BME Masters Before Med School ...good idea??

[alascari88]

Ok, so I am close to graduating with about a 3.3 Overall GPA (3.0 science) and very low MCAT <20 so my chances for all U.S. MD/DO schools are out the window.

However, with my gpa i could probably get into a decent graduate program. I have been thinking this over, and was considering applying for a masters degree in Biomed Engineering upon graduating, then reapply to med school after the two years or so.

Any comments or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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[FlowLimited]

Do you want to be a physician or an engineer? If you're set on medicine, you're better off doing a postbacc program to raise your GPA and taking some time to improve your MCAT score. Take the time to improve your foundation.

 

[UVAbme2009]

Anything short of a PhD in BME is a colossal waste of time. Especially if you don't end up getting into med school.

 

[gl0baltrader]

Anything short of a PhD in BME is a colossal waste of time. Especially if you don't end up getting into med school.

Thats not true, one of my colleague and BME valedictorian choose a Master of Science program at CalTech instead of a pHD. I think he's working on developing cutting edge prostethics and they awarded him a full ride scholarship.
I just think that our concerned friend here needs to determine whether he likes biomedical engineering or not ?
You also need to determine the programs available that suits your particular need.

D

 

[maceo]

Ok, so I am close to graduating with about a 3.3 Overall GPA (3.0 science) and very low MCAT <20 so my chances for all U.S. MD/DO schools are out the window.

However, with my gpa i could probably get into a decent graduate program. I have been thinking this over, and was considering applying for a masters degree in Biomed Engineering upon graduating, then reapply to med school after the two years or so.

Any comments or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

dont waste time.. go to osteopathic school or go to the carribean.. dont **** around with these post bacc programs. aint worth it

 

[circulus vitios]

Retake the MCAT and get a 30 and apply at osteopathic schools? Your GPA is a little below average, but I've heard DO schools are a little more understanding.

 

[digitalising]

Anything short of a PhD in BME is a colossal waste of time. Especially if you don't end up getting into med school.

You're wrong. My adviser, who is a professor of biomedical engineering and pretty well established in the field, broke it down this way when I was an undergrad. If he wanted to develop a product, he'd hire a group of masters' students. If he wanted to do investigations, he'd hire a group of PhD students. Different programs, different foci.

If you are trying for a master's for the purpose of getting into medical school, go for Georgetown's SMP or a similar program. These are designed for that goal. Your stats would likely be competitive, especially if you plan to take the MCAT.

 

[SirGecko]

It sorta depends on your career goals and what that 3.3 was in. BME is a tough field, lots to know. I assume you are an undergraduate engineer right now yes? Just remember that the engineering material won't exactly be getting a lot easier in graduate school.

Now if your goal is to be an engineer in the industry then I'd say graduate programs in BME are great. But then I'd wonder why you want to go to Medical school. From what I gather talking to my professors that have had extensive work in the industry a project typically has one or two MDs on it as consultants but they rarely actually help develop anything. If you want to do any sort of work as both an engineer and an MD the way to go is really the MD/PhD but getting that PhD in BME is pretty difficult.

Obviously what you really want to focus on if you want to go to Med School is that MCAT. (though I'm sure you know that)

 

[SirGecko]

Yeah, you're wrong. My adviser, who is a professor of biomedical engineering and pretty well established in the field, broke it down this way when I was an undergrad. If he wanted to develop a product, he'd hire a group of masters' students. If he wanted to do investigations, he'd hire a group of PhD students. Different programs, different foci.

It's also one of those fields where you can go work, go back to school, go work again and then go back to school. You always want to be learning as an engineer and there are levels of employment even for undergraduate engineering degree holders. (though you really need a masters degree to do anything really significant)

 

[alascari88]

My undergrad degree will be in Biology with minors in Math and Chem. I wanted engineering but my school didn't offer it and was too late to transfer schools (I was originally going for business finance and HATED IT!!). After my 1st semester i quickly changed to bio and took up a math minor in hopes to get as close to BME as possible. BME and medicine are both extremely interesting to me and would love to work in both fields. However I truly love helping people first hand and having a doctor patient relationship, so that's where the doctor role comes into play.

In sum, I really would love the idea of becoming a doctor and a biomed engineer on the side, that's where I was really going with this, but thanks for all the incite. I am definitely going to check out the Georgetown SMP program, thanks!

 

[135892]

My undergrad degree will be in Biology with minors in Math and Chem. I wanted engineering but my school didn't offer it and was too late to transfer schools (I was originally going for business finance and HATED IT!!). After my 1st semester i quickly changed to bio and took up a math minor in hopes to get as close to BME as possible. BME and medicine are both extremely interesting to me and would love to work in both fields. However I truly love helping people first hand and having a doctor patient relationship, so that's where the doctor role comes into play.

In sum, I really would love the idea of becoming a doctor and an biomed engineer on the side, that’s where I was really going with this, but thanks for all the incite. I am definitely going to check out the Georgetown SMP program, thanks!

Well, if you're still considering the grad school, have you taken any engineering courses? I'm not sure if they'll even accept you into a BME program without some basic engineering courses, at least this is the case for my school's grad program.

 

[WeAreNotRobots]

In sum, I really would love the idea of becoming a doctor and an biomed engineer on the side

so primarily you want to be a doctor. therefore, your primary goal is medical school. in order to get into med school, you need to be competitive. the particular stat you're weak in is GPA, more specifically your undergraduate GPA. thus, you need to improve your undergraduate GPA. this can be done with a postbacc program, either formal or informal. if you pursue advanced degree work, it looks nice, but doesn't significantly help you the way a postbacc would.

getting accepted is a game, and you need to know how to score points in this game. doing an advanced degree is like kicking a field goal. doing a postbacc is like scoring a touchdown.

you're already trailing. go for the TD.