@sparklystarfish, one thing I just noticed that changed from my year in looking at that Step 1 policy link. Apparently now, the month that you take your CBSE to qualify to take Step 1 is already chosen for you. I know it says, “cannot be rescheduled without petitioning the Council on Curriculum,” but that’s just a roundabout way of saying your petition will be denied if you want to voluntarily move the dates they set for you. Previously, or at least in my time, you, yourself, got to choose the first time to take your CBSE, since it was offered once a month in the Spring, but it looks like they’ve even taken that option away from students.
So I guess I will first describe my own schedule and than talk about the changes that are happening to the curriculum.
I had to take fall campus because of my biology degree, but it was a really big waste of my time.
First of all, yes it is nice to have Pharm done, but after Path I was so over being in class. I hated having 5 effing hours of class a day during the SUMMER when the other half of your class is goofing off on summer campus, going home, chilling with their team on DoRo going to happy hours and you’re stuck inside studying the 9 billion powerpoints that you do each day in pharm. As you can tell I am really bitter. I really hate pharm to begin with because a lot fit is rogue memorization, which I hate, I also hate biochem and micro for the same reason. My grade suffered a little bit because I had no motivation to study.
Fall campus, in my opinion is way to early to study for boards. If you learned it right the first time, reviewing is not gonna do anything for you, you’re gonna forget those details before boards anyways. Fall campus was actually nice because I only had class Tues and Thurs and had a four day weekend every weekend. Man those were the times, I did NOTHING. In retrospect I now feel guilty that I didn’t study better for step 1, I could have gotten like a 270. But in my defense I had about had it with class and school after Pharm and needed a break to decompress. Probably should not have taken Aug, Sept, Oct, and Nov to goof off through. But see that’s the thing, because boards is in spring, you don’t really realize that you’re wasting your time, you’re mind is like, oh its so far away, I can go to a movie two nights in a row, I’ll just really really well this weekend. And than the weekend comes and your friends invite you to a party and before you know it 4 months have passed and you’ve accomplished nada.
I was also really bitter about my schedule.
My schedule was the following:
Jan - CBSE/Behavioral
Feb - Family
March - Study
April/May - DoRo
I was in a bind because honestly, I could have taken a study month in June, but than I would have had an entire two months of DoRo in between. I knew I wasn’t gonna get anything done than anyways because DoRo is just a giant party with your team. It really is. But that’s a topic for another time. So having DoRo in between for me was going to ruin all the progress I would have made in March. Again, this might be different for other people but I don’t really have strict discipline to study like that. Besides I’m really a focus for a short amount of time and get ish done kind of person. I could not take a study month in Feb because you have to either do Family or DoRo before step 1. And I could not move my family month to after boards and take a study month in Feb because well I gotta do either family or DoRo before Step 1, so that wasn’t an option.
I also wanted to take an elective that June before I started cores because that was the only time in my schedule for an elective until next year. Since I already knew that I didn’t want to do any of the core specialities and had a specific interest in another one, I wanted to take that early to make sure that I loved it, otherwise I needed to starting thinking of doing something different. And its not like I was being unreasonable, because I have DoRo Aug/Sept year 6, so its not like I have 5 months of elective time after year 5 cores like some other students in my class, I only had three months set aside. So I would have two months to do aways and one study month for step 2.
So basically, what that meant was that while everyone else had two, maybe three months of straight study time continuously, I only had March. Don’t listen to anyone who says you can study for it during Family. It was my first real rotation, I had never “worked” 8-5 everyday and driving to lakewood takes like 45 mins each way. I was lucky if I was able to stay up after getting home. Only real work I could do was on the weekends but when you’re on family you have to volunteer at Sojourner’s for two of the four weekends, which essentially takes up half of your sunday (its from 11am to 3pm) right in the middle of your day and feb was already a short month so I had to study for the family test as well. Which is impossible to do well on because its written so poorly. My schedule was a mess.
In the end, I wish I had two months continuously and not broken up like I did. I did study for boards half of december, and half of January (because I had behavioral so had to go to class for that), and than all of March. I feel that I would have done better if those months were all together and not broken apart.
That’s why I discourage people from taking biology degree. I got the worst of all worlds possible: DoRo in the middle of my spring session, DoRo early in Year 6 so I could not take extra months w/out compromising elective months later, and than lots of free time early on when studying doesn’t really help you.
Imagine my schedule but flipped, so the people who had the flexibility of my schedule with spring campus. They essentially all studied for 5 months and took boards at the end of May.
Its not all bad. In my class there were 8 of us with fall campus. But for the other students who were biology majors they all want to do residency in one of the core specialities (peds, IM, surg) so for them, having that extra month in June to study wasn’t a big deal. They didn’t need that month for an elective time later on. For me, it was essential because for competitive specialities you have to do a rotation at your home school before you do aways. Some of the students that had Fall campus had feb/march doro, so they all pushed family back to June and had april/may as study months. Really I was the only exception to the rule for being stuck with my schedule the way it was. But had I known this was a possibility when I first signed up for a Bio Major, I would have been like: no thanks, I’ll gladly sit through criminal justice for a semester than compromise my study schedule for step 1 later on.
