Hey All,
I saw a link to this over on SDN. It’s a post bac program geared for those in the under represented minority groups (sorry for those who are excluded from this). It claims an 87% matriculation into Georgetown Med Schoool. The cost of the program is just under $12,000. Here is the link to the page of the program.Georgetown GEMS program. I hope it is of some help to someone.
A correction to the above, it is billed as a program for folks who came from disadvantaged backgrounds and not just URMs. It does state that “many” of the students are URM’s
I heard GEMS were those who already applied to medical school and did not get in. While I was at georgetown, students from our biotech master's program had to take the same biochem class with GEMS. Many of students from my biotech master's program looked negatively upon GEMS students b/c they acted as if they were already med students and better than biotech students. I don't know where that came from but I could see there was a silly competition between them. Some students thought they were losers. I mean I heard all kinds of bad things about GEMS. I would carefully research more about the program.
Hey Fundee,
I don’t know that much about the program except what I read on their website. I posted the site because it was something that I had not heard of before and thought it might be of use to some of the folks out in OPM land.
Regarding the students in the program being those who have applied but not gotten in, it makes sense. The brochure states that to be eligible to apply you must be actively seeking admissions into medical school. So, I am sure that some of the people in the program have been through the cycle at least once. but, my own unconfirmed impression is that you could apply to the program in your first time applying.
As to the quality of the students in the program; I have no idea. Your advice of doing the research about the program is sound advice for anything. However since admission to med school is the ultimate goal and Georgetown is a reasonably good school (top 50), the advertised 87% admission rate of the “graduates” of the program is enough to make me not care that much. Especially, since if admitted to the med school, you can seek exemption from the embryology, physiology, and endocrinology classes of the M1 curriculum.
For me personally, circumstances will probably keep me in Nashville but it is good to know what all of the options are.
If you hear more about it please post.
Later.
I don't know much about the GEMS program so please do not be discouraged or drawn back by what I say here. I've heard from my classmates that all the students (GEMS) in that year 2002 did not get into medical school after finishing their program. Again don't count on this BS rumors b/c there are some students out there who personally hate GEMS. But it's a great program that really prepares for medical school. Georgetown also has a 1 year special master's program in physiology and biophysics only for students who wish to get into medical school. But you have to have at least 27 on MCAT and 3.0 GPA to get into that program. I would say more than 90% of students in that program get into medical school.
Good luck
Hi there,
The GEMS program at Georgetown has been operating for many years and has produced many graduates of Georgetown University School of Medicine. It is designed for students who have struggled with undergraduate pre-medical studies but show promise of doing well after intensive coaching. THis program is for students of any ethnicity who are from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds.
Some of the students who are admitted to the GEMS program are not able to handle the medical school curriculum. In that case, they wash out before they get to medical school and end up with the cost of the GEMS program as opposed to $50,000 in debt and no medical degree. Admission is based upon showing promise that you can make it through medical school along with an disadvantaged background.
Students who enter this program get intensive coaching and academic support. This program is essentially a longer version of the pre-matriculation program that Howard offers to selected students. Howard’s program is free of cost and the cost of books and housing is thrown in so students may devote all of their time to intensive study. Howard’s program is 9 weeks during the summer. At the end of the summer, if all classes are passed, the student is automatically admitted to the incoming freshman class of either the dental or medical schools. These students do very well and are often near the top of the class at the end of freshman year. I don’t need to tell you that admission to Howards program is very selective.
Howard also offers a pre-professional summer program for undergraduates who anticipate applying to medical school. This program coaches students in study skills, application skills and exposes students to the medical setting. This program is designed to allow students to identify clinical faculty mentors who provide shadowing experiences and application coaching. This program is open to undergraduate students who show interest in pre-medical and pre-dental studies who have at least a 3.0 GPA. There is also some MCAT coaching intermingled with the rest of the studies. Unlike the pre-matriculation program, the Pre-Professional summer program does not guarantee admission to professional school but provides important information and coaching that these students would not receive. Students from this program may end up in dental, medical, PA or nursing school as they are exposed to all of these disciplines.
I would encourage any student to investigate the variety of programs that are available to premedical and pre-professional students. You may be able to use a summer to pick up valuable information that will make the difference in getting into medical school or not.
Natalie 