VCOM MABS 2024-2025

[thapanda]

Hi, Yes if you meet the benchmarks you are guaranteed a seat. However, like I wrote in a previous reply, if you don't prepare well for the interview and say something crazy or that raises a red flag then you will be one of the very very few students who get rejected. Even if you do mess up the interview (and I mean like really badly) then they will do everything to get you accepted to another school which was the case with any previous students that were rejected. Because of this I say you are 99% guaranteed a seat at VCOM if you meet the benchmarks and 100% guaranteed to get into any medical school in general. I had 6 interview invites so if I messed up my interview badly, there were still plenty of other options. As far as the timeline the online program is about 11 months long while the in person program is about 9 months long. While you start in the "Fall" semester for the online program you'd truly be starting in the summer (in July) while the in person program starts a little later closer to august. There are two checkpoints throughout the program. If you enter this fall (2024) there will be a mid year review around December 2024. If you have met the benchmark by the midway review you are able to enter VCOM as early as Summer 2025 in July immediately after finishing the SMP in June. If you do not meet the benchmarks by the midway point, you no longer have the advantage of doing the glide year and would unfortunately have to pull up your grades/MCAT to meet the benchmarks by the end of the program and wait until Summer 2026 to start at VCOM. If you do not pull up your grades/MCAT to meet the benchmarks then you will not be guaranteed a seat.

Out of curiosity, you mentioned having multiple interviews. Did you apply to different medical schools before starting the program and have the opportunity to interview throughout the year? I have been accepted to the in-person MABS program, and I am trying to find out if I can also apply to other schools and if so, when. VCOM's mission does not seem to fit my "premed journey" exactly.

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[altocumulus]

also highly recommend taking your MCAT over the summer so that you meet the December benchmarks. Doing this will help you get your campus of choice

 

[StudentDOcter]

Out of curiosity, you mentioned having multiple interviews. Did you apply to different medical schools before starting the program and have the opportunity to interview throughout the year? I have been accepted to the in-person MABS program, and I am trying to find out if I can also apply to other schools and if so, when. VCOM's mission does not seem to fit my "premed journey" exactly.

I applied to a bunch of schools at the beginning of the program before things got really stressful. I think it was around the end of July to early august when I sent in primaries and completed all secondary's by October. I basically had no time to write secondary's so I would try to find an hour or two to do them on the weekends. Its best to apply to many medical schools and take your MCAT before you start the program. I had to do interviews the second semester which was extremely hard to do, setting aside a whole day for one interview while in the program is pretty tough. Keep in mind the interview with VCOM will not be given to you until the second semester after meeting the GPA benchmark of 3.5 for the first semester. Other schools may offer you an interview invite much earlier while you're in the first semester if you have a strong application without the SMP grades but in my case, I only got interview invites once they saw I had all A's in the program. You are absolutely allowed to apply to others schools while in the MABS program and they actually highly encourage that you do so. Again, the program not only will help you get into VCOM but other medical schools too! I would begin working on the applications and submitting them before starting the program and prewriting secondary's so its much easier to crank them out. Best case scenario would be to have your primaries, secondary's, and MCAT done before you start the program so you can fully focus on meeting the GPA requirement.

 

[kro21]

I applied to a bunch of schools at the beginning of the program before things got really stressful. I think it was around the end of July to early august when I sent in primaries and completed all secondary's by October. I basically had no time to write secondary's so I would try to find an hour or two to do them on the weekends. Its best to apply to many medical schools and take your MCAT before you start the program. I had to do interviews the second semester which was extremely hard to do, setting aside a whole day for one interview while in the program is pretty tough. Keep in mind the interview with VCOM will not be given to you until the second semester after meeting the GPA benchmark of 3.5 for the first semester. Other schools may offer you an interview invite much earlier while you're in the first semester if you have a strong application without the SMP grades but in my case, I only got interview invites once they saw I had all A's in the program. You are absolutely allowed to apply to others schools while in the MABS program and they actually highly encourage that you do so. Again, the program not only will help you get into VCOM but other medical schools too! I would begin working on the applications and submitting them before starting the program and prewriting secondary's so its much easier to crank them out. Best case scenario would be to have your primaries, secondary's, and MCAT done before you start the program so you can fully focus on meeting the GPA requirement.

To add to this, I did not have all A's in MABS (I had all B+ and one A, so a little higher than a 3.5) and I got interview invites with that. People I know who had lower GPAs in MABS also got interview invites this current application cycle and were accepted to schools besides VCOM. You don't need straight A's in this SMP to get noticed; it's a pretty reputable program on its own.

 

[thapanda]

I applied to a bunch of schools at the beginning of the program before things got really stressful. I think it was around the end of July to early august when I sent in primaries and completed all secondary's by October. I basically had no time to write secondary's so I would try to find an hour or two to do them on the weekends. It’s best to apply to many medical schools and take your MCAT before you start the program. I had to do interviews the second semester which was extremely hard to do, setting aside a whole day for one interview while in the program is pretty tough. Keep in mind the interview with VCOM will not be given to you until the second semester after meeting the GPA benchmark of 3.5 for the first semester. Other schools may offer you an interview invite much earlier while you're in the first semester if you have a strong application without the SMP grades but in my case, I only got interview invites once they saw I had all A's in the program. You are absolutely allowed to apply to others schools while in the MABS program and they actually highly encourage that you do so. Again, the program not only will help you get into VCOM but other medical schools too! I would begin working on the applications and submitting them before starting the program and prewriting secondary's so its much easier to crank them out. Best case scenario would be to have your primaries, secondary's, and MCAT done before you start the program so you can fully focus on meeting the GPA requirement.

Thanks so much for all this info! I will be working on my primary apps for this cycle after my MCAT and I will be trying my best to get all my primaries in before class starts this summer. I can’t say the same for secondaries that I may get later in the cycle. With that in mind I am worried that I might not have the time to finish them like you said though. Also, do professors from this send updates such as grades or letters to other schools that students apply to?

I have another SMP acceptance and I am trying to get as much info as possible, so sorry if I’m asking a lot of questions. So far this program seems like it’s much better than the other one.

 

[StudentDOcter]

Thanks so much for all this info! I will be working on my primary apps for this cycle after my MCAT and I will be trying my best to get all my primaries in before class starts this summer. I can’t say the same for secondaries that I may get later in the cycle. With that in mind I am worried that I might not have the time to finish them like you said though. Also, do professors from this send updates such as grades or letters to other schools that students apply to?

I have another SMP acceptance and I am trying to get as much info as possible, so sorry if I’m asking a lot of questions. So far this program seems like it’s much better than the other one.

Of course! It may take a bit to get the secondary's in but try to do one or two a week you will eventually get there! As long as you try your best, that's all you can do and that is okay. If you are applying through aacomas you can put down that you are in an SMP once you accept (mark it as in progress) and then once a semester has finished you can update the grades and send the transcript from the school to have it verified and updated to your application for all the schools you applied to.