Now for the curriculum changes:
- My year of students were extremely notorious for pushing back boards. Like really bad. We had a large percent of individuals who took it as late as August and September (at least 15 students that I can think of). The school was not a fan of that.
- So the year after me, they were like we have had enough of dealing with the headache of changing student schedules because they are too scared to take boards are having two months of dedicated study time. So now they set your CBSE date for you and give you two study months and you just have to take it in that timeframe. You have no other option. Yes it sucks and you can blame my class for that but honestly the more you push back boards the worse you do. Unless there is some grave reason for pushing it back (like death in a family or something like that) most people who pushed it back will tell you that they wish they would have just taken it their original date, because they felt like they lost a lot of information after pushing it back.
- Starting this academic year, Path is now going to be a full year. So your third year instead of doing micro/neuro in the fall and than path 1/path 2 in the spring, you will be doing Path all year, and than either micro in the fall and neuro in the spring. I forget which one is when. Don’t know how long this is gonna last, and don’t know how that is going to impact the burnout factor after path.
@blugrn6, for Path, even though it will be stretched to a full year instead of just half the year, do you know whether the number of credit hours will stay the same or will it be increased? I’m assuming for Micro and Neuro the number of credit hours will stay the same.
@Roentgen, you said during your summer campus, you “lightly went thru review books in Biochem, Anatomy, Physiology since it had been a long time since Year 2 since I had taken those subjects”. Is that really necessary?
I think what is necessary for one person to succeed, however you define that goal, may not be necessary for another person. You’ll see in your class that there are so many different study methods, study patterns, study frequencies, etc. that everyone will do what worked for them. Same for course exams - there are some people who can study the week before or even few days before a midterm exam and do just as well as people who keep up with the material and do slow sustained studying, a few hours everyday. In terms of my Year 4 summer campus, looking back, I know part of it was boards jitters and since I only had to take 6 credit hours, I took them both as online classes and finished them in less than a month.
During Year 4, everyone is thinking at least somewhat in the back of their minds about boards that will be coming up soon, and that overall “on edge” feeling tends to increase dramatically as you get closer in the few months before your test date. It also didn’t help that a very large majority of my med school class personally felt that our professors were poor in terms of giving us a realistic idea of how USMLE questions are asked, so we knew that not only were we going to have to learn the stuff that wasn’t taught at all, but then also have to re-learn the things that we were taught in class, but in a different way than what we were used to. That’s a lot of information to cover! But it was only light studying by flipping thru review books, not actually sitting and doing questions, which would have been much more useful in retrospect - since you can read something 50 times thinking you know it cold, and then still miss those questions that force you to apply it and not just memorize it. For me, I already knew Anatomy was going to be my weakness that I would have to improve on, as I absolutely hated it from HSF. Biochemistry was almost like learning it new because a) I took it in Year 2 and hadn’t touched it since then and b) our professor at the time, who finally retired in 2011, heavily emphasized nit-picky rote memorization on his exams to the point of being ridiculous. For me, Micro was a strength, and the professor actually used a well-known board review book as our required class textbook, so that was more to keep from losing that information from too much time passing.
I know some people who were UMKC Supplemental Instruction (SI) tutors in Biochem and HSF during Year 3, so they didn’t really have to review things as much in those courses for boards AND they got paid money for it.
In theory, as a med student when you review for the boards, it’s supposed to be just a review (implying that you’ve learned it before in class, but just have to go over it again). But since in the BA/MD program you have to maintain a science GPA to promote, in reality, you really end up studying only the stuff in the professor’s powerpoints and lecture and maybe the info. in the textbook that he/she covers, to get yourself the very best grade you can. That’s why, at least at UMKC, the people who got the best boards scores weren’t always the same people who had the best grades or were AOA, although there are definitely people who were able to do both things well.
As @blugrn6 mentioned, because Years 1-3 are very scheduled in terms of classes, studying, and taking exams, when you finally get to Year 4 when things aren’t so rigidly scheduled and everyone’s rotation schedules are different, it’s very, very tempting to put off accomplishing any boards studying and just do whatever you want all day to relax, sleep all day by the pool, watch Netflix, play video games, go partying, drinking, etc. to finally unwind and before you know it, several months have already passed and you’re freaking out and beating yourself up.
Just so you know, you won’t really be able to hardcore Step 1 study on certain clinical rotations in Year 4 as you’ll have other responsibilities - i.e. DoRo because you’ll be seeing, admitting, and discharging patients to/from the hospital, taking overnight call, having fun with your team, etc. and Family Medicine, as they’ve added a heck of a lot more busywork and an in-house final exam, etc.: http://med.umkc.edu/fm/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/FM-I-Course-Syllabus-August-2014gp2014.pdf.
@sparklystarfish, if you go on Pathway for Fall 2015, you’ll see that Medicine 9312 - Pathology I now called “General Pathology, Genetics, and Immunology” is 10 credit hours. And based on the “Class Availability” under BMS 9310 - Medical Neurosciences, which is 9 credit hours, that will be the concurrent class enrolled in the Fall of Year 3. That being the case, Medicine 9313 - Pathology II and whatever the course title will now be (which will be at least 10 credit hours, if not more) will likely be paired with Med Micro in the Spring, which will probably remain 6 credit hours.
