2023-2024 Ponce (St. Louis)

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I just think is odd that no one has been rejected, and there is only 1 person in the thread waitlisted.
For me its been 3 months of complete silence.
+pity+
my unfortunate hypothesis is that those of us who interviewed 2-3 months ago have not heard back because we are in an invisible waitlist. which is fine, but i wish there was more transparency so we can make other arrangements if need be.

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I heard similar things when I was in the MSMS program as well.

Wonder how they make the determination for who truly makes the cut for immediate admission? The interviews are definitely a factor, but I'm sure everybody does decent on them sans some crazy outliers.

Could it be MSMS grades + other parts of the records? I'm hoping the former has a big play in decision making, though I unfortunately wasn't at the tip-top of my cohort - I was probably on the upper tier though.
I feel as though it would be wrong to still use grades and metrics to make decisions.. that should have been the weed out factor in the first place for interviews. An interview is essentially saying “ you meet the standard now lets see how you interview” believe it or not many people arent good at interviewing, they may not know how to communicate, may not connect with the one who is interviewing them, arent friendly, or dont know how to answer the question . Your metrics they wanted already got you halfway there, interviewing is the second part
 
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I feel as though it would be wrong to still use grades and metrics to make decisions.. that should have been the weed out factor in the first place for interviews. An interview is essentially saying “ you meet the standard now lets see how you interview” believe it or not many people arent good at interviewing, they may not know how to communicate, may not connect with the one who is interviewing them, arent friendly, or dont know how to answer the question . Your metrics they wanted already got you halfway there, interviewing is the second part

That is fair. Just on edge overall.

I’m also concerned about how I did on my II. It felt average with one question being possibly below average. I really don’t know though - I just tried my best.
 
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That is fair. One of my post-II Rs came due to something on my record though, not my interview. That is why I’m still on edge.

I’m also concerned about how I did on my II. It felt average with one question being possibly below average. I really don’t know though - I just tried my best.
Well hopefully everything works out. Your past doesnt define you, and you did your best on the interview
 
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I feel as though it would be wrong to still use grades and metrics to make decisions.. that should have been the weed out factor in the first place for interviews. An interview is essentially saying “ you meet the standard now lets see how you interview” believe it or not many people arent good at interviewing, they may not know how to communicate, may not connect with the one who is interviewing them, arent friendly, or dont know how to answer the question . Your metrics they wanted already got you halfway there, interviewing is the second part
Typically, Adcom scores your entire application based on grades, letter of rec, and other factors, and then you get another score based on your interview. These two scores are then added, and this is how you are placed on the waitlist and recommended for admission. At the end of the day, any decision they make has to be objective and is something that can be "measured".
 
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Typically, Adcom scores your entire application based on grades, letter of rec, and other factors, and then you get another score based on your interview. These two scores are then added, and this is how you are placed on the waitlist and recommended for admission. At the end of the day, any decision they make has to be objective and is something that can be "measured".
Yeah. An interview is one factor among many for the final decision.

Of course, the fudge factor, in my opinion, is the MSMS program itself since it is an in-house way of gauging academic readiness specifically for Ponce.

Is there an advantage to doing well in this program? How well is well? How will this factor in when compared to typical measurements like undergrad GPA and MCAT?

Who knows.
 
Typically, Adcom scores your entire application based on grades, letter of rec, and other factors, and then you get another score based on your interview. These two scores are then added, and this is how you are placed on the waitlist and recommended for admission. At the end of the day, any decision they make has to be objective and is something that can be "measured".
what is your source regarding that? for instance, are you in admissions? Because to me that doesn’t make sense. People have lower stats than others if that was the case that means they are already set up to fail why give an interview anyway if the peoples stats are lower than others . If they scored well on the interview it still wouldnt mean anything if their stats were lower. You see what i mean?Msar for this school showed mcat scores as low as 485 and gpas as low as 2.78 .
 
Yeah. An interview is one factor among many for the final decision.

Of course, the fudge factor, in my opinion, is the MSMS program itself since it is an in-house way of gauging academic readiness specifically for Ponce.

Is there an advantage to doing well in this program? How well is well? How will this factor in when compared to typical measurements like undergrad GPA and MCAT?

