I have a BIG problem!

[MissionaryGirl]

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Hi.

Ready, here goes. I graduated from college in 1995 and recently went back to school to complete a masters program. I was anticipating I could take this MCAT this august, finish my master's program in the spring and start med school next fall.

I just recently found out that I will not be able to complete this masters program in the spring and I have to drop out. They keep cancelling courses because too few people are in the program. Yea, IT BITES! I am so frustrated.

So, now I have to figure out if I am going to transfer to another program which will take me longer to finish in the end or do something different altogether. I just hate the fact that this is being prolonged all the more. I just wanna be done. I'm 30 years old and feel like it's already been an eternity and I haven't even started med school yet.

So, what do you think?

 

[MDmiracle]

Apply, explain the situation in your application. In the end the worst they say is no.
Good Luck!

 

[kmnfive]

whats your gpa?

if youre 30 then you have allot more to offer than younger applicants.

work / family / etc..

try it out .

 

[MissionaryGirl]

my undergrad gpa is 3.44
my grad GPA is 4.0

haven't taken the MCAT yet

 

[thackl]

I'm 29 with a partial masters in Microelectronic Engineering and I don't think the ADCOM's are bothered at all by it. You've got the BS, just apply.

 

[trauma_junky]

Originally posted by thackl
I'm 29 with a partial masters in Microelectronic Engineering and I don't think the ADCOM's are bothered at all by it. You've got the BS, just apply.

Oh, contrair mon frair! The schools want to see you finish a program if you are already in one. You may be one of the very few exceptions. The three schools I have talked to in Texas made is explicitly clear to finish a program you start.

 

[Megalofyia]

I posted a thread about this recently. Unfortunatly it appears if you start a masters schools want you to finish it. This kind of bothers me since there are schools that will accept someone who hasn't finished their bachelors.

 

[trauma_junky]

Originally posted by Megalofyia
I posted a thread about this recently. Unfortunatly it appears if you start a masters schools want you to finish it. This kind of bothers me since there are schools that will accept someone who hasn't finished their bachelors.

You know I never thought about it that way before. So, medical schools are discrimintating against graduate students. Hmm... may be we should start a thread about this and throw URMs in it somehow.

 

[Megalofyia]

Well if it helps I'm mexican... ooOOOo a mexican in a grad school program who's being discriminated against..

 

[Megalofyia]

btw trauma_junky we go/went to the same grad school.. I just have an aversion to doing the orals...

 

[idq1i]

Originally posted by trauma_junky
Oh, contrair mon frair! The schools want to see you finish a program if you are already in one. You may be one of the very few exceptions. The three schools I have talked to in Texas made is explicitly clear to finish a program you start.

None of my 5 interviews cared or even brought up the fact that I left my MS program.

 

[MissionaryGirl]

thanks for the replies folks.

Yea, I know that med schools want you to finish a masters program, but I can't with the way things are being run in mine. There's woman who has been trying to finish for the last 3-4 years and is in the process of writing a letter to the administration because she has not been able to finish.

I don't have 3-4 years to battle this thing out. I either start a new program or just apply.

Keep the replies comin'. Thanks!

 

[Megalofyia]

thank-you idq1i!!! you have just offered me ALOT of hope.

 

[BerkeleyPremed]

This is absolutely atrocious. I can't believe that your graduate school keeps cancelling the courses that you need to graduate. How do they expect anyone to complete the program if they keep cancelling the courses? Reading your original post just made me pissed off FOR you because of the stupidity of the administration of your school. If you don't mind me asking, what graduate school are you enrolled in? I know that none of the graduate schoosl at my school would ever do that to its MS/PhD students since they're considered our school's treasure (they do lots of the research here...). If I were you, I would just transfer out to a graduate school that is actually ALLOWING its students to complete the program by offering the requisite courses. As for the posters above who said something to the effect of, "Medical Schools don't like it if you don't finish a program!!!! Don't leave that program!!!!" Trust me, if you dont' enjoy the program...you should not stay in it. From what you've said, the program looks horrible because the administration is pulling courses and people are dropping out left and right. Lots of people on this board are only trying to ***** themselves out to any medical school that'll take them...they fail to realize that you should not ever stay in a program if you don't like it. If I were you, I'd just transfer to a better program.

Berkeley '05

 

[idq1i]

Originally posted by Megalofyia
thank-you idq1i!!! you have just offered me ALOT of hope.

Most commended me for taking classes to enhance my record (i took immuno, stats, grantwriting, etc). I was really surprised that they didn't even bother asking me why I left.

9 apps, 5 interviews, 4 acceptances

Good luck to you. Are you applying for '08?

 

[MissionaryGirl]

The master's program I'm in is at Roosevelt University in chicago (and schamburg). you see, it's a fairly new program and they are still trying to get the numbers they need to run the courses. It's just horrible. I signed for Genetics last semester and it was cancelled because only 2 people signed up for it. For this fall, I was signed up for a Chem class that had 5 people signed up for it. (now that I dropped it, it has only has 4) But that course probably won't run either.

And not only that, they expect you to take courses at both campuses which are about 1 hour apart in good traffic even if you have to do the commute in the same day. It's just RIDICULOUS!

Yea, I have already talked to the program director about this situation and he doesn't seem to care.

thanks BerkelyPremed for the above post, you made me feel better. I dropped all my courses for the fall and I am looking into other programs. I know I will be better off in the end.