You would think the burnout might be less since the Pathology course lecture material is more spread out, but whenever curriculum changes are made, they always seem to have this natural knack to mess things up even worse than what they were previously, so only time will tell. All the more reason for you not to rule yourself out of getting a summer campus in Year 4.
@sparklystarfish @Roentgen @Blugrn6
It looks like they’ve changed around a lot of the Year 3 curriculum starting with this upcoming 2015-2016 academic year, and not just Pathology, although they have kept many of the same course numbers, if you look at the major maps from this year: http://www.umkc.edu/majormaps/maps/2015-2016/SOM_BLA_MD_2015_2016.pdf
Fall Semester Year 3
MEDICINE 9312: Pathology I - 10 hours
BMS 9311: Medical Neurosciences - 9 hours
MEDICINE 9308: Clinical Practice of Medicine I - 3 hours
MEDICINE 9383: Continuing Care Clinic I - 0 hours
MEDICINE 9385: Introduction to Pharmacology (online) - 2 hours
Spring Semester Year 3:
MEDICINE 9313: Pathology II - 11 hours
BMS 9310: Medical Microbiology - 5 hours
MEDICINE 9309: Clinical Practice of Medicine II - 5 hours
MEDICINE 9383: Continuing Care Clinic I - 5 hours
It looks to me like what they did was take the Clinical Skills course (formerly MEDICINE 9380) and stretch it out over 2 semesters (MEDICINE 9308 and MEDICINE 9309). It makes sense to teach physical exam skills for specific organ systems, as you are also learning pathology by organ systems, at least I think that’s how they’ll do it. Wow, only took them 12 years from when I graduated to finally follow thru on our original suggestions. Better late than never, I guess.
It looks like the useless course MEDICINE 9386: CUES-Interdisciplinary Patient Care: Healing, has disappeared, but I’m thinking it’s more likely it’s just been incorporated into the MEDICINE 9309 course as very rarely do they just let things disappear from a curriculum, no matter how useless, once it’s been a part of it for so long. Thank God, I missed that CUES course which was newly started for those in the year below me.
@UMKCRoosMD, good find!!! I should have known to look at the major maps first.
I think that’s one possibility which makes sense, but in looking at that major map and comparing it to ones in the previous years, what they might have done, since previously it was in the Fall you took MEDICINE 9380: Clinical Skills (5 credit hours) and in the Spring you took MEDICINE 9386: CUES (3 credit hours), was just rename the course titles and then switch the order, since Fall - MEDICINE 9308: Clinical Practice of Medicine I is 3 hours and Spring - MEDICINE 9309: Clinical Practice of Medicine II is 5 hours – so it still adds up to the total of 8 hours. Not saying I’m correct by any means, but also a possibility, although your rationale would actually be better for student education by far.
I agree with you, that I don’t think they’ll totally get rid of the CUES course material on their own, no matter how pointless students tell them it is.
For people looking to see the UMKC BA/MD School of Medicine Online Supplemental Application with the essays from this past year, 2014-2015, I have copied and pasted it from last year to here. I would work on the essays during the summer as that’s really the hardest part of the whole application.
UMKC School of Medicine B.A./M.D. Program
Thank you for your interest in the UMKC School of Medicine B.A./M.D. program. We are thrilled that you are considering UMKC as an option for your medical education.
Students admitted to the UMKC B.A./M.D. program have the opportunity to earn the Baccalaureate and Doctor of Medicine degrees through a six-year (48 weeks a year) combined program offered by the College of Arts & Sciences, the School of Biological Sciences and the School of Medicine. The combined nature of the program allows you to become a competent physician through a vibrant and innovative medical education, while also providing a liberal arts education to prepare you for great responsibility and social awareness for the community in which you live. This philosophy allows you to spend six years in an integrated program that blends the humanities and arts with the discipline of medicine.
As a UMKC medical student, you can be confident that you will receive a strong foundation in medicine by developing the core competencies we believe are essential for practicing medicine: further development of interpersonal and communication skills; cultivation of professional behavior, including moral reasoning and ethical judgment; expansion of medical knowledge to apply both basic and clinical science; utilization of practice-based learning, to diagnose, manage, prevent and provide continuing care, as well as develop further skills in self-reflection and self-improvement; and employ systems-based practice to actively incorporate psychological, social, cultural and economic factors in the practice of medicine.
The UMKC School of Medicine, along with the schools of dentistry, pharmacy and nursing, is located on our Hospital Hill campus in downtown Kansas City. By joining the UMKC School of Medicine, you will become a member of the greater Kansas City community and enjoy the benefits it has to offer – great cultural events, concerts, food, sports teams, shopping and nightlife. Additionally, Kansas City has been recognized by Forbes magazine as one of America’s best downtowns for its entertainment attractions, rich culture of arts and amazing cuisine.
The UMKC School of Medicine is committed to advancing the health of our community, and we are delighted that you are beginning the application process. We look forward to receiving your application and considering you for admission to our B.A./M.D. program.
For more information about the B.A./M.D. program, please go to www.med.umkc.edu/admissions.
