SMP or Job before application process

[growingedge]

I am a rising undergraduate senior planning to apply to med school within 1-2 years after my graduation in the spring. I have decided to take a break between graduation and the application process in order to improve my overall application and to have a clearer picture of what specifically I would like to pursue in a career as a physician.

Currently I have a 3.0sGPA, 3.4cGPA at an Ivy League institution (with two semesters left to improve these stats), and no MCAT scores just yet. I have spent a summer and semester volunteering in clinics and with public health initiatives abroad, a semester interning in an ER clinical research department, and a semester conducting independent public health research. Much of the rest of my time has spent doing community organizing work around environmental health. However, I have yet to do any long-term clinical exposure.

I would like insight on whether my stats would benefit from enrolling in an SMP or MPH program after graduation. If so, would an SMP weigh better than an MPH when applying to medical school or does it depend on what I personally get out of the program?

Regardless of whether I continue with academic studies directly after college or not I would like to receive more clinical exposure. I've started researching scribe jobs and clinical research positions, but do you all know of health-related job opportunities or experiences offered to pre-med post-graduates?

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[chayo234]

MPH won't help enter medical school since adcoms want to see rigorous upper level science courses. Job wise, it depends on what degree you graduated with and who you have been in contact with. It really doesn't matter what experience/job you get long as you see/work with patients as far as clinical exposure.

It sounds like you need to work on your MCAT and then enter a SMP to become competitive for medical school. You're EC so far seems fine.