 

[Megalofyia]

I applied for '07 and now am applying for '08..
Last year though I was silly I only applied to a few schools. I got 1 interview and 1 waitlist..

 

[thackl]

If you have a good GPA, good MCAT and you are not a complete dweeb in the interview, most schools will not give a ****.

All this "other stuff" people like to bring up mainly applies to applicants who cannot distinquish themselves from the "pack" with numbers alone. For those people, I would recommend having a good (not whiney) explaination. Just go for it. You seem to have a very good reason for not completing.

 

[MissionaryGirl]

thanks for all the replies folks -- you guys made me feel so much better!

 

[trauma_junky]

Originally posted by thackl
If you have a good GPA, good MCAT and you are not a complete dweeb in the interview, most schools will not give a ****.

All this "other stuff" people like to bring up mainly applies to applicants who cannot distinquish themselves from the "pack" with numbers alone. For those people, I would recommend having a good (not whiney) explaination. Just go for it. You seem to have a very good reason for not completing.

I talked one on one with Filo at TAMU, he really did stress how they would not admit anyone who did not finish a grad school program for good reasons. Our above poster has a great reason. UTSA has a habbit of doing that same crap. So I only take the PhD classes now, because that is their pride and joy and they would never screw a doctoral student. Filo told me that you could be accepted while still working in a program, but they would want to see you completed it before thay allowed you to start.

It's from the one horse's mouth, so I'm sure there are some acceptions at other schools.

 

[thackl]

Well, I guess I'll just quit now....... take my 3.85/32 and crawl under a rock. I supose I can kill time day dreaming about what it would have been like to attend med school......... had I finished that engineering masters.




Off hand, I can think of 9 people who got into med school with partial masters (CS, Bio, MBA, Eng, etc). None of them went to a top, nationally ranked school like TAMU. They went to Baylor, Southwestern, UTSA, Northwestern, U of R and a few others. Now that I think about it, TAMU should offer an honorary masters to anyone who completes their secondary.

 

[trauma_junky]

Originally posted by thackl
Well, I guess I'll just quit now....... take my 3.85/32 and crawl under a rock. I supose I can kill time day dreaming about what it would have been like to attend med school......... had I finished that engineering masters.




Off hand, I can think of 9 people who got into med school with partial masters (CS, Bio, MBA, Eng, etc). None of them went to a top, nationally ranked school like TAMU. They went to Baylor, Southwestern, UTSA, Northwestern, U of R and a few others. Now that I think about it, TAMU should offer an honorary masters to anyone who completes their secondary.

I officially dub you A$$HOLE! Gee's all I was trying to do was give some insight from a top source. Did you not read my whole post! DF! I did leave an exception. You people from Austin have their heads permanently jammed up their a$$ess. Have you bothered to see which Texas School places more surgical residents than others, ...hmm maybe TAMU. I'm not trying to say they are the bomb because you completely missed my message. But BFD who cares, go a head self-assured with out any out side input for reference. I am happy to hear what you have to say. It's F'n AWSOME! But not every school thinks the same and I thought I would bring that point UP! Now you can have you soap box back because I'm done with it!

 

[thackl]

TAMU is fine. So are all the TX schools. You won't go wrong with any of them. This person thought they were in serious jeopardy of not getting in and you just kept beating her over the head with your one experience, speaking with one ADCOM.

Give me a break. Anyway, what's wrong with Austin? Which city places the most students in TX med schools?

I'll refrain form name calling..........

 

[CD]

I can't beleive any graduate school would do that! It makes me thankful for the chemistry program I'm in. In one of my classes, we started out fall term with 11 students, dropped to 6 winter term and swelled to 7 spring term! There was NEVER any suggestion of dropping the class because the graduate students are considered a resource....and we are (for the most part) a valued part of the chemistry community. You can't have a graduate program that doesn't take care of its' students.....I would say that programs days are numbered.

 

[OrthoFixation]

Originally posted by thackl
Well, I guess I'll just quit now....... take my 3.85/32 and crawl under a rock. I supose I can kill time day dreaming about what it would have been like to attend med school......... had I finished that engineering masters.




Off hand, I can think of 9 people who got into med school with partial masters (CS, Bio, MBA, Eng, etc). None of them went to a top, nationally ranked school like TAMU. They went to Baylor, Southwestern, UTSA, Northwestern, U of R and a few others. Now that I think about it, TAMU should offer an honorary masters to anyone who completes their secondary.

thackl, you really made me laugh on this one. Here, allow me to help dust off those crispy edges...looks like the flames are out.

I am in the same boat w/ half-a-Masters. With a BSME, I chose to pursue MS Environmental Engineering. Would anyone comment on my best explanation to adcoms??

In order of importance, the reasons were:
1) didnt really enjoy designing water/sewage plants, bioremediation, or filling out the mounds of paperwork required for environmental cleanup efforts;
2) my career took off & demanded mega time;
3) did an executive-MBA private university course more suited to my needs in biz (started 2 yrs after terminating MS program);
4) saw that MSEnvEng grads in my program were not making as much as I was already;
5) realized that Gore being defeated in 2000 would not increase the env biz opportunities!

I am glad to hear this is not going to be a fatal miscue, but I am interested in all TX schools. I would really appreciate any thoughts on how to best explain my decisions. BTW, my MS GPA was 3.75.