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Personal Information
First time applying Re-applying
Name - Please use sentence case when entering your name:
First Name:
Middle Name:
Last Name:
Preferred Name:
Email:
Gender:
U.S. Social Security Number:
Date of birth (mm/dd/yyyy):
Place of birth
City:
State:
County:
Country:
Current legal address (Please avoid using P.O. boxes if possible)
Number and street:
Country:
City:
State/Province:
Postal Code:
Home Phone: () -
Cell Phone: () -
Current mailing address (Please avoid using P.O. boxes if possible)
Number and street:
Country:
City:
State/Province:
Postal Code:
Home Phone: () -
Cell Phone: () -
Are you a Missouri resident? Yes No
How long have you been a Missouri resident?
Years:
Months:
County:
Are you a U.S. citizen? Yes No
Country of citizenship:
If resident alien, card number:
Date of issue:
What is the highest level of formal education obtained by your parents? (Mark with an “X” in the appropriate space.)
Father
Grade school or less
Some high school
High school graduate
Some college
College degree
Post-graduate
Mother
Grade school or less
Some high school
High school graduate
Some college
College degree
Post-graduate
Father’s name:
Father’s Occupation:
Mother’s name:
Mother’s Occupation:
Number of sisters:
Ages:
Number of brothers:
Ages:
How did you find out about the UMKC School of Medicine? Please check as many as apply:
Brochure
Internet
UMKC Medical School alumni
Medical students at UMKC
High school counselors
Family friend
Family physicians
Students at other medical schools
Family member was/is in program (sibling, cousin, parent, etc.)
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Program Information
Non-Missouri residents are only eligible to apply to the six-year B.A./M.D. Program. Please indicate “Six-Year B.A./M.D. Program Only” when selecting the program consideration option below.
Missouri residents have the option of applying to the following programs:
Six-year B.A./M.D. Program
The six-year B.A./M.D. program allows a student to enter medical school directly out of high school or immediately after completing the first year of college. Students who enter this program will complete the baccalaureate and medical degrees in six years, and will pursue baccalaureate degrees in Liberal Arts, Chemistry or Biology (major selection is dependent on number of courses transferrable from high school – AP, IB, dual enrollment, etc.).
Guaranteed Admission Baccalaureate/M.D. Program
The Guaranteed Admission Baccalaureate/M.D. program allows a student to spend one year as a UMKC undergraduate student before entering the School of Medicine, thus allowing for the completion of the baccalaureate and medical degrees in seven years rather than six. Students who enter this program pursue undergraduate degrees in Chemistry or Biology. During the first year of the program, students are enrolled as UMKC undergraduate students, not medical students, and receive academic advising from the chemistry or biology academic advisor. At the end of the first year, students in this program who meet the academic requirements are guaranteed admission to the School of Medicine B.A./M.D. program for the second year. This program is ideal for candidates who would like a transition year between high school and medical school, or for those students who would like to complete an undergraduate degree in Biology or Chemistry but may not have enough transferrable credit (AP, IB, dual enrollment) from high school.
Please select which program(s) you would like to be considered for. Please note: Selecting consideration for both programs DOES NOT increase your chances of being offered admission to either program. This information is not used in the decision-making process, but is used after admission decisions have been made for the purposes of program placement. Please only indicate the program(s) you are seriously interested in being considered for.
Please indicate which program you would like to be considered for:
*Six-Year B.A./M.D. Program Only
*Guaranteed Admission Baccalaureate/M.D. Program Only
*Six-Year B.A./M.D. Program OR Guaranteed Admission Baccalaureate/M.D. Program
By indicating my choice(s) above, I understand that my selection of one program or both program options does not increase or decrease my chances of being offered admission, and I have selected the option(s) that I am seriously interested in receiving consideration for.
Signature:
Education Information
High school type: Public, Private
High school name:
Year of graduation:
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High school phone number:
Are you currently enrolled as a freshman in college? Yes No
Please list the institution where you are enrolled as a college freshman:
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Statement of Student Responsibility
I understand, as an applicant to the UMKC School of Medicine B.A./M.D. program, that it is my responsibility to verify that my application is complete by the appropriate deadlines. I am responsible for verifying that the School of Medicine has received all application materials necessary to complete my application, including the following: the general application for admission to UMKC; the School of Medicine Online Supplemental Application, including personal statement, high school/college activities and leadership, and health experiences; my high school transcript; my standardized test score; and at least three references provided on the official UMKC School of Medicine online reference form. I understand that my application will remain incomplete until all of the above-mentioned materials have been received.
Date:
Signature:
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Technical Standards
Because of our obligation to ensure that patients receive the best medical care possible, certain abilities are required of our students. All students of medicine must possess those intellectual, emotional and physical capabilities which are necessary to participate fully in the curriculum and which are essential to achieve the levels of competence required by the faculty.
Candidates for the medical degree must be able to observe and perform a variety of procedures. Intact sensory and motor functioning is required for accurate observation and the competent performance of procedures. Candidates must be able to observe and evaluate a patient accurately, at a distance and close at hand. This necessitates the functional use of the senses of vision, hearing, touch and sometimes smell. A candidate must be able to communicate effectively, to hear and to observe patients in order to elicit information, describe changes in mood, activity and posture, and perceive nonverbal communications. The candidate must be able to communicate effectively in oral and written form. Candidates must have sufficient motor function to elicit information from patients by palpitation, auscultation, percussion and other diagnostic maneuvers.
