Yeah, I'll message you about my GPA and what I did to be successful. As far as the mentorship program, I did find it helpful. I did not have much in the way of study skills when I got here and talking to my mentor as well as other previous masters students was helpful in figuring out how I should be working.
Add me to it please. I will like to know how you became successful
Same! I was willing to fly up for an interview too to make a good impression....however after reading this thread I am a bit (super) scared.
Hi heartofadoc! My intention was really not to intimidate anyone, but to give you a heads up on what to expect. Yes, this program is very competitive, but its doable, especially if you're in Harlem lol! Don't be afraid to give yourself the chance, because you might regret it! My point was, make sure to retake the MCAT and apply to other schools before starting the program, if the MCAT is your only impediment. If you play your cards right, there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to matriculate into the DO program. Just make sure to constantly be in touch with your mentors because they will be extremely helpful. If you need help, ask, and most importantly, do not tackle this alone! Try to find people whom you trust, and study in a group.
Thank you for following up I really appreciate it! So the impression that I had from all these posts was that even if you attend this program, give it your all (5-10hrs studying a day, using effective study methods), do as well as many of the medical students, you may still likely not to matriculate into TCOM, because your peers are just better at retaining info. Also I fear coming out of this program with something like a 3.4. How will that look applying to other DO schools? My problem isn't MCAT (I mean I don't think it is i have a 507, but I'm starting to fear that's not high enough). My problem is GPA....
No problem! Your MCAT can definitely get you into multiple schools! If your gpa is the issue, I think other master's programs would be less stressful, and easier to perform very well in. However, if you do decide to come to Touro, and end up with a 3.4 for example, and apply to other schools as well, Touro will let other schools know that the classes are graded on a B+ curve. The averages for some exams are crazy high, that you can still end up with a B+, while if you were in the DO class, it would've been an A, so Touro takes that into account and informs other schools regarding this issue. Another thing, you're not taking any courses, you are taking the same exact courses as the medical students, excluding PD and OMM, so technically, you're taking first year medical school courses, which means that its definitely tougher to get an overall high gpa in, as opposed to any other master's/postbac programs. For the DO's getting a 3.0 or above is honors! So if you get a 3.4 overall in the master's program, even though its not enough to make the cutoff, but its pretty darn good considering that you are taking medical school courses! If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask!
Ok great, the fact that other DO school will see you're taking med school classes and thus feel better about the application is an excellent point. I definitely feel more comfortable about this program now.
If I have really high undergraduate GPA like 3.86 but low MCAT, do you recommend this program? I already got accepted to the Harlem campus
I don't think there was a particular pattern but I do believe that they had many qualities in common. One is that the students who do well have historically been good students. Maybe a few have low GPAs due to poor performance the first 2 years of undergrad but got straight As since then. Many of us do have good GPAs. Mine for instance would have made me competitive for an MD school. Many have decent MCATs (26+) but didn't apply early, etc. They could have gotten into medical school if they did. Then there are a handful of people who probably could have gotten into Harvard medical school and for some reason they are in this program. You need to be the type of person who can retain a LOT of information in a short amount of time. Like someone said earlier, if you can't handle 20+ credits of coursework while doing well in it, then this program isn't for you. You would be better off re-taking the MCAT if that is a problem. Its also going to depend on your class' performance. There was one year that the averages were so high that even students who studied day and night couldn't do as well and didn't end up getting in. If you end up having a smaller class this year for whatever reason, less people are probably going to get in.
Hey there! I have also been accepted! I was looking for the fb group too, but i couldn't find it.
Former MS student here! Listen, and listen to my words very carefully lol. This program is a very rigorous program. In addition to that, you'll be competing against every single individual in your class. I can't stress this enough, but every single exam matters. Heck, every single exam on every single question counts!!!!!!! If you're going to go ahead and start this program, you're going to have to give it your ALL, and I mean it literally! I recall, on our very first physiology lecture video, Dr Fischer told us these very words, "Sell your wife, your bf's, gf's and your kids, you are about to start medical school" and the DO students just need to pass their exams. To put it simply, in order to matriculate into the DO program through the MS program, you need to outcompete your peers, and you will need to outperform the DO students. If you're going to retake the MCAT, retake it before the program, don't go into the program already jeopardizing your gpa!
In Middletown, we started with around 78, and by the end of the second semester, we ended up with 68,
Yeah definitely don't use up valuable time during the year to study for the mcat! This is only a 9 month program!! If you do not meet the gpa then you can retake the mcat during the summer after the program has been completed. You will have better study skills by then anyway.
