Rosalind Franklin BMS 2011-2012 Thread

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Past BMSers:

Global Health or Healthcare Delivery Systems?
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wef wef wweefff said:
Past BMSers:

Global Health or Healthcare Delivery Systems?
Click to expand...

You're going to get a sheet at orientation that will let you pick/shows you what courses are offered during specific quarters. I believe I took Global Health and HDS at the same time during Winter Quarter. Both were good/easy classes.

Sit back and relax and enjoy the rest of your summer future BMSers! It's gonna be one hell of a year.
 
To x-BMSers, any opinion about grocery stores around campus for people who are moving from out of state and leaving their cars behind?

Like stores where one can get fresh produce, fresh meat, seafood?
What about good restaurants (nothing too fancy) but relatively healthy food - not fat dropping out of it?

Thanks.
 
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wef wef wweefff said:
Past BMSers:

Global Health or Healthcare Delivery Systems?
Click to expand...

i took healthcare delivery for winter quarter... i remember global health people a lot of papers and stuff regularly while i had just one big 10 page paper for everything else. i would probably pick global health because my project took a lot of work and research... but everything is graded really easily on. hcam as long as you turn it in. take things that sound easy... like global health or cultural diversity
 
Cavallo said:
To x-BMSers, any opinion about grocery stores around campus for people who are moving from out of state and leaving their cars behind?

Like stores where one can get fresh produce, fresh meat, seafood?
What about good restaurants (nothing too fancy) but relatively healthy food - not fat dropping out of it?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

i had no car and it sucked big time. school is on a big road with no sidewalks... you definitely need a car for groceries. closest grocery is dominicks which is like two+ miles away... as for food... tons of junk food lime kfc and taco bell...but there is a nice Chinese food with healthy choices and also a subway.... i would not walk 2 miles for a sandwich tho

cafeteria closes at 1:30 right after lunch and there is a small snack store open til 5 with very limited choices. it is very rough without a car esp in the evening when you're hungry.... i ordered a lot of pizza ... if u can get a car then get it or get a friend with one and have him her drive u around
 
Cavallo said:
To x-BMSers, any opinion about grocery stores around campus for people who are moving from out of state and leaving their cars behind?

Like stores where one can get fresh produce, fresh meat, seafood?
What about good restaurants (nothing too fancy) but relatively healthy food - not fat dropping out of it?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I knew a lot of people who also ordered their food via Peapod. They really liked it and it took the hassle out of having to find someone to drive you to the store and so on. So that could be something to look into as well.
 
Does anyone know if CMS requires a Dean's letter from undergraduate institution. I'm waiting on my secondaries and thought I'd get a head start. I already have the essays written so just wanted to get everything together.
 
alohakaoha said:
I knew a lot of people who also ordered their food via Peapod. They really liked it and it took the hassle out of having to find someone to drive you to the store and so on. So that could be something to look into as well.
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i used peapod heavily... it does get expensive with the delivery charge ($8 if you order $100+) and the tip (i tipped $10)
 
Magic87 said:
Does anyone know if CMS requires a Dean's letter from undergraduate institution. I'm waiting on my secondaries and thought I'd get a head start. I already have the essays written so just wanted to get everything together.
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you don't need deans letter. Someone here mentioned their pastor wrote them a letter. I actually had no letters from my undergrad... i took summer classes at ucla just for the purpose of getting recs since i had been out of school for a year
 
Any X-BMSers from California?
If so, any insights about the weather differences? Humidity?

Thanks.
 
Cavallo said:
Any X-BMSers from California?
If so, any insights about the weather differences? Humidity?

Thanks.
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I'm from cali ... IL is a different planet altogether.... extremely humid during the summer and the snow loses its novelty real quick.... right now its switching between rain and thunderstorms and hot and humid at least once a day
 
plsfoldthx said:
I'm from cali ... IL is a different planet altogether.... extremely humid during the summer and the snow loses its novelty real quick.... right now its switching between rain and thunderstorms and hot and humid at least once a day
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Hi fellow Californian.

Thanks for all the helpful inights. Almost all what I know about BMS and what to expect is bc of your inisights.

