University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) MBS 2018-2019

[TJFC]

Dear ThunderUp94:

I am generally not one to make a lot of comments on social media. However, I am a big fan of paying it forward and mentoring because so many have done and continue to do that for me. So, please feel free to add this perspective to the information you appear to be so diligently gathering as you prepare to make this very weighty decision.

The truth of the matter is that if you asked each of us (student doctors) who are members of this (and probably any other) higher education program, you will probably get a least that many different answers (close to 150). That is partially because we all came here for different reasons, from different backgrounds and with different expectations. That being said, my recommendation is, sort of in the same way you would see a review on a new restaurant, car, hotel or anything else people might rate, as a perspective. I even want you to view my response as simply one perspective. And, in the end - take them all with a grain of salt.

So, here is a perspective ... As you might expect, with a program as early in its infancy as both of these programs are, there have been and will probably continue to be growing pains. Moreover, as our backgrounds are as diverse as first generation college graduates to multiple generations of physicians - the road has been exceptionally difficult for some and probably not quite as challenging for others. And, as you can imagine, as people await responses on medical school acceptance or denial, employment, medical board results, clinical rotations, etc - emotions are running high all over campus. And as you can imagine, what type of emotions that are exuded probably directly correlate with whatever triumph or tragedy each of us might be experiencing at that moment.

But, here is how I tend to look at things. What UIWSOM is doing has as much to do with putting exceptionally well rounded doctors into a system where burnout and substance abuse appear to be real issues. I had the opportunity to visit another medical school for a few weeks (happenstance) and learned that what we have been doing for two years related to patient care, some third year students have yet to do and that made me very proud.

It is also my view that the goal of the administration and staff here has been to provide a wealth of well trained physicians to the 7th largest state in the country. The goal is also to make us civic minded physicians as much or more than we are economically focused physicians and to create an environment where the students collaborate and focus on patient care from the moment we walked in the door. I am also a person of faith, so I believe my admission to the biomedical program and, subsequently, our (then) newly minted DO program was and is exactly where God wanted / wants me to be. And my road here was long and circuitous, but I know that this is where God wanted and still wants me to be.

So, is the program perfect - I am not sure any program is. However, my experience has been one where we are supported and pushed. One where we are challenged and we challenge. One where I have been taught a lot and had to teach myself a lot (this is a self directed program). But, in the end, I am sure I will be a proud alumni of the first graduating class from UIW School Osteopathic Medicinel in San Antonio, TX.

From my vantage point, if you take advantage of what is offered here, it could be perfect for you - or not. Only time and your effort will tell.

It saddens me to see some of the comments from those who have had a different experience. Not because I think those comments are valid or invalid - that is not for me to judge - but because it is clear that their experience has hurt and angered them and I wouldn’t want that for anyone. My prayer is that they get some sort of resolution that is fair and just, from their perspective and that of those they believe have wronged them, and that you find the perfect school for for whatever you want to accomplish in your career/life. I’m not sure if this was helpful, but remember - just like everyone else’s comment - this is just A perspective.

God speed and if you ever want to chat one on one, feel free to provide contact info and I’ll reach out to you.

Be blessed!
TJFC

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[mandyads]

As a graduate of the most recent MBS class, I am willing to have a conversation with anyone wanting to understand how the program was from the last year (the good, the bad and the ugly). It has already been stated by the administration that this past year was a very difficult year for their MBS class and I am not sure what changes they made or did not make from previous years for that to be the case. Perhaps we were a bit unlucky, perhaps our professors and administration were overworked and we were overlooked, perhaps our class dynamic was poor and distracting. However, many of us still reached our goals... many of us were pushed further away from them.

The risk has to be weighed seriously to see if the potential benefits are worth the potential risks. Honestly, I don't advise anyone who is on the edge of being competitive to take any SMP, anywhere. It is a huge and expensive risk that may not be necessary. If you haven't played all of your cards - don't seek out an SMP quite yet... make sure you do yourself fair justice first.

Out of respect for the university and for privacy reasons, anyone who is interested in the recent MBS class experience is free to message me. When looking at UIWSOM, I think it is very important to separate the MBS program from the DO program, as they did not seem to reflect each other well in this most recent MBS class. The experiences we have had with the "mainly" MBS vs the "mainly" DO faculty, have been incredibly different from each other... as well as the quality of education and responsiveness from seniority on either side... seemingly opposite at times.

If you are wanting to know about the MBS program, I suggest speaking to students that have come from the most recent class and who did not have the sole plan of attending this particular DO program... their perspective will probably be much different, as their expectations for what the program should have offered is different.

One blanket of advice I would give if you are considering/attending this program is that you must be extremely flexible. Remember that flexibility is not just a mindset. Flexibility is a skill and it requires practice. Being willing to put in the work is not always enough - you might find yourself needing more time to develop to adjust to changes as quickly as you would like to. You may not have that time in this program. Entering into the MBS, you must be flexible to adjust to hiccups, flexible to changing expectations, flexible to the instabilities, and flexible with the results you are willing to accept (you may do well or you may not).

