M.S. in Bio any use for Post Med school?

[Az1698]

I was thinking about doing an M.S. in Bio. I was wondering, is there any benefit for a M.S. after medical school? After I get the M.D., will the M.S. matter? If I apply to a competitive residency or fellowship, could this be an advantage over other? and lastly, would this be worth the time and money? Thanks!

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[shiftingmirage]

It might be useful if you do any kind of clinical research, but I think the MD will cover you no matter what you do after you graduate. Depending on your situation, the MS could be important in the adcoms decision to interview you. If you're a ok applicant, but not stellar, the MS might be the thing that makes the adcom invite you for an interview. Plus it's an experience. I met an MD/PhD who said he doesn't use the PhD really at all but said he is happy he got it because he got to do some things that he would have never done with just the MD.

 

[dbrokut]

if you have a year off, do an SMP instead. There is, IMHO, no point in doing regular two-year MS if you're gonna be MD.

 

[jxc]

I'm doing a 2 yr hard-science MS at Rutgers/UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. My concentration is Cell and Developmental Biology. My professor in undergrad told me it could only benefit me in the long run. Plus my advisors teach at the medical school and I work in the UMDNJ labs.

This joint program allows me to take med school courses with first years and regular grad school courses/lab rotations. When you graduate, you get a degree from both schools. The only thing is there are only 7 master's students in my program so it is competitive.

I think you should go for it. 2 years isn't a long time for something you want to do. (At least for me... I'm 22...)

 

[Az1698]

Well, It would be the regular 4 years of undergrad for me to get this degree. ANyone else know any benefits?

 

[JJMrK]

If you have the stats it's probably better financially just to apply to med school. If you're interested in public health or something, it might make sense to do an MPH.

 

[JokerMD]

there is very little (if any) advantage to getting a masters degree prior to med school. if you get the degree while you're in med school, and pump out some great pubs in the field you wanna go into, it could help.

 

[Az1698]

If you have the stats it's probably better financially just to apply to med school. If you're interested in public health or something, it might make sense to do an MPH.

I have a full scholarship, so no financial differences. Basically I want to know, should I work harder in Ugrad to get this degree or just leave it and take the easy way out? If it helps for the future, I will def. Do it.

 

[Az1698]

I have a full scholarship, so no financial differences. Basically I want to know, should I work harder in Ugrad to get this degree or just leave it and take the easy way out? If it helps for the future, I will def. Do it.

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[Dreaming big]

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Anyone know?

 

[TexasPhysician]

I think the MS will help you get into medical school.

Once you matriculate into medical school, I can't see the MS being useful. Nothing pays better than seeing patients, so actually using your MS, MBA, MPH, etc. often decreases your future earnings......weirdly enough.

I've seen some residency fields accepting a higher percentage of phd's (derm, rad onc, etc.), but a masters degree usually doesn't make much of a difference.

I would only get the MS if you want it for personal reasons. Don't expect to ever benefit financially from it if I were you.

 

[TopSecret]

Once you matriculate into medical school, I can't see the MS being useful. Nothing pays better than seeing patients, so actually using your MS, MBA, MPH, etc. often decreases your future earnings......weirdly enough.

With an MBA or MPH you'll probably work fewer hours, though. So your dollars per hour go up.

 

[TexasPhysician]

With an MBA or MPH you'll probably work fewer hours, though. So your dollars per hour go up.

Maybe you can explain your reasoning because I have heard quite the opposite from numerous people.

With an MPH: Many people do some epidemiology research or academics stuff or international work. All of this pays worse than just have a private practice and seeing patients fulltime. An MPH does not help you see patients any quicker or raise your hourly rate.

With an MBA: I guess you could use your knowledge in business to help run the business side of your private practice. However, "opportunity cost" in economics would prove this to be financially unsound. Instead of work 50 hours/week in clinic + 10 hours/week of accounting/business, you would make more by working 60 hours/week in clinic and paying someone else to do the 10 hours/week of business issues. You could also use the MBA for academics - also decreases your hourly wage compared to private practice.

Unless you use your MBA to start a profitable corporation (a very small percentage of MBA/MD's do this), you make less money by using it.

In fact, the majority of people I have seen doing the MD/MBA or MD/MPH have completely neglected the knowledge they learned outside of medicine and never use it.

I can't think of a single use of a plain MS that would increase your hourly wage.....unless this gives you a slight hourly wage increase in an academic setting. If you are doing academics anyway, you aren't thinking about maximizing your income anyway......

 

[CoolWhipp]

Not much use.

 

[MaryLennox]

I'm doing a 2 yr hard-science MS at Rutgers/UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. My concentration is Cell and Developmental Biology. My professor in undergrad told me it could only benefit me in the long run. Plus my advisors teach at the medical school and I work in the UMDNJ labs.

This joint program allows me to take med school courses with first years and regular grad school courses/lab rotations. When you graduate, you get a degree from both schools. The only thing is there are only 7 master's students in my program so it is competitive.

I think you should go for it. 2 years isn't a long time for something you want to do. (At least for me... I'm 22...)

i am getting my masters too and i was going to say, if your plan is med school, getting the MS probably won't add to your knowledge base much- all the classes i've taken have essentially been some version of what the med students are learning, just in different amounts. (ie i think i learned more immuno than the average med student, but less pharm.) it might make med school easier, but it wont give you a career advantage or anything especially to do it after med school. if you do it before at least it might help your app.

but you don't have to. i only did because i wasnt a premed in undergrad, and therefore didn't qualify for SMPs either. and i couldn't do postbacc studies as a student-at-large because i needed the financial aid from a degree program so here i am. i'd say if you dont need to, don't.