Problem solving is a critical cognitive skill demanded of physicians, and it requires the intellectual abilities of measurement, calculation, reasoning, analysis and synthesis. In addition to these skills, a candidate must possess the high moral and ethical standards demanded of physicians and the emotional health required for full utilization of his or her intellectual abilities, the exercise of good judgment, the prompt completion of all responsibilities attendant to the diagnosis and care of patients, and the development of mature, sensitive and effective relationships with patients.
Because of the above essential functions, the School of Medicine strongly discourages the use of surrogates to perform these functions as a reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. While each application is reviewed individually, it is necessary that each degree candidate himself or herself be able to observe and perform each task required by the curriculum of the school. Similarly, the school does not consider the waiver of required examinations a reasonable accommodation for individuals with learning disabilities. Learning-disabled students, when appropriate,* may be granted additional time on required examinations, be examined in separate testing facilities or accommodated in other reasonable ways, but they will not be exempted from the requirement to take and pass such examinations.
The University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine has a standing committee to review qualified applicants who are unable to meet the technical standards for admission as stated above. The entire application file will be formally reviewed by this standing committee of the Council on Selection in consultation with the UMKC Office of Disabled Student Services.
*Contact the UMKC Office of Disabled Student Services for information regarding definition and documentation of learning disabilities.
I have read and understand the above technical standards, and I hereby certify that I believe that I am able to meet these standards if I become a medical student at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine.
Select One: Yes No
Date:
Signature:
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Personal statement
The personal statement is an opportunity to distinguish yourself from other applicants. Please consider the following prompts when writing your personal statement:[ul]
[]Why have you decided to pursue a career in medicine?
[]What motivates you to learn more about medicine
[]Why are you interested in pursuing a six-year medical program versus a more traditional eight-year program?
[]What would you like the UMKC School of Medicine to know about you that isn’t available in other parts of this application?
[li]Have you experienced any hardships or challenges that may have influenced your education and career goals?/list[/li]
Additional short answer responses
The short answer section is an additional opportunity for the admissions committee to learn more about you. Please respond to all of the following questions.[list=1]
[]Tell us about a significant issue facing your generation, and what would you do to contribute to solving this issue. (200 word limit)
[]Describe an experience in which you interacted with someone who was different than you. What did you learn from the experience? (200 word limit)
[li]Describe a time when you differed on an important issue with your parents, other members of your family, or another influential person. How did you handle this situation? (200 word limit)[/li][/ul]
High School/College Activities and Leadership
UMKC School of Medicine Council on Selection reviews your high school/college activities to better understand you and your involvement and leadership in activities outside of the classroom. Please provide a detailed description of your involvement with school sponsored clubs and organizations; community related activities; volunteer experience and/or community service; and work experience. For each activity, please provide the dates of participation and the hours per week you devoted to the activity. Please also provide a detailed description of the activity/organization and your specific involvement with the activity. Please type your responses in the space provided below. You are limited to 10 activities, so please select those activities that you feel best represent your involvement and leadership. Please do not list health experiences in this section, as those experiences should be entered in the health experiences section of the application. (For current college students, please list both high school and college activities if applicable.)
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Health Experiences
The UMKC School of Medicine Council on Selection reviews your health experiences to better understand your involvement with health-related activities and your investigation of the medical profession. Please provide a detailed description of your involvement with health-related activities including clubs and organizations; volunteer or work experience in a hospital, doctor’s office, nursing home, or other health-related facility; shadowing experience (includes shadowing of any health-care professional); participation in structured or formal health-related programs; medical or health-related research; and other health-related experiences that may contribute to your interest in medicine. For each activity, please provide the dates of participation and the hours per week you devoted to the activity. Please also provide a detailed description of the activity/organization and your specific involvement with the activity. Please do not list experiences in this section that you have already listed in the High School/College Activities section. Please type your responses in the space provided below. You are limited to 10 activities, so please select those activities that you feel best represent your commitment to healthcare. (For current college students, please list both high school and college activities.)
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Recommendation Provider
Please list the names and contact information for 3-6 people who will be submitting reference forms on your behalf. Reference forms should be submitted electronically by teachers, counselors, school administrators or others who can speak to your academic ability and personal character. Reference forms should not be submitted by family members or friends. Those providing the reference must submit a fully complete online School of Medicine reference form. Letters of recommendation will not be accepted in place of or in addition to the online School of Medicine reference form. Reference forms will not be accepted by email or mail, but must be submitted online.
To send the reference form to the recommendation providers listed below, please click “Send Email Request” next to each recommendation provider. Email Requests must be sent before submitting application.
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Certification and Submission
Thank you for your interest in The University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine. If you are satisfied with your responses to our supplementary questions, we are ready to receive and review your entire application. Once you submit this application, you will be unable to make any further changes.
I certify that the information in this application and associated materials is current, complete and accurate to the best of your knowledge.
Wow @bladerz1! Thanks a lot for pasting this past year’s application on CC so applicants can finish their essays in the summer. Hopefully the BA/MD essay prompts will stay the same from last year. Just so applicants know, you have to also fill out the general UMKC university application (it will be available after August 1), but I don’t think there are any specific essays involved with that, and it doesn’t take very long to fill out either.
