Tufts MBS 2009-2010 (entering Fall 2009)

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Has anyone else heard any news? I found out recently that I got waitlisted..I figured this would happen as I have a low MCAT score (27) but I am retaking on March 28 so hopefully can improve the score and send it in to them and they will take that into consideration..
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Maybe it was your GPA...

If you're in school now then maybe this semester's grades will help
 
Does anyone know anything about the "quality" of this degree?

I am afraid that if I do the program and choose to apply for a PhD program for some reason, they will think the MBS is remedial.

Basically what I'm hoping is that the program has a stength in delivering quality information and awarding a respectable master's degree even if I dont choose to do medical/dental school.
 
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Kostes said:
Does anyone know anything about the "quality" of this degree?

I am afraid that if I do the program and choose to apply for a PhD program for some reason, they will think the MBS is remedial.

Basically what I'm hoping is that the program has a stength in delivering quality information and awarding a respectable master's degree even if I dont choose to do medical/dental school.
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It is remedial. Nobody does an SMP with impeccable academic credentials (and if they do, they're throwing money away).

But will it hurt you to do this program if you choose to do a PhD instead of an MD? Not if your grades are good. Tacking a strong SMP performance onto a weak undergrad performance is certainly not going to make a PhD app less competitive.

The purpose of an SMP is completely different from the purpose of a traditional masters. There's no claim whatsoever that a program designed to improve med school app credentials in one year will accomplish the same aims as a rigorous thesis-based multiple year graduate program. The difference between the two is career objective.

In your shoes I'd do more work to figure out what career you want before you spend big fat money on a career-specific program. If this means you need to spend some time out of academia, go for it. This isn't a race.

Best of luck to you.
 
Hey guys,

what is the average for entering student into this program? Does the Tufts SOM take many students from this program?

Thanks
 
MKG87 said:
Hey guys,

what is the average for entering student into this program? Does the Tufts SOM take many students from this program?

Thanks
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I'd guess between a 30-33 MCAT and GPA in the low 3's. There is a huge range, so it's hard to say really.

Tufts says they give the top 20% of kids in the program automatic interviews for the NEXT application cycle. I only know one guy from last year's MBS class that got in. One person in the current class has gotten in and a couple of us have interviews in March.

But keep in mind that the program is only two years old...So bottom line, it's too early to tell how many kids from the MBS program they will take since many of the people in last year's class are currently applying.
 
Hey, I have also applied for Tufts but no updates as of yet. Will we be notified on April 15th?
 
Just checked the online status today, not really expecting to see anything, since my application packet wasn't considered complete until about a couple of weeks ago, maybe even less. But got the good news! I'm in!! Just waiting on Loyola MAMS and U of Toledo, but Tufts has kind of been my first choice, so I'm probably going to take it. Soooo stoked!

So I guess the whole 6-8 weeks thing isn't necessarily accurate? I really wasn't expecting to get a decision until April, but I just couldn't help checking the website every other day or so.
 
congrats!! when were u complete?? i hope they review my app early too.
 
I submitted the online application on 2/18, but my final recommendation letter wasn't in until around 2/27, and I didn't get the "GradProf" email from them until 3/3. Once I got that email, I kept on checking my application status, but it still said incomplete (the website says that some things won't be updated for up to 10 days). Everything was complete by the end of that week, and now a week and a half later, I got a decision!

Good luck to all of you! I know it sucks just waiting on a decision, and hopefully all of yours will come in soon too.
 
Wow thats great! I submitted and was complete around the same time as u! I'm hoping I get to hear the good news soon.
 
does anyone know how many dental students they take for this program at tufts?
 
Tufts is annoying me. They've misplaced both my MCAT score and one of my LORs. Now I have to re-mail both even though I submitted my app like 2 weeks ago.

Ugh
 
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I got into the MBS program last year, but ditched it in favor of Rosalind Franklin's BMS program.

Comparing the two :

Tufts - program is 2 years old. Only top quarter of the MBS students are guaranteed an interview for the following year. Meaning you might get into Tufts after 2 years. Tufts is one of the most expensive medical schools in the country, and it is not top 40, so the 'priviledge' of getting in after 2 years is dubious. Just consider how much money you would lose on an attending's salary if you got in 1 year later.

