For those that did an MS before med school

[Yadster101]

Did it help a lot in MS1? I know a lot of osteopathic med schools (and many MDs) have MS programs associated with the med school. A kid from my undergrad finished one last year and hes currently a first year at a DO school. Since the classes are pretty much the same, wouldn't first year be significantly easier?

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[Jinxapotato]

Yes it did. My MS covered the medical school classes in histo/biochem/physio/pharm/path, it also had a 1 year internship in a clinical setting so that helps with our note taking/practical exams, writting H&P etc.. When we started out we had literally the same material (maybe a little more detailed), so it really helps to ease you into the school (and get good grades). However this advantage will gradually fade away as you move on, as eventually you will be having stuff nobody have seen before. Hence it is also important to develop study habits and strategies so you can constantly keep up.

 

[Yadster101]

Yes it did. My MS covered the medical school classes in histo/biochem/physio/pharm/path, it also had a 1 year internship in a clinical setting so that helps with our note taking/practical exams, writting H&P etc.. When we started out we had literally the same material (maybe a little more detailed), so it really helps to ease you into the school (and get good grades). However this advantage will gradually fade away as you move on, as eventually you will be having stuff nobody have seen before. Hence it is also important to develop study habits and strategies so you can constantly keep up.

Wow. I never realized how much of an advantage these people had in med school. So was your MS more stressful than the beginning of med school (since many of your med schools classes are a review)?

Also would you say the MS people have a huge advantage in med school?

 

[Jinxapotato]

Wow. I never realized how much of an advantage these people had in med school. So was your MS more stressful than the beginning of med school (since many of your med schools classes are a review)?

Also would you say the MS people have a huge advantage in med school?

It was definitely more stressful for the MS as it was the 1st time that we were taught the material at med school level, on pseudo-med school schedule. I wouldn't say it's a HUGE advantage, as we don't really remember all those detail anymore anyway. It really boils down to that the MS people have an easier time understanding the material, as they have em somewhere in their long term memory, but to do well on exam, they still need to put in the time to study the details.

 

[PKA<0]

Wow. I never realized how much of an advantage these people had in med school. So was your MS more stressful than the beginning of med school (since many of your med schools classes are a review)?

Also would you say the MS people have a huge advantage in med school?

They are absolutely at an advantage, but they had to put the time and money into taking these med school level classes initially without the guarantee of being a doctor at the end of them.

I am/ am not envious of them for that exact reason.

 

[Moose A Moose]

Yes. Advantage (depending on the MS concentration).

 

[Rekt]

Depends how it is set up at each school and where the MS students come from. Most of the MS students I've talked to have a really easy first semester since they had the exact same classes (mainly being exposed to anatomy/dissections), but next semester they're going to get crushed because they haven't had to study nearly as hard.

 

[gallwuie]

next semester they're going to get crushed because they haven't had to study nearly as hard.

 

[Jinxapotato]

next semester they're going to get crushed because they haven't had to study nearly as hard.

Personally I think that is a really disrespectful assumption to make. Every single Master's student I know of studied their ass off during the first quarter. Granted, there are people who think they are too good to study the same material again, but it is unfair to classify every single master student into that category and expect us to get crushed.

 

[asdf123g]

next semester they're going to get crushed because they haven't had to study nearly as hard.

they still wont get 'crushed' as hard as students entering medschool with no MS.

 

[DoReMiFaSo]

wouldn't first year be significantly easier?

Yes! There is a "but" however.

While some people with MS continue to work hard and crush med school, others struggle due to relying too much on what they thought they've already learned. Some develop an amazing work ethic through doing a MS and carry it to med school, then there are others that bring with them a delusional self confidence.

 

[Yadster101]

Yes! There is a "but" however.

While some people with MS continue to work hard and crush med school, others struggle due to relying too much on what they thought they've already learned. Some develop an amazing work ethic through doing a MS and carry it to med school, then there are others that bring with them a delusional self confidence.

So I'm now convinced that doing a MS is a great idea because it greatly reduces stress and makes it easier to get better grades in med school. That MS can translate into a better residency cuz it will lead you to do better in med school. Can more people with an MS chime in? Did it really make things significantly easier?

 

[scoKraz4]

So I'm now convinced that doing a MS is a great idea because it greatly reduces stress and makes it easier to get better grades in med school. That MS can translate into a better residency cuz it will lead you to do better in med school. Can more people with an MS chime in? Did it really make things significantly easier?

This is not necessarily true. Studying that intense for 3 years before Step 1 can burn a lot of people out. I knew people that took MS1 too lightly after masters because studying the same stuff twice in a row isn't as exciting. But if you need the masters to get into med school then do it. In my opinion it is a last resort because of the cost and time commitment.

 

[Jinxapotato]

I'm with scoKraz4, I think you shouldn't do it unless you HAVE to (I had to because I had a mediocre undergrad gpa). While it does make your life easier post-medical school, you did spend 2 extra years of essentially doing the same thing. Most people without MS do just fine in their first quarter if they work hard enough, so MS shouldn't be a necessity of doing well.

 

[Yadster101]

I'm with scoKraz4, I think you shouldn't do it unless you HAVE to (I had to because I had a mediocre undergrad gpa). While it does make your life easier post-medical school, you did spend 2 extra years of essentially doing the same thing. Most people without MS do just fine in their first quarter if they work hard enough, so MS shouldn't be a necessity of doing well.

Could you approximate how much med school stuff your MS covered? Did you cover like 25% of all per-clinical stuff or was it closer to like 90%?

