Anyone accepted to/applying in future to UAMS?

[pakgirl]

I am a dental student but have a cousin who is interested in going to UAMS. I was just wanting to talk to someone who either will attend UAMS in the fall or who will apply in the future. My cousin will be transferring to UALR next year so if their are any pre-med students at UALR, that would be really great!

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[Future_Doc]

I'm starting at UAMS in August. There doesn't seem to be too many of us here on SDN.

 

[pakgirl]

Congrats Future_Doc!!

Can you tell me what one has to do to get accepted to UAMS, with it being the only med school in Arkansas? My cousin will be going to a community college for two years before going to UALR....will UAMS look down on that? Also did you go to undergrad at UALR? She is the only pre-med at her commun. college right now. I just want to make sure she takes the right courses to be ready for the MCAT and applying.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Future_Doc]

pak - I actually got my undergrad at a private college here in Arkansas. My major was in Economics and Accounting. When I decided to try to go for medschool, I had to take ALL of the science classes - so I did that at UALR as a post-bacc. The two years at the community college shouldn't matter. Just as long as "your cousin" :wink: does well in both. The requirements and standards for admissions are probably along the average with everyone else - and like most state schools, they prefer in-state applicants. The good thing about UALR is that they have the top chemistry progam in the state - so that should get him(her) prepared for the MCAT. Best of luck to "your cousin" :wink: .

 

[pakgirl]

Thanks a lot for the info Future Doc!
And really, I do have a cousin interested in medicine...I am going to UT-Houston Dental School in August. Anyways, since you took classes at UALR, do you know of someone who she could contact via phone/email about what classes she should take at UALR. She doesn't even have a competent advisor at her school right now.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Future_Doc]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by pakgirl:
•Thanks a lot for the info Future Doc!
And really, I do have a cousin interested in medicine...I am going to UT-Houston Dental School in August. Anyways, since you took classes at UALR, do you know of someone who she could contact via phone/email about what classes she should take at UALR. She doesn't even have a competent advisor at her school right now.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.•••••The associate dean in the Biology Dept is Dr. Thomas Lynch. He is also the premed director. He will be able to help out your cousin. Here is his e-mail address. [email protected]. Tell your cousin to PM me and I will give her a rundown on the application process at UAMS and how they work with UALR.

 

[pakgirl]

Thanks Future Doc!

I will tell her to join the forum so she can email you directly.

One more question though, does UALR have a pre-professional committee that students have to go through before applying to med school. Is Dr. Lynch the "head" of that committee?

Thanks!

 

[orthoman5000]

I'll also be attending UAMS this Fall. Although UAMS is the only medical school in Arkansas they really don't get a glut of applications. I'm not sure exactly, but I think it's usually around 350 for 150 slots.

 

[Future_Doc]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by pakgirl:
•Thanks Future Doc!

I will tell her to join the forum so she can email you directly.

One more question though, does UALR have a pre-professional committee that students have to go through before applying to med school. Is Dr. Lynch the "head" of that committee?

Thanks!•••••Yes - they have a premedical committee. Basically, you get all of your science professors to fill out a form that serves as their "recommendation" for you. Those are all turned in to the committee. Then all of your info is reviewed by the committee and you have an interview with a panel of profs, deans etc. Then they write a "composite" letter of recommendation and forward it to UAMS. Then, there's the whole UAMS application thing which is totally separate.

 

[american_woman19]

hi future_doc...this is pakgirl's cousin...i'm the one thatz going to transfer to ualr in the fall of '03 and need some advice on who to contact to get some info on pre-med/ chemistry degree. n e suggestions? well g/g hope u can help me out...peace. by the way, i tried contacting by email a professor in bio dept. and i got no reply...but now since i'm a chem major for pre-med... i was thinking is there someone i can contact in the chem. dept. for pre-med. well hope u can help me out...biez.

 

[Future_Doc]

hey American_woman. Where in Arkansas are you right now? JuCo? You will like UALR's chemistry program - they were rated top in the state. Some of their faculty members are currently doing some research for NASA in developing a non-electrostatic material. Just about anyone in the chem department will be able to advise you. My favorite was Dr. Lindquist. - look his name up on UALR's website. Best of luck to you! Let me know if I can help out in any other way.

 

[dustinspeer]

Also, you might want to check out UCA. UAMS has an admission policy that they accept equally from all voting districts in the state. Students from Faulkner county have a high acceptance rate.

