Georgetown SMP vs. Thesis-based MSc.

[medhearter]

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Hi All,

I have just gotten back from being blown away with the opportunities available to me in pursuing an MSc. at a Canadian university. I have the background in research, I have the reference letters, I have been in contact with departmental heads, and they're encouraging my application!

What's also amazing is the fact that I wont even be paying for it! Well, barely. I think at the end of two years, I'll be looking at a cost of about 10K or less. This will also give me the opportunity to get published, and conduct research in topics that I could later use in a medical specialty!

so anyway, just wanted to ask guys here what all this will look like to adcoms? Say I was to get into a medical biophysics program, or surgical research program.

Thoughts?
Which schools would love my application?

Consider my profile as it is now:
~3.5 ugrad GPA, 10/11/13/Q (will have to rewrite next year), thesis project, industry research experience, interhouse soccer player, model United nations representative, and lots of clinical experience that i'm just not going to list now.

Will this kind of a masters degree really bolster my application?

Or would you guys still suggest the SMP?

 

[medhearter]

anyone at all!

chalked out timeline: MSc. Surgical Research

graduate BSc. Neuroscience - April 2009
shadow some doctors - till May 2009
volunteer for an NGO - till Aug 2009
first year of masters - till April 2010
rewrite MCAT: aim 13/12/14/S - May 2010
reapplication to US-MD - June 2010
secondaries - till July 2010
and interviews during my second year of masters!
medical school - August 2011

second option: Georgetown SMP

graduate BSc. Neuroscience - April 2009
shadow some doctors - till May 2009
reapplication to US-MD - June 2009
secondaries - till July 2009
volunteer for an NGO - till Aug 2009
interviews and SMP - till April 2010
another vacation - till Aug 2010
medical school - Aug 2010

 

[witness23]

its b/c she's from cananananada/international

which makes me feel that a masters from a canadian institution would not really make some US institution all happy. i'm not sure about the SMP. weren't you considering a MPH. if u plan on public health later on, i like that idea better than these other 2.

 

[medhearter]

its b/c she's from cananananada/international

which makes me feel that a masters from a canadian institution would not really make some US institution all happy. i'm not sure about the SMP. weren't you considering a MPH. if u plan on public health later on, i like that idea better than these other 2.

i was considering the MPH.. but then so many of you said it wont help with my GPA problem, being a "soft masters". and if i do an MPH later, it'll be cheaper and i'll have the latest on health policy.

argh.

this is unbelievably difficult 🙁

Also, I know I felt like I had no interest in pursuing research last week. This was a result of a fiasco surrounding my thesis project... which... ended up being 10000x more work than I got credit for. Overall blistering experience. But in looking at some of the programs at universities OTHER than U of T, I suddenly felt like... I could be competent! U of T just has a way of making you feel like crap... no matter how hard you work, or how ingenious your ideas initially seemed. So yea! Now I'm open to research! AND I'm open to health-care policy/delivery. My mind is ready to burst!!

 

[witness23]

NIH IRTA!?.. no?

should've applied to that academy in health disparities program!

i feel you tho

 

[medhearter]

NIH IRTA!?.. no?

should've applied to that academy in health disparities program!

i feel you tho

what??
I dont think I qualify for anything NIH.
I'm not a tax-paying american citizen!

 

[drizzt3117]

I think you should just get the MPH while you apply broadly and early this cycle.

 

[drizzt3117]

oh and you should absolutely not do a SMP. You have no reason to go anywhere near a SMP program.

 

[drizzt3117]

Yah their stats seem to be high enough. I'm not sure what the purpose of an SMP is.

what held you back this year OP???

I'm confused!!! your stats seem fine. Is it just a b/c of how screwed up the canadian system is? Did you apply to the schools that do take Canadians in the US? I know Wayne State and some in NY do. Not sure what other ones are out there. But you should apply to which ever ones do and all your Canada schools as long as you meet their weird way of doing cutoffs.

she applied to few schools late. If she applied early to 30+ schools I think she'd get in this cycle, if she doesn't end up getting in off a waitlist.

 

[medhearter]

Oh ok. thanks for the history lesson.

I'm in agreement with your advice here.

i feel like bawling in confusion.
a friend of mine had interviewed at SLU, she had a 3.6 cGPA, her interviewer looked at her app and told her her GPA wasn't very strong, and that she should consider the Georgetown SMP. was she completely crazy?
note also that this same friend got into SLU off the waitlist late June last year and is now a first year med student. [i donno if i'll have her good fortune. Especially since I interviewed with the dean and we had an argument about soccer, after which our interview time was over and I was rushed out.]

i'm ready to go so totally spastic to not be able to move.

here is my new do-as-little-as-possible plan:

in a week: done school

by may 15th:
-shadow docs
-get updated letters onto interfolio
-attend poster conferences
-get transcripts
-acceptances?

by june 1st:
-primary app of reapplicant me

go to india jun,jul
-work in a hospital
-volunteer for the NGO
-turn secondaries around ASAP

aug 2009
- interviews?
- med school?
- register in post-bac year?

sept2009-may2010
-post-bacc year at york university (that's right, get the f*** away from UofT). these marks should be ready by dec 2009, may 2010, send updates.
-any interesting clinical/extracurric/research work

summer 2010:
- pick my nose

aug 2010:
- frikkin matriculate already

 

[drizzt3117]

i feel like bawling in confusion.
a friend of mine had interviewed at SLU, she had a 3.6 cGPA, her interviewer looked at her app and told her her GPA wasn't very strong, and that she should consider the Georgetown SMP. was she completely crazy?