The entire UMKC BA/MD application process is explained here: http://med.umkc.edu/bamd/apply/
@Roentgen, no problem, I thought I’d give back to applicants applying this year.
I went to the UMKC orientation and we got this: http://med.umkc.edu/docs/sa/Summer_Orientation.pdf, it’s also on the Office of Student Affairs website: http://med.umkc.edu/sa/. Can you, @blugrn6, or @UMKCRoosMD remark more on this and what you think, maybe things to watch out for? They didn’t talk anything about research, but it was just orientation and we had a lot of other things to do as well like signing up for classes, email, etc.
@bladerz1, okay, so as far as that orientation presentation: http://med.umkc.edu/docs/sa/Summer_Orientation.pdf[ul]
[li]Majors: According to that PDF, it looks like degrees that used to be available outside of Biology, Chemistry, and Liberal Arts are no longer options for BA/MD students. That’s a shame.[/li][li]Faculty: While the main faculty’s purpose (I’m assuming they’re talking about the medical school basic science faculty that teach classes and not the School of Biological Sciences faculty) is to teach, that’s more because the med school is not a big research type institution to be able to sustain the BMS faculty’s research interests, if they have any. Most PhDs that are hired at a traditional medical school have research labs and publish, as well as teach certain lectures in med school basic science courses. At UMKC, the BMS (Basic Medical Science) faculty who teach med student courses aren’t big researchers, so the only thing left for them to do is direct and give lectures in courses.[/li][li]Finances: Very little university-sponsored scholarships and grants (aid that you don’t have to pay back) are available to 6 year BA/MD students, although there are things like some work-study (don’t have to pay back), loans, etc. Obviously every bit helps, but the grants and work-study don’t make a huge dent when you consider all your loans and interest at the very end. The one exception is the Chancellor’s Historically Underrepresented Minority Award (income is not taken into account) which is given to African-American, Hispanic and Native-American students, allowing them to pay in-state tuition rates, even if they are regional/out-of-state students. In all honesty, most students who are entering the BA/MD program, esp. now, as high as the School of Medicine rate is currently, are pretty very well off financially (or I should say their parents are) and are quite privileged, especially those who are outside the state of Missouri, and those who are in-state living in certain affluent suburbs of St. Louis (Chesterfield, Creve Coeur, Ladue, Town and Country, etc.)[/li][li]Wellness: Take full advantage of the Wellness initiative they now have there. It’s been a national thing in medical education to include Wellness in medical school (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/22/a-medical-school-more-like-hogwarts), and it looks like it is something UMKC’s med school has finally picked up on. Some of the stuff will be common sense, but some won’t. Part of the problem is that as an 18 year old, you’re not only taking on being a legal adult and a new college student to begin with living away from parents, but also to quickly becoming a medical student and future physician. It’s a program that requires you to grow up and mature much faster than you would normally have to, which can be very stressful at times for different reasons, which makes wellness – proper sleep, eating well, exercising, stress relaxation techniques, etc., very important. I would say this is even more important if you live outside the state of Missouri, where driving/flying home often, isn’t a practical option.[/li][li]Time commitment: Seriously, if you’re putting in 80 hour work weeks, there is something really wrong with how you are approaching things. 80 hour work weeks is what interns/residents who work in hospitals put in. There is no way as a Years 1-4 student you should be putting in 80 hours per week on school-related work on a consistent basis. If you are, you really need to work on efficiency, as that’s pretty unsustainable. As far as undergraduate level science courses, there is absolutely no reason that you shouldn’t be able to get an “A” if you put in the time, put in the sustained effort, don’t ridiculously procrastinate, go through old exams, group study, etc. It might be a little harder when you’re taking Cell Bio and/or Organic Chem in an 8 week summer, but there are ways to avoid this schedule in the first place, but I’ve known people with Cell + Organic Chem + Organic Chem Lab in the summer who still got an “A” in all 3 courses, so it is definitely possible.[/li][li]Science GPA: Ever since they’ve had that 2.8 science GPA requirement, some med school administrative idiot always says, “C DOES NOT EQUAL MD” (since it’s a variant of the usual “P = MD” med school motto). It’s a stupid remark, since it’s a nuanced expression that they clearly don’t understand and haven’t explained well as to how it got started. It’s not like med students go in aiming to get C’s all over the place.[/li]
No one in the program is “aiming” for a 2.8 science GPA (or I guess they rounded to the full 3.0 for simplicity-sakes). You pretty much do the very best you can, and it just averages out to being above that 2.8 cutoff. As you progress thru the 6 year program, the classes do get harder, i.e. not as textbook-centric as undergraduate science classes at UMKC tend to be, more lecture content covered per class lecture period, more detail you need to have down in your head, etc. So getting an “A” in Year 3 Medical Microbiology would be harder, than say getting an “A” in Year 1 Micro, even though they both go into the science GPA. So you’re best off having and maintaining overall good study habits - that means going to class (or at least listening to recordings the SAME day), taking notes, and not procrastinating to the point where you’re a few days before the exam and are staying up till 2 AM - 3 AM cramming, to get thru 4 weeks worth of lectures that you haven’t been through. Even if you somehow magically do well after that cramming, there will eventually be a class in which you’ll meet your match whether that’s Organic Chem, Biochem, HSF, whatever. Be proactive and don’t let it get to the point of where you’re barely passing or actively failing a course to finally change your study habits and/or ask for help. Use all the resources you can - you’re paying tuition for it. In all honesty, your ETCs probably won’t be that helpful, but at least they should be able to point you in the right direction.