 

[singletxpurpose]

First off congratulations to everyone who graduated from MBS and matriculated into any medical/dental school or another program. It is a great accomplishment, especially because you made it out of the MBS. I was in the MBS and have chosen to go to another medical school for good reason. For starters, having a negative opinion about the program DOES NOT mean you had a bad result. And I don’t believe in this “tensions are high” nonsense because I was there with my classmates. The issues with this program are not excusable just because they are new and they are growing pains. I can’t even begin. They do not accept feedback from their MBS students and they lack professionalism or the resources that we need. MBS is bottom priority.

As someone who did do well and is going to my first choice medical school (was UIW before I got 3 months into their program), my experience was terrible. If I’m keeping it honest I haven’t ever heard anyone (A SINGLE PERSON) from my class say “that was a really great opportunity”. Many of us regretted that we didn’t know about these issues and could have gone to more established post bac opportunities. I didn’t waste my money because my end goal was met, but I feel like the only thing the MBS gave me was debt, grades and one of the most traumatic experiences of my academic career. those of us who did well were just trying to keep our mouths shut long enough so we wouldn’t get reprimanded like so many people seem to. I wasn’tsure if I would end up going to UIWSOM at the time. Even the top students in our class had nothing positive to say about this program other than “well I got into medical school.” It’s about so much more than grades. I saw very smart and passionate people not do well because of the toxicity of this program.

Why I was trigged to post this? UIWSOM is being dishonest, unethical and manipulative. They are constantly monitoring SDN. They have reported and removed posts that were negative (so no first amendment I guess) and continue to ask MBS and DO students to come on here and write positive things about the program. That’s really not cool at all. It’s cheating people out of a fair decision when people are going to invest their money and lives with whatever school they decide to go to. If people truly have something positive to say that is totally fair, but if the admissions office is putting students on the spot (assuming because they did well that their experience was positive) I find that to be cheating. I mean who is going to be honest in that situation? People are more likely to post negativity, that is true. BUT AGAIN I can not recall anyone who loved this program. And after asking the entire campus to fabricate nice stories and attempted to investigate who wrote the mean ones, notice that there is still only one positive comment and it mostly focused on the DO program anyway. That is the reality. The DO is much different from MBS (seemingly, although they’ve got a bunch of political issues with staff who dont “fall in line”), but I could not risk my sanity and money for the next 4 years on them.

Hope this doesn’t get reported or deleted. I used my first amendment right to tactfully tell my truth.

 

[Jazzyyazzy]

First off congratulations to everyone who graduated from MBS and matriculated into any medical/dental school or another program. It is a great accomplishment, especially because you made it out of the MBS. I was in the MBS and have chosen to go to another medical school for good reason. For starters, having a negative opinion about the program DOES NOT mean you had a bad result. And I don’t believe in this “tensions are high” nonsense because I was there with my classmates. The issues with this program are not excusable just because they are new and they are growing pains. I can’t even begin. They do not accept feedback from their MBS students and they lack professionalism or the resources that we need. MBS is bottom priority.

As someone who did do well and is going to my first choice medical school (was UIW before I got 3 months into their program), my experience was terrible. If I’m keeping it honest I haven’t ever heard anyone (A SINGLE PERSON) from my class say “that was a really great opportunity”. Many of us regretted that we didn’t know about these issues and could have gone to more established post bac opportunities. I didn’t waste my money because my end goal was met, but I feel like the only thing the MBS gave me was debt, grades and one of the most traumatic experiences of my academic career. those of us who did well were just trying to keep our mouths shut long enough so we wouldn’t get reprimanded like so many people seem to. I wasn’tsure if I would end up going to UIWSOM at the time. Even the top students in our class had nothing positive to say about this program other than “well I got into medical school.” It’s about so much more than grades. I saw very smart and passionate people not do well because of the toxicity of this program.

Why I was trigged to post this? UIWSOM is being dishonest, unethical and manipulative. They are constantly monitoring SDN. They have reported and removed posts that were negative (so no first amendment I guess) and continue to ask MBS and DO students to come on here and write positive things about the program. That’s really not cool at all. It’s cheating people out of a fair decision when people are going to invest their money and lives with whatever school they decide to go to. If people truly have something positive to say that is totally fair, but if the admissions office is putting students on the spot (assuming because they did well that their experience was positive) I find that to be cheating. I mean who is going to be honest in that situation? People are more likely to post negativity, that is true. BUT AGAIN I can not recall anyone who loved this program. And after asking the entire campus to fabricate nice stories and attempted to investigate who wrote the mean ones, notice that there is still only one positive comment and it mostly focused on the DO program anyway. That is the reality. The DO is much different from MBS (seemingly, although they’ve got a bunch of political issues with staff who dont “fall in line”), but I could not risk my sanity and money for the next 4 years on them.

Hope this doesn’t get reported or deleted. I used my first amendment right to tactfully tell my truth.

can you message me

 

[msaenz18]

As a graduate of the most recent MBS class, I am willing to have a conversation with anyone wanting to understand how the program was from the last year (the good, the bad and the ugly). It has already been stated by the administration that this past year was a very difficult year for their MBS class and I am not sure what changes they made or did not make from previous years for that to be the case. Perhaps we were a bit unlucky, perhaps our professors and administration were overworked and we were overlooked, perhaps our class dynamic was poor and distracting. However, many of us still reached our goals... many of us were pushed further away from them.

