Masters before medical school?

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juliah42

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I'm currently a sophomore in college & I'm trying to decide to get my masters before medical school or not. I transferred and changed my major so I'm a little behind on my sciences, so I can't take my mcat on time, but I will graduate in two years though. My GPA is fine, but getting my masters could raise it up to where I'm very competitive for medical school. Since I can't take my mcat on time I'll probably have to take a gap year, which I don't want to do. I'm thinking about getting my masters before medical school and I'm hoping to get advice if that's a good thing to do or not. I love sports medicine and I want to be an orthopedic surgeon, so would getting my masters in athletic training look good to medical schools? If not, I'm also open to getting my MPH, but I'm more interested in sports medicine. I'm currently a student athletic trainer at my university. Any feedback would be much appreciated!!


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Keep in mind that master's degree programs are prime money-makers for universities because usually they aren't funded. It'll cost you a lot out of pocket.
 
I don't want to get my masters just for the sole reason that it'll raise my gpa. I don't want to take a gap year and be out of school. That's why I've been considering it.


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aldol16 said:
Keep in mind that master's degree programs are prime money-makers for universities because usually they aren't funded. It'll cost you a lot out of pocket.
Click to expand...

I'm paying for school with loans, I can't do that for a masters program?


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gonnif said:
graduate GPA is not combined with undergraduate GPA for medical school admissions. It would be a waste of time, effort, and money to do take a masters to under the mistaken belief it will increase your overall GPA.
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If I'm not going through a masters program to raise my gpa. My gpa is fine. I just want to know if it'll hurt me or help me for medical school?


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juliah42 said:
I don't want to get my masters just for the sole reason that it'll raise my gpa. I don't want to take a gap year and be out of school. That's why I've been considering it.


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Click to expand...

MPH or Masters in Athletic whatever will not help you.

Most students go in thinking "oh MD schools will see how well I did in my Masters and give me a chance" but in reality they do absolutely nothing for you because programs know the grade inflation and degree of course difficulty is rampant and easy.

Please do not get a Master's just to get a Master's. Unless it is an SMP or something marketable (finance, accounting, IT, software developing), it will do little and sink you 40k+ in the hole with high interest rates.
 
juliah42 said:
I'm paying for school with loans, I can't do that for a masters program?
Click to expand...

You can, but I would think seriously about the value added you get from the master's degree. Paying for an undergraduate degree via loans is common and you get your bachelor's degree from it which is pretty much required to get into med school. But what value do you get from a master's degree that is going to be just as costly on an per annum basis?
 
juliah42 said:
I'm currently a sophomore in college & I'm trying to decide to get my masters before medical school or not. I transferred and changed my major so I'm a little behind on my sciences, so I can't take my mcat on time, but I will graduate in two years though. My GPA is fine, but getting my masters could raise it up to where I'm very competitive for medical school. Since I can't take my mcat on time I'll probably have to take a gap year, which I don't want to do. I'm thinking about getting my masters before medical school and I'm hoping to get advice if that's a good thing to do or not. I love sports medicine and I want to be an orthopedic surgeon, so would getting my masters in athletic training look good to medical schools? If not, I'm also open to getting my MPH, but I'm more interested in sports medicine. I'm currently a student athletic trainer at my university. Any feedback would be much appreciated!!


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Click to expand...

Rule #1 about graduate school, if it's not fully funded, you're doing it wrong. That includes masters.

A masters in and of itself has no bearing on admissions, what you make of it matters more. If doing a masters leads to publishing research then the research is the real meat and potatoes.

I'd save the year if all else is fine and use it later if need be. We only have so many years.
 
efle said:
...why? Work sucks sometimes, but a master's isn't going to be enough fun to be worth a thousand dollars of debt per week
Click to expand...

If I had to do it again I'd actually work more and do research instead of going into a Masters just to stay in school.

OP needs to rethink strategy. If they are justifying their masters with their ego, it is a huge amount of money that provides no real marketable use.
 
juliah42 said:
I'm paying for school with loans, I can't do that for a masters program?
Click to expand...
I feel like you're missing the point here.

You're going to have to pay those loans back. Depending on the kind of loans that were available to you, your student loan debt will just be sitting and accumulating interest while you're in med school. Add debt from a masters on top of that and then debt from med school 😵

If it were adding significant value then yes, that would make sense. But it's not. Use your time to become a more competitive applicant. What are your ECs like? Do you have research experience? Do you have clinical work or volunteer experience?
 
