Medical Sciences Masters of Sciences (M.S.M.S.): Molecular Medicine
1st year; only a 1 year program. finished fall semester this past fall 2007.
Program length => 3 semesters; fall, spring, summer. Can be done in two if you get special permission to take classes in spring that are for summer.
1) The Pros and Cons of their program (structure of the program, learning environment, cost, location, faculty, classes, difficulty, competitiveness, other students, buildings/classrooms/facilities, etc..)
Pros: If you haven't taken the MCAT this is a good way to prepare for the bio portion of it because they teach you most everything you need to know for bio MCAT. It also uses many of the same powerpoints as the med students except we get a few more extra details they don't and don't have to know some of the stuff they do. You get to take a lot of courses that are more geared towards second year and the first year molecular medicine block. All lectures are video streamed too which is helpful.
The cons: You don't get to take the anatomy courses and histology courses that are more geared towards 1st year med school but you can do this by signing up for extra courses if you can handle it. I wouldn't advise it personally. If you are applying after the masters I'd do those extra anatomy courses afterwards in the following year. You also don't get a guaranteed interview to med school out of this program like you do with many SMP programs and formal postbacs.
As previously stated, its in the medical school facilities. We get video streaming and there are some ok study spots which are also used by the med students. There are 5 conference rooms and the library plus its conference rooms in there and the nickels lounge (computer lab areas some big desks to work at), the big lounge with the tv and leather couches, and the old kitchen lounge with a dining table. There's also access to the research building which has individual breakrooms normally used by researchers. After hours these can make good study spots.
Since the classrooms are in the same buildings as the med school classrooms, most classes are in MDL 1005 which have places to plug in laptops and the internet cords if you don't have wireless on your laptop. There is wireless internet on campus though so if you have wireless you are good to go.
Oh and there's a new gym for students in the med school area too but you have to have one person with you at all times for liability reasons if something happens while working out.
Faculty: Faculty seems really helpful from what I saw this semester. Not just the professors but the people in the office where we get our grades, the people in educational affairs where you reserve the conference rooms, Mrs. jackson, Mrs. Zahn, and so forth.
Cost: i'm not sure about this. You'd have to look it up by going to the following website:
http://health.usf.edu/medicine/gradu...armedicine.htm
But as far as difficulty goes: it depends on your strengths and your weaknesses. I found it not that hard but a lot of work because of the bulk of material. you have to keep up and try to learn to make connections between all the material esp. in biochem.
Competitiveness, there will always be some gunners but most people who put the work do well. its not like they are trying to weed you out. They want people to succeed. Students, well you can't ever predict who your classmates are going to be so I'm going to not add thoughts on that.
2) The kinds of classes you've taken and a description.
Biochemistry, Molecular biology, cell biology: 5 credit course.
Description: its self explanatory from the title but the main difference betwen when you took these courses in undergrad and in grad school is you don't do useless stuff like tracing carbons or memorizing every single structure. You only need to know the key regulatory enzymes and the most important concepts. Also they don't really ask mathematical questions like solving delta G questions like they did in undergrad. They ask questions that emphasize the key points in the powerpoints.
Medical Microbiology: 3 credit course.
Description: First test is overview and basics of mycology (Fungi), virology, parasites (worms and protozoa), and basic bacterial genetics and metabolism concepts. Second and third test are more bacteriology focused and clinical case based. A good USMLE board review book gives good practice questions for this.
Scientific Writing and Ethics: 2 credit course
Description: Learn how to write scientific and review papers. Write a review paper and take in class quizzes. Really boring and more geared towards people who are planning on a research career but a necessary part of the degree
Electives: Biostats: online class or Bioinformatics.
I didn't take the fall electives. I'm doing mine in spring and summer.
Spring courses include: Genomics and Genetics, Host Parasite Interactions, Cellular and Molecular immunology, and elective choices. I'm taking advances in virology next semester but there is also proteomics and some biotechnology course offered.
Summer courses include metabolic basis of human disease, clinical correlations in molecular medicine, and vaccines and applied immunology. There is also the methods in molecular medicine course which is all lab stuff mostly.
You only need 5 credits of electives which is 2 courses.
3) Something they wished they knew coming into the program
I wish I knew all the study spots around USF COM that I didn't discover til the last week or so. USF COM doesn't do a good job of advertising all the places they have to study around campus. The didn't do a good job of it at the orientation either.
4) Something they would like to tell incoming students about your program
Hardest course will be the first semester biochem course but if you are going to do this program I strongly advise you to learn things in such a way you retain it. As you go along start cutting or looking around your powerpoints for where things repeat and keep going over all the material instead of just that test's worth ofmaterial and you'll be saving a lot of trouble come finals time whenyou have the cumm. final. Try t piece it together like a story and make a play out of it when you are discussing with others. It will make you reember things. Don't memorize for the short term, try to make it stick in the long term.
If you do well in this you'll have a good shot at getting in med school though it isn't an official SMP program. I'm glad I did this program instead of the IMS program because its intense but not as intense as IMS.
5) Tips for students applying to your program
See above. Go to lecture even though its on video because sometimes they use laser pointers which don't show up on the video lectures. Only use video lectures as a replacement for going to lecture if you can't go due to illness or a job that is critical to paying your bills or reasons of that nature. Otherwise, try to use the video only to catch points you missed in lecture.
6) Did it help you get into medical school/dental school/etc.?
I'm applying after the program. I had a classmate that got several DO interviews and acceptances, another classmate who got an acceptance to dental school, yet another classmate who got into FSU COM, and another classmate who had several dental interviews. I know there are others in our class who also have had MD interviews but whether or not they've been accepted is another story.
7) Anything else you'd like to add
8) A rating from 1-5 (1 being the worst (no recommendation) to 5 (full recommendation)
My personal rating would be 5! Although it isn't an SMP program with guaranteed admissions, it is a really good program to help you boost your scientific knowledge and also allow you to take courses similar to the med student courses and boost your GPA. Most people who have done this program and succeeded and applied to medical or dental school have gotten in somewhere.
Note to students reading: A majority of these ratings will be subjective and will vary from student to student within the same program. This is just another resource to help our SDN students out