The risk has to be weighed seriously to see if the potential benefits are worth the potential risks. Honestly, I don't advise anyone who is on the edge of being competitive to take any SMP, anywhere. It is a huge and expensive risk that may not be necessary. If you haven't played all of your cards - don't seek out an SMP quite yet... make sure you do yourself fair justice first.

Out of respect for the university and for privacy reasons, anyone who is interested in the recent MBS class experience is free to message me. When looking at UIWSOM, I think it is very important to separate the MBS program from the DO program, as they did not seem to reflect each other well in this most recent MBS class. The experiences we have had with the "mainly" MBS vs the "mainly" DO faculty, have been incredibly different from each other... as well as the quality of education and responsiveness from seniority on either side... seemingly opposite at times.

If you are wanting to know about the MBS program, I suggest speaking to students that have come from the most recent class and who did not have the sole plan of attending this particular DO program... their perspective will probably be much different, as their expectations for what the program should have offered is different.

One blanket of advice I would give if you are considering/attending this program is that you must be extremely flexible. Remember that flexibility is not just a mindset. Flexibility is a skill and it requires practice. Being willing to put in the work is not always enough - you might find yourself needing more time to develop to adjust to changes as quickly as you would like to. You may not have that time in this program. Entering into the MBS, you must be flexible to adjust to hiccups, flexible to changing expectations, flexible to the instabilities, and flexible with the results you are willing to accept (you may do well or you may not).

will you message me?

 

[mandyads]

Hi Everyone,

I'm still getting a lot of PM's in regards to the UIWSOM MBS program. For any of you who may be in the 2019-2020 class, it may be helpful for you to insert your experiences here to give prospective students a more fair assessment of what they can expect.

Goodluck all!

 

[Meowster007]

Hi Everyone,

I'm still getting a lot of PM's in regards to the UIWSOM MBS program. For any of you who may be in the 2019-2020 class, it may be helpful for you to insert your experiences here to give prospective students a more fair assessment of what they can expect.

Goodluck all!

hi could you message me about it. Thanks

 

[mandyads]

BELOW IS AN EXPERIENCE QUOTED FROM A PREVIOUS MBS STUDENT WHO SOUGHT ANOTHER SPECIAL MASTERS PROGRAM AFTERWARDS. DETAILS ABOUT THIS STUDENT AND THE SPECIFIC PROGRAM THEY ARE COMPARING WILL REMAIN PRIVATE FOR CONFIDENTIALITY REASONS.

The current program that I am in has 3 quarters (end of august to end of may) with 45 credit hours. During the first quarter we took Anatomy, Physiology I, Biochemistry, Catpsone, and Molecular & Cellular Biology. 2nd quarter: Physio 2, Micro I, Pharm I, Histology, Immunology, and Medical Ethics. 3rd quarter: Pharm 2, Micro 2, Genetics, Capstone, and an elective (i’m taking virology).

Whereas at UIW we had 3 semesters (end of august to end of june) with 36? (i can’t remember) credit hours. First semester we took anatomy I, mol cell/biochem, epidemiology, biostats, professional development, and bioethics. second semester we took anatomy 2, physiology, micro, professional development, biostats 2, and medical ethics. Summer semester we took genetics and capstone.

-

At my current program

Anatomy: We only had 2 professors teach us. We had two 1.5 hour lectures per week. In addition to that, we had lab time that included (1.5 hours of small group and 1.5 hours with the actual cadavers). We had pre-labs that we had to complete before going to lab which helped with familiarizing ourselves with structures. Although I liked that we had to dissect at UIW, I felt it was much easier to learn with the prossected cadavers we had in this program. So we would go into lab with our manual and simply identify everything while practicing with each other. And before we could leave we lab we were given “completion” quizzes where we had to identify something like “pin a structure that flexes” etc. Small group began with an individual quiz, then we would take the same quiz in our respective groups. After taking these quizzes we would review the correct answers and then spend the rest of the small group time doing practice questions. These questions were similar to the ones found on UMich.

At UIW, we had 4 professors teaching us anatomy with completely different styles. It wasn’t much of an issue once we got used to their teaching styles though. Our cadavers were not prossected so we had to dissect everything. I honestly liked that we got to dissect but we spent so much unnecessary time dissecting that we didn’t get to test each other on structures during lab time. We had to go into lab on our own time and even then it was hard because our bodies weren’t cleaned properly. We also never had quizzes in anatomy at UIW, so our grade relied on our exams. I felt that put many of us, who hadn’t taken anatomy before uiw, at a disadvantage.

-

Biochem: Our powerpoints were very detailed, our professor was able to answer any questions asked of her, we were given quizzes, and we could always drop by her office when he had questions.

At UIW, I was disappointed with the way we were taught biochem. Our professor would read from the book and anytime students asked her difficult questions she couldn’t really answer them. Also, the format of the exams kept changing because people were doing bad. Then some of our exam questions came from the program director (who had never taught us a lecture), and most of did poorly on her questions. Overall the class wasn’t bad, but it lacked basic organization.

-

Physiology: Our lectures were video recorded, which I found very helpful. We had 1 workshop assignment given to us 1 week before every exam, and were given a total of 4 exams. We had 4 different professors teach us, but they were all experts in the respective physiology they taught us. We covered neuro,cardio, respiratory, renal, endocrine, GI, and reproductive. All our exams were fair and if there were bad questions they would give us points back.

