Am I crazy for wanting to fit a master's degree in?

[seanm028]

I am a non-trad who will be applying next cycle. I have been running my own business that primarily provides public health and healthcare consulting services to government agencies and NGOs. I love what I do, and every day I think about how being a physician would elevate my work to another level. I have hired several very skilled people with experience in public health, global health, project management, and medical education. While they are all experts in their various fields and bring much more to the table than I could, I find myself wanting to take a little piece from each field and use it to shape the kind of physician I become.

For a while now, I have been eyeing a master's degree in international health management (MIHM) with an emphasis on health economics. Everything I research about this degree seems to align exactly with my interests. Perhaps even more importantly, I think that the areas it emphasizes will set the stage for my future career goals (MD/DO + MPH who works with international healthcare organizations and who understands the complicated economics underpinning just about all of healthcare). It is an online program from a public state school that would run from May of 2021 (just before I would be starting my application cycle) to May of 2022 (just before I would be matriculating, hopefully). Aside from this program, I will not be taking any other classes during that time. I am planning on taking the MCAT in April 2021, so that will not be a factor, either.

Bottom line: I want to pursue this degree not because I think it will help my application, but because I am passionate about it, and because I think it will help support my long-term goals. I will not have to balance it with any other classes or MCAT preparation, but I will have to balance it with secondaries and interviews. The program is online and sounds fairly flexible in terms of schedule, but of course, that will also be a stressful time in my life. The logical part of me is saying that I should forget it and that I will still be able to pursue my long-term goals without this degree; that I should just focus on applying to a medical school. The emotional side of me is saying that this is something about which I am passionate and the type of thing that I want to spend my energy on.

What do you all think? Am I crazy? Should I forget it? Or is it worth chasing?

@Goro : as the patron saint of non-trads, I would love your input if you have time.

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[Goro]

Are you aware that applying ot medical school is the equivalent of having a full time job. Can you do the MS and write some 25-35 apps????

 

[jamaica jan sun princess]

From my experience this year, it's very difficult to write apps and complete a hard sciences graduate degree. I assume an MPH would be similar.

 

[Dral]

If you are more interested in policy or larger health issues and less in clinical medicine, look into a preventive medicine residency s/p medical school. You do intern year, then start that residency. They typically have and MPH built in. I feel it would be better to wait on it. Unless you can justify taking courses now that you really feel will help you. Honestly, once you go through the rigors of med school, I would think a lot of the Master’s material would be a distant memory (like I did stuff in Grad school on a daily basis before med school...after med school I couldn’t even recall how to do them/calculate them).

 

[hmockingbird]

Plenty of people apply during their senior year of undergrad or while in a master’s program so from that standpoint I don’t see why not. The issue for me would be the debt burden. Is the program funded? And if you want an MPH later why do you need both? There are residencies and fellowships that pay for a masters (usually MPH or something with epidemiology or research), as stated above. You also may be able to get tuition reimbursement as an attending if you work in an academic setting. You also may or may not change direction during your med school rotations. To me these are reasons to wait or at least narrow down to one masters.

 

[seanm028]

Thank you for the feedback, everyone! I've decided to cool my jets and play the long game. I will forgo the master's degree and instead see where medical school/residency takes me.

 

[Fidelio17]

Some medical schools allow you to get a Master's degree as part of your training there. (I believe it usually takes another year.) If something like an MPH is important to you, that's something you might want to consider as you choose which schools to apply to.

 

[seanm028]

Some medical schools allow you to get a Master's degree as part of your training there. (I believe it usually takes another year.) If something like an MPH is important to you, that's something you might want to consider as you choose which schools to apply to.

MD/DO + MPH programs are at the top of my list!

 

[Dral]

Another point: People may think having an mph under your belt could better your chances at getting in. However, if a school has an MPH program, they may think: Hey, here is someone who says they want to do our MPH...that's more money for our school in tuition. Also, my general impression is that MPH programs really like having med students in the program.