I'm posting this here instead of in the Postbacc section in the hope that it will be seen by more people (and therefore get the benefit of more knowledge/opinions).
So far I am on four waitlists this year. I hope dearly to get off one of them, and that would solve all of my problems. In the meantime, I've decided to apply to some Master's programs.
I applied to six and have, so far, gotten into three: The MSMS at Univ. South Florida, the MS in Physiology in Cincinnati, and (as this thread would suggest), the MS in Nutrition at Columbia.
My knowledge of their MS in Nutrition, for starters, came directly from the AAMC's
list of "academic-record enhancers". And that's supposedly an official source. But the consensus on SDN over the years (which I've been Googling) makes it seem like it is no less than a piece of crap and more worthless than doing anything else with your time.
There are a few positive posts I could find:
(1)
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=5822273&postcount=1/
(2)
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=5196067&postcount=9
But I also found a lot of people saying that ad coms looked unfavorably (not just neutrally, but
unfavorably) upon "non-traditional/non-SMP" Master's programs. It seems to me as though unless you're doing a Master's in something totally non-related (like, material and packaging sciences), there would seem to be benefit in broadening your horizons, but maybe I'm not ad com material.
The other thing is that I'm not quite looking for this to boost my record: my stats are "okay": ~3.5 sGPA, ~3.7 cGPA, 30Q MCAT, and I'm studying to retake the MCAT this summer (though decision on that is still pending).
So my question is, although the program is expensive (and that is no doubt a minus instead of a plus), would it be a minus
for my record if I decided to go? Here's a
link to their planned curriculum for the coming year. The course descriptions seem to indicate that they will undoubtedly tie in to such things as physiology, metabolism, biochemistry, and disease, all of which will be encountered in med school.
I know this was a long post, but does anyone have any thoughts?