Rosalind Franklin - guaranteed an interview for that cycle. Meaning you may get into RFU the very next year. Half the students who did BMS and finished the program have gotten into the medical school over the last 2 years of the program. Program has existed more than a decade in various forms.

Finally, in Tufts I hear you need to be in the top 10% of the class relative to the medical students to get an A. At Rosalind Franklin, you need to meet the same standards the medical students have to meet in order to get an A. (which is generally top 10-20% of class, but there's not a quota in most classes)

Is there a single reason to take Tufts over Rosalind Franklin? I'd say no. There's old threads on these forums where someone says that they would rather get an extra year to take it easy, but no doctor in training gets many chances to take it easy from day 1 of medical school onwards. Tufts is a higher ranked school, but your chances of getting in are much, much lower, which defeats the purpose of doing the program.
 
I have a 3.4 and a 36 MCAT, and I went with Rosalind Franklin over the BU and Tufts.
 
GuguDoc I agree with you about BU vs. Tufts, I got into both and I feel both are great programs but it ultimately came down to the one year over two for me so I decided on Tufts. Tufts is such a known name as a school that the whole being a new program is not much of a con but thats just my two cents. My pre-health advisor told me that the one kid who is in Tufts MBS now who came from my current undergraduate college got accepted into Tufts medical school already and has received interviews with two other schools in the area so the program seems to work if you put in the work.

And thank you for setting the RFU guy straight about how to post in the right thread pertaining to the school you want to discuss.

Good luck with your application.
 
I'm telling you not to go to Tufts or BU because your chances of getting into medical school in one year are lower. Those success rates you see are after two years. RFU has a much higher one year success rate.

And yes, with my numbers, I did in fact get in to another school. The point of going to RFU was to hedge my bets, so that one way or another, I'd be going to allopathic medical school by this August.

I knew if I could get in, I could easily make it all the way, and so even 1 year of delay would have an enormous opportunity cost on the eventual salary I'll make as an attending.
 
gujuDoc said:
If they still choose a program, I'm sure they'll do fine in it as they would if they were at RFU.
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HAHAHA. SMPs kill lots of people's dreams.
 
Hi! I must admit I am not usually a SDN poster, but had heard there was a Tufts MBS thread and thought Id check it out. After reading the last couple postings. I felt like maybe I should chime in...

I was part of the first MBS class and think the Tufts program is a wonderful program. Honestly, I know I wouldnt have gotten into medical school without having done the MBS. It gave me a chance to prove both to myself and to medical school admission committees that I am capable of academic success. The professors were all incredibly generous with their time and very approachable. They took the time to answer my constant barrage of questions and overtime I got to know them well. As a result, I think I had great letters of recommendation which carry alot of weight with the adcoms. Most importantly, I felt like the people at Tufts really wanted our class to succeed. They listened to our feedback about classes, adjusted test schedules so that we wouldnt have tests back to back, set struggling students up with tutors, and were always checking in to make sure we were doing ok... That is invaluable in this sort of rigorous program.

So... let me tell you what I am sure you really want to know. How is our class doing in the admissions process. Of course, I dont know everything, but so far it seems like people are doing really well. There were 53 of us that entered in 2008. 51 finished. 12 were accepted to medical school while in the program which left 39 applying this year. So far I think over 90% of our class has gotten into school for next year, either an MD or a DO program. We have people with acceptances at Tufts, Tulane, Dartmouth, Ohio State, UMass, Albany, New York Medical College, Eastern Virginia, University of Iowa, St. Louis University, Creighton, University of Michigan, Indiana, and many others. All in all, I think our class did very well. Of course, there were some whose MCAT didnt improve or who didnt do as well as they would have liked, but the Tufts MBS program is working on helping them improve their chances for the next application cycle. And I have faith that eventually they will get in as well.

Im sure you are getting my drift by now...I think Tufts is a wonderful place to show you can excel academically. But, I must admit the program is what you make of it. It ultimately comes down to how hard you are willing to work, how many hours you spend studying, whether you take advantage of opportunities to meet with faculty, and how much drive you have to be a physician.

