Masters and Med School

[Whtsupdoc23]

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Hi , I was applying to med schools this summer, but as I am in my senior year of undergrad, I will be having a year off. In that year, I wanted to do a biomedical master's program. Is this advisable? Would this look good to med schools in that I would be enrolled in a Masters program like for example, when asked during my interviews? The classes that I would be taking in the program are what are included in the first year of med school so they would prep me well. Also, I don't have the best stats in terms of GPA, so I wanted to pursue masters as a backup plan either way in case I don't get accepted that year itself (hopefully, I will). Would this plan help me or is another plan more recommendable? Perhaps a student research program, or just taking that year to work or volunteer. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[theWUbear]

Hi , I was applying to med schools this summer, but as I am in my senior year of undergrad, I will be having a year off. In that year, I wanted to do a biomedical master’s program. Is this advisable? Would this look good to med schools in that I would be enrolled in a Masters program like for example, when asked during my interviews? The classes that I would be taking in the program are what are included in the first year of med school so they would prep me well. Also, I don’t have the best stats in terms of GPA, so I wanted to pursue masters as a backup plan either way in case I don’t get accepted that year itself (hopefully, I will). Would this plan help me or is another plan more recommendable? Perhaps a student research program, or just taking that year to work or volunteer. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Yes, this is a good plan. I was planning on doing research for a year or two, but my premed advisor said that "no amount of research will fix your weakness - which is the gpa". If your weakness is your gpa, an SMP may be the way to go.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Yes, this is a good plan. I was planning on doing research for a year or two, but my premed advisor said that "no amount of research will fix your weakness - which is the gpa". If your weakness is your gpa, an SMP may be the way to go.

however in fact it can...
having a few semesters of research can help extremely...

to the OP
a biomedical masters program wouldnt do much for you..
graduate school gpa wont be really cared about..

i cant really say much because your not giving me enough information about yours stats..
so i'll basically tell you this..
if your gpa stinks, and mcat is good, go to a SMP
if your gpa is good and mcat is bad, spend some time studying and retake it.
if there both bad.. well.. take a post-bacc to get your gpa up to at least a 3.0 and retake the mcat and try to aim for a 30+ and you'll be able to get into a SMP or you could apply broadly to DO schools and possibily get in.

 

[vanasme]

I agree with Serenade. A SMP would do more for you than a Masters. Also, consider doing an "informal" post-bacc to raise your undergrad GPA if a low GPA is the issue. I know a handful of people who took some upper level biology and chemistry courses they didn't take while they were an undergrad to raise their BCMP GPA and had quite a bit of success. Just a thought.

 

[mediterranean]

I agree with Serenade. A SMP would do more for you than a Masters. Also, consider doing an "informal" post-bacc to raise your undergrad GPA if a low GPA is the issue. I know a handful of people who took some upper level biology and chemistry courses they didn't take while they were an undergrad to raise their BCMP GPA and had quite a bit of success. Just a thought.

Well, the Master's OP mentioned is an SMP since it is the first year of medical school classes. Remember that they have names and schools don't call them SMP like we do.

 

[ShinyDome19]

If your looking to apply again next year, then definately dont do a masters program, as most masters degrees require more than 1 year to complete...I am not sure about SMP though.
As far as GPA wise, I am not sure how AMCAS treats graduate credit, but AACOMAS (DO programs), adds in the credits of graduate school to undergraduate and formulates an overall average...if your interested in this, do a search on my name, I have a couple postings in the DO premed forums that display a cut out of my application and how they average graduate credits..

 

[Whtsupdoc23]

What schools in Chicago have an SMP program and also what is OP ?