was wonderin if anyone knows of any sources that show statistical data (e.g. acceptance rate) for med applicants with master degrees. do they place more emphasis on undergrad or grad gpa (assuming both are relatively high like sumwhere above 3.6)? how much leverage does having a masters degree actually have over a bachelors? anyone with personal experiences or know of anyone with this experience? please do tell
Masters Degree
- Thread starter yankdez
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I don't know any sites, but can tell you from my own inquiries that your undergraduate GPA plus any undergrad postbac is the primary GPA that med schools look at. Graduate degrees are considered, but for the most part the GPA won't help you much (but if you tank it could hurt you). SMPs or hard sci MSs look good if you can put together a track record of A's (it shows current success in the sciences, which some people need to demonstrate) but the actual degree isn't going to change thing such. Think of it as a fancy EC.
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I somewhat agree here- I can't speak to post-bacc work since I don't have it, but I got my masters, did stellar, and it most definitely helped me attain a letter of acceptance. I also had more interviews post-masters compared to when I just had my bachelors degrees. After 150+ undergrad hours, taking a year of postbac just wasn't going to significantly change my GPA (and medical schools acknowledged this when I called asking for feedback when I wasn't accepted the first time around). So, I thought of my masters as somewhat of a clean slate- and apparently, med schools did, too!
Good luck~
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post-bacc entails more undergraduate classes after your bachelors, but doesn't count towards a degree. these are still considered undergrad classes and thus still count towards your undergrad GPA. people usually do them to take the pre-reqs they need or just to boost UGrad GPA.can someone explain the difference between post-bacc, post-doc, and masters?? also, does SMP mean science masters prog? thanks guys. oh yea, and any more thoughts on the original question is welcomed
post-doc is an "internship" after receiving a PhD (or other doctorate), usually so someone can get experience in a specific field they may be interested in.
SMP is a special masters program. from what I understand, they're usually extremely rigorous and closely follow, if not exactly entail, a first-year medical school curriculum. they're hard to get into and don't offer a useful degree (from what I hear), but success in these programs very frequently leads to med school acceptance.
and a regular masters is just coursework after your bachelors that leads to a degree, usually obtained in 2 years (30-38 class hours). most people usually do research and write/defend a thesis, but there are sometimes options not to do a thesis (I'm not doing one). these courses don't count towards your undergraduate GPA because they're not undergraduate classes, so the grades in these courses aren't looked at when adcomms look at the UGrad GPA. they're good for getting a useful degree in a subject, showing continued academic success and interest, and getting research experience, but aren't quite as impressive as a SMP.
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