So I was wondering for the HCAM track, what courses did you choose for each quarter to hopefully achieve A-s?


Thanks again.
 
hey everyone, just moved down to lake bluff and had some things to add.

my wife and i moved in to deer valley apts which is about 2 mi from the school (there is a pool here if anyone wants to take a dip!). the best grocery store we've found so far is dominick's which is maybe a mile or two from campus on the corner of waukegan rd and rockland. a walgreens is right there too so most things you need can be found there. our GPS said there was a pick n save in the town of waukegan, but it turned out to be a hobo. so basically there is no reason whatsoever to go to waukegan, which is a good thing bc it looks kind of sketchy. there is a walmart and office max in lake forest where we bought all the other stuff we need.

there is also a nice beach on lake michigan in the town of lake bluff, which is right next to a quiet library and post office and like a mile from rfu. i recommend it highly as a place to relax, although apparently they sometimes have a person at the gate charging $10 for people who don't live in lake bluff. there was no one at the gate when we went.

overall, its nice little area with everything in close proximity to the school. if anyone has any questions, i'll answer them as best as i can.

also, making left turns at intersections down here takes FOREVER. seriously like three minutes in some places to get the green arrow. and the cheese sucks too, but then again i'm from wisco. :D
 
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Cavallo said:
Hi fellow Californian.

Thanks for all the helpful inights. Almost all what I know about BMS and what to expect is bc of your inisights.

So I was wondering for the HCAM track, what courses did you choose for each quarter to hopefully achieve A-s?


Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Look at the course titles... the easier ones are usually the ones with the fluffy titles like cultural diversity in health care... i took practice management, healthcare delivery systems, and cultural diversity (really easy). the other two the only assignment is a 10 pageish final paper and weekly posts. i would always start those like a couple days before it was due and would get stressed out, but ended up being graded really easily...
 
Okay, I need to post my fears to maybe get some clarification...

This program sounds way tooo good to be true...no GPA requirement? no MCAT requirement? just "do well in program" is what i keep reading and some wrote you can get straight B's and with your ugrad GPA/mcat get into CMS after 1 year??

Is this all basically true, because if so, wow!
 
FuturePharm21 said:
Okay, I need to post my fears to maybe get some clarification...

This program sounds way tooo good to be true...no GPA requirement? no MCAT requirement? just "do well in program" is what i keep reading and some wrote you can get straight B's and with your ugrad GPA/mcat get into CMS after 1 year??

Is this all basically true, because if so, wow!
Click to expand...

well there is a GPA / MCAT requirement to get into the BMS program to begin with. we were told during orientation from faculty that this was the most competitive admissions ever for the BMS program... lots of people actually didn't get accepted into BMS.

however, once you're in, we were also told that people who have gotten A's in the program have been rejected by CMS... and people who have gotten B's and 1 C have gotten accepted.

so its not a shoo-in, but its a really good opportunity. i cant wait to start school on monday haha
 
thats not fair or logical to accept someone with all B's and a C and not the straight A student...this is why BMS is very sketchy because they dont give you a GPA requirement and potentially can reject you EVEN IF YOU DO WELL?!!?!

if the person was being a smart ass or something then I get why they rejected him but otherwise it just doesnt make sense.
 
The faculty member hinted that the straight A person(s) got rejected not for academic reasons, but for personal ones - they were just being rude to the faculty. None of us really know the details so its best not to make conjecture. However, from a talk given by our OAs (orientation advisers), for the most part, the remaining people that got rejected from CMS, who were otherwise friendly, had generally poor grades.
 
still I think the vagueness of the matriculation to CMS concerns me...why can't they just give a GPA requirement and have formal rules for matriculation because then they can clearly give students reasons why they may be rejected or accepted the following year...
 
FuturePharm21 said:
still I think the vagueness of the matriculation to CMS concerns me...why can't they just give a GPA requirement and have formal rules for matriculation because then they can clearly give students reasons why they may be rejected or accepted the following year...
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Try to find an adcom at any med school in the country who would do this. You can't. Why should CMS be any different?