Ok. Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any questions I can help with.
 
Phew! Awesome. Thanks so much for some positive insight. Any recommendations on where to live, by the way? I lived in Cambridge for a few months several years ago, but I totally don't remember much at all about downtown Boston, much less Chinatown. I'm not extremely picky about where I live (I'm used to paying Los Angeles prices for South Central quality), but not really looking for something that'll break the bank too badly. Where did most of your classmates live when you were at Tufts? Thanks!
 
hey guys!

i was reading the website and it says that GREs can sub for MCATs. Have people gotten in with a GRE score?
 
I dont think it really matters where in the city you live. Tufts is within a few blicks of the green, red, and orange line subways and the silver line bus. Students in our class lived in a variety of places from china town to thirty miles outside of the city. Most of you days will be spent in the library or elsewhere studying, so you probably wont spend a ton of time at home doing much other than sleeping. I dont like china town. I find it sketchy and a little dangerous with not too many places to eat or study. So, I lived outside the city and commuted in each day which was great. I think its better to find somewhere you like than to live somewhere you dont enjoy just to be in proximity to the school. The Tufts Medical students live all over the city. And dont worry, you wont get left out of social happenings just cause you dont live in china town.
 
Hi guys,
I am a pre-detal student and I am considering to apply to MBS. will they accept DAT score instead of MCAT?
 
MonMonii said:
Hi guys,
I am a pre-detal student and I am considering to apply to MBS. will they accept DAT score instead of MCAT?
Click to expand...

Yup, I applied with a DAT score and I'm just waiting it out right now. I'm about to find out in the next two weeks.
 
darthmouthgirl03,

when you said people got accepted into Tufts for the year, was that because they had initially applied to Tufts BEFORE doing the SMP? Or I'm a little bit confused how the admissions process goes.

Let's say someone did the program (Tufts MBS) from 2008-2009 and that he/she was in the 10% of his class/medical students. Does he get an interview for a chance for Fall 2009 admission? Or Fall 2010 admission?

I'm just confused about this, so please clarify! Thanks :)
 
Any news yet? I'm really excited to find out who I'll be seeing in a few months!

Where else is everybody applying, by the way? Tufts gave me until April 6, and I don't think I'll be hearing from any other schools by then, so I'm 90% sure I'm paying the deposit.
 
Hi! I'm a member of the inaugural MBS class and I have a room for rent in a 3 bedroom apartment in the Metropolitan (literally next to the Tufts Med buildings...you'll absolutely love this when you have early morning classes and exams, or if you just want to run home between classes). I'm moving back to CA for school and would ideally like to have the room rented starting June 1st (date negotiable). The lease would go until the following August 31st. The rent is $1175 and utilities run about $50 a month. The other two roommates are both Tufts Med students (a 2nd year and an incoming 1st year who was an MBS student this year). The apartment is huge, laundry in the building, concierge downstairs, and very very close to school. Please let me know if you're interested!
 
My roommates are looking for another female to move in.
 
Woohoo :D! Accepted on 3/24..I was completed around 3/10. Now I got to make a decision between this and UMDNJ-Stratford.
 
Hey,

Did you receive any emails or info before your acceptance? I believe I'm complete, as it says all my information has been received, but I haven't gotten a single email or anything yet. Still waiting for a decision. Just wondering how it was with those that have been accepted? Thanks.
 
The only e-mail I received was with the Login/Password to check on my credentials besides that nothing. I just checked it every few days and today I was able to click on the decision part. good luck!!
 
Just got the mail...and a big envelope from Tufts but it only contained the "Public Health and Professional Degree Programs" Catalog. Is this normal or did they forget to include my acceptance letter?
 
This is the second or third year of Tufts' SMP, right? Have you guys heard of any linkage to its own school? I don't think most students who went to the program relayed the info on here but since it was in its first/second years I figured Tufts would try really hard to get their students into med school. Hoping someone has heard something about that
 
Albuterol said:
Just got the mail...and a big envelope from Tufts but it only contained the "Public Health and Professional Degree Programs" Catalog. Is this normal or did they forget to include my acceptance letter?
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I got that too. It came about a week after I got my acceptance letter. It's completely separate. I read on a previous Tufts MBS thread that they used to do this and it used to give everyone who hadn't received notice of acceptance yet such a buzz kill to open up a pamphlet!
 
