UMKC 6-year BS/MD Program

[istherehope]

@Roentgen Thank you for your insightful comments and link to the thread about residency.

[Roentgen]

@sim0628,

So the med school used to use class rank as a metric about 10 years ago, but it was stopped because over half of applicants come from high schools now that do not provide a class rank, and they do not want to use a metric that is so inconsistent in terms of availability. It’s not really fair to use class rank as a metric for consideration for 40% of the applicants and not use it for the remaining 60%.

That is probably why they instead use the candidate’s unweighted high school GPA in the 17 core requirements of the university, which you can see here under “Coursework”:
https://med.umkc.edu/bamd/admission-requirements-eligibility/

[sim0628]

@Roentgen in your humble opinion do you think selectors (sort of) discriminate students that apply from private schools? I ask this after seeing a trend, but not sure…

[Roentgen]

@sim0628,

I really didn’t think so. When I was in the program there were quite a few in-staters from private high schools in the state, mainly from the St. Louis and KC areas – Villa Duchesne, MICDS, Visitation, John Burroughs, Priory, etc.

The medical school is very well acquainted with high schools in the state of Missouri & Kansas, both public & private. It’s hard to extrapolate from anecdote and so much of the process is now standardized in terms of points it’s very much a holistic review in which each part contributes to the overall rubric (see “Holistic Review of Applications”):
https://med.umkc.edu/bamd/admission-requirements-eligibility/

[OmGV2020]

@Roentgen

@OmGV2020,

So I think one of the goals of analyzing match lists, is seeing the endpoint/culmination result for that specific medical school’s graduates. In fact one of the questions on the “35 Questions I Wish I Had Asked” list deals with this directly in terms of where graduates place. Different medical schools have different strengths & weaknesses and areas of emphasis, & oftentimes this is reflected in a match list as residency program directors are familiar w/different med schools & residents they’ve recruited in the past from those schools.

The problem is as a medical school applicant, it’s hard to make those analyses on your own, since you generally don’t have the background information to be able to analyze a list, unlike say a further along medical student, a resident, a fellow, etc. Now add onto that if you’re applying as a high schooler, it’s pretty much impossible to do it on your own w/o some help.

In a program such as a combined BA/MD or BS/MD, where you’re committing to going to that med school as a high schooler much earlier than a premed, it’s important to be as much informed as possible when making decisions as to which route to choose or which Bachelor/MD to choose, if you’re lucky enough to have several acceptances.

The goal isn’t to look at any specific match year in isolation and extrapolate from there but to see trends. Is it more subjective? Sure. But this isn’t some randomized control trial with objective numerical endpoints.

I very much agree with @UIC4lyfe points/posts here but especially on his/her point that one should see where the AVERAGE medical student at that institution is matching into. Students at the tippy top of the class will almost always be getting really stellar matches, especially those who are AOA, but those students would have done that regardless of the institution they’re at. It’s not a good strategy to compare yourself to the exception, rather than the rule. I also think comparing it to match lists from previous years, as well as match lists from other medical schools in the same state and/or same tier also helps.

But having these conversations especially in a program which is 6 years in length (which runs year around w/o any real discrete separation between undergrad & med school compared to other programs, & w/limited majors allowed), I believe is helpful so that students understand the process & understand what they’re leaping into w/o blinders or rose-colored glasses on.

Thanks for the detailed info @Roentgen, just making sure we are clear.

[Bill0112]

@Roentgen : You rock! Thank you for your super awesome insight.

[Bill0112]

Thanks @meg2020

[catmouse]

@Roentgen,

Thank you so much. I understand now.

[Roentgen]

No problem @OmGV2020 & @Bill0112!

If you all have any further questions, whether it’s on UMKC’s BA/MD program specifically or on other aspects of the medical school pathway, feel free to ask. You all are asking really great questions, so happy to give my POV as I’m sure others are as well, so that applicants & parents are better informed before making final decisions by May 1st.

[staycalm123]

@Roentgen I hear that from 2022 Step 1 exam is going to be a Pass/Fail. I was told that Step 1 scores were primarily used for the residency choices. So going forward what do you think will be considered for residencies? What impact will this have on students attending UMKC in terms of getting residencies.

[BAMDHopeful]

When will the Toledo Chemistry test results come out?