There are a lot of factors that go into admissions, and that includes CMS admission from BMS. Vagueness is a part of the process here just like at any school because they aren't looking for one single type of person to fill the class with. BMS is a chance to show them that you have what it takes, and they do take it heavily into consideration (by seeing how many successful BMSers make it), but it's not the ONLY factor.
 
Donnie1310 said:
Try to find an adcom at any med school in the country who would do this. You can't. Why should CMS be any different?

There are a lot of factors that go into admissions, and that includes CMS admission from BMS. Vagueness is a part of the process here just like at any school because they aren't looking for one single type of person to fill the class with. BMS is a chance to show them that you have what it takes, and they do take it heavily into consideration (by seeing how many successful BMSers make it), but it's not the ONLY factor.
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Agreed, Donnie. The whole point of BMS is to give people on the cuff a shot. Judging by the great success rates of recent years (70-85%), and by the latest match lists, it's working.
 
hey guys.. i was wondering if anyone knows what stats are required to get into this bms program and how hard is it? i was at CMS the other day and talked to a couple ppl about this program and they said that most ppl who have a B average get accepted into md program the following year without a prob. but yeah... i was wondering if anyone knows in detail how hard this program is and if its really worth risking possible rejection. thanks.
 
Actually, I know a lot of Post-Bacc/Masters in Biomed Sci programs where the medical school gives a contract of requirements like minimum MCAT/GPA and retaking classes policy, etc...

I think the program's success rate is great, it's just scary going into the program and spending so much money and then ending up in the same spot you were before except with a Masters degree and still no med school acceptance

However I think I'm going to call admissions to answer my questions and learn more
 
indeed! cant imagine not having a med school acceptance... but yes overall i've heard great reviews of this program. i think i am gonna do the same and call the admissions.

FuturePharm21 said:
Actually, I know a lot of Post-Bacc/Masters in Biomed Sci programs where the medical school gives a contract of requirements like minimum MCAT/GPA and retaking classes policy, etc...

I think the program's success rate is great, it's just scary going into the program and spending so much money and then ending up in the same spot you were before except with a Masters degree and still no med school acceptance

However I think I'm going to call admissions to answer my questions and learn more
Click to expand...
 
The general consensus here is that if you get all As and Bs in BMS, you can't fail provided you have a normal interview experience and don't get on the wrong person's nerves. Cs are the kiss of death according to the kids ahead of us who got in, although a small minority of people did end up getting Cs in the program and still managed to get a spot. Really, the BMSers only take about half of the med classes that the M1s take- the other classes are online and not as time consuming. Therefore, in BMS, you have more time to study for the few med classes, so you should be able to get at least Bs. if you can't get Bs while only taking half the med class load, you have no business in medical school anyway, and don't legitimately deserve a spot. just my $0.02.
 
Quick question, I'm applying this coming year and was wondering whether this program accepts your best MCAT score or most recent MCAT score. Thanks.
 
I called the program director and I'm still confused about the program as it doesn't guarantee anything...but she kept saying they have very good program for people that do well, BUT I don't get the criteria for acceptance??

She did say some students with A's and B's get in over the straight B student and some students with a few or 1 C may get in....

I think this is a big risk as it's 40 grand almost and your going to play a risk?!?!!

Why can't they just be more clear?
 
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FuturePharm21 said:
I called the program director and I'm still confused about the program as it doesn't guarantee anything...but she kept saying they have very good program for people that do well, BUT I don't get the criteria for acceptance??

She did say some students with A's and B's get in over the straight B student and some students with a few or 1 C may get in....

I think this is a big risk as it's 40 grand almost and your going to play a risk?!?!!

Why can't they just be more clear?
Click to expand...

ehhhhh worked for me
 
care to elaborate? Did you get straight A's in the program or B's and C's?

Also, did most of your classmates get accepted to CMS or how does it work?

Do they make you retake the MCAT if you were initially accepted for the BMS with a low mcat, but CMS's MCAT avg is significantly higher...
 
FuturePharm21 said:
I called the program director and I'm still confused about the program as it doesn't guarantee anything...but she kept saying they have very good program for people that do well, BUT I don't get the criteria for acceptance??

She did say some students with A's and B's get in over the straight B student and some students with a few or 1 C may get in....

