Pre-admissions programs foster relief for applicants

COLUMBIA — In 2005, Daniel Lyons, senior at Oak Park High School in Kansas City, received a letter of acceptance to the MU School of Medicine. Lyons had wanted to be a doctor since he could remember, and his acceptance while still a high school senior was a relief.

The medical school offers two pre-admissions programs: the Conley Scholars Program and the Bryant Scholars Program. Although each has different goals and requirements, they both give students pre-admission to the medical school without having to take the MCAT, the standardized admission test. Since 2005, about 25 percent of each entering medical school class has been made up of Conley and Bryant scholars.

Lyons, now an MU junior and Conley Scholar, could not believe he had been chosen.

“I was pretty elated,” he said. “I was pretty shocked. I thought it was incredible that they would admit someone into the medical school who was a senior in high school.”

Started in 1987, the Conley Scholars Program is aimed at high school seniors in Missouri and surrounding states. These students must apply by Feb. 1 of their senior year and must have scored 30 on the ACT or 1,300 on the SAT in the math and critical reading sections.

Marivern Easton, director of admissions and records, said the school had 20 applicants the first year. Since 1994, the school has received 120 to 130 applications each year. After the application process, some students are invited to come to MU for interviews. Lyons said his interviews were intense.

“They grill you on everything from current medical policies to why you want to be a doctor to your volunteer work,” he said. “Also, why they should pick you over someone else.”

Easton said an average of 25 applicants are chosen each year.

During their undergraduate years, Conley students must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.3 and achieve a B or higher in their required course work. They also must meet the requirements to receive a General Honors Certificate given by the Honors College.

Lyons said the requirements were not too bad considering the pressure it took off him.

“The biggest advantage is that it is a guaranteed acceptance,” he said. “You don’t have to face that pressure that other med students do. It is a huge relief to have that insurance.”

Lyons said other benefits include getting to take classes in areas other than just science. He majored in biology and history.

Easton agreed that it gives students the freedom to choose different avenues in their undergraduate experience.

“Most of the students who are Conley students have a lot of talents and could successfully do a number of things, so the neat thing about the program is that they don’t have to study just science,” she said. “You have a freedom to really be a well-rounded student academically.”

The retention rate of the Conley and Bryant scholars has been about 75 percent. The other 25 percent either failed to meet the requirements, went to other medical schools or chose other avenues of study besides medicine.

Another benefit to the students is being paired with a Conley adviser, whom they see once a semester. Lyons said this pairing allows him to get to know a physician personally. His mentor has helped him shadow other doctors and observe surgeries. This is not something that most undergraduates would get to do.

“You get to shadow some surgeons and watch some surgeries over at the med school, so you get a lot of contacts first hand,” Lyons said.

Although the application process is similar to the Conley Scholar Program, the Bryant Scholars Program started for a different reason.

The primary goal of the Bryant program, which begin in 1995, is to recruit students from rural areas who want to practice medicine in rural areas. Easton said that it has been proven that if a person is from a rural area, he or she is more likely to work in a rural community after college.

To be eligible as one of the 10 to 15 chosen each year, the student must not only be committed to rural medicine, but also must be from a high school that is considered rural by the National Center for Education Statistics and be a freshman at MU or Rolla, Truman State University, Drury University, Southwest Missouri State University or Southeast Missouri State University.

Amanda Turner, a Bryant Scholar and first-year medical student, finished her undergraduate degree at Truman State University. She said the application process was handled at Truman, but she came to MU for the interview.

Like Conley Scholars, Bryant Scholars are given the option of taking more classes than just the required science ones. When Turner found out she had been accepted, she said it gave her a sense of relief to take an array of classes without having to worry as harshly about her grades.

She also had the freedom to be more involved in extracurricular activities. Her senior year, she was the president of the American Medical Student Association at Truman.

Another benefit is the 1 1/2 day retreats the Bryant students attend twice a year. 

“One retreat, we got to learn about the surgical department and how to completely scrub down before surgery,” she said. “You just don’t get many opportunities to get to tour the surgery department as an undergraduate.”

Turner, who grew up on a farm north of Rolla, said she has known since she was 5 that she wanted to be a doctor in a rural area.

“That’s how I grew up, and that’s how I want to raise my kids and a family,” she said.

Easton, of the admissions and records office, said it is too early to judge the success of the program because the first Bryant Scholars are just now getting jobs. But she said the medical school has every reason to believe that its efforts to attract rural providers through this program will be successful.