Hey! I got an interview notification for UMKC. Any tips for interview day?
@hythoom My S received interview invitation December 28. The email says that he needs to accept or decline the invitation by January 9. Or he would loss his interview spot. So I assume you would need to wait at least until January 9. Good luck!
@UMKCRoosMD I find that the BA/MD are abnormally competitive here. There are a few programs in unranked Colleges, but i don’t know if I want to commit to a lesser known college just for the sake of being in the “program.” Examples: Montclair State, Richard Stockton College of NJ, etc. Plus, I’d like to get a new experience.
Just so you know, UMKC is also a lesser known undergraduate university as well. It’s definitely not a top university of Missouri by any means. The big public state university is actually Mizzou (known for their basketball team), along with private SLU (which has a Medical Scholars program), and Wash U (which has a University Scholars Program in Medicine). People in the UMKC BA/MD program definitely only come to UMKC bc of the connection to the med school, not bc they would have actually gone to the undergrad alone. Even many in-staters had other great undergrad options they would have taken if they hadn’t gotten into the program.
@jpstcm, all BA/MD programs are competitive to get admission to, in general. Why do you think the NJ BA/MD programs are abnormally competitive to get in? UMKC is even more so, since a lot of people erroneously think UMKC will be a safety BA/MD to get in.
I would also say TCNJ, NJIT, Rutgers (which aren’t lesser known by any means) are good options as well since they have BS/MD programs with UMDNJ or now it’s called Rutgers NJMS. University of the Sciences now has a BS/MD program with Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. Rutgers RWJMS also has a BA/MD program. As far as a new experience, I guess you’ll have that regardless of where you go as an 18 year old from high school.
Definitely not trying to discourage you at all, but just wanted to give you the facts. Tuition wise will definitely be expensive though, and your chances of eventually qualifying for in-state tuition is pretty slim as I’ve heard they’ve really tried cracking down.
Hey, I am an OOS (out of state student) and I understand it is going to be really expensive to go to UMKC. Does anyone know if there are any potential scholarships or ways to reduce the cost to go the UMKC program?
@tdkeerthi, you might want to look here which organizes things pretty well: http://www.sfa.umkc.edu/site2/health_professionals.cfm?info_pane=3. They also have total cost-of-attendance charts.
I very much empathize with you. I was also an out-of-state student and it was frustrating to not get any money at all in terms of scholarship support from the university as a 6 year BA/MD student even though my academics from high school were quite stellar. When I was in the program, if you were out-of-state, you signed a statement before matriculating agreeing to pay out-of-state tuition for 6 years or longer if necessary, and you could not apply for or claim entitlement to any UMKC non-resident scholarship.
I have heard that there is a way now to gain in-state tuition by establishing residency in Missouri – http://www.umkc.edu/residency/, usually thru buying a house, or your parents paying Missouri state income tax, etc. You’ll have to ask how successful people are in reality to be able to do this, however, and I’m sure those who are successfully able to do so, keep very quiet about it.
The one major difference I do see from when I attended is that there is a Chancellor’s Historically Underrepresented Minority Award if you are African American, Hispanic/Latino, or Native American, where you effectively only pay in-state tuition, even if you are a regional/out-of-state med student. They also seem to have a School of Medicine scholarship now although it is only for in-state and regional students and based partly on financial need as calculated by the FAFSA. Make sure you’ve turned in and submitted the FAFSA as soon as possible regardless. Other than that the scholarships are very very small - look under “UMKC School of Medicine 2014 Senior Awards”: http://med.umkc.edu/tag/awards-recognition/
I would find and apply to every single private scholarship or grant you are eligible for in your senior year - something you’ve probably been doing during your senior year. There are many good Internet search engines for this as well as your scholarship office at your high school: Fastweb.com was the easiest one to use for me but there are others. There are people who also apply for military HPSP scholarships for the last 4 years of the program but realize it does come with an agreement for service in the military as a doctor.
@UMKCRoosMD or @Roentgen, what is the student body like at UMKC? I’ve heard the university itself is mainly a “commuter” type campus - hope I used that word right.
Also how are the actual students in the medical program? Is everyone really cutthroat for grades or do people work together?
Also, what credit should students coming into the UMKC program bring to make things a little easier?
