Applying with unfinished masters?

[MudandBleach]

Hello all, hope everyones doing well.

(Pursuing Masters in Bio because naive early in college career and didn't try, 3.3gpa but with big upward trend)

I applied and was accepted to a Masters program that I believe I would be able to finish in one year, however the university only offers 2 or 3 classes per semester so it would actually take me two years. I am currently applying for the Fall 2020. What would applying with an unfinished masters do? I was hoping to use it as a way to further display my academic capabilities and finish it in the future, but if its looked down upon I'll scrap it. Thanks for your time.

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[letsrun11]

i'm not adcom but if you did not mention your unfinished master course in your application they probably would want you to explain the gaps between college and fall 2020.
however if you do mention it then i guess they'd think that you did not do you research well on your master program beforehand. you might have to prove them otherwise.

 

[Catalystik]

(Pursuing Masters in Bio because naive early in college career and didn't try, 3.3gpa but with big upward trend)

I applied and was accepted to a Masters program that I believe I would be able to finish in one year, however the university only offers 2 or 3 classes per semester so it would actually take me two years. I am currently applying for the Fall 2020. What would applying with an unfinished masters do? I was hoping to use it as a way to further display my academic capabilities and finish it in the future, but if its looked down upon I'll scrap it. Thanks for your time.

If you engage in this Bio masters, you'd only have 2-3 Fall grades to send out to schools to show your academic prowess. This will have no effect on your AMCAS-calculated application GPAs (which don't much regard traditional masters grades anyway). But for AACOMAS, you are allowed to input new grades into your application program at various set times in the cycle. Honestly, I don't see it having a lot of benefit for them either, unless you already have a steep upward grade trend during your last 1+ years of college.

A further issue is that many med schools don't like to poach students from other degree-granting programs. You may be asked for a letter from your masters advisor about when you're expected to finish the program.

I think you'd do better to engage in additional full-time undergrad upper-level Bio and Chem classes.

 

[MudandBleach]

@Catalystik @letsrun11 I agree that it may not be that beneficial and possibly looked at negatively to have only a semester or two of non-full time grades in. I will look into this further and most likely do the post-bac if it turns out I cannot finish this MS in 1 year. Thank you both for your input, wish you all the best!