At UIW, they hired our physio professor during winter break, weeks before he was supposed to teach us in spring semester. He was making the lecture material as he went along (not his fault, this was on administration). He also gave us quizzes during every lecture so attendance was essentially mandatory, and most of his quizzes had incorrect information so we’d argue for points back constantly. The class average for the first exam was decent (i think it was an 80?) and administration was not happy with this. They told him to make the exams harder so from then on our averages were in the low 70s with many people failing (some even getting 50s and 40s). Our final exam was so bad that they threw out 17 questions and “dropped” one of our exam grades to save everyone’s averages. We also did not cover all the physio we were supposed to.

-

Micro: The micro that we have learned in this program isn’t really micro, it’s more of how our professor “interprets” micro. But his exams are based on what he says in class so if you pay attention and critically reason on his exams you can get a B or an A-. This was probably the only class I was slightly annoyed with in this program.

At UIW, our biochemistry professor ended up teaching us this course. She has no terminal degree in microbiology, and even though we had a very qualified professor in the D.O. program that could’ve taught us, they decided to go with our biochem professor. She was literally reading through the book as she taught us, and anytime we had questions she would flip through the pages to try and answer. One of our classmates worked in a lab so she would answer our questions. Instead of being taught by our professor we were being taught by a student. Additionally, the questions asked on our first exam were extremely hard compared to the material we were “taught.” We were not given the tools to do well on that exam and the class average was a 55. Eventually they did some “magic” to bring people’s averages up at the end of the semester, but everyone was constantly stressed about how they were going to do in that class.

-

We didn’t take biostats/epi at my current program, but we had MAJOR issues with these courses at UIW.

Biostats: All of our quizzes were from some university in british columbia and they had many mistakes. We would bring this to the attention of our professor and he would correct a few of them but then stopped getting back to everyone. Eventually an email was sent from the class complaining about the situation, and administration and our biostats professor were very upset with us. Also, in the middle of the semester they changed our final exam percentage from 30 to 55%, even though our quizzes had mistakes and we weren’t really taught well. Due to this, many of us ended up with B+s because we just didn’t know the material.


Epidemiology: this class was more fair, but our final exam percentage was also changed last minute to 55%.

-

Capstone: At my current program, we started our capstone projects in fall quarter and have continuously worked on them all year. We have done annotated bibs, meta analysis, met with our advisors, etc. We just have more overall guidance on what we’re doing.

At uiw, we only had the summer semester to come up with a project, work on it, and present. It felt really rushed.

-

Classes aside, the program I’m in now is well rounded and organized. Not only are their professors and class structure on point, but they are very supportive. We ‘re all assigned academic advisors (one of the biomedical professors) that we have to meet with. Also, these advisors are in charge of our committee letters. So if you maintain a 3.0 gpa in their program you get a committee letter from your advisor + 2 other professors of your choosing. You can also schedule a mock interview to prepare for medical school interviews you have coming up. Moreover, if you are feeling overwhelmed and would like to take some time off you can go on a leave of absence and return when you’re ready. The only downside to this program is that we have exams every week. Fall quarter we had exams mondays, fridays, mondays, fridays, etc with like 1 or 2 breaks in between. Spring quarter we had exams monday, wed, fri, mon, fri, mond, wed, fri, with 1 or 2 breaks in between. Now in spring quarter we just have exams on mondays and fridays. Essentially, you can get kind of burnt out by this exam schedule. However, I felt like I benefited from this kind of schedule because I am constantly studying and my only priority is school. Lastly, many of the students in their program matriculate into their DO, dental, PA, or other professional program.

At uiw we did have a mock interview, but they scheduled it last minute for after finals first semester. Since many people already booked flights for winter break, they didn’t get to utilize this. Although we received committee letters if we had gpas of 3.4+ in the program, we didn’t have advisors that guided us on our applications. Many people met with D.O program director who basically told them they didn’t have a chance of getting in.

I felt like the UIW administration wasn’t as supportive as they claimed to be. They constantly changed things, want to make our exams harder, and didn’t provide a solid foundation for us. If you want to improve your gpa, I suggest you do not go to UIW because the likelihood that you’ll improve it much is slim.

 

[mandyads]

BELOW IS AN EXPERIENCE QUOTED FROM A PREVIOUS MBS STUDENT WHO LISTED THE PROS AND CONS OF THE MBS PROGRAM - SOME OF YOU MAY ALREADY BE FAMILIAR WITH THIS INFORMATION

MY RECOMMENDATION:
Do not attend this program. My consensus of the program is that there is a lack of professionalism, consistency and communication. I do not believe UIWSOM is prepared to have such a demanding program. Because the experience has been so negative, less than 50% of the students end up actually applying to UIWSOM. I think this is a shame, because the SOM has much greater potential and I do not think the MBS program reflects this well.


