Bachelors and Masters Degree at the Same School

[appmed2011]

Hi, I'm an upcoming senior who is preparing for a career in medical science. In order to gain more research experience, I plan to finish a masters degree before applying to MD/PhD programs. If I stay at the same school, I will not have to pay for living expenses, and will be able to save the stipend money. In addition, I have space in my schedule to take graduate level classes and begin my research, allowing me to finish in one year. However, I have been told that going to undergrad and grad school at the same institution is frowned upon. Would getting my masters at the same school reduce my chances of getting into an MD/PhD program? Thanks.

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[Shifty B]

I think it's fine. You should be able to explain to your interviewers why you decided to stay, but it is not the stigma that it once was. Maybe 20, 30 years ago people were expected to change institutions, but fields are becoming increasingly understanding that you have a life that is not related to your work.

 

[achamess]

Don't sweat it. By most accounts, additional degrees, such as a masters, don't give you much of a bump in terms of your attractiveness to admissions committees. But, spending your time doing productive that expands your knowledge and skill set will help you. Many of us have taken a year or more off after UG to pursue more research or some other passion. At least in my experience, the fact that I took a year off to do more research was only a boon to me, not a disadvantage. Nobody will care if you get your masters at the same school. You're effectively getting paid to do research and learn, and you'll even be able to save. Shame on anyone if they hold that against you.

 

[URHere]

Not a problem at all. A handful of students in my program (myself included) did exactly the same thing, and none of us got any negative feedback about it.

If you can get the same amount of work done in less time at your home institution, it makes total sense to stay there.

 

[bd4727]

I would echo what others have said, it doesn't matter one bit.

One thing I try to advise undergrads is that in my experience people often underestimate their competitiveness and take a year extra to do research or even pursue a full masters in order to "become competitive" for MD/PhD programs. While there are certainly situations where this is the case, I would strongly encourage you to talk with advisors who are knowledgeable about the MD/PhD application process to get a true gauge of your competitiveness before "wasting**" 2 years of research time when you could just be getting on with it.

**(obviously I don't think it is actually wasting time, but you know what I mean it's a long training program and you are going to have to do a PhD anyway, which in some ways negates your masters work)