I submitted my MBS application the beginning of this month and just got waitlisted this morning. This is an extremely discouraging outcome after already having not been successful this current MD application cycle. Tufts was the only one of the 20 med schools i applied to that granted me an interview, so i thought I would at least get into this program as a consolation. I graduated this past December from my undergrad institution with a 3.15 and a 33P (13ps, 08vr, 12bs). That 33 is above the matriculation average for the tufts *MED SCHOOL*, let alone the one for this stepping stone of a masters program, that of which is probably closer to 30. There's always a number cruncher on the admissions committee who can't see past the low GPA, independent of all of my graduate coursework, honors classes and high MCAT science breakdowns. I mean, hey, I can choose to use this forum as an outlet for my negative emotions, whining, anger, etc., but the point is, this whole humbling, growth-inducing, long, and extremly fun, drawn-out process of getting into med school isn't getting any easier. The only reason I've bothered typing this paragraph about my current waitlisted outcome is to potentially deliver equanimity to those who are also in the same boat as I, constantly getting let down. It's probably for the best though. Life isn't meant to be mundane.
 
Ok. So there were quite a few kids from our class accepted to Tufts while we were in our MBS year. These kids were actively applying while in the first year of the MBS program (MBS '08 applying for admission for fall '08). Tufts Med tried to give the masters students the benefit of the doubt and interviewed almost all those that were applying. Many were waitlisted and then came off the waitlist in the spring. The question is... did those kids need the MBS to get them into medical school or would they have gotten in even without the program? No one knows.

The top 20% of the MBS '08 class is guaranteed an interview for admission for fall of 2009. I will tell you that Tufts interviewed far more than the top 20% of our class. In fact I would say the number was much closer to 55-60%.

Does that answer your question?
 
I seriously doubt that there's any overlap between the Tufts MBS adcom and the Tufts MD adcom. Apples, oranges.

When I see this:
anonymous000 said:
a 3.15 and a 33P (13ps, 08vr, 12bs)
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...I see 3.15 and 8 VR. Throws mud all over that shiny 13 and 12. Unfortunately.

In your shoes I'd carefully protest the Tufts MBS decision. Write a polite, humble letter (actually use the word "humble" or "humbling") asking to be reconsidered. Indicate that you want to take advantage of the MCAT prep in the MBS program to demonstrate better performance on verbal. Indicate without sounding entitled that you interviewed for Tufts MD (which means you say "I was honored to be granted an interview" and not "I got an interview on the MD side, so obviously the MBS side is bogus") and that your interest in Tufts MD remains strong. Kiss some serious fanny.

Best of luck to you.
 
gujuDoc said:
Does the stratford campus have a Dental school? Where do you see yourself living more eventually if you could get into dental school? In NJ or in Boston? Cuz that might help deciding where to go. If it was for med school, I'd say Tufts over stratford cuz stratford is where the DO school is and not an MD school. But since its for dental its tougher.

Either way I wish you luck. Good luck.
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Thanks for the kind words. The Stratford Campus does not have a dental school but I'm still waiting on the decision from UMDNJ-Newark which does. If I get in there, I would probably go there. Ideally I would like to attend NJDS b/c of in-state tuition but Tufts DS is great. I should probably call and see where previous pre-dental students have gotten accepted and if there is any interview policy (top x% of pre-dents) get interviewed at Tufts DS.
 
dartmouthgirl03 said:
Ok. So there were quite a few kids from our class accepted to Tufts while we were in our MBS year. These kids were actively applying while in the first year of the MBS program (MBS '08 applying for admission for fall '08). Tufts Med tried to give the masters students the benefit of the doubt and interviewed almost all those that were applying. Many were waitlisted and then came off the waitlist in the spring. The question is... did those kids need the MBS to get them into medical school or would they have gotten in even without the program? No one knows.

