Masters Degree or Med School

[CRCPenn]

I am a postbac student (having graduated in good academic standing with a BA in English lit in '07). I am currently working FT in clinical research one of the Ivy League institutions and completing my prereqs concurrently (also in good academic standing). I have the option of pursuing conditional acceptance/linkage through my program or taking an additional year off and doing a one year masters in bioethics at the University where I am currently employed and then applying to a wider range of schools.

How/Where do admissions comittees factor in graduate GPA?

Will the extra year help/hurt my chances at admissions?

Specifics about credentials can be furnished upon request.

Thanks in advance for your time and consideration in addressing this matter.

W

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Bond8204]

How/Where do admissions comittees factor in graduate GPA?

IIRC, your cumulative GPA will include all undergraduate, postbac, and graduate work together. I think they will still be able to see your individual GPA's from each institution and level, but the reason a lot of people go into a postbac in the first place it to raise an uncompetitive science or cumulative GPA. Your postbacc program should've improved your chances of admission if you did well in it (the research experience helps as well).

If it were me, I'd pursue that conditional acceptance, especially if your post-bac program is some sort of pipeline into the medical program. If you fail, you'll find something else to do that will help your application (more research, a low-level hospital job, a different masters program). It's weird that you have to choose one or the other--are you sure you can't pursue the conditional acceptance and apply for that bioethics masters at the same time (using the masters program as a backup)?

A masters is a nice thing to have...but is sort of icing on the cake, especially if you've got a competitive application before it--another thing to consider is if you have to pay for it...how worthwhile is that money to you?

Sorry that that's kind of general, but then again, so was your post . If I were you I'd shoot for the conditional acceptance, especially if my application was already competitive, and if you fail, look to land on your feet elsewhere.

 

[littlealex]

Like Bond said, a masters degree makes an already strong application stronger. It doesn't really improve a weak application.
If the rest of your application is competitive, the schools would be impressed with the masters in bioethics. However, if your cumulative GPA wasn't enough to impress them independently, they are unlikely to care about the masters degree.

 

[armybound]

if you want to continue taking courses, I'd take them as a post-bac student to keep getting your undergrad GPA up, if it needs help. the master's grades won't really help you that much.

 

[Maxprime]

How/Where do admissions comittees factor in graduate GPA?

They don't really. There's no hard and fast "it means this much", but the general consensus is that it doesn't matter much. Grad GPAs are notoriously inflated, not all applicants have one, etc. - there aren't many good reasons to put a lot of weight into it.

I'm a good example - 2.6 UG GPA (before post-bacc) and have a 4.0 in my graduate program taking some relevant and difficult classes (neuroanatomy, biochem, nucleic acids, etc.) - NOBODY has cared so far.

Will the extra year help/hurt my chances at admissions?

Not a real issue. The extra degree and experience will make you a slightly better candidate, but no negative I can think of.

I can't say for non-research oriented graduate programs. But for me, my research and work outside of class has been overwhelmingly more important in terms of admissions.

 

[CRCPenn]

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to answer thus far--I greatly appreciate it.

To clarify I am not a postbac because of a poor undergrad GPA I'm a "career changer" (though that term does not technically apply since I got my BA in 2007). So I am not necessarily looking to use the masters as a way to make my gpa skyrocket.

I looked into it and linkage agreements are binding, so if I were to pursue linkage and be accepted I would be obligated to attend that medical school s. ever finding out if I would have been able to get into my actual top choice program, which would require the extra year before applying.

I guess I can't really have my cake and eat it too; but this has been something that's weighed really heavily on me over the last couple of months.

 

[njbmd]

IIRC, your cumulative GPA will include all undergraduate, postbac, and graduate work together.

This is not true. Graduate GPA is weighted like an extracurricular activity and does not influence uGPA. The uGPA/MCAT are the biggest factors in determining whether or not an applicant will be competitive for medical school.

If uGPA is below average, post bacc work will raise it but one can only do so much with post bacc as it will not offset many hours of poor uGPA. The average uGPA for matriculants entering in 2007 was 3.65 and the average MCAT score was 31. These were the averages so either the OP is above or below average on uGPA. Graduate GPA won't figure in this determination.

Whether or not the OP is competitive is dependent on the uGPA which is below average, average or above average. Since this person is a non-science major, it needs to be significantly above average for competitiveness. Graduate work isn't going to be of much help.

 

[sunny1]

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to answer thus far--I greatly appreciate it.

To clarify I am not a postbac because of a poor undergrad GPA I'm a "career changer" (though that term does not technically apply since I got my BA in 2007). So I am not necessarily looking to use the masters as a way to make my gpa skyrocket.

I looked into it and linkage agreements are binding, so if I were to pursue linkage and be accepted I would be obligated to attend that medical school s. ever finding out if I would have been able to get into my actual top choice program, which would require the extra year before applying.

I guess I can't really have my cake and eat it too; but this has been something that's weighed really heavily on me over the last couple of months.

You seem fairly confident of yourself as an applicant, so really the choice is whether to pursue a more secure spot at one school vs. get an additional degree and then apply more broadly. Do you feel confident that you can get a good score on the MCAT?

If so, and the school you would do the linkage with is not your top choice, then perhaps just wait and apply broadly when you are ready to see if you can get a spot at your preferred spot.

Personally I think a Master in Bioethics sounds interesting. And if it's only a one year program, that's a definite plus. Keep in mind that graduate GPA is calculated separately from your undergrad and postbacc GPA. If your undergrad and postbacc GPA are already competitive (which it sounds they are), great! I'd say get the Master degree in the field you want and then make sure you apply early the year that you are ready.


On a side note, if you're at Penn, just say you're at Penn. No reason to say you're at an "Ivy League institution" when Penn is in your username and we're all pretty much aware of which schools are Ivy League.