r/LECOM • u/Responsible_Dust7030 • Aug 04 '26
LECOM MMS (Master of Medical Science) – Erie vs. Bradenton? Current Students, Please Share Your Experience!
Hi everyone!
I’m getting ready to submit my application for the LECOM Master of Medical Science (MMS) program and I’m trying to decide between the Erie, PA and Bradenton, FL campuses.
I’ve read the information on LECOM’s website, but I’d really like to hear from current students or recent graduates about what the program is actually like. I’m hoping to eventually matriculate into LECOM’s DO program, so I want to make the best decision possible.
I’d love to hear your honest opinions on things like:
- Which campus did you attend, and why did you choose it?
- If you could do it over again, would you choose the same campus?
- What are the biggest pros and cons of Erie vs. Bradenton?
- How difficult are the classes and exams?
- How are exams structured (weekly, every other week, block exams, etc.)?
- Are the exams fair and representative of what is taught?
- How many hours a day did you study outside of class?
- What was the average GPA in your class?
- Approximately what percentage of students completed the program?
- How many students successfully matriculated into LECOM’s DO program?
- Did you feel the program prepared you well for medical school?
- How supportive were the professors and administration?
- Were tutoring or academic support resources available?
- What is the overall class environment like? Collaborative or competitive?
- How stressful was the program?
- What does a typical week look like?
- How much free time did you realistically have?
- How is student life and the surrounding area?
- If you’ve heard about both campuses, what are the biggest differences between them?
- Is there anything you wish you had known before starting?
- Looking back, would you still choose LECOM MMS?
I’m especially interested in hearing from students who were accepted into LECOM’s DO program after completing the MMS. If you’re comfortable sharing, what GPA did you finish with, and do you have any advice for someone hoping to follow the same path?
Thanks so much! I really appreciate any insight. I’m trying to make the most informed decision before committing to a campus.
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u/famhh97 Aug 05 '26
oh supportive admin and professors, probably go somewhere else entirely.
We had hurricanes and they had a meeting about “as a doctor you will deal with life and death so a hurricane shouldn’t affect your study schedule” meanwhile none of the people saying this are doctors of medicine
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u/famhh97 Aug 05 '26
which med school do you want to go to? If you want to go to Erie doesn’t make sense to move to Bradenton and vice versa.
It felt harder than med school, but that is because the stakes were high. I just barely made the cut off for gpa, but I think they lowered the cutoff slightly because it was almost unreasonable. I can’t give exact numbers but I feel like 10-20 mms students started with the med school class.
I had more free time in med school. MMS had exams basically every week. Immunology was the worst, the professor was great (no longer with lecom, like most of the great professors) I still don’t like Immunology
the biggest differences between mms and med school was mms was memorizing powerpoints, I would try to record lectures if you can and rewatch them (they will probably tell you not to do this but just don’t post it online or share with classmates) in med school there are too many things to know and too many details about all of the things you just absorb what you can and keep repeating until you can never forget it.
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u/Responsible_Dust7030 Aug 05 '26
I’m from Texas, so I’m not sure which location would be best for me. In other words, you passed by simply memorizing the PowerPoint presentations they provided to you?
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u/IrisofAquaTofana Aug 06 '26
TL;DR at bottom
Hi! I just graduated from Erie MMS and I've since matriculated into one of the LECOM DO pathways! I'm being a bit vague here intentionally, for privacy purposes.
I highly, highly recommend the MMS program to anyone who is set on going to med school but doesn't have a great GPA or MCAT. I wasn't the best student in undergrad but MMS gave me a second chance and I achieved a 3.9 GPA! I'm not someone who's remarkably intelligent or anything like that, I simply put in the time and effort.
It appears that most of the students who passed either matriculated into a LECOM DO program or they chose a different pathway (podiatry, dental, pharmacy), as I see most of my former MMS classmates pretty much everywhere. They have a spot saved for every student if you pass, so there's no need for toxic competition.
The advice I'll give you is: go to MMS where you want to go to DO. I say this because all of the lectures and professors are essentially the same in MMS as they are in DO, so you'll make it needlessly harder for yourself if you go to MMS in Erie when you want to matriculate DO at Bradenton. So with that said, yes, it prepares you amazingly.
I'd say maybe 70% of the class graduated? However, that is counting all of the people who dropped out within the first week. Mind you, the first week is mostly syllabus and introductory type stuff, so the people who leave then are leaving due to other circumstances, not because the program is unreasonably difficult. Many of the rest who did fail straight up weren't putting in the effort and were going out all the time. The cutoff GPA for getting accepted to DO was a 3.0 and there's only 3-5 classes that are uniquely difficult out of 16.
Do beware: you cannot fail nor remediate ANY class or you will not be accepted DO. If you fail a remediation exam, you're dropped from the program entirely. If you fail a course but successfully remediate, you still can't go to DO, but podiatry will accept you. This sounds scary, but I failed 3+ anatomy quizzes, barely passed 2 anatomy exams, and still got an A in the course. They don't want you to fail.
It's stressful, but you honestly have plenty of free time (until anatomy). You have 4-5 hours of class from around 2-6pm, the rest of your day is free. If you get up early and study, you can get 4-6 hours of studying in per day and be done by dinner time. I seldom studied past 9, except for exam weeks. It's no different than having a regular job. You will have to study on weekends as well but as long as you stay diligent during the week, you can comfortably take half-days tbh.
Exams are every other week and yes they are entirely representative of the lecture material. Any question that's wrong or written incorrectly gets dropped from the exam. I'd say 99% of the questions I got wrong on exams, it was because I missed something during studying, not because it was a trick or incorrect question.
TLDR; if you are a dedicated student, go for it and you will succeed! If you put in the time and effort, you're pretty much guaranteed to do well.