Advice: master degree or work before med?

[Sswxqw]

Hi all,

I've recently graduated from a honors bachelor of science degree with 3.7. I have 514 unbalanced MCAT and average ECs.

I am applying to medical schools this year but can't make up my mind if I should apply to a master degree or work if I don't get in (applying from Canada to CA and US schools).

For master degree I'm considering Master of Science or MBA. While research and managerial skills seem like something I may want in my future career along side a MD, I don't know if I should jump into it at this point. Any other degree suggestions? For masters my hope is to gain something towards my future career, hence why I'm hesitant for MBA as MBA usually requires 2 years work experience and would be more applicable to someone already in a field. For other degree suggestions, why should I do that instead of just working?

I'm considering work for a year or two because it allows me to apply to medical schools next year too, plus I barely have any work experience on my resume; but I'm not sure how beneficial it will be for application to med.

If anyone has any experience or advice with delving into a 2yr master program vs. work while continuing to apply to medical schools, or what would be best for medical school and a career after that, I would very much appreciate it.

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[BunsenBeaker]

The financial security you get from working > a master's program if you've already got a good GPA/MCAT. You can also work on some of your EC's during your work year too, like dedicating Sundays to volunteering, or going ahead and shadowing for like 2 weeks straight or something if you want to improve the EC part of your app.

 

[ChiDr]

;Work and save $ for school. Get clinical exposure, do you have any? Get community service experience, do you have any? Get shadowing experience, do you have any? Do you have leadership experience? If not, try to get some on your resume.

 

[MusicDOc124]

If you want to be involved in industry down the line, then maybe the MBA, however working might be the best option so that you can pay off any debts you have and save some money before potentially taking on more debt again and not viably being able to work. Keep in mind that depending on your goals with the MBA, some medical schools have dual programs for MD/MBA and DO/MBA that knock off a year or 2 of school overall and have cheaper tuition while in the dual program. You can also do a professional MBA after medical school often for 1 year, so again, depending on your end goal either work or get the MBA. With a good GPA and MCAT, an MS won't really do anything for you other than give you more debt and overall net losses by not working.

just my .02

 

[lumya]

Definitely work. I went the classic public health master’s route that is pretty popular now for pre-med students and I don’t think it really helped me that much. The most beneficial part of my degree was the work experience I got as part of it, which I could have pursued without my degree. There’s also the cost of another degree, which is really high compared to the amount of time (my 4 year bachelor’s cost the same as my 2 year master’s - from the same institution).

You have a good GPA and if your MCAT is very unbalanced (if one category is under 50th percentile), I would focus on retaking that. Continue shadowing and volunteering on the weekends. Getting a master’s degree helped my Plan B, but I don’t think it added much to my Plan A.