I think this is a big risk as it's 40 grand almost and your going to play a risk?!?!!

Why can't they just be more clear?
Click to expand...

because there are too many factors, and the adcom needs to keep their bases covered. if they like you and see you as a good fit, you are in, provided you can do well in the program. if you have a great resume but are a terrible person, they don't want you here. the bms program is basically a year-long interview for medical school, and there are more intangible things than test scores and GPA that factor in. in terms of hard criteria, it is generally accepted that if you get a 3.0 in the med school classes and a 3.0 in the online classes, you are in. i.e. very few people (if any?) get Bs or better in the med classes and fail to get accepted to CMS. 80% of all kids who did the BMS program and also applied to CMS last year got into CMS. literally like half of the M1 class is former BMSers, so the program works. the other 20% got at least one C, got accepted somewhere during the year and elected to leave early, or dropped out due to stress/family issues, ect. Ultimately, not getting in after BMS is rare, but getting As and Bs in BMS and still not getting in is almost unheard of. So the criteria is this: DON'T GET Cs in BMS!
 
bullsfan1986 said:
Quick question, I'm applying this coming year and was wondering whether this program accepts your best MCAT score or most recent MCAT score. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I want to say best MCAT score, but I'd give the admissions office a call just to be sure!
 
FuturePharm21 said:
I called the program director and I'm still confused about the program as it doesn't guarantee anything...but she kept saying they have very good program for people that do well, BUT I don't get the criteria for acceptance??

She did say some students with A's and B's get in over the straight B student and some students with a few or 1 C may get in....

I think this is a big risk as it's 40 grand almost and your going to play a risk?!?!!

Why can't they just be more clear?
Click to expand...

As they said in my orientation last year, and as I'm sure they said in this year's orientation, there are no guarantees. What they did for this year's class in terms of acceptance rate may not be the same, they may decide to continue to accept straight B's and up with the occasional 1 C students getting in depending on waitlist movement, or they may not. Basically once you start BMS, focus on what you need to get done and do work. It IS a big risk, but if you put in the work, show that you are not insane, then you will get in. I don't know your stats but if your GPA is damaged goods, it will probably cost another 40K and several more years to bring it up if you want to apply the good old fashioned way.

What everyone has been saying here is true. Adcoms are not going to be absolutely transparent as to what they are looking for in their incoming classes. And yes, the people with better grades than straight B's that got rejected, meaning the application as a whole is considered.
 
Okay, but I have a low 20's mcat, and the program director said it's an acceptable score for BMS....do I have to retake the MCAT for CMS? Because one of their BMSers said no?
 
FuturePharm21 said:
Okay, but I have a low 20's mcat, and the program director said it's an acceptable score for BMS....do I have to retake the MCAT for CMS? Because one of their BMSers said no?
Click to expand...

No, don't retake the MCAT. Focus on acing BMS year. I had a mid-20s MCAT and I'm here.
 
yeah a friend of mine is in the program this fall and he said the same.
 
i am planning on applying for next year. if i submit my application in march, would it be too late? i am planning on taking mcat in january.
 
a jan mcat should be no problem-- id say get all of your materials in right away in jan, and just list in your application that your mcat scores will be released in february. apparently more and more applications are submitted each year for BMS, so get your app in early, especially if you're on the cuff. it's not impossible to get in with a late app, but less spots available means less of a chance. at this point, i'd leave as little as possible up to chance.
 
To those who started...how are the exams going?

If you study and put in the time, are you getting A's and B's?? I heard getting an A is hard as you can get like only a few questions wrong..
 
FuturePharm21 said:
To those who started...how are the exams going?

If you study and put in the time, are you getting A's and B's?? I heard getting an A is hard as you can get like only a few questions wrong..
Click to expand...

We've only had two exams so far (they are every other monday) and I've gotten an 88% and 89% on biochem and 90% and 91% in CMCB (give or take 0.5%). I put in about 8-9 hours of studying/day, not including going to class. I take a day or two off per exam cycle and also have a few nights per cycle where I am awake until 3 or even 4 AM studying.

