Friends,
To say that I am disheartened by the attitude of some of the current MABS class would be an understatement; I am sure you are all aware of the current grumblings. To follow is a word of encouragement and truth for future MABS students; but first, let me introduce myself.
I am a current MABS student. I blew it in undergrad (<3.2 GPA; 490 MCAT) but knew I had untapped potential. I put everything I had into the MABS program and was able to add 10 points to my MCAT score as well as make straight A’s and secure a future with VCOM. No, the semester is not over, but I still have straight A’s and plan to keep it that way so I look forward to a future with my soon-to-be VCOM family.
Allow me to make four points that expound on the last few encouraging posts from my fellow classmates.
First: This is very important so please tune in—you are going to face adversity in any program you choose. I don’t care where you go—life is hard and it is uncertain. Do not be discouraged by the grumblings of some of the current MABS students. Going to graduate school is about getting comfortable being uncomfortable. As they say, if you cannot take the heat, get out of the kitchen.
Second: *hard truth alert* The MABS program is not designed to get anyone into medical school; rather, it is designed to reach deep within your soul, bring to the surface the student that you know you can be, and remove the old student never to be seen again. MABS does this through differentiation of three types of students:
1) Good students who are, deep down, medical school material but who did not perform well in past academic experiences due to distractions or a lack of motivation (this was me). These students simply need another opportunity to prove themselves.
2) Good students who may not be medical student material but still work hard.
3) Bad students who do not take ownership of their shortcomings and instead look outside of themselves to place blame. These students expect life to be handed to them without doing the necessary work. read: getting a low GPA does NOT make you a bad student.
Your GPA and evaluation is what is going to be used for this differentiation (obviously the MCAT, as well, but the MCAT requirement is low enough that it should be a non-factor, in my opinion). I will repeat, and please hear me when I say, that a low GPA does not make you a bad student. If you don’t pull mostly A’s in this program, it does not mean you are a bad student—you may be a very good student but medical school is not for you. That being said, this program is not designed to be the easy path. It is simply a different path. Honestly, my life would have been a whole lot easier if I had reached my academic potential in undergrad—alas, that was not the case but I don’t lose sleep over it and neither should you if you are in my boat. Accept your failures and learn from them (which is the beauty of this program).
Third: Yes, we had to have an interview during winter break and this was a surprise. Unexpected? Yes. Medicine will be filled with unexpected scenarios that will certainly be life-or-death and you will have to navigate them. This was not one of those scenarios. It was more of a glorified meet-and-greet than an interview. Admins called it an “evaluation”, anyway, so you basically just had to prove to the interviewer that you have a heart for people and demonstrate good moral fiber. It was extremely laid back and not stressful. I didn’t even prepare for it because I knew its purpose and was not worried. Remember that this program is a wholistic evaluation of your character, academic ability, and critical thinking—all vital components in the building of a physician. If you nail those parts, you have nothing to worry about.
Fourth: Yes, the administrators increased the GPA requirement to get into VCOM. They did this not with malicious (contrary to the belief of some of my classmates) but good intent. They found that students who earned a GPA that was just good enough for benchmarks were performing poorly later on at VCOM (this reflects poorly on both VCOM and the MABS program, as well as puts undue stress on students that are not well-suited for medical school). Increasing the GPA requirement makes it less likely that these students will be accepted and, ultimately, is good for everyone. When I hear my classmates complain about increased benchmarks, all I hear is ‘why are they making it harder for me to get into medical school?’ Life is hard. If you are going to start this program, know that there are no handouts—here or in life. Work hard, and you will be rewarded. When I heard that the benchmarks were increased, my instinct was to put my nose to the grindstone and make sure I made the grades. It worked well for me last semester and has continued to work well this semester. I firmly believe if everyone else did the same thing, there would be no reason to draft this post.
All of this being said, no matter what post undergraduate program you choose, you are gambling; however, the good thing is that you are gambling on yourself. Unlike in prototypical gambling, YOU control the major variables—how you react to setbacks, how you manage your time, how you monitor your study methods, how hard you work, how well you work with others (and so many more things). You want to gamble on yourself because absolutely the only thing you can control is yourself. I have had a wonderful experience in this program because it is not contingent upon my professors or the admins. It is, and always will be, contingent upon how I conduct myself. I am confident that if you take ownership and exert control over yourself, you will do well in this program and I will see you in the big house next summer when you start your journey as an OMS-I.
Please PM me if you have any concerns about MABS, life before/between medical school, or literally anything else. I will be happy to alleviate your worries about these thing
www.rfralinassociates.com
Would love to see all of you in there and start making connections early.
