Does it help you during medical school to have an M.S.?

[climbguy]

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I just graduated with a bs in biology and have been considering getting my master's in physiology/biophysics before going to medical school. I was wondering if anyone that has one could tell me if the knowledge base you aquired during your master's program has helped you out at all in medical school.

 

[Skialta]

I would not waste the time unless it is really some deep held goal. If you are really interested in pursuing an advanced degree apply MD/PhD programs or even better apply MD and after you are in it is pretty easy to go into the MD/PhD program (at least at my med school). There are a lot of opportunities to do research during med school including taking time off to pursue research if you want. Doing a Howard Hughs year of research is going to give you more mileage than a MS in bio. Just my opinion.

 

[djohnston]

seems like most people I know who are getting the MS before med school are doing it cuz they didn't get in straight out of undergrad. Skialta's got a point though- if you're interested in grad school, do the MD/PhD cuz then you get funding for the whole 7+ years, not just the grad school years

 

[Green912]

I got my MS seven years after undergrad when I decided to apply to med school. I'd say having a masters helped in two distinct ways.

The first way, we'll call it knowledge base, obviously depends on what courses you take. As a graduate student I took a neuro course, biochem, applied physiology, etc which really helped. If med school is your goal, take courses you see when you get there.

The second way it helped is a little more abstract, but it has to do with critical scientific thinking. Choosing and preforming a Thesis requires you to read a lot of relevant papers and dissect what they're saying. A good advisor will also help you make the transition from reading for learning and "reading for thinking".

Oh and like someone above said. If you can apply to med school now then forget the MS. But if you need an application boost, well...it worked great for me.

good luck