Who knows.
I doubt undergrad gpa is considered for MSMS considering they know many students in the program may not have done well in undergrad, and probably not even considered for regular applicants who did a masters elsewhere. They do look at msms Students differently. They look at your stats in the program Including your NBME scores. One of the dean of msms program said a 3.0 is “good”
 
I doubt undergrad gpa is considered for MSMS considering they know many students in the program may not have done well in undergrad, and probably not even considered for regular applicants who did a masters elsewhere. They do look at msms Students differently. They look at your stats in the program Including your NBME scores. One of the dean of msms program said a 3.0 is “good”
This is very unlikely. I’m not on admissions or anything just an applicant, but I do know that undergraduate gpa is considered at every medical school, even if you have a masters or postbac. It will always be a consideration.
 
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This is very unlikely. I’m not on admissions or anything just an applicant, but I do know that undergraduate gpa is considered at every medical school, even if you have a masters or postbac. It will always be a consideration.
Mizzou adcom said otherwise during their information session. i guess you can call and confirm.
 
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I doubt undergrad gpa is considered for MSMS considering they know many students in the program may not have done well in undergrad, and probably not even considered for regular applicants who did a masters elsewhere. They do look at msms Students differently. They look at your stats in the program Including your NBME scores. One of the dean of msms program said a 3.0 is “good”
They look at the NBME? Was that the final exam of the program? I presume that everybody passed that gauntlet or else you couldn’t get your degree..

…and 3.0 is considered good? Considering how many spots are available at this school, that seems pretty low, in my opinion.
 
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They look at the NBME? Was that the final exam of the program? I presume that everybody passed that gauntlet or else you couldn’t get your degree..

…and 3.0 is considered good? Considering how many spots are available at this school, that seems pretty low, in my opinion.
NBME was different than the qualifying comprehensive exam. The NBME were the final exams we took that was a percentage of our final grade in our classes it also indicates how well you would do for STEP. I believe the requirement to be considered for MSMS students was at least a 65 percent. They also wanted msms students to have at least a 490 mcat. Thing is that is subjective because there was some clause that said its at the discretion of the admissions committee to consider someone with lower stats than that. Which is why on msar you may see it showed below mcat of 490s and low gpa scores .
 
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NBME was different than the qualifying comprehensive exam. The NBME were the final exams we took that was a percentage of our final grade in our classes it also indicates how well you would do for STEP. I believe the requirement to be considered for MSMS students was at least a 65 percent. They also wanted msms students to have at least a 490 mcat. Thing is that is subjective because there was some clause that said its at the discretion of the admissions committee to consider someone with lower stats than that. Which is why on msar you may see it showed below mcat of 490s and low gpa scores .
Wasn’t that institution specific? I think I had to do that (could’ve done better -_-), but it was supposedly only for my school…not the program overall.

For my school, it wasn’t added to the total grade count (I recall) to keep the pressure low on it, considering that a good portion of pupils weren’t thinking of medicine as a career. It was just something to gauge how we would realistically do on the exam, though we obviously didn’t have the complete amount of knowledge to truly ace it (ex: no psychology).
 
If you were accepted to a good DO program but waiting to hear back from Ponce what would you do? I asked in X v Y forum but no responses and wanted input from you all and those like me who have been waiting to hear back post ii.
 
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If you were accepted to a good DO program but waiting to hear back from Ponce what would you do? I asked in X v Y forum but no responses and wanted input from you all and those like me who have been waiting to hear back post ii.
I’m planning on picking Ponce over DO if I get in. Tbh I don’t want to take two sets of standardized exams that’s the biggest factor for me
 
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Wasn’t that institution specific? I think I had to do that (could’ve done better -_-), but it was supposedly only for my school…not the program overall.