 

[american_woman19]

Thanks guys. I'm here in Ft. Smith, AR, currently going to U of A in Fort Smith. I'm thinking of transferring to UALR since they do have a high standards of Med. students. Plus, UAMS is in the same city. So I'm hoping to transfer up there in the Fall of '03. Future_doc do u know when its a good time to take the MCAT? Like I mean, wut should your standards be?

 

[orthoman5000]

American Woman,

I'll be attending UAMS in the Fall so I could tell you a bit about their MCAT standards. Most years the average is a 27. The average for the class admitted last year was a 25.8 according to the handout they have us at the interview. I got in with a 31 but I know of many people who have gotten in with lower scores. I know that last year where I went to undergraduate (ASU-Jonesboro) 9 people got accepted to UAMS and the top scores from that group were a 25, a 26, and a 28. I've also heard some rumors this year about people with 29's and 31's getting rejected so there are other things more important than just the MCAT, letters of rec are probably what did these people in. Hope this helps, and it's good to see more Arkansas people on this board.

Oh yeah, as far as when to take it, I think August would work just fine, thats when most people applying to UAMS seem to take it. I took it in April while I was finishing up Organic II and Physics II, and there were very few people taking it at the site I was.

Paul

 

[american_woman19]

orthoman,
I'm still jes' an undergraduate. I haven't even got my bachelors yet. Thanks for the information. I was jes' wondering to get a head start. So when was ur first time u took the MCAT? Was it during ur junior or senior year of college? I'm standing as a sophomore right now at U of A in Ft. Smith and hopefully at the end of Fall Semester of this year I'll be a junior. Then the Fall of "03 I'll transfer to UALR and get my bachelors there. Then I'll go to UAMS. So I have a pretty long road ahead of me, but time flies by so fast, and I thought it would be better to look ahead. Thanks for the info on the MCAT. N e tips I need to know? Talk to ya laterz. Peace. And it is good to have AR people on this page.
-american woman

 

[Future_Doc]

Ditto to Ortho. (he,he ) - You will be fine taking the MCAT in August. That's what I did and that's when most applying to UAMS seem to take it. The only problem is that you have most of your application process finished before you know your MCAT score, so you're not certain if you want to apply at that point. It sort of takes a faith committment from you one way or the other.

 

[orthoman5000]

I should also point out though that one of the advantages of the April test is you can take it again if you don't think your score is high enough. I got the impression that many of the UAMS applicants are applying to just UAMS. I had planned on applying to a number of schools so thought the April MCAT would be to my advantage. In the end I decided that UAMS was my best choice (and I didn't want to spend so much money on all of those secondaries to schools I probably would have not even gotten an interview with).

Anyway, I actually took the MCAT after 6 years of undergraduate work. I was actually an Exercise Physiology major and a track and field athlete. I redshirted a year so I intentionally took 5 years to graduate. Of course as these things go I decided I wanted to go to medical school my last semester, so my last elective hours were Gen Chem I and Physics I. I took another Summer and the next year to get the rest of my prerequisites and took the April MCAT. So for the last year I've been working at a Hospital in Fayetteville as a Nurses Aide. I wouldn't reccomend this track to medical school! I'm just ready for classes to start in the Fall, I'm getting kind of tired to vital signs, bedpans, bedside commodes, and foley catheters!

I was almost on the Tommy Boy 7 year program!

 

[american_woman19]

Orthoman...lolz. Nice..have fun doing the nursing thing..lolz. I know how it is, cuzz I wrked as a CNA before. Didn't enjoy it much either...lolz. N e wayz, thankz guys for the tips on the MCAT. Sorry to bother ya'll, but I got another question. Were ya'll in any sort of clubs or in any organization in college? I heard UAMS accpets outgoing students..is that true? I also heard they like all around students...not jes' science peepz. Is that true?

 

[orthoman5000]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by american_woman19:
•Orthoman...lolz. Nice..have fun doing the nursing thing..lolz. I know how it is, cuzz I wrked as a CNA before. Didn't enjoy it much either...lolz. N e wayz, thankz guys for the tips on the MCAT. Sorry to bother ya'll, but I got another question. Were ya'll in any sort of clubs or in any organization in college? I heard UAMS accpets outgoing students..is that true? I also heard they like all around students...not jes' science peepz. Is that true?•••••Well as I mentioned before I was a track and field athlete. Our team routinely beat UALR in Sun Belt Conference Championship meet I was also on the Student Athlete Advisory Committee. Those two things were really my big extracurricular activities.