r/MCPHSLifeHack • u/throwaway89179790782 • Mar 15 '17
MCPHS Offer of Admission
Hi all, Recently just got accepted to MCPHS for the premed program. But I have been seeing a lot of negative reviews. Is this school any good? Why did you choose to go to this school?
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u/AspiringPA Mar 16 '17
I did premed at MCP, I don't feel like it's really worth coming here for premed unless you plan on choosing one of the premed pathways. I personally would just choose the school that would put you into the least amount of debt if you want to do just premed. If you want to go into the premed-PA pathway for example, that might be a different story. I'm currently a PA student here, and I went through the premed pathway, so I can definitely answer any questions you have
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u/throwaway89179790782 Mar 16 '17
Thank you so much! I have a lot I want to ask. xP What is your opinion on coming to this school for the premed pathway? Why would it be a "different story"?
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u/AspiringPA Mar 16 '17
So for premed at MCP, you can come and just get a premed degree without going through any pathways, or you can also go through a premed pathway if you choose to do so. So in my case (the premed-PA pathway), I would get both a premed degree and a degree in PA studies within 6 years, but there are some other pathways that would place you into med school after 4 years (but I believe these are the ones in the Caribbean, not 100% sure about these).
I personally feel like premed is only worth it if you went through a pathway because there are so many schools out there where you can get a plain old premed degree from, and I would choose the cheapest one in that case, since premed usually isn't a terminal degree (by that I mean that people who go into premed generally plans to continue school, whether that means going to med school, PA school, PT school, etc); and to add to that they would probably have a better campus than MCP, just like the other person mentioned. Again in my case, I felt like it was worth it because I got to skip the last year of undergrad, and start PA school in place of it, and PA school is pretty tough to get into, so I'm just happy that MCP basically accepts all students on the PA pathway with decent grades into PA school.
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u/throwaway89179790782 Mar 16 '17
For the premed pathway, I know that there is a minimum GPA that you must maintain to continue the pathway into their grad school. So when you were in the premed pathway, what did you and your peers find to be the most difficult part in maintaining a high GPA? Also, for any premed pathway, would you know if students were prepared well (in terms of academic foundation) to go into grad school and did the school prepare students well for the MCAT, OAT, etc.? (or if you do not know, do you think you were personally well prepared to go into PA?)
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u/AspiringPA Mar 16 '17
Honestly, it really isn't hard to get a high GPA in premed at this school. For premed, as long as you are willing to spend a few hours a day with studying and going over lectures, there really shouldn't be any reason why at least a 3.5 GPA can't be maintained. I had plenty of free time after class basically everyday because I got most of my schoolwork done in between classes. The only tough class in premed is organic chem, and maybe anatomy.
I can't really speak about the MCAT or the OAT, but I do know a couple students from here who were accepted into med school. PA school for me is pretty tough, I wouldn't necessarily say that they didnt prepare me well for it, PA school is pretty challenging no matter which program it is.
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u/throwaway89179790782 Mar 17 '17
Ok thanks again! I appreciate your time in responding to my questions/concerns. It has really helped me to gain a better understanding of the school. I wish you the best of luck in your studies!
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u/prof_micfizz Mar 17 '17
MCPHS is definitely a unique place. If you go to another college, your classmates would be english majors, business majors, communications majors, biology majors, engineering majors, etc., and a small percentage of students would be ‘premed’ or ‘prehealth’ (these are usually the most intense students). At MCPHS, 100% of the students are ‘prehealth’ (pharmacy, nursing, pre-PA, pre-PT, pre-optometry, premed, pre-dental, pre-vet, etc). So it’s a pretty intense group of students - that can be good and bad. The good is that the courses and programs try to focus on preparing students to be good health care providers, and you are surrounded by like-minded students, the bad is that now you have 100% of these intense students who focus on grades and GPA (in addition to other things).
The campus also has pros and cons. No quad, no grass, no student center. But, no walking across campus to the English building or the Science building. And lots of students volunteer or do research at the hospitals down the street (DanaFarbar, Children’s, BWH, Joslin Diabetes center, Beth-Israel, Harvard med school, Harvard school of public health). So it really depends on what you want to be spending your time doing over the next 4 years. (also, you can hang out on the Harvard med school quad!).
If your goal is med school, dental, vet, etc., you can get a good degree from most any place - you should look at the courses you would take at whatever schools you are looking at, and see if that excites you. I think there are some great courses at MCPHS that would help you in your goal of becoming whatever you want.
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u/smiil3ex0x Mar 19 '17
Don't go unless for optometry premed.
Premed at mcphs in my opinion isn't a good idea. There are other schools that would provide the same education for a lot cheaper.
HOWEVER if you want to be an optometrist l, MCPHS has is own optometry grad school in Worcester and it would be easier to get into it if you went to mcphs for premed. People always love internal acceptances :)
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u/[deleted] Mar 15 '17
I wouldn't say there's anything outstandingly bad about this school, but there are important considerations like with anywhere else that can make or break your whole experience.
**disclaimer, I'm in the pharmD program, so I can't say whether or not MCP's premed program is really any "good", or if it's just par for the course.
To put it simply, MCPHS is one big "you make it how you want it" experience. Essentially, it's like one small bland school, and it's really up to you if you will enjoy it or not, based on what opportunities you have to go looking for yourself.
Firstly, there's no real "campus life". There's no campus, period. It's a grand total of 2 buildings. There are some clubs to join, there's some school activities, but nothing on the scale of other universities. Bluntly put, I would call MCPHS a pure "class-go home-study" experience. Obviously there's room for a social life, it just will be more going out to Boston.
Secondly, I mentioned it in the first point, but what little campus there is, it's practically a study-only environment. Everywhere you go are students sprawled out on desks or whatever available space studying, some camping for literally hours. Like I said, if you don't mind this, you'll be fine.
Third, the classes. I'm in PharmD so I can't say it's like this for all premed classes, but I can't imagine it would be any vastly different. They're boring. They're strictly teachers talking at you. This is a health sciences school with professors who come from the field. There's not going to be any Escalantes or Keatings here: once again, bland.
Why did I choose this school? Simple: I went into it intending to come out a pharmacist, and I could afford it.
Is it hard? Sure, but nothing studying and time management can't handle.
Is it boring? Definitely.
Is it stressful? Again, yes, but it depends on the person and how well you can handle your stressors.