For my school, it wasn’t added to the total grade count (I recall) to keep the pressure low on it, considering that a good portion of pupils weren’t thinking of medicine as a career. It was just something to gauge how we would realistically do on the exam, though we obviously didn’t have the complete amount of knowledge to truly ace it (ex: no psychology).
uh correct think it was only ponce-stl i think. Correct though. They know we may not know it all also because md students take a little longer to study for those NBME
 
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uh correct think it was only ponce-stl i think. Correct though. They know we may not know it all also because md students take a little longer to study for those NBME
Oh! Okay! I didn’t do the program directly through Ponce - I went through a branch campus.
 
what is your source regarding that? for instance, are you in admissions? Because to me that doesn’t make sense. People have lower stats than others if that was the case that means they are already set up to fail why give an interview anyway if the peoples stats are lower than others . If they scored well on the interview it still wouldnt mean anything if their stats were lower. You see what i mean?Msar for this school showed mcat scores as low as 485 and gpas as low as 2.78 .
I have spoken to various adcoms and students who are on these committees. They look at your entire application and give you points/a score. Your low GPA and MCAT can be balanced out by a good set of volunteer experiences, personal statement, disadvantaged background, and letters of rec etc.. It is probably the most fair method. The fact that you got an interview means they like you and might be a good fit for the school. An acceptance is not guaranteed. Unfortunately, anyone with lower stats is always at a disadvantage compare to those who are more competitive. But again, you can make it up if the other parts of your application are strong.
 
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I doubt undergrad gpa is considered for MSMS considering they know many students in the program may not have done well in undergrad, and probably not even considered for regular applicants who did a masters elsewhere. They do look at msms Students differently. They look at your stats in the program Including your NBME scores. One of the dean of msms program said a 3.0 is “good”
you may get "bonus points" for completing the MSMS (it depends on the school; many schools do not care if you have a master's). However, because of licensing, all students must be considered equally. I presume that if two students have similar applications, they will take those who participated in the MSMS. The only way this would be different is if ponce has a direct linkage with their MSMS program but they probably won't do it until they are accredited.
 
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you may get "bonus points" for completing the MSMS (it depends on the school; many schools do not care if you have a master's). However, because of licensing, all students must be considered equally. I presume that if two students have similar applications, they will take those who participated in the MSMS. The only way this would be different is if ponce has a direct linkage with their MSMS program but they probably won't do it until they are accredited.
Ponce is accredited
 
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I’m planning on picking Ponce over DO if I get in. Tbh I don’t want to take two sets of standardized exams that’s the biggest factor for me

Same here. I would choose Ponce due to being able to be solely focused on step exams, rotations at Mercy Hospital, not dealing with the DO bias, however, I am aware that even Ponce might be more expensive than most DO schools, sitting at $70k…it is a “brand new program” in the sense that it hasn’t established strong connections in the area, and is in a relatively small city with other medical schools nearby which means more competition in my eyes.
 
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you may get "bonus points" for completing the MSMS (it depends on the school; many schools do not care if you have a master's). However, because of licensing, all students must be considered equally. I presume that if two students have similar applications, they will take those who participated in the MSMS. The only way this would be different is if ponce has a direct linkage with their MSMS program but they probably won't do it until they are accredited.
Ponce does have a direct linkage with their MSMS program. Its found on their website: Master's with Linkage to Medical School | MSMS | PHSU St. Louis.

The minimum MCAT for the PHSU School of Medicine is 494 and you cannot have taken MCAT more than three times. The Admissions Committee will also review your individual course grades and evaluations and is able to request follow-up information regarding your performance.
 
I have spoken to various adcoms and students who are on these committees. They look at your entire application and give you points/a score. Your low GPA and MCAT can be balanced out by a good set of volunteer experiences, personal statement, disadvantaged background, and letters of rec etc.. It is probably the most fair method. The fact that you got an interview means they like you and might be a good fit for the school. An acceptance is not guaranteed. Unfortunately, anyone with lower stats is always at a disadvantage compare to those who are more competitive. But again, you can make it up if the other parts of your application are strong.

I kinda wonder then how they split the applicants between the A's, WLs, and (God forbid) post-II R's? Speaking as somebody who unfortunately got the far latter, it is definitely a harrowing possibility, even though I don't know if Ponce has a list for that.
 
I kinda wonder then how they split the applicants between the A's, WLs, and (God forbid) post-II R's? Speaking as somebody who unfortunately got the far latter, it is definitely a harrowing possibility, even though I don't know if Ponce has a list for that.
I don't understand this process either, every school I interviewed at either accept me or placed me on a waitlist. But Ponce prefers to give the silence treatment, at this point I would rather know if is an R and move on. :blackeye:
 
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I don't understand this process either, every school I interviewed at either accept me or placed me on a waitlist. But Ponce prefers to give the silence treatment, at this point I would rather know if is an R and move on. :blackeye:

R's hurt though, especially post-II ones. As said previously, mine was two II's...which led to two post-II R's.
 