I have a different opinion. While I normal masters may not work out for you, and SMP type program can make you competitive for medical school. I was very uncompetitive 2 years ago, but did an SMP program at WSUSOM. It was extremely difficult but I did very well and was excepted into multiple MD programs earlier this cycle. What you need to do is do your hw on the program itself. Call medical schools that you are interested in and ask them if they have a preference on SMP programs (for example, all the MI-MD schools are familiar with WSU's SMP).
 
juliah42 said:
I'm currently a sophomore in college & I'm trying to decide to get my masters before medical school or not. I transferred and changed my major so I'm a little behind on my sciences, so I can't take my mcat on time, but I will graduate in two years though. My GPA is fine, but getting my masters could raise it up to where I'm very competitive for medical school. Since I can't take my mcat on time I'll probably have to take a gap year, which I don't want to do. I'm thinking about getting my masters before medical school and I'm hoping to get advice if that's a good thing to do or not. I love sports medicine and I want to be an orthopedic surgeon, so would getting my masters in athletic training look good to medical schools? If not, I'm also open to getting my MPH, but I'm more interested in sports medicine. I'm currently a student athletic trainer at my university. Any feedback would be much appreciated!!


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Click to expand...

Take the gap year without doing the masters. The masters will do nothing for you in terms of competitiveness for med school, since you already have a good gpa. Get a part time job (medically preferred) study for and ace the MCAT!


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pnwhmt said:
I feel like you're missing the point here.

You're going to have to pay those loans back. Depending on the kind of loans that were available to you, your student loan debt will just be sitting and accumulating interest while you're in med school. Add debt from a masters on top of that and then debt from med school 😵

If it were adding significant value then yes, that would make sense. But it's not. Use your time to become a more competitive applicant. What are your ECs like? Do you have research experience? Do you have clinical work or volunteer experience?
Click to expand...

Of course I know that I have to pay the loans back. I'm currently in a pre medical club & hope to be apart of the executive board soon. I'm also a CNA & student athletic trainer at my university. I volunteer at Texas children's hospital. I just applied for a research opportunity, but haven't done any yet. I have recently had a few medical problems so I haven't been able to really try to get a research opportunity.


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wayneBMSpremed said:
I have a different opinion. While I normal masters may not work out for you, and SMP type program can make you competitive for medical school. I was very uncompetitive 2 years ago, but did an SMP program at WSUSOM. It was extremely difficult but I did very well and was excepted into multiple MD programs earlier this cycle. What you need to do is do your hw on the program itself. Call medical schools that you are interested in and ask them if they have a preference on SMP programs (for example, all the MI-MD schools are familiar with WSU's SMP).
Click to expand...

Thank you for your input! What exactly is a SMP? What do you study & how long does it take to complete? I've never heard of it before now.


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Weirdy said:
If I had to do it again I'd actually work more and do research instead of going into a Masters just to stay in school.

OP needs to rethink strategy. If they are justifying their masters with their ego, it is a huge amount of money that provides no real marketable use.
Click to expand...

Lol who said I was justifying my masters with my ego? I enjoy being in school & just wanted to know if it was a good route to take. I didn't ask the question to be insulted.


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wayneBMSpremed said:
I have a different opinion. While I normal masters may not work out for you, and SMP type program can make you competitive for medical school. I was very uncompetitive 2 years ago, but did an SMP program at WSUSOM. It was extremely difficult but I did very well and was excepted into multiple MD programs earlier this cycle. What you need to do is do your hw on the program itself. Call medical schools that you are interested in and ask them if they have a preference on SMP programs (for example, all the MI-MD schools are familiar with WSU's SMP).
Click to expand...
They're halfway into sophomore year right now, I don't think we should be recommending plans for salvaging an app like SMP yet!
 
juliah42 said:
Lol who said I was justifying my masters with my ego? I enjoy being in school & just wanted to know if it was a good route to take. I didn't ask the question to be insulted.
Click to expand...
Why are you planning on a gap at all if you're only 3 or 4 semesters in, btw?
 
juliah42 said:
Thank you for your input! What exactly is a SMP? What do you study & how long does it take to complete? I've never heard of it before now.


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Click to expand...
SMP is what less competitive applicants (poor GPA) do to prove that they can handle the rigors and stress of medical school course work. Totally irrelevant to you if your GPA is solid as you say. This would be absolutely pointless.
 
juliah42 said:
Of course I know that I have to pay the loans back. I'm currently in a pre medical club & hope to be apart of the executive board soon. I'm also a CNA & student athletic trainer at my university. I volunteer at Texas children's hospital. I just applied for a research opportunity, but haven't done any yet. I have recently had a few medical problems so I haven't been able to really try to get a research opportunity.


