Health informatics masters to get into med school

[emericana]

Decided post graduation that I wanted I to give med school a shot. 25 years old now and going through a quarter life crisis so to speak haha.

My "deal" is that I originally wanted to go for the PhD. Got a major (graduated in December 2008) in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Bio.

My cumulative gpa was 3.1 and my science gpa was 3.4.

I have 3 years neuroscience research experience under my belt. In these three years I accomplished a lot. Got 3 grants (HHMI) , co-authored a paper, presented at two conferences, and mastered lab techniques. All as a undergrad.

After all of this work. I decided that research was not the career I wanted for the rest of my life. I do not like the idea of chasing grants my whole life and the whole thought of having to do multiple post docs after the phd sounds awful to me. Not to mention 6 years of training for salary of $38500 is absolutely ridiculous IMHO. As I could literally do a bachellors degree all over again in electrical engineering or something in less time and get a starting salary of 60k.

Obviously my gpa is not up to snuff for med school. I have not taken mcats yet, but just registered for the Kaplan class and will be taking them in January.

I have always been incredibly tech savvy (most MDs are not) and am thinking about doing a year and a half masters in medical informatics.

If I finish my masters in medical informatics with a 4.0 or close to it, get a good mcat score shadow some doctors, do you guys think that is will trump my 3.1 undergrad gpa and get me in?

Leveriging myself as the technology doctor so to say???

Thoughts?

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[Calipers]

After all of this work. I decided that research was not the career I wanted for the rest of my life. I do not like the idea of chasing grants my whole life and the whole thought of having to do multiple post docs after the phd sounds awful to me. Not to mention 6 years of training for salary of $38500 is absolutely ridiculous IMHO. As I could literally do a bachellors degree all over again in electrical engineering or something in less time and get a starting salary of 60k.

If you wanted money, you should have majored in economics and then gone to wall street. Given what you've posted, perhaps consulting would be better for you. Doctors do not necessarily make a lot either. You're talking about possibly taking on $300k of debt for medical school and 3-9 years postgraduate training of ~$45k a year before you can think about attending salaries. Be absolutely sure you want to commit to this -- it's expensive both in terms of time and money.

I have always been incredibly tech savvy (most MDs are not) and am thinking about doing a year and a half masters in medical informatics.

I don't know what you mean by this. My classmates do run the range in terms of tech knowledge, but most of them would be able to do a masters in medical informatics if they wanted to.

If I finish my masters in medical informatics with a 4.0 or close to it, get a good mcat score shadow some doctors, do you guys think that is will trump my 3.1 undergrad gpa and get me in?

possible.

Leveriging myself as the technology doctor so to say???

Again, I have no idea what you mean by this. "Technology doctor" to me immediately invokes radiology. If you want to be into technology, then work as an IT person. If you want to make money, go into consulting. If you want to do admin, get an MBA or find an entry-level admin job and work your way up. The saddest thing IMO is seeing someone who has an MD or an MD/PhD doing IT and other supportive secretarial jobs.

 

[DrMidlife]

If I finish my masters in medical informatics with a 4.0 or close to it, get a good mcat score shadow some doctors, do you guys think that is will trump my 3.1 undergrad gpa and get me in?

No. Performance in such a program doesn't give med school admissions people information they can use. By contrast, undergrad prereqs and MCAT are standardized - highly comparable - as are medical masters programs (aka SMPs, where you do the first year of med school to prove you can handle med school, in lieu of a competitive GPA). See the postbac forum.

Technology is not an edge that will get you into med school.

Best of luck to you.

 

[CW 2010]

Do you have all of the prerequisites completed? Org. Chem. and Physics? I am assuming you have enough Bio credits...

Maybe, take or re-take (if you have B/C grades there) some of the prerequisites and then take the MCAT?

 

[murfettie]

if interested, then do.
if not, then don't.
it is kind of a good fall back plan though if you change your mind about med school