 

[Jinxapotato]

Could you approximate how much med school stuff your MS covered? Did you cover like 25% of all per-clinical stuff or was it closer to like 90%?

I am pretty sure the MS only covers the introductory (so roughly 1st year) part of medical school. While we did take pharm and path I don't think they are comparable to the medical school level. Also, in all our basic science classes, the med school version covered a lot more clinical details that was not touched in our MS curriculum. So overall I would say maybe 30-40% of pre-clinical material?

 

[Yadster101]

I am pretty sure the MS only covers the introductory (so roughly 1st year) part of medical school. While we did take pharm and path I don't think they are comparable to the medical school level. Also, in all our basic science classes, the med school version covered a lot more clinical details that was not touched in our MS curriculum. So overall I would say maybe 30-40% of pre-clinical material?

Sorry I meant to say 1st year, not just pre-clinical. So would you say like 90% of first year?

 

[AlteredScale]

Did it help a lot in MS1? I know a lot of osteopathic med schools (and many MDs) have MS programs associated with the med school. A kid from my undergrad finished one last year and hes currently a first year at a DO school. Since the classes are pretty much the same, wouldn't first year be significantly easier?

It depends on the type of masters. The KCU SMP (through the COB) is essentially a carbon copy of many of the M1 courses and so IMO they have a HUGE advantage when they start in COM. Compare that to say UCSD's accelerated BS/MS program, it wouldn't be as beneficial as the COB program.

As M1 heads off into renal, gastrointestinal, neuro, and pathology, the advantage of being in a masters program tapers off fast and these students suddenly realizes that their arm floaties are out of air and they have to swim in the deep end with the rest of us.

 

[Rekt]

It depends on the type of masters. The KCU SMP (through the COB) is essentially a carbon copy of many of the M1 courses and so IMO they have a HUGE advantage when they start in COM. Compare that to say UCSD's accelerated BS/MS program, it wouldn't be as beneficial as the COB program.

As M1 heads off into renal, gastrointestinal, neuro, and pathology, the advantage of being in a masters program tapers off fast and these students suddenly realizes that their arm floaties are out of air and they have to swim in the deep end with the rest of us.

This.

In another thread I was reading, I think LMU's master students don't even have to take some classes they pass in their ms program when they matriculate. Sounds like a recipe for disaster in terms of preparing for second semester or second year.

 

[Goro]

Our own SMP students tend to be very successful in our program, although some of them seem to hit a burnout earlier in OMSII than the typical second-year student.

Did it help a lot in MS1? I know a lot of osteopathic med schools (and many MDs) have MS programs associated with the med school. A kid from my undergrad finished one last year and hes currently a first year at a DO school. Since the classes are pretty much the same, wouldn't first year be significantly easier?

 

[Seth Joo]

I think when some schools offer an applicant a space in their SMP program rather than direct entry into the DO program its more of a nice way of saying that they think the student has potential but might need some work to prove themselves.

Most of the people I knew who were offered these programs were usually people who were non science majors or had some kind of weakness in their application but were otherwise seen as strong candidates for by the school admissions committee.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

It depends on the type of masters. The KCU SMP (through the COB) is essentially a carbon copy of many of the M1 courses and so IMO they have a HUGE advantage when they start in COM. Compare that to say UCSD's accelerated BS/MS program, it wouldn't be as beneficial as the COB program.

As M1 heads off into renal, gastrointestinal, neuro, and pathology, the advantage of being in a masters program tapers off fast and these students suddenly realizes that their arm floaties are out of air and they have to swim in the deep end with the rest of us.

Shots fired

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

It depends on the type of masters. The KCU SMP (through the COB) is essentially a carbon copy of many of the M1 courses and so IMO they have a HUGE advantage when they start in COM. Compare that to say UCSD's accelerated BS/MS program, it wouldn't be as beneficial as the COB program.

As M1 heads off into renal, gastrointestinal, neuro, and pathology, the advantage of being in a masters program tapers off fast and these students suddenly realizes that their arm floaties are out of air and they have to swim in the deep end with the rest of us.

I think it's a good bump to help people who would have normally struggled to pass medical school. But that's all it's worth in my opinion. COB students say the material and the emphasis are very different and they're not exactly flooring us in terms of averages or anything.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

This.

In another thread I was reading, I think LMU's master students don't even have to take some classes they pass in their ms program when they matriculate. Sounds like a recipe for disaster in terms of preparing for second semester or second year.

I think in non-systems based curriculums it's somewhat more reasonable to have a person who passed a histology course in Ugrad to skip histology in medical school ( This is what PCOM does I believe or did). For systems based? It's not really reasonable to say that even a M.S nephrology course can actually even be entirely applicable or good for preparing someone the boards or the pathophysiology.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

I think when some schools offer an applicant a space in their SMP program rather than direct entry into the DO program its more of a nice way of saying that they think the student has potential but might need some work to prove themselves.

Most of the people I knew who were offered these programs were usually people who were non science majors or had some kind of weakness in their application but were otherwise seen as strong candidates for by the school admissions committee.

I think that's exactly what most SMP programs are to be honest. You're taking a group of people who you think are close to being ready for medical school, but not exactly there yet.

 

[Seth Joo]

I think that's exactly what most SMP programs are to be honest. You're taking a group of people who you think are close to being ready for medical school, but not exactly there yet.

These programs help people who are from non science backgrounds, people who have been out of school for a while, and people who admissions committees feel have the potential to be successful in medical school but might need some stronger foundation.