[BzewdT]

@Roentgen Is it a good idea to take General Chem II this summer or some other class for a Biology Major in the program? If other classes, what classes should I take before Next fall?

[staycalm123]

@curiousstudent123

Can the people who got in post there stats please

MY DC’s Stats
SAT 1580
APs : 12
GPA : 3.96(Unweighted)
Lots of ECs, research intern at a local SOM lab over summer.
250 Hospital Volunteering hours.
80 Hours of shadowing.

[Bill0112]

@BAMDHopeful
When will the Toledo Chemistry test results come out?

I don’t think they will give you the results. In the acceptance letter, if the candidate did well on the test and met requirement, then they will receive an acceptance letter without any condition. If the candidate did not meet the requirements for toledo chem test then they will get a conditional offer.

[Roentgen]

@staycalm123,

I think most likely what would happen is that it would just shift to USMLE Step 2 CK (which is more clinically relevant) being emphasized in the residency application process. It will be interesting to see though how the BA/MD curriculum changes in response to this USMLE change, because currently, students use their entire Year 4 campus semester to study for Step 1 & now if it’s just Pass/Fail, it may be easier to reach that threshold sooner.

[Roentgen]

Hey @BzewdT,

If you look at the BA/MD major map for Biology:
https://cf1.umkc.edu/majormaps/maps/2019-2020/SOM_BA_MD_Bio_AY1920.pdf, it says: One of the following courses must be completed before beginning the 6-year combined degree curriculum in order to be able to complete the BA Biology: BIOLOGY 108+108L General Biology with lab OR CHEM 211 + 211L General Chemistry I with lab

I would try to finish General Chemistry II + Lab (whether that’s in summer or fall) so you can take Organic Chem 320 + Lab in the Spring of Year 1.

You can’t AP/IB/CLEP out of General Biology 108 + Lab at UMKC so you’d have to take that at UMKC in some way (whether that’s this summer after senior year or in the fall when you’re officially in the BA/MD program)

If you have an ACT English subscore of 30 or above or SAT verbal subscore of 690 or above, you’ve met the Discourse 100 General Education requirement.

I would try to CLEP out of these requirements if you can sometime during Year 1 & 2, although you don’t necessarily have to do it now this summer:
— PSYCH 210: General Psychology (A “3” on AP Psychology fulfills this)
— MO Constitution Requirement (A “3” on AP US History or AP US Govt also fulfills this)

For the “STAT 235 Elementary Statistics OR MATH 210 Calculus I OR MATH 216 Calculus for Biological Sciences” requirement, the AP Statistics or AP Calculus exam score can knock that out.

Just remember, you are limited to 30 semester hours of testing credit (unlike transfer credit):

1. https://catalog.umkc.edu/undergraduate-academic-regulations-information/transfer-external-sources-of-credit/credit-by-examination/

2. https://www.umkc.edu/registrar/transfer-credit/test-credit.html

If you take courses w/in the University of Missouri system in the summer (this is probably more practical if you’re an in-state student), then you get grade points towards GPA at UMKC.

[BAMDHopeful]

@ Roentgen Thank you for the helpful info regarding courses. Too bad we can’t AP out of general biology. However, it says BIOLOGY 108+108L General Biology with lab OR (not and) CHEM 211 + 211L General Chemistry I with lab. If I AP out of General Chemistry, does it mean I don’t have to take general biology?

[Roentgen]

@BAMDHopeful, for the Biology BA degree, you have to have both courses eventually for the degree. The BA/MD Biology major map is just talking about having one or the other completed before you actually begin the program in the fall, just so that it all fits in terms of sequence.

[BAMDHopeful]

@ Roentgen Thank you! I can see for those who have not taken the right APs, the course load would be overwhelming.

[Roentgen]

@BAMDHopeful, it can be overwhelming, but luckily UMKC also accepts CLEP tests, which you can take anytime till the end of Year 2 of the program (after that you’re officially considered a professional student for financial aid purposes so it doesn’t count then), which can knock off a lot of the undergraduate requirements to free up space as well. I recommend that people do those as that can even be easier than some of the AP exams to get credit.

CLEP: https://clep.collegeboard.org/

https://www.umkc.edu/registrar/transfer-credit/test-credit.html