Depends on what her MCAT is. With a 34, yes, she was completely crazy.

note also that this same friend got into SLU off the waitlist late June last year and is now a first year med student. [i donno if i'll have her good fortune. Especially since I interviewed with the dean and we had an argument about soccer, after which our interview time was over and I was rushed out.]

Don't worry about that, I'm sure they aren't going to reject you because you didn't know about the offsides rule in soccer.

i'm ready to go so totally spastic to not be able to move.

here is my new do-as-little-as-possible plan:

in a week: done school

by may 15th:
-shadow docs
-get updated letters onto interfolio
-attend poster conferences
-get transcripts
-acceptances?

by june 1st:
-primary app of reapplicant me

go to india jun,jul
-work in a hospital
-volunteer for the NGO
-turn secondaries around ASAP

aug 2009
- interviews?
- med school?
- register in post-bac year

sept2009-may2010
-post-bacc year at york university (that's right, get the f*** away from UofT). these marks should be ready by dec 2009, may 2010, send updates.
-any interesting clinical/extracurric/research work

summer 2010:
- pick my nose

aug 2010:
- frikkin matriculate already

I still think the MPH is better than a postbac, really any quantitative improvement you're going to make to your GPA isn't going to make that much difference. I think getting 0.05 point in GPA is definitely going to make less of a difference than a MPH.

 

[medhearter]

Depends on what her MCAT is. With a 34, yes, she was completely crazy.



Don't worry about that, I'm sure they aren't going to reject you because you didn't know about the offsides rule in soccer.



I still think the MPH is better than a postbac, really any quantitative improvement you're going to make to your GPA isn't going to make that much difference. I think getting 0.05 point in GPA is definitely going to make less of a difference than a MPH.

your words sound like sense to me.
thank you. she had a 31 i think.
i think he'll find another reason to reject me. i also didn't pronounce "reiki" as he pronounced it. i also shared an experience of translating in an appointment where abortion was being suggested. and i was intw'ing at a pro-life institution. yup. good things...

hey, if i do do the MPH, it'll mean i dont have to pick my nose summer '10
i'll actually have things to do. thanks.

 

[drizzt3117]

your words sound like sense to me.
thank you. she had a 31 i think.
i think he'll find another reason to reject me. i also didn't pronounce "reiki" as he pronounced it. i also shared an experience of translating in an appointment where abortion was being suggested. and i was intw'ing at a pro-life institution. yup. good things...

hey, if i do do the MPH, it'll mean i dont have to pick my nose summer '10
i'll actually have things to do. thanks.

I think those sound like relatively trivial things. Did you send letters to the schools you're waitlisted at?

 

[Perrotfish]

We've been over this. An MPH doesn't fix a GPA problem. However: You don't have a GPA problem. No GPA problem = no fixing your GPA problem. You're like an anorexic that keeps asking for help choosing a diet. It's not so much that you're wrong that low-glycemic index is better than traditional low carb, it's just that we feel you're not paying attention to everyone's suggestion that you 'stop being so ****ing crazy and go eat a mother****ing sandwich!'

You had an applying late problem and you had a not applying to enough schools problem. That's it. No GPA problem. Next time apply earlier and more broadly. Don't waste time and money fixing an application that isn't broken (and don't take an SMP spot from someone who needs it). Go do your MPH.

i also didn't pronounce "reiki" as he pronounced it.

Also, why was the dean of a medical school pronouncing 'reiki' in the first place? Voodoo wasn't discussed during my medical school interview.

 

[witness23]

find a solution, lady?

 

[medhearter]

find a solution, lady?

sure.

write three decent exams in three days.

after that.. just apply everywhere.

news: SGU has been thrown out for good.
turns out there's a new policy now against taking canadians who studied offshore, in that about 50% of them are no longer going to be eligible to get the "letter" from the canadian govt. to allow them to apply for the US visa.. or something.. basically bad news for canadian caribs.

 

[Typical Premed]

I'm a Canadian applicant and I chose to do a thesis based MSc program in Canada after I failed to get accepted to med school after 4th yr. I have had a very positive experience so far. The research has been very interesting and I've actually made around 50K in stipends during the course of the degree. The only downside was that it was a 2 yr program so I had to skip an application cycle. I was recently accepted to a top-tier school in the US and I think my masters research has helped me a lot in my applications and interviews.

 

[medhearter]

I'm a Canadian applicant and I chose to do a thesis based MSc program in Canada after I failed to get accepted to med school after 4th yr. I have had a very positive experience so far. The research has been very interesting and I've actually made around 50K in stipends during the course of the degree. The only downside was that it was a 2 yr program so I had to skip an application cycle. I was recently accepted to a top-tier school in the US and I think my masters research has helped me a lot in my applications and interviews.

That. is.. awesome! Congrats 🙂 and definitely something inspiring and motivating too!

Oh I just realized you have a 4.0 by AMCAS... haha, that wont ever be me >.<

I just had an idea.

What will it take to do a 3 year undergraduate degree at Western 😀
omg! 3 years of party + applying to medical school with a 4.0? can be done, can be done!
how i regret not going to western in the first place!