Happy,
In your opinion is it difficult to get a residency in Pediatrics say in LA or San Diego if coming from UMKC ?
Appreciate your input.
Thanks
Satkid11, if you are set for Peds (which is hard to know for most people what specialty the are 100% sure about), UMKC should not be a problem as Pediatrics is not really a competitive field.
There are people who have gotten Pediatrics in California, however the caveat is many of them were residents of California who entered the UMKC program, so them being California residents, may have greatly aided them in eventually matching in their program. But I would say doing your 4th yr (which is Year 6 at UMKC) elective rotation in a California residency program should help in that regard. If you look at the Match lists many people do stay in the Midwest.
Oreo45,
Schools that are higher ranked tend to have a lot more students who naturally do better on the boards, while at lower tier schools high scores are a few.
UMKC is doing better on boards, but there is a lot of roadblocks in the curriculum before you are even allowed to take boards. That’s been in the past few years. When I entered the program, the board failure rate was quite high, which is why there are so many roadblocks now: mandatory Science GPA to promote (eventhough you don’t take that many science courses), all med school classes are graded rather than usual Pass/Fail or Honors/Pass/Fail, passing of mock boards, etc, and that’s just to SIGN UP for boards.
With respect to medical school classes preparing students well for the national boards, I would say it is very poor.
Many students end up paying for a commerical board preparation course, as the curriculum and professors are not good in preparing students. We get a lot longer (our Year 4 of the program) to study for boards which we usually take at the end of Year 4 (so about 1 yr of preparation). However, realize that most med students take boards within 2 months after finishing basic sciences. I know if we did that, much of the class would fail.
is it true that there are meetings/ ceremonies -any at all- in the summer that you must attend if accepted into the program? I know if you need to take a chem class or w/e then you would have to do that during the summer but besides classes is are there any mandatory meeting/ceremonies that you must attend during the summer? My friends and i have been planning a trip to Europe for the last three years that will last eight weeks, so i was just wondering if i will still be able to do that.
BreakingDawn, if you’re talking about before entering the program, there is an orientation that is mandatory to go to, although you pick one of several dates. Most of them are in the summer. But this is usually true for any program.
Please help
OK, so heres the deal, UMKC is my absolute dream school (for many, many reasons). I would honestly choose UMKC over Yale or Harvard, thats how badly i want to get into this program. Although i am as a set back, i just went to my first day of school today ( in the 11th grade) and im taking a pretty heave load -well in my opinion - heres my courses
strength training
Chem Honors
Personal Finance
AP US History (worth two credits)
Anatomy Honors
TA (Teachers Assistant) - for biology teacher
Study Hall
Pre-Calculus
I was wondering what you guys thought of my classes as far as the UMKC six year program status wise. I was also wondering how much you think it would hurt my chances of getting into the program if i dropped AP US History and went to Honors US History.
My GPA is 3.88
Live in Missouri
Activities
-FDA (Future Doctors Of America) - president
-FCA (Fellowship Of Christan Athletes) - on the leadership staff
-HOSA Club
-Was selected to be in the Health care elite program with the university of Missouri- finished program and won the $2500 scholarship (only one was given out)
-Currently a member of the Columbia Chamber of commerce
-Was the Representative for my school of the Missouri Bar “Summit of Civic Education” meeting
-HOSA Team went to Nationals
-ECT
So as my last, and most important note:
-
Do you think dropping AP US Studies and going to Honors US Studies will affect my chances of getting in to UMKC
-
How am i doing so far (overall)
-
What is the average Act that people got that got into the program (out and in state)
Well first off, I don’t think you’ve researched the BA/MD program at UMKC very well. Going six years and not having to take the MCATs are 2 positives which are overrided by MANY more negatives, but to each his own. As someone who has actually graduated from the program I can tell you the quality of education at UMKC compared to Harvard or Yale is no comparison.
Also, there are better quality BA/MD programs available - hence are much more competitive than UMKC.
But to answer your questions:
<ol>
<li>
I don’t think they will quibble over AP US History vs. Honors US History. Many schools don’t offer all AP courses so the fact that it says Honors - most people will assume that it is AP US History anyways.
</li>
<li>
3.88 is really good, but I can’t give you more as I don’t know your ranking which is more important.
</li>
<li>
If u see a couple of posts back I post the ACT and SAT from the UMKC BA/MD website.
