does anybody know how many current MBS students out of ~100 have received interviews/acceptances/pre-interview rejections for this app cycle?
I'll have to dig up the statistics they sent around, but off the top of my head I believe that a
s of about 11/2009, around 15 MBS students had been accepted to Tufts. Total. This is from a pool of
roughly 150 students from the first two MBS classes. Do not come here expecting to get into Tufts.
Second, I'd like to know how MBS students feel about the competitiveness of the program.
It's a mixed bag. Competitiveness is certainly associated with better grades, but not all people who are doing well are that "hard-edged" competitive type.
I'm willing and committed to work hard in either program, but I've heard that it is so cut-throat at Georgetown to the point that people don't bother making friends and that the medical students look to their post-bacc counterparts with a condescending eye.
Again, it's a matter of degree. If you look for unfriendly MBS'ers and condescending MS1's, you'll find both at Tufts (you will also find professors - particularly the ones who are also clinicians - who do not seem to take the MBS program as seriously). That being said, most MBS students are approachable, most med students are friendly & eager to help you succeed, and most professors take the MBS students as seriously as they do the med students.
One thing you should be aware of though. The grading schemes for most of the classes are kinda sketchy. At the info session, I recall the program director made a big deal of how MBS students will be graded against the medical school class. This is not a lie, but it's a somewhat deceptive truth.
When the program is over, they'll send out letters saying something like "Alexa89 did well in the MBS program, if s/he were in the Medical School class, s/he would have been in the Xth percentile." So in this sense you will be ranked versus the medical school class. However, when it comes to GPA, your grades will mostly reflect how you did relative to the MBS class average on exams. Some classes do grade you against the MD class, but (at least 2nd semester), most of the grading is relative to other MBS students, as far as I can tell. Throw in the part about the top 25% receiving automatic interviews, and I'd say you'd be justified in calling the program competitive.
Lastly, I'm completely torn between these two programs, and if any of you were in my shoes last year and had decided to go with Tufts over Georgetown, I'd love to get your thoughts.
Go wherever you have more social supports.
Addit: one other thing I forgot to mention. I interviewed at Tufts and was surprised to find that none of my interviews even knew what the MBS program was. Combine this with the ~10% acceptance rate, and it does not really seem to me that the MBS program is much of a "back-door" into Tufts...