PROS:

• lots of the faculty who lecture (not just supervise small group learning) between us and the medical school are brilliant
• about 50% of students who apply to UIWSOM from the MBS are accepted
• even though it is time-consuming, working with human cadavers was one of the most impactful learning experiences many of us had

CONS:

• costed most of us $60-75k
• faculty often do not have time to meet with us for content review, because the DO students demand the majority of their time
• lecture and assessment styles (apart from anatomy) were constantly changing and required us to adapt to new strategies for almost every exam
• some of our courses are being beta-tested for programs UIWSOM are working on and the material has an obscene amount of mistakes and contradictions – it also includes way too many readings that we just do not have the time for
• administration is not aware of the major issues the MBS program has had because our director does not communicate our issues seriously, rather she attempts to resolve the matter herself and usually seeks out a solution that makes it easier for her and 10x more difficult on us
• programs that do not even exist yet under UIWSOM have priority over our program development
• the way MBS students are taught and assessed is 95% different than the way the DO students are
• politics amongst staff members cause inappropriate actions to not be disciplined, while amazing staff members are let go because they challenged if the UIWSOM/MBS strategies were actually working on behalf of the students
• this program uses the MBS program to beta-test courses that will be utilized in future programs and does not take feedback about the courses into consideration
• the goal of our class performance is to have a 75% bell curve – if students do better our director tells professors to increase their difficulty, if students do worse there is no change
• you do not receive an applicable or medical level education in most courses (except for anatomy)
• the program is not full of mature and non-traditional students as I thought it would, rather many students were fresh out of undergrad (our class just so happened to be incredibly toxic, but that may have nothing to do with the program)
• intentional sabotage of students they feel do not represent the school in a "positive-only" manner

EXAMPLES:

• The class average on an exam was 55% and our director saw no need to investigate what may have been the issue – she said that we simply had a hard time on the first exam; note, the exam was all clinical board style questions – none of which we had ever practiced or seen in class. Majority of the class could no longer achieve an A after that.
• Two exams were written so poorly that ¼ of the questions had to be removed on each. The professor’s strategy was never changed and the way the test format affected our performance was never addressed. We found out after the fact that the professor was moved from the UIWSOM campus to the main campus as a result of the issue, but we were never given reparation as students. Our director did not understand that ¼ of the exam drastically affected our performance on the other ¾.
• At a point in the semester, in our beta courses, majority of the class was failing our weekly quizzes. We spoke about the issues (misaligned information, miswritten questions and miskeyed answer choices) with our professor and director for several weeks. Because we were allowed to work in groups for our quizzes, we started to utilize that strategy so we could pass. Once the grades began to rise, our director responded to this by increasing our final exam weight from 20% to 55%, saying that “we need to prove we earned our grade in the final, so that accreditation of the future MPH program is not jeopardized.”
• the professor for one of our beta-courses constantly canceled class and tutoring sessions to the point where we missed almost 8 meeting times in a row; note, this is when we were failing quizzes. Instead of responding professionally, he was constantly unresponsive and made comments about how we are too demanding. After 3 months of trying to communicate with him, a professional letter was sent by a classmate to his superiors. He projected the email in class (without the student’s name… or permission) and began to talk about how ungrateful we were. His decision was to say that no one in our class would ever receive a recommendation letter from him – he made sure to remind us that anyone who had ever gotten a letter from him was accepted into the medical school

CONCLUSION:
About 10 out of 45 students were accepted into the medical school. A few were waitlisted. Again, 50% (about 20 applied) of the students made the MBS to SOM transition - HOWEVER, those who did not get in were greatly affected. This school is aware of how difficult their program is, but other universities are not. A 3.4 or 3.5 GPA will be enough to get in if you are a stellar student personality-wise, but trying to apply to another medical school with that outcome is very difficult to justify. It is not worth the risk. It's really sad because they could be an outstanding institution but there are serious flaws that drastically impact their students' well-being and academic success.

 

[mandyads]

If any students from the most recent MBS class have any experiences, please share them!
It seems as though the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 classes had mostly unfortunate experiences - perhaps the 2019-2020 class has a positive take.​

 

[Gropey_Monk123]

The takeaway seems to be that UIWs MBS program is
1) Disorganized
2) unsupportive
3) unresponsive (to students needs)

These are pillars not only to successful MBS programs but schools in general. I'm also curious how the 2019-20 students experience was. I wouldn't want future students applying here without knowing the full story so hopefully some 19-20 students post about their experience whether it was positive or negative.

 

[white_wolf95]

I have seen a lot of negative reviews and bad experiences about the masters program at UIW and I just felt the need to comment about my positive experience. I also wanted to give my opinion on the school. I really like UIW and it feels like a strong community.

First off I will start with the fact that I matriculated into UIWs medical school from the masters, so I may be a little biased. I thought that the masters program set me up for success in medical school and this was apparent throughout my first year. I am currently in my last block of the first year and I have performed very well. I believe the masters program forced me to learn the most effective way to study and taught me a lot in that aspect. Content wise, biochemistry in the first semester of the masters greatly helped me in preparing for the MCAT which I retook January of 2019. Secondly the anatomy in the masters program is second to none. The professors were amazing and they taught us at the same level of the medical school, as they were the same professors that taught the medical school. They did not expect any less from us and this ended up being extremely beneficial. I started off ahead of many of my peers in the medical school because of this. Also we go into everything including head, neck, and neuroanatomy which some other programs do not teach in their masters.