[li]Cumulative GPA: I’ve never known anyone who gets dismissed because of getting below the cumulative GPA requirement, which I believe is now upped to 2.8 (vs. 2.7 in the past). Just so you know, the UMKC BA/MD program takes all 6 years as one entity. So unlike BS/MDs at VCU, Rochester, Baylor, Brown, Northwestern, etc. your GPA runs throughout all 6 years since there is no official separation between the undergrad and med school like it is at other BS/MD programs. You don’t go thru 2 years and then start on a clean slate, like would be the case at NEOMED’s 6 year program. The “science GPA” is not an official university GPA and will not appear on an official transcript or on your MSPE. It’s only a promotion policy.[/li][*]If you get less than an A on an exam: If college students bothered professors every time they got less than an “A” on an exam, I think they’d be even more annoying and irritating than they already are. Not everyone is going to get an “A” on every single exam they will take thru out undergrad and med school at UMKC (or any other school). That being said, do take advantage of all the resources you do have available to you: upperclassmen Year 2s who tend to have good professor-specific studying tips and have previously released old exams, at least for undergrad classes, professors themselves after lecture when the material is getting confusing, going to SI sessions (great way to make friends here too), group studying with people in your BA/MD class (great way to make friends here too). But don’t run to your professor every time you get less than an “A”.[/ul]
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[li]Council on Evaluation policies: These are always evolving and changing, although a promotion policy that changes later obviously won’t affect you if you’re already promoted past that year. Keep that in mind. Best defense: do your very best on everything you attempt: class exams, board scores, clerkship performance, NBME shelf exams, etc., so you don’t box yourself into a corner later because of a changed policy, but also maintain perspective to avoid becoming neurotic and inflexible.[/li][li]Remediation: I believe this is a relatively newly created term. In normal UMKC parlance, it’s called “extending”, meaning you increase/extend your time beyond the usual 6 years. Honestly, if you’re extending in Year 1 (Year 1 Fall/Spring) - then you should really consider getting out of the program since it is that easy to even get all Bs. Don’t worry about the “must be reported to licensing and credentialing agencies” later if you’re placed on academic probation, if you find yourself in this scenario. This is talking about when you initially apply to get a medical license from a state medical board after you’ve matched. Some boards don’t even ask and the ones that do just want an explanation, which your school will give only a brief explanation if they ask. It’s not a big deal, that alone doesn’t stop you from becoming a doctor. Not even close. I honestly, don’t know why they’re telling that information to an 18 year old, but it’s probably so they can they say later that they told you. I honestly don’t know what extra “basic science enrichment” there is, it’s not like you take additional science courses that aren’t already required.[/ul][/li]The rest of the stuff, like dorms is stuff we’ve discussed previously in the thread, so that should be enough for now. lol.
I think @Roentgen pretty much covered anything I would have said.
I just want to emphasize a couple of things that he also touched on:
- “If you get less than an A on any exam, make sure you talk to someone about this”. If this were true UMKC would be non-fuctional. You are not going to get an A on every single test, so don’t make that a goal of yours. Remember an A on an transcript is an A. No one is going to know that you got a C on the first exam because you were trying to find the best study method and then pulled yourself up to an A. The overall goal should be an ‘A’ in the course, not every single test. Also realize that you might not get an A in every single class and THAT’S OK.
- They also gave us the whole, this is a full time job lecture. There is no reason for you to be spending more than 40 hours total/week with class and study time COMBINED.
- Learn what works for you, and DONT fall for peer pressure. I was that student who likes to do a Harry Potter marathon and than go to the outlet mall the weekend before a test. There was nothing wrong with that because I knew what I need to do to get the grade I want. But I have several friends who think I am absolutely crazy and learned how to say a firm NO to all of my antics because that doesn’t work for them. Its easy to fall to peer pressure from students like me because A. We tend to be very convincing and B. You don’t have anyone looking over you, so you can do whatever the hell you want, no one is going to keep an eye on you. So watch out for those traps.
- With that said, people, come on, its first year…there is no need to go gung ho at this stage. I have friends who busted their back first year and than lost all motivation and got burned out when they reached HSF. Like that’s the time to step up a notch, not the time to take a break. Yes classes require you to do some work but its also UMKC. The amount of effort you need to put in to get an “A” is not that hard.
- Rule I lived by: before your head hits the pillow at night, you should have at the very least glanced over or reviewed everything you learned that day. This rule should only apply to the hard classes (anatomy, biochem, etc). Don’t do this with Criminal Justice or English, that’s just not necessary.
