HELP! Cant decide on what do post graduation and before applying to med school

[princanator]

Hi everyone and thanks in advance for your help!

Basically, I have come to the realization that applying to med school straight from college (NYU) is not going to work out for me for a combination of reasons (3.2 GPA with even lower science GPA, not enough time to thoroughly fill out information for a committee letter from my university etc.). I'm trying to figure out what a good course of action would be for me during my gap year(s). Currently I'm a junior majoring in Psychology with a minor in Public Health and Policy. I've had 2 research positions (neither with papers), have EXTENSIVE volunteer experience (with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Alternative Breaks, and much more), and I'm a Resident Assistant (RA). I did pretty poorly with my Chemistry, Biology and O-Chem classes, but am showing much improvement with Physics. I'm also veryy interested in Public Health and am considering it as a potential asset to my future career goals in addition to an MD/DO/whatever. I haven't begun to study for MCATs but seeing as I'm pushing off my application, I have more time to do so.

So my question here is, what kind of masters program would be most helpful for me to get into med school? I'm really seriously looking into MPH programs, but I'm nervous that it wont be much of an asset. I can assume I would do well, considering my best grades are in my public health courses. Would an SMP be better? or a masters in a science?

Money is not too much of a consideration here so I could potentially take some upper level science courses in addition to a masters program. I also have multiple research and job opportunities that I can get to do in addition.

THANK YOU SO MUCH.

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[gmcguitar4]

So you still have another 1.5 years of school left. If you could get straight A's in all your science courses and take another year of post-bac work and get A's in those..that could be all you need. This plus a 32+ MCAT score. Try to figure out how many courses you need to raise your sGPA and cGPA to a competitive range and see what is realistic.

If you don't pull the grades you need..then I think the best option is an SMP. The thing is that you HAVE to do very well in it.

 

[princanator]

You think SMPs would be better than MPH?

 

[Catalystik]

You think SMPs would be better than MPH?

For your purposes, yes.

 

[princanator]

ah well i have just learned of a hiccup in the plan for a SMP because that would most likely require a committee letter and the deadline is about to pass. So i guess i'm left with another masters program that doesn't require a committee letter. MPH is one of those. do you know about any others? would chemistry or biology be better? AH IM SO LOST

 

[Alejandro]

I think the main thing you need to do is to focus on your remaining years of school. you still have 1.5 years left, and to already think about SMPs...imo...I almost feel like you're already throwing in the towel. I agree with gmcguitar4, that you really should just buckle down. Let's see...

When I was at your stage in college, i had a 3.3 at that time. (mid junior year). I had some thoughts like you did, by thinking an MPH might help my odds of getting into med school. But then I realized was that 1) I never tried my best, and 2) there's still a decent amount of time left. I figured if I had to wait til graduation to get my stuff together, I feel that's pretty immature of me when I have an education to pursue right now. So I buckled down, aced my senior classes (finally got annual dean's list lol) and got up to a 3.51. Now I know we are all in different situations, but I'm just saying maybe it's just time to take care of the situation instead of thinking way to far out in the future. (And, my letters for med school surprisingly all came from senior-year profs that i got to know in the fall, continued my relationship with them through the year and asked by the following summer-it worked out)

Figure out what's preventing you from succeeding in your science courses. Become your own doctor and diagnose your situation. Go over tests, go over homework, go over your study habits. Figure out how much time are you spending-are you being efficient with your time?

I'm not trying to come off as a jerk, as we all have our personal things in life that prevent us from doing what we can do. But sometimes you just need to put all that aside and take care of the situation at hand. Sorry for playing bad cop. lol

 

[Catalystik]

Another option is to consider adding a super-senior year. With straight As for 3 semesters, you could get your cGPA to 3.5. But with an extra year in college and more As, it could be at a very competitive 3.6 (according to my rough figures, making some assumptions).

Most med schools judge one by undergrad GPA. For those that do consider masters-level grades, it would be the sGPA they'd look at. An MPH, not being a hard science degree, won't provide that. An SMP is a special situation which does not result in a usable degree, but some med schools let a high GPA earned in such a program override a poor undergrad GPA. I suggest you save this option in case you can't pull it together over the next 3-5 semesters. Do your best to make an academic turn-around count toward GPA redemption now so less repair work needs to be done later.

 

[V5RED]

Another option is to consider adding a super-senior year. With straight As for 3 semesters, you could get your cGPA to 3.5. But with an extra year in college and more As, it could be at a very competitive 3.6 (according to my rough figures, making some assumptions).

Most med schools judge one by undergrad GPA. For those that do consider masters-level grades, it would be the sGPA they'd look at. An MPH, not being a hard science degree, won't provide that. An SMP is a special situation which does not result in a usable degree, but some med schools let a high GPA earned in such a program override a poor undergrad GPA. I suggest you save this option in case you can't pull it together over the next 3-5 semesters. Do your best to make an academic turn-around count toward GPA redemption now so less repair work needs to be done later.

If OP can't pull A's in the next 3-5 semesters, isn't it likely he will not be able to do well in the SMP as well?

 

[Catalystik]

If OP can't pull A's in the next 3-5 semesters, isn't it likely he will not be able to do well in the SMP as well?

Yes, unless some other temporary factor is present that we don't know about: working 40 hours per week, caring for a sick relative, new-onset disease not yet under control, etc.

 

[1TB4RKSB4CK]

If you have above a 3.2 SMP is the way to go.