@PinkPrincess2014, you can check here to see the degrees offered with the MD degree and their specific class requirements: http://www.umkc.edu/majormaps/
You can check here to see what types of AP/IB/CLEP credit are accepted: http://www.umkc.edu/registrar/transfer-credit/
I would set a goal by the end of Year 2 to have enough credit hours where you only require a summer campus semester (rather than a Fall or Spring campus) in Year 4 to finish your Bachelor degree or that you’ve finished all your undergrad requirements by the end of Year 2 so you only take easy classes in your summer campus semester.
Be strategic with the type of testing credit you bring in. You’re allowed a maximum total of 30 hours of testing credit and you can only do it in the first 2 years after which you can’t, since you’re no longer classified as an undergrad. You can take CLEP tests on the UMKC campus and get credit. By the time I was done with Year 2, I had the max of 30 hours allowed and it allows you to move things around a easier.
Unless things have wildly changed, you still sign up on your own for undergrad classes and can take your undergraduate courses earlier than you normally would if there is room in the class and you feel that you can handle it. So for example, I took Sociology 211 my first semester Year 1 (since it has no prerequisites, not even Sociology 101), which made my schedule less tight in fall of Year 2. My roommate in the program took Cell Biology his first semester Year 1, along with Chem II and Anatomy and had no sciences to take in Year 2 summer and got to enjoy his summer by the pool and took easy online classes.
Several tips:
1 -- Don't take the AP Biology test. It won't give you credit for General Bio I and II (if you decide to do a Bio degree).
2 -- One of the first places that is common for people in the program to extend (meaning being forced to go from 6 to 7 years) is the first summer in the program where you take Cell Bio + Organic Chem + Organic Chem Lab together. If you make it into the BA/MD program, and decide to come, make sure you come in with SOME type of General Chem credit whether it's for 1 or both semesters.
There are different ways to do this: a) AP/IB test in Chemistry (u get credit, but no GPA), b) transfer credit by taking it at your local college/university and if you take it at UMKC, UM-Columbia, UM-St. Louis, and UM-Rolla (the UM-System), then you’ll get it calculated in your GPA, or if you are in a high school dual college credit (if you’re in a high school in the KC area this is available with UMKC and counts for GPA). Either way, you should aim as much as possible to take Organic Chem and Organic Chem Lab in the full spring semester of Year 1.
This will make your first summer much easier since you’ll only have the one science class of Cell Bio in the summer or like my roommate, no science classes in the summer.
@Roentgen, Thanks for the information. I just wonder which major I should look at to UMKS BS/MD program. It’s not clear from the list. Should it be Biology BS or Biology (Biomedical)?
@Roentgen, I meant UMKC BS/MD program.
@efr009, It’s listed under “Medicine/Biology” which is an MD/BA combination. In the six year program it is pretty much impossible to get a BS degree unless you come in with a lot of credit and even then you’d need an extra year since the courses are really specific. Yes, this thread is labeled wrong when it first started, it hasn’t been a BS/MD program for a while, but a BA/MD program.
Seems like for people entering in 2013 and after there is a new “General Education Core”: http://www.umkc.edu/core/index.cfm for all undergrads, so make sure you look at the plans under 2014-2015. It’s really confusing as the other plans in years past just listed the course directly.
Looks like they’ve watered down the BA in Biology even further for 6 year students, as they don’t even take both semesters of General Bio anymore.
@Roentgen, out of three options (Medicine/Biology, Medicine/Chemistry and Medicine/Liberal Arts), which one gives students better chance to finish in six years? Medicine/Chemistry seems more difficult than other two since it has foreign language requirement. My S will probably come in with credits from AP Chemistry, AP US History, AP Stats, Calculus AB, ACT English subscore of 31, and AP US government. I appreciate your advise.
@efr009, All 3 of those degrees (BA Chem, BA Bio, Bachelor of Liberal Arts) are approved in the 6 year BA/MD program, hence finishing in 6 years isn’t an issue. You just have to come in with the specific credits they want you to come in with beforehand if you decide to do Bio or Chem. The only difference really is flexibility and a lot of that is dependent on how many hours you bring in and how many hours you take once you start. Realize that you can still continue taking testing credit after you graduate high school. Most people at UMKC take CLEP tests which are much much easier and cheaper than the AP Tests esp. since the CLEP score to get credit at UMKC is so low. So, for example, I didn’t take AP Psychology, but I took the CLEP Psychology test and got credit for Psych which is required in the program.