For me it was easy to access the professors, we had a class of 45 people, and email communication was prompt depending on the professor. If you go into their offices with specific questions they will help walk you through those. I had a study group and was relatively self efficient. I would recommend this no matter what program you’re in. A small study group will help keep you sane and will fill in your learning gaps. Also this allows you all to split up seeing professors and then sharing information with your group. You can also create different resources that all the group members can use to study.

Personally I thought the program was great, and the faculty were great. Of course like any new program they are still working things out and trying to see which faculty fits in best for the program, but they have made improvements on this every year. In all honesty the biggest drawbacks for me were the cost is high, and my class was kind of cut throat. We had a lot of people who liked to keep information to themselves, and also those who would speak out and cause problems with both administration and other students. The people who kept to themselves and their groups generally performed better. I think it was a matter of what you put your energy into, if its studying the material, instead of complaining about every small detail then you will perform better.

Along with this the school gave us practice interviews, and a guaranteed medical school interview just for being in the masters. You also got a committee letter of recommendation if you made above a 3.4 gpa. From the information I gathered, pretty much everyone who was accepted into the medical school from the masters had these letters. Also I know of another 5 or 6 people who have been accepted into medical school from my class, so the program has helped close to half the class get accepted into medical school somewhere. I’m sure there are more from my class who have been accepted but those 18 total are the ones I have personally seen and kept up with, and then another 1 or 2 that were accepted into Dental school. Also I believe that administration said that around 60% or so from the masters get accepted into the medical school and this actually held true because only 20 applied for that current cycle and 12 were accepted. A few were accepted to other medical schools so not all matriculated into UIW.

Another thing to note, is I think some of my classmates may have been upset because of the honesty we got from admissions. We all had individual meetings with a dean of admissions and our head of the masters program on if we should apply for that current cycle or not. Some were told that they should wait a year and work on their application more, or have the full year of the masters grades before applying. Not all of them listened, used their guaranteed interview to apply anyway and most who were told this, did not get accepted into the UIW medical school. One thing to remember is that medical schools are getting more and more competitive and so no matter what program you do, you need to perform well in order for it to help you.

Basically, what I am saying is it is not really that hard to succeed in the program. You just have to put in the work, and have thick skin. They have changed the format of the program in terms of testing for the most recent class but I am unsure of all the details on that. When I was in it, the program was very fast paced with tests every 3 or 4 weeks and a lot of material, but no where near the amount you will cover in a year of medical school. In medical school you are going to have to self study and learn how to teach yourself because the professors aren’t going to hand feed you and there is too much information to cover in each class. So for boards you will have to know much more than what is covered in class. You might as well get used to it now. This program provides difficult high level instruction, but if you can do well in it then I guarantee you can succeed in any medical school as well.

These were just my opinions on the program. I had a positive experience. I was one of the ones who performed well and got a letter of recommendation, and ultimately I think this was why I was accepted into the medical school program. Some of my friends that were also accepted utilized this program because they had very low science gpa’s and this helped them boost that. Ultimately take every review and opinion with a grain of salt as everyone is coming from a different place, and make the decision that will benefit you the most.

 

[StudentDocGoals]

I was accepted into the Masters program today. Not sure which program to decide on.

 

[FitBit21]

Just as a response to a recent post stating that all medical schools require you to "learn how to teach yourself because the professors aren’t going to hand feed you and there is too much information to cover in each class." This is absolutely false. But if you've only ever been a student at UIW you wouldn't know what it's like being a medical student elsewhere. If this is not your learning style there are other schools out there that do thoroughly cover all of the material during lectures and don't require you to teach yourself.

 

[Meowster007]

Anyone can message me to go to this program or not or your personal review? thanks!

 

[PersonBehindAScreen]

Jeez. I'm not sure what to think. On one hand, you have the one good comment recently about this program basically a "your mileage may vary" type comment and appears in some aspects to directly contradict other comments. Then mostly bad things. I'm not at all opposed to hard work. I know I have to work hard if I really want it but I'd definitely hate to end up in a bad program in general. I'll probably end up applying and just seeing what happens when it comes time for me to apply and will be on the lookout for more comments. A good challenging program? No problem. Straight up unable to utilize resources that they claim to have and making it hard because there's so much disorganization is totally different

 

[Meowster007]

Jeez. I'm not sure what to think. On one hand, you have the one good comment recently about this program basically a "your mileage may vary" type comment and appears in some aspects to directly contradict other comments. Then mostly bad things. I'm not at all opposed to hard work. I know I have to work hard if I really want it but I'd definitely hate to end up in a bad program in general. I'll probably end up applying and just seeing what happens when it comes time for me to apply and will be on the lookout for more comments. A good challenging program? No problem. Straight up unable to utilize resources that they claim to have and making it hard because there's so much disorganization is totally different

Same!

 

[jordie392]

As a graduate of the most recent MBS class, I am willing to have a conversation with anyone wanting to understand how the program was from the last year (the good, the bad and the ugly). It has already been stated by the administration that this past year was a very difficult year for their MBS class and I am not sure what changes they made or did not make from previous years for that to be the case. Perhaps we were a bit unlucky, perhaps our professors and administration were overworked and we were overlooked, perhaps our class dynamic was poor and distracting. However, many of us still reached our goals... many of us were pushed further away from them.

