Success of a pre-medical master's degree program in preparing students for medical careers

A substantial number of qualified college graduates in the United States and Canada fail to secure admission to medical school because their undergraduate academic performance is not deemed to be competitive by medical school admissions committees. The aim of this report is to describe the success of the Master of Arts in Medical Sciences (MAMS) program at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) in preparing students with non-competitive undergraduate credentials to gain admission into medical school. Several independent sources of information about student performance including MAMS application data, Boston University academic transcripts, and medical school acceptance information were assembled in a unified database for this longitudinal study. The privacy of individual students was maintained and no names or other data that are individually identifiable are presented in this communication. As indicated herein, admission to both U. S. and non-U. S. medical schools (allopathic and osteopathic) are included in these analyses. We also examined the residency placements of a cohort of MAMS graduates who matriculated at the BUSM MD program (MAMS/MD), since these are the only students for whom we know the placements that resulted from the National Resident Match Program (NRMP). The MAMS program has been in existence for more than 25 years and has educated more than 2500 students with approximately 70% of graduates admitted to medical school. The MAMS/MD students performed well in medical school and secured high quality residency positions. Graduate programs in medical sciences in a medical school environment are important vehicles for preparing and increasing the pool of academically qualified medical school applicants who will become successful medical school students in the near term and effective practitioners in the long term. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.