Ponce does have a direct linkage with their MSMS program. Its found on their website: Master's with Linkage to Medical School | MSMS | PHSU St. Louis.

The minimum MCAT for the PHSU School of Medicine is 494 and you cannot have taken MCAT more than three times. The Admissions Committee will also review your individual course grades and evaluations and is able to request follow-up information regarding your performance.

The way I understand it is there are masters programs that offer linkage to medical schools and programs that offer direct entry.

Linkage programs ensure students who meet specific criteria are invited to interview while direct entry secure admission into the associated medical school for those who meet the outlined criteria.

PHSU MSMS offers a linkage program that ensures an interview invite, not a direct entry/guaranteed acceptance, for those students whose stats meet their requirements (this is according to PHSU Associate Dean of Students for those wondering).
 
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It’s interesting too, because they have guaranteed interviews for the top 20% in the program, but is that per cohort or per year? I also wonder the total number of MSMS alum that applied this cycle vs last.
 
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The way I understand it is there are masters programs that offer linkage to medical schools and programs that offer direct entry.

Linkage programs ensure students who meet specific criteria are invited to interview while direct entry secure admission into the associated medical school for those who meet the outlined criteria.

PHSU MSMS offers a linkage program that ensures an interview invite, not a direct entry/guaranteed acceptance, for those students whose stats meet their requirements (this is according to PHSU Associate Dean of Students for those wondering).

That is fair. I think the linkage programs that have outright acceptance are rare and shrinking.
 
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It’s interesting too, because they have guaranteed interviews for the top 20% in the program, but is that per cohort or per year? I also wonder the total number of MSMS alum that applied this cycle vs last.

I’m wondering that too. How many MSMS alum apply overall? How much of an edge does it have with applications? Ditto with average GPA in the program alongside other stats.
 
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The way I understand it is there are masters programs that offer linkage to medical schools and programs that offer direct entry.

Linkage programs ensure students who meet specific criteria are invited to interview while direct entry secure admission into the associated medical school for those who meet the outlined criteria.

PHSU MSMS offers a linkage program that ensures an interview invite, not a direct entry/guaranteed acceptance, for those students whose stats meet their requirements (this is according to PHSU Associate Dean of Students for those wondering).
Yeah with most direct entry programs, you don't even have to interview as long as you meet the requirements.
 
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do u know when the msms student that was accepted received an interview

No clue but looking at the date the person joined I’d say interviewed around end of February/early march! But this late in cycle idk if same rules apply for wait times post interview because at this point it’s really in the accepted students hands what happens for spots outside of the reserved spots they have for MSMS students.
 
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No clue but looking at the date the person joined I’d say interviewed around end of February/early march! But this late in cycle idk if same rules apply for wait times post interview because at this point it’s really in the accepted students hands what happens for spots outside of the reserved spots they have for MSMS students.
Thats odd because msms alumni normally are interviewed mid april.
 
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Yes I just saw this. It seems they have accreditation based on the school in Puerto Rico.

That is correct. Their STL campus has a preliminary accreditation for 30 students based on the PR campus. Their final independent accreditation will be granted after the first MD cohort successfully matriculates from the program (and passes the boards—not sure in residency placement factors in at all though). They will continue to have accreditation reviews each year or so in the meantime to maintain their preliminary accreditation until the first cohort finishes.
 
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Thats odd because msms alumni normally are interviewed mid april.
Yep like I said just a guess based off when this person joined! I hope you all get in! The more MSMS students the easier first year will be for everyone since you guys have kind of done first already! Team first mentality is what the school seems to preach so adding experience to the team would make the most sense!
 
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I know one MSMS alum (from a partner school) who was accepted today. Anyone else hear back?
 
I know one MSMS alum (from a partner school) who was accepted today. Anyone else hear back?
nothing yet 🥲 how did they hear? I just checked my email and portal and saw nothing.
 
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I didn’t ask how they found out, but what I’m taking from this is that they’re starting to make decisions, which is awesome!
 
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