</li>
</ol>
Since you are a Missouri Resident just to let you know there are better med programs in Missouri such as:
Conley Scholars at Mizzou: [Conley</a> Scholars Pre-admission Program, University of Missouri School of Medicine](<a href=“http://www.muhealth.org/ahec/conleyscholars.shtml]Conley”>http://www.muhealth.org/ahec/conleyscholars.shtml)
Medical Scholars at SLU: [Special</a> Programs - Preprofessional Health Studies | Saint Louis University](<a href=“http://www.slu.edu/colleges/AS/phs/medScholars.html]Special”>http://www.slu.edu/colleges/AS/phs/medScholars.html)
University Scholars at WashU: [University</a> Scholars Program](<a href=“http://admissions.wustl.edu/faq/Pages/USP.aspx#med]University”>http://admissions.wustl.edu/faq/Pages/USP.aspx#med)
Thank you for your reply but i am really focusing on UMKC, any advice you can offer?
Well in looking at your course load, it really doesn’t seem that rigorous in comparison to other schools. For example where is AP English?
Again, what is your rank, which is probably the most important factor.
sorry for the late response, The A.P. Us. Studies Class is a block class so in reality it is AP English and AP US History. So i am taking two AP Classes this year. Also My Class Rank is 45 out of 604 so that makes me roughly in the top 7.4% and im instate. Considering all my given stats if i get… say… a 30 on the ACT what are my chances of getting in? Oh ya almost forgot to mention that i have decided to keep taking the Two AP classes (US and English) =)
By the way thanks for all your help!!
So here is my Current, Schedule for my Junior year:
- Early Bird (Zero Hour) Strength Training
- AP English
- AP US History
- Honors Anatomy and Physiology
- Honors Chemestry
- Personal Finance
- Pre-Calculus
- Teachers Assistant
- AUT (Free period to do homework)
In context of your rank, considering you are in-state, I would say you have a good chance as UMKC tends to go more by CV type of stuff. An ACT of 30 should be fine, as there are quite a few who get accepted with low ACT scores but have good extracurriculars, as the UMKC is not quite as competitive as more reputable BA/MD programs.
I would apply early so you have a higher chance of being offered an interview. Also express a high interest in the program, and ask them to give you a contact with a student who can talk to you on the phone about the program and what it is like so you can find out firsthand about the program and what its strengths and weaknesses are. Thus not only are you really finding out about the program but the school is able to know you are interested in attending.
Click here for instructions for applying for the BA/MD program:
[University</a> of Missouri - Kansas City Admissions Office](<a href=“http://www.umkc.edu/admissions/freshmen_bamd.html]University”>http://www.umkc.edu/admissions/freshmen_bamd.html)
This is the BA/MD application for the 2009 cycle: <a href=“http://www.umkc.edu/admissions/docs/2009MedApplication.pdf[/url]”>http://www.umkc.edu/admissions/docs/2009MedApplication.pdf</a>
You will never know how much your replies have helped me, thank you VERY much!
Hey guys,
So i wanna know if i have a good chance of getting in UMKC 6 year med. I got a 29 on my ACT (shooting for a 32 on the one in September); went to the umkc summer scholar’s program two years in a row; president of my youth group; treasurer of math club and science club; tennis; debate; volunteer at hospital; volunteer at my “church” (temple); i’ve taken every honors science class possible at my school and same with math, except for calc three…and im even doing chem independent study; im 29 out of 484, so just out of the top 5%; tutor chemistry; teach tennis; lettered in tennis freshman year;
if you guys could tell me if i have a good chance of getting in, or at least getting a interview, that would be great.
thanks
Goodteacher97, I responded to your IM as well.
Thank you very much!!
hi i was wondering if anyone could help me out:
i go to a private high school that does not have 11th and 12th grade classes. so instead they offer a program called dual enrollement, where 3 days of the week we go take the core classes at a local state college. these are like english, history, math, and sciences. the other 2 days we go to the high school and basically take electives and language course…
however, this program basically requires AP…since my school doesnt even have regular classes, would these college classes count as APs? would i have a chance if i did well in these classes?
also, in my grade (right now i am a junior), there arent many people…its a very small private school maybe like 7 people haha (dont laugh), so would being valedictorian even count?
thanks!