The risk has to be weighed seriously to see if the potential benefits are worth the potential risks. Honestly, I don't advise anyone who is on the edge of being competitive to take any SMP, anywhere. It is a huge and expensive risk that may not be necessary. If you haven't played all of your cards - don't seek out an SMP quite yet... make sure you do yourself fair justice first.

Out of respect for the university and for privacy reasons, anyone who is interested in the recent MBS class experience is free to message me. When looking at UIWSOM, I think it is very important to separate the MBS program from the DO program, as they did not seem to reflect each other well in this most recent MBS class. The experiences we have had with the "mainly" MBS vs the "mainly" DO faculty, have been incredibly different from each other... as well as the quality of education and responsiveness from seniority on either side... seemingly opposite at times.

If you are wanting to know about the MBS program, I suggest speaking to students that have come from the most recent class and who did not have the sole plan of attending this particular DO program... their perspective will probably be much different, as their expectations for what the program should have offered is different.

One blanket of advice I would give if you are considering/attending this program is that you must be extremely flexible. Remember that flexibility is not just a mindset. Flexibility is a skill and it requires practice. Being willing to put in the work is not always enough - you might find yourself needing more time to develop to adjust to changes as quickly as you would like to. You may not have that time in this program. Entering into the MBS, you must be flexible to adjust to hiccups, flexible to changing expectations, flexible to the instabilities, and flexible with the results you are willing to accept (you may do well or you may not).

I tried messaging you but it wont let me! Will you message me about the program please!!

 

[Meowster007]

I tried messaging you but it wont let me! Will you message me about the program please!!

same!!!

 

[deleted975161]

same!!!

I tried messaging you but it wont let me! Will you message me about the program please!!

I know this is late and you may already be enrolled in this program or another program, but I can answer questions if you want. I just finished this program in June 2020.

 

[Meowster007]

I know this is late and you may already be enrolled in this program or another program, but I can answer questions if you want. I just finished this program in June 2020.

For sure! PM me please

 

[Islander361]

Currently applied to DO and MD schools this cycle with a 3.8 GPA but have a 490 MCAT and plan on retaking in March. I was looking into UIWs MBS and UNTs MBS program and was wondering if that would be a good decision for me to apply to? I was actually surprised to get an II from UIWSOM which I have in less than two weeks due to my low MCAT but praying for the best! Any advice would help, thanks!

 

[Texas PreMed]

Currently applied to DO and MD schools this cycle with a 3.8 GPA but have a 490 MCAT and plan on retaking in March. I was looking into UIWs MBS and UNTs MBS program and was wondering if that would be a good decision for me to apply to? I was actually surprised to get an II from UIWSOM which I have in less than two weeks due to my low MCAT but praying for the best! Any advice would help, thanks!

Hi Islander! I was in a similar situation to you last year and I ended up applying to both UIWs and UNTs programs. I got admitted to UIWs, but rejected to UNTs. I applied with a 498 MCAT and a 3.4 GPA. UNTs program is very competitive but I think you should still apply to both! I'm also a current student at UIWSOMs MBS program and can answer any questions about this program if you'd like!

 

[Meowster007]

Hi Islander! I was in a similar situation to you last year and I ended up applying to both UIWs and UNTs programs. I got admitted to UIWs, but rejected to UNTs. I applied with a 498 MCAT and a 3.4 GPA. UNTs program is very competitive but I think you should still apply to both! I'm also a current student at UIWSOMs MBS program and can answer any questions about this program if you'd like!

Hello, could you speak to the pros and cons of the program? I heard that the program is very unorganized and that faculty doesn't focus on the MBS students that well. Could you speak to that? Thanks!

 

[Meowster007]

Hello, could you speak to the pros and cons of the program? I heard that the program is very unorganized and that faculty doesn't focus on the MBS students that well. Could you speak to that? Thanks!

And also what is the matriculation rate into the COM? What are the parameters to enter for an II or A?

 

[Meowster007]

I was in the previous year's MBS class and the way it worked for us was anyone from MBS that applied to the DO program got an automatic interview. Everyone from MBS was interviewed on the same date in the spring. Anyone with a GPA above a 3.4 (may have been 3.5, i don't remember) was eligible for a HPAC letter and essentially if you got the HPAC letter and had an MCAT of at least low 500s you would get accepted to the DO program. There was also an optional Kaplan MCAT program that some people did during fall semester before retaking the MCAT in January, which was the last date UIWSOM allowed MBS students to apply with. I don't remember exactly how many people went from MBS to DO program, i think around like 10-15. Some of us are going elsewhere for med school, some had to wait a year and then got in to UIWSOM, and some didn't apply to medical school in the end.

Great info but how is the faculty and teaching? That is what can make a huge difference of getting in and I havent heard positive reviews about faculty or curriculum... Thoughts?

 

[deleted975161]

Great info but how is the faculty and teaching? That is what can make a huge difference of getting in and I havent heard positive reviews about faculty or curriculum... Thoughts?

PM me and I can share my thoughts on the program.