First make sure your S has the right AP score to receive credit as it looks like according to the link above, that UMKC changed things recently and now requires students to get a 5 on the AP Chem test in order to get credit for both semesters of General Chem with labs, a “4” will give you credit for the first semester w/lab. The chem course credit a “3” gives you is useless and you’ll have to retake Chem I.
I did the Liberal Arts degree bc I was able to knock out a lot of the credits easily with AP and CLEP credit and honestly, it was the easiest, which I wanted, so I could concentrate and do well on the MD science requirements. Contrary to what people may think, residencies don’t care about your undergrad major and one major doesn’t give you an advantage over another, so you’re best off choosing what you like.
@Roentgen, Thanks!
If I’m thinking about doing a Bachelor of LIberal Arts. What AP’s/CLEP’s are recommended to knock out the general credits required?
@ElliotPiano, If you see here: http://www.umkc.edu/registrar/transfer-credit/#anchor-2, you can see which AP and CLEP Tests knock out a core requirement in the last column labeled “UMKC Core”. Focus A, Focus B, Focus C, and Focus Elective can all be fulfilled with a variety of combinations of testing credit.
http://www.umkc.edu/core/about/course-types.cfm
The AP English Language test gives you credit hours for Discourse I. An ACT English score of 30, or SAT Verbal of 690 waives the Discourse I requirement although obviously you get no actual credit hours.
You would most likely take English 225 at UMKC to fulfill the Discourse II requirement since the AP English Literature test doesn’t give you credit for anything useful at UMKC.
**Discourse III, Anchor I, Anchor II, and Anchor III** would all have to be taken as courses at UMKC.
Tests that I think in general are useful to fulfill general ed requirements, in my opinion: AP English Language, AP Foreign Language (French/German/Spanish), AP Psychology, AP US Government, AP US History, AP Calculus (or if there is a CLEP test for it you can use that).
Just something to keep in mind, if you make it into the program, I would recommend finishing the Writing Intensive requirement in either Year 1 or Year 2. You want your campus semester in Year 4 to be the easiest possible.
http://www.umkc.edu/majormaps/maps/2014-2015/SOM_BLA_MD_2014_2015.pdf
The major map showing 18 credit hours in the Year 4 campus semester is ridiculous when you have to study for boards. Definitely don’t leave 18 hours left in your degree after Year 2.
This might be useful if you’re deciding btw majors as well: http://med.umkc.edu/docs/accepted/Three_Degree_Comparison.pdf
Thank You for your answer. I only considered the Liberal Arts route because I heard it was easier so you can focus on medical studies, but I am also more interested in Biology (Have taken biochemistry, embryology, A&P, endocrinology already). Should I consider a Biology route and what are the things you should take in advance before coming, is it just chemistry AP?
You’re correct, most people do a Liberal Arts degree bc it is the easiest and so in theory, they can concentrate fully on med school coursework w/o having other added sciences. That being said, it’s pretty much an unmarketable degree by itself - as you probably figured out, so it’s a risk if you change your mind and decide to no longer specifically pursue med school and decide to either go the normal route to med school, or pursue another healthcare field, or another major altogether.
Here is the major map for the BA Biology degree as fitted into the 6 year program: http://www.umkc.edu/majormaps/maps/2014-2015/SOM_BA_MD_Bio_2014_2015.pdf which you can read at the top what credit you’re expected to bring in if you pursue the BA Bio degree - (Transfer Credit Notes). Seems like they made the Bio degree even easier for med students if you compare it to the 2012-2013 plan.
Obviously the more testing credit (up to a max of 30 hours) you come in with to knock out courses the better, but I would say AP English Language, AP Psychology (or CLEP), AP Chemistry, maybe AP Statistics, AP US History/AP US Govt (or CLEP), is a good start in terms of making your schedule much more flexible, getting to take a summer campus in Year 4, freeing up 3 months to do what you want with them, etc.
Has anyone that applied before the second deadline (after Oct 15th) heard back yet?