OKCThunder, You’re likely to only be compared to those in the “regional” pool only (vs. the out-of-state pool) SLU Med Scholars and EMSAP UAB are excellent programs with residency programs in many of the competitive specialties. You will do fine.

Team - I am trying to decide between Neomed and UMKC 6 year programs. Advice on which program is better (ignoring financial/cost perspective) would be very helpful

UMKC and Noemed are comparable in terms of reputation. Ultimately, your choice will likely be on the cost.

Neomed requires MCAT but UMKC does not require MCAT.

If that is the case, UMKC is the obvious choice, if finance is NOT in the equation.

@IMGDAD thank you

@Roentgen What about for high schoolers who don’t know what they want to specialize in?

@docstudent you should also look at their match lists. It seems that students who qualify for these programs usually also do well on the MCAT - I have no proof of this but I am sure of it. But if test taking is a scary thing for you then like IMGDAD said, go for the UMKC. Congrats again. <:-P

@Midhelper, MCAT is not a concern. I am trying to determine which program is better between NEOMED and UMKC.

@shimmeringaway, I don’t think you have to know what specialty you desire pinpointed down to a t. I think if you have no idea, try shadowing certain specialties that you think you may be interested in to get a clearer picture. Go to a medical school that has a whole variety of residency programs in those specialties so you can explore them, not just in primary care fields. If you change your mind and decide on a specialty that is less competitive, then it’s much easier to step down to a less competitive specialty, then to try to step UP to a more competitive specialty. If you have more questions PM me. I have some links that may help you.

@docstudent, are you a resident of Missouri or Ohio?

Hi all I am new to his forum and have been reading a lot about UNKC discussions.
I have a question, anybody can answer.

My S (OOS) got accepted into UMKC (fees $ 460,000 in today’s dollars) and University of South Alabama Early Acceptance program (full ride Undergrad).
.
I am trying to compare both schools:
UMKC: NO MCAT and save 2 years (6yr program) spending nearly half a million dollars (6 YRS). No name school with no (few) competitive specialty residencies.

University of South Alabama Early Acceptance program: 8yr program, full ride undergrad, Medical school fees in-state ($28000/yr), school not very well known, has some competitive specialty residencies.

Any advice would be appreciated

Well concerning my previous post, my cause of anxiousness is to decide between UMKC and University of south Al EAP? Can’t decide!

It would be obvious for us - the money would decide here. It’s too much of a difference to ignore.

^same vote here. You will mostly likely end up at the same place taking either path.

The choice is obvious, if you do not mind living in Mobile, AL, but I may have conflict of interest since my son is OOS on the alternate list! On the other hand, if your son comes out to work two years earlier, he would easily make up for the differences in the tuitions in two years or less. I am trying to put myself in the students’ position and imagine what I would do at that age. It may sound rather immature but I would feel “happier” and more “reassured” if I am physically in a medical school and am able be a physician as early as possible, in that case, the UMKC program will provide that.