It's hard to get As in BMS, seeing as I am on the border of an A and a B in both classes and studying a helluva lot, but not impossible. Exams are weighted by the number of lecture hours presented in each exam cycle. Our last exam had i think 21 questions of cell bio and 28 questions of biochem, so that basically gives you 2-3 wrong questions until you are getting a B. so what you heard was pretty accurate. that being said, they do what they can to tip the odds in our favor. we sometimes a few points back because we are put on the M1 exam curve which is adjusted to an average of 82.00%. So our last exam, the M1 average was an 80%, so all the BMSers got 2 points added back to their score. They don't take points away if we all do well though, so if everyone gets an A, everyone keeps an A. But if everyone gets a C or worse, some of us will get bumped up to a B. Keep in mind also that the M1s have an even harder class load plus labs, so they should have a harder time doing well, and we, the kids with the lighter load, STILL get points back if the M1s don't hit an 82% average. That's really generous for them to do for us.

Also, for each exam, we can write in a request to review any questions that are worded poorly or are wrong. so on the last CMCB exam, a question had two right answers, and so they gave that one back to us with an apology. Plus any question that 25% of the class gets wrong is subject to an automatic review and will most likely be tossed out.

All in all, the exams so far are fair. They take 95-100% of the exam questions directly from the notes, they offer plenty of practice exams that are more or less exactly like the real exams, they give us points back from the M1 curve, and they allow us to request question reviews. It is extremely difficult to absorb all of the material, BUT if you can do it, you will find that the exams are more than fair. At least so far-- talk to me again in june and i might have a new song to sing;)
 
So the new exams are pretty much the same as the old exams?? How many questions do they roughly change?

That's great that they give you old exams to study from? Or are those from past students?

Good luck!
 
FuturePharm21 said:
So the new exams are pretty much the same as the old exams?? How many questions do they roughly change?

That's great that they give you old exams to study from? Or are those from past students?

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Just know that not every test is going to be curved. It is still the beginning of the year and once the M1's hit their stride, curves will be few and far between. We got very few, if any, curves in Physiology which is the biggest ticket item class in terms of a sure shot into CMS
 
FuturePharm21 said:
So the new exams are pretty much the same as the old exams?? How many questions do they roughly change?

That's great that they give you old exams to study from? Or are those from past students?

Good luck!
Click to expand...

They give them to us, but none of the questions will be identical (it's not a "memorize the answers" thing). The old exams are used as really good study guides that help show us how they are going to test the material.
 
What is the average MCAT and GPA for students to be accepted into the BMS program?
 
FuturePharm21 said:
What is the average MCAT and GPA for students to be accepted into the BMS program?
Click to expand...

That info would be completely useless to know since a lot of people have one higher and one lower. Basically, you can't compare yourself to the averages for this program (which don't even exist publicly from what I know).
 
FuturePharm21 said:
So the new exams are pretty much the same as the old exams?? How many questions do they roughly change?

That's great that they give you old exams to study from? Or are those from past students?

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Its not quite that straightforward. I don't think any of the questions were exactly the same, but they were for the most part very similar. If you understood the concept they were getting at (and biochem was very conceptual, unlike CMCB which is like 95% memorization), you'll do well no matter how they twist the question around. Granted, the concepts aren't all that easy; as stated above, the biochem exam was curved which means the M1s didn't do so hot overall. They're smart people, so that probably means that despite the availability of tests from the last 3 years (they are posted directly on the class website) people were still adequately challenged.

We only have 8 hours covered on tomorrows exam (had like 15 on the last one), but we just a blast of physiology so it'll be interesting to see how things play out.
 
how did that exam go for ya? i actually thought the physio was easier than the practice tests. it didn't go into too much detail on membrane potential or toxins, which was what tripped me up on the practice tests. the next exam looks daunting though- 11hrs of biochem!
 
Unzbuzzled said:
how did that exam go for ya? i actually thought the physio was easier than the practice tests. it didn't go into too much detail on membrane potential or toxins, which was what tripped me up on the practice tests. the next exam looks daunting though- 11hrs of biochem!
Click to expand...

did well enough so im happy

but when i started studying for biochem and just skimmed over all the notes i was like this

1280107947006.jpg


this aint gonna be pretty...
 
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