The top 20% of the MBS '08 class is guaranteed an interview for admission for fall of 2009. I will tell you that Tufts interviewed far more than the top 20% of our class. In fact I would say the number was much closer to 55-60%.

Does that answer your question?
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Yeah it helps. Thanks for giving out that info. The SMP application process, let alone the med school app, is boggling my mind. Can't seem to figure out for the life of me what school to attend to get into med school.
 
hey guys, i totally forgot about this forum!

I was also in the inaugural class. I am applying to med school for the first time right now after finishing the program. Judging from my GPA, I am guessing that the top 20% of the class had GPAs > 3.8. Mine was under, so I didn't get the auto invite but I did get an invite eventually. I applied to 20+ schools and I have received 9 interviews (which would have been impossible for me w/out the program) I just want to let you guys know that even if you aren't in the top 20%, it doesn't mean you won't get other interviews.

Also, I don't think 90% of our class has been accepted yet, but i would guess 90% have received an interview somewhere.

I chose the Tufts MBS program over the Cincinnati, Toledo, BU, and Tulane program so I was in teh same boat as you guys two years ago. Feel free to ask me any questions.
 
Any pre-dents gone through this program that could care to chime in about their experiences applying to DS?
 
So Tufts it is for me-

I sent in the deposit a couple weeks ago and got a welcome email and a immunization packet in the mail. Just in case anyone's wondering, the orientation is scheduled for August 21st, and classes are starting on August 24th.

It's hard to believe, but after toiling in a lab for a year and a half, I'm actually looking forward to going back to school. Now only if I can find a job where I can study at the same time... anybody have any ideas? back in undergrad the most competitive jobs were manning the library front desk- you could just sit and study in peace with only the occasional interruption.
 
Few questions for those who have completed or are in the program:
For the MPH option, how does the tuition work? Are you paying 30k for tuition again or is the tuition based per credit? Are all the courses listed with the med school and med students? Obviously these courses are tough, for those who performed well what were some of the study techniques you implemented? Is there additional help available, tutors, review sessions, etc? Grading scale are u graded against Med students or MBS students? Lastly, Did you feel the administration was really supportive in helping you apply, etc.?

Your answers are really appreciated as I'm trying to decide between Tufts and UMDNJ-Stratford. Thanks!
 
Last edited:
letmein09 said:
So Tufts it is for me-

I sent in the deposit a couple weeks ago and got a welcome email and a immunization packet in the mail. Just in case anyone's wondering, the orientation is scheduled for August 21st, and classes are starting on August 24th.

It's hard to believe, but after toiling in a lab for a year and a half, I'm actually looking forward to going back to school. Now only if I can find a job where I can study at the same time... anybody have any ideas? back in undergrad the most competitive jobs were manning the library front desk- you could just sit and study in peace with only the occasional interruption.
Click to expand...

Such a great idea, and mad props to you for tackling it. I'd love to work off some of this tuition, but I'm a little scared to try to juggle work and school again. It didn't work too well in undergrad, and I don't want to give myself any room to screw this SMP up...
 
mocha blanca said:
Such a great idea, and mad props to you for tackling it. I'd love to work off some of this tuition, but I'm a little scared to try to juggle work and school again. It didn't work too well in undergrad, and I don't want to give myself any room to screw this SMP up...
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I'm with you. As much as I'd love to have any kind of income, I do not want to risk any possibility of making the already busy and difficult schedule any tougher. It is so important to do well for the year so be careful that you don't overdo yourself. I look forward to stressing out with all of you come August.
 
I am a member of the first Tufts MBS class, If you have any specific questions feel free to PM me.

S
 
I got a letter from the program yesterday. I got waitlisted.. too bad I didn't get in but I will probably go to UMDNJ. Guess Tufts is more competitive to get in..

Good luck to all of us who will be attending any sorts of SMPs this fall!!
 
Just read my electronic acceptance earlier tonight!!!
 
USFmedical said:
Just read my electronic acceptance earlier tonight!!!
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congrats! are you applying anywhere else, or are you going to take this?

i've seriously just been waiting to find out who else i'll be seeing in boston next year :)
 
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