- Find what works for you and stick to it. Its so tempting to read the book because Lauren is reading the book and looks so intense doing it. And its tempting to re-listen to the lectures again because that’s what Eric is doing. And OMG I should also review all the old exams three times because that’s what Stephanie is doing and oh, I should definitely try to read the textbook chapters too because Tyler said that’s what he is doing. STOP. Choose what works for you and then stick to it. I know people who basically died trying to keep up with every new fad that students were doing for tests. Do what works for you and don’t give an eff about what other people are doing. Its not worth the headache trust me. Be a trend setter, not a trend follower.
- Just have fun. I effing miss first year. What a stress free time of my life. The stress of Anatomy is NOTHING compared to the stress of cores, of USMLE, applications and match, and residency. Obviously its easy for me to say this in hindsight, but seriously. Enjoy this time, really. Yes Anatomy is hard, but seriously its not that bad. Just review what you learned everyday for an hour after class and you’re free for the rest of the day to whatever you want.
Bahaha yea no one is going to talk to you about research ever. Just gonna have to figure that one out on your own lol. Just have in the back of your mind, and once you hit HSF you should be looking for something. By the time you start your third year, you should have something set up so you have a good two years of time to get something worthwhile accomplished before you hit Year 5 and get on Cores and than have no time whatsoever.
Oh yeah, about research at UMKC, @bladerz1, I’m actually not really surprised they didn’t cover research in a freshman college orientation, even if it was a School of Medicine orientation. That’s something that the Office of Research, at the medical school will be able to tell you in much much greater detail, on what is exactly available to you, as a student, in research at UMKC and with whom: http://med.umkc.edu/research/. Research endeavors were specifically centralized for students ad faculty (finally) for this purpose.
As @Blugrn6 mentioned, quite honestly, as a Year 1, at least in the first semester, you shouldn’t be involved in any student research at all. Seriously. To use a runner’s analogy (if you’re not that knowledgeable in this area: http://terralien.com/blog/articles/2009/01/12/sprint-or-marathon/), the 6 years is truly much more of a marathon, than a sprint. If you treat it from the beginning as a sprint, you’ll crash & burn very fast, especially at certain high-stake times later when you need to do your very best.
I’ve definitely known people who pushed WAY too hard in Year 1, thinking they were somehow laying a good foundation then, with the intention of letting up in intensity later, but by the time they got to Year 2 Spring, they were WAY more exhausted and burned out, on average, but they could do absolutely nothing about it, because they were then entering HSF, in which the workload was going to be more intense. Year 1 Anatomy and Year 1 Micro are called “Baby” Anatomy and “Baby” Micro by BA/MD students for a reason. They are introductory level undergraduate level taught courses. You will have more than enough time during the normal semester to study for those science courses, as the exams are very well spaced out, and meet only 3 times a week and 2 times a week, respectively, during the semester.
What you should be concentrating on as a Year 1 is getting used to living in an entirely new city (and/or state) on your own away from your parents and doing all the things on a daily basis that you need to do to function outside of studying (all the things your parents used to do for you which you many not have noticed - how to drive esp. in snow, how and what to shop for in the grocery store, how to cook basic meals at home, how to PROPERLY do laundry, doing chores to keep your place clean, keeping your car maintained - i.e. oil changes, etc., getting a strong foothold on your academics, brushing up/learning new/maintaining good study skills, time management and organization, making a good group of friends and maintaining those friends in your BA/MD class, etc. Don’t intentionally isolate yourself all the time (even if it’s studying - which you can’t do 24/7 anyways, no matter what you may think) and don’t cause yourself to be unnecessarily ostracized either.
My best friendships, all of them now lifelong, were with people in my BA/MD class who I took the time to meet and get to know in Year 1 and cultivate those friendships, when you have so much more time available to you, you don’t even know it yet, even if you’re taking the full 22 hours, like that Orientation powerpoint says on Slide #16.
These are the same people whom we all studied with at the dorms in Year 1, got car rides in to weekly Docent, studied for classes once we all moved out to apartments, went to different fun places in the KC area or to Lawrence/Mizzou (there are fun places believe it or not, u just have to find them, and be open-minded and flexible), went to Snowball together (it’s equivalent to a med school formal, essentially), shared old exams/study guides/resources, studied for boards together, watched my back in so many ways, being good sounding boards for each other when things were getting to us or stressing us out about school or otherwise.
If you’re an exceedingly shy person at baseline, just take my word for it, take a chance, make a lot of friends in your class in Year 1, even if you think it won’t matter a hill of beans. You’ll be really amazed at who you’ll become friends with, at the end of 6 years.
Couldn’t agree more with @Roentgen about the making friends point.
I am a really shy person but I had to just push myself to make friends. I struggled a little bit haha. My friends still make fun of me for all the weird things I said/did because I was so nervous and shy to meet new people. That’s ok, I’m glad they grabbed on and didn’t give up.
Honestly, don’t worry about it too much. You will eventually get a group of friends with the same socioeconomic/personality type as yours. And because we barely get a chance to go home, they will sort of become your own “family”. And as weird as this sounds, you will be genuinely happy to get back to them when you return from your breaks.
Your first week, you should never say no to any social event. And trust me there will be a lot of them. The friends I made that first week are still my friends to this day. People always rave about how close they are to their “college” friends. This will especially become apparent once MD only’s join your class and once you start doing away rotations. For you these are your “college” friends, and trust me, they are well worth cultivating.
Any input on what housing options on/off campus after freshman year are?