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Click to expand...
I know you know, but the interest rate on loans for a masters will be higher and you will be accumulating debt without an income for quite some time. You have to look at the bigger picture.

Focus on getting into a lab and doing research. This should be much more concerning to you than talking about a masters program. Have you shadowed physicians in different specialties? If not, this should also be on your list. Do you have any non-clinical volunteer experience? Again, way more important to be considering than a masters.
 
efle said:
Why are you planning on a gap at all if you're only 3 or 4 semesters in, btw?
Click to expand...

Oh is a SMP like a last resort type thing? I'm 4 semesters in. I fell behind on my science courses due to medical problems, transferring, & changing majors. Since I fell behind the odds of me taking my MCAT spring of my junior year isn't very likely.


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juliah42 said:
Oh is a SMP like a last resort type thing? I'm 4 semesters in. I fell behind on my science courses due to medical problems, transferring, & changing majors. Since I fell behind the odds of me taking my MCAT spring of my junior year isn't very likely.


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Click to expand...
Yes. It's a special masters program applicants with lower GPAs complete to be considered more competitive.
 
juliah42 said:
Oh is a SMP like a last resort type thing? I'm 4 semesters in. I fell behind on my science courses due to medical problems, transferring, & changing majors. Since I fell behind the odds of me taking my MCAT spring of my junior year isn't very likely.


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Click to expand...
For most people it is a last option if grade repairs and an attempted cycle have not done the trick, in large part because of the costs. 50k is a lot to spend unnecessarily.

You can take the MCAT in the early summer as well (e.g. June) and be ok! If you're going to need extra time for certain though, I'd look into finding work you'd enjoy that would let you avoid the debt and save up some money for the rather expensive application process. For example teaching, research work, or work in clinics are common choices.
 
pnwhmt said:
I know you know, but the interest rate on loans for a masters will be higher and you will be accumulating debt without an income for quite some time. You have to look at the bigger picture.

Focus on getting into a lab and doing research. This should be much more concerning to you than talking about a masters program. Have you shadowed physicians in different specialties? If not, this should also be on your list. Do you have any non-clinical volunteer experience? Again, way more important to be considering than a masters.
Click to expand...

I've shadowed an orthopedic surgeon & a pediatric physician. No, I don't have any non clinical experience. I'm hoping to do a lot of resume building over the summer.


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efle said:
For most people it is a last option if grade repairs and an attempted cycle have not done the trick, in large part because of the costs. 50k is a lot to spend unnecessarily.

You can take the MCAT in the early summer as well (e.g. June) and be ok! If you're going to need extra time for certain though, I'd look into finding work you'd enjoy that would let you avoid the debt and save up some money for the rather expensive application process. For example teaching, research work, or work in clinics are common choices.
Click to expand...

Oh I didn't know that I could take the MCAT in June!! That makes me feel a lot better. Thank you so so much!


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taking a gap year to make money, travel, prep for med school > a masters. A masters will simply cost you money with no advantage in admissions. In fact, it can hurt you if you do not do well in it (like 3.8-3.9 well). The only potential benefit in a masters is if the masters is in something like medical physiology or a degree that covers courses in medical school. Everything else is a waste of time and money.
 
juliah42 said:
I'm currently a sophomore in college & I'm trying to decide to get my masters before medical school or not. I transferred and changed my major so I'm a little behind on my sciences, so I can't take my mcat on time, but I will graduate in two years though. My GPA is fine, but getting my masters could raise it up to where I'm very competitive for medical school. Since I can't take my mcat on time I'll probably have to take a gap year, which I don't want to do. I'm thinking about getting my masters before medical school and I'm hoping to get advice if that's a good thing to do or not. I love sports medicine and I want to be an orthopedic surgeon, so would getting my masters in athletic training look good to medical schools? If not, I'm also open to getting my MPH, but I'm more interested in sports medicine. I'm currently a student athletic trainer at my university. Any feedback would be much appreciated!!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
Click to expand...

a master's degree won't raise your undergraduate GPA, which is the important number.
 
Use your gap year to earn and save some money. Yes, you'll have loans for med school, but you'll also want some extra money for various expenses.
 
Echo what everyone else is saying. Do what you enjoy, make some money.

I got a master's in the humanities before med school, because I wanted to. Wouldn't have done it any other way.
 
Ohh that's cool. OP if you can get scholarship to study whatever you're into for a year like above, that would be an awesome gap
 
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