 

[mandyads]

I agree with @FitBit21 . I appreciate the positive perspective @white_wolf95 gave on the program and the transition to the medical school; however, while in the program I also attempted to make the absolute best out of it. It was difficult and I had my complaints, but I mostly kept to my own personal life and focused on constantly revamping how I was approaching the material. I struggled immensely. The constant mental Olympics took a severe toll on me. Outside of my personal struggles, I looked to my academic environment to be simple, professional, and intuitive. The real support I needed just wasn't there. Even though I noticed the extent of the negative mental and academic impact the program had on me then, it is even more pronounced in hindsight when I compare it to my current medical program.

I communicated with the administrative staff and teaching faculty often and had a great relationship with them. My relationship with the administrative faculty suddenly changed once I started addressing some of the real issues with them, as well as the Dean's office - it was clear that they were not interested in coming up with real solutions for a struggling class. This is the "real help" I was referring to earlier. It often felt like I was going in circles dealing with so many inconsistencies and what I felt was a lack of critical problem resolution by the administrative staff. The program was borderline terrible and they were unwilling to stray from their idealized view of it. To an extent, they responded as if they were in complete denial that anything was actually wrong. I went from being a favorite student that they were willing to bend rules for to nearly being prosecuted towards the very end of the program simply for addressing issues professionally. I reiterate, when our interactions were not about holding them accountable, they went above and beyond to blow smoke up my rear end about how professional and hard-working of a student I was; but when I expected critical action to improve obvious issues with the program, they suddenly placed me in a different category of "maybe you should look into another a field for your aptitude." They even threatened my future chances of matriculating there; of course, at this point, I had rescinded my intentions of attempting to matriculate. This is when I felt things went from unprofessional to unethical. This type of interaction dynamic was nothing new; several staff and faculty members had experienced similar undertones during their career there. The lack of professionalism was immense. Anyway, I digress.

In complete contrast, my experience as a medical student at a solid medical school with all tenured and heavily diverse staff couldn't be more different from my experience at UIW. It's actually sad how stark the realities are when I compare them. When my current classmates complain about something being disorganized, or "extra difficult" in my current program, I barely see it. Compared to UIW, it's amazing. They listen to their students, they adjust the program in live-time, they personalize information to the class, they defend our mental health... no complaints. There are always a couple of teaching faculty that everyone struggles with, but that's the minority of interactions. I literally have no real complaints. Mind you, this is while studying as a first-year during a pandemic (all online). This would normally be incredibly more difficult for me, but it is still multiple times better than my experience at UIW. Not because my program is perfect, but because I am grateful in every difficult time that I am still able to focus on being the best learner and future physician as possible - without the unnecessary disorganization from administrative staff and lack of true efforts from teaching faculty affecting my performance.

I am currently finishing up the most difficult portion of my first year. I'm attending an MD program with a traditionally organized curriculum (all basic sciences in the first year, with the incorporation of certain clinical skills/patient interactions throughout). At this point, we have delved into every basic science component (and their associated clinical components) that was covered in UIW's program. Of course, we learned it about 10,000x more in-depth and faster (LOL), but my point is... the only helpful material from UIW's program was anatomy. The inclusion of gross dissection and histology has been such an amazing and fun advantage to my current learning, especially with everything being online. Unfortunately, apart from both semesters of anatomy, there has not been a single piece of information that has contributed to my success as a first-year medical student. Even with this being said, I found that the professors were incredibly professional, intelligent, vibrant and resourceful. Though we didn't learn the information at a medical school level, they provided an amazing foundation for future material. Fajardo gets a special shout-out because his teaching style is incredibly suited for long-term learning and application. We all know this (LOL). My only critique is that the more difficult portion of neuroanatomy wasn't taught in a very intuitive or in-depth way at UIW - it made it difficult to apply the information on a larger scale.

For me, my performance in UIW's program actually made it more difficult for me to get into medical school. I did not have a low undergraduate GPA (especially not for DO schools at the time - which was my preferred path) and I had an impressive amount of research, clinical and professional experience under my belt. In hindsight, I should not have been considering a transitional master's program. I should have focused on improving my MCAT and taking my own selection of individual courses if needed. At the time, I was super ecstatic about any opportunity and was sure I was going to be successful. At this point, I had never even applied to medical school before. I'm sure that sounds insane to anyone who has been through the process. Hindsight is 20/20. I accumulated $90k of terrifying debt in exchange for a year of severe insecurity and to make it more difficult to get into medical school. Part of the reason that number is so high is because of the corrective course of action I had to take due to my low performance in the program.

Even though the amount of information is like comparing an ocean to a lake, my current program seems to be the same level of difficulty as the program at UIW or even easier than my master's program. That's not normal and is telling that other factors came into play with my experience. Being that I am the person who started this forum, you can see the stark difference in attitude as time has continued. Everyone is different, but that is my experience. My hope is that UIWSOM transitions (or has transitioned) to an environment of receptive communication and critical change based on the needs of their current students, who have such amazing purposes to accomplish in the future.

Good luck! Regardless of your decision, you are capable of bomb success and you will arrive there with discipline, passion and purpose!

 

[Islander361]

Has anyone been accepted yet for the Fall of 2021?

 

[Hkalan20]

Has anyone been accepted yet for the Fall of 2021?

I was wondering this also

 

[Dorsey DO]

@mandyads I'm not sure how to DM you privately, can you DM me so we can discuss about the MBS program? I'm strongly considering it this fall.