master's degrees and M.D. admission

[aggiecrew]

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I've read at different places in this forum and for a potential med school applicant with a low gpa, the only way to go is additional education to bring up the gpa. I've also read that it's a waste of time since adcoms just look at ugrad.

so which is true?

let's say you complete a master's degree with a good gpa, how much does this master's degree help you in your application? let's say 2.8 ugrad and 3.5 grad

thanks

 

[choocoman]

I've read at different places in this forum and for a potential med school applicant with a low gpa, the only way to go is additional education to bring up the gpa. I've also read that it's a waste of time since adcoms just look at ugrad.

so which is true?

let's say you complete a master's degree with a good gpa, how much does this master's degree help you in your application? let's say 2.8 ugrad and 3.5 grad

thanks

keep in mind masters gpa is usually super inflated.

 

[BSChemE]

I've read at different places in this forum and for a potential med school applicant with a low gpa, the only way to go is additional education to bring up the gpa. I've also read that it's a waste of time since adcoms just look at ugrad.

so which is true?

let's say you complete a master's degree with a good gpa, how much does this master's degree help you in your application? let's say 2.8 ugrad and 3.5 grad

thanks

Where did you hear that the grad GPA was not considered? Did you read that on a thread somewhere?

I have heard that your undergrad GPA and grad GPA are calculated separately. So, the only way to bring up your undergrad GPA is to do post-bacc undergrad courses.

It might still look bad on an application if you have a low undergrad GPA and a high grad GPA. But, that is just my opinion. I'm not an adcomm.

I really don't know whether admissions committees just look at undergrad grades. I would like to know that myself. Maybe someone else knows.

 

[choocoman]

i know a few schools that dont look at gradschool gpa. mssm, to name one

 

[BSChemE]

i know a few schools that dont look at gradschool gpa. mssm, to name one

How did you find out this information?

 

[choocoman]

How did you find out this information?

telephone

 

[BSChemE]

To the OP,
It is probably a good idea to contact the schools you are interested in to see if they consider the grad GPA.

 

[nina512]

I guess I'm SOL if schools only look at ugrad GPA. Hopefully I didn't apply to any ot those schools.

 

[asianpride]

its not just the gpa from a masters degree that will help you gain entrance to medical school. the masters degree may also provide you with experience(s) that your fellow applicants do not have. for instance, if you earn a masters degree in occupational therapy and have the opportunity to work at a nursing home - i think the adcoms would really like to see that. good luck.


ps: i earned a masters degree (by choice not out of low gpa) and it seemed to help. gave me much more to talk about in my interviews. i dont think i talked about undergrad (philosophy) or science pre-reqs one time during my interviews. all they wanted to hear about was my graduate experience and the work that i did afterwards. good luck again.

 

[BSChemE]

its not just the gpa from a masters degree that will help you gain entrance to medical school. the masters degree may also provide you with experience(s) that your fellow applicants do not have. for instance, if you earn a masters degree in occupational therapy and have the opportunity to work at a nursing home - i think the adcoms would really like to see that. good luck.


ps: i earned a masters degree (by choice not out of low gpa) and it seemed to help. gave me much more to talk about in my interviews. i dont think i talked about undergrad (philosophy) or science pre-reqs one time during my interviews. all they wanted to hear about was my graduate experience and the work that i did afterwards. good luck again.

I understand your point. We all know that everyone does not enter a Masters program in order to increase their chances of acceptance. But I think the OP wants to know will he/she will even be considered if his or her undergrad GPA is below the average of matriculants. The person wants to know if grad school will make a difference.

 

[John Deere Gree]

I did horrible in my master's program and had a respectable undergrad GPA and was accepted. Go figure.

 

[aggiecrew]

But I think the OP wants to know will he/she will even be considered if his or her undergrad GPA is below the average of matriculants. The person wants to know if grad school will make a difference.

yes, this is exactly what I'm looking to know, but I'm not sure if anyone out there is going to be familiar enough with adcoms to answer the question. still, if anyone knows if it makes a difference....please enlighten us. I'm in Texas by the way if anyone knows about grad school counting in Texas admissions.

thanks

 

[Phil Anthropist]

I think the OP wants to know will he/she will even be considered if his or her undergrad GPA is below the average of matriculants. The person wants to know if grad school will make a difference.

yes, this is exactly what I'm looking to know, but I'm not sure if anyone out there is going to be familiar enough with adcoms to answer the question. still, if anyone knows if it makes a difference....please enlighten us. I'm in Texas by the way if anyone knows about grad school counting in Texas admissions.

I don't know specifically about Texas schools...you should call them. There are medical schools that have cut-offs for undergraduate gpa and science gpa. So if your numbers don't cut it, you might not be given any consideration no matter how high your graduate gpa is. So let's say that you graduate with a 2.9 undergrad and a 2.9 bcpm. You would open up more doors if you at least got that up to a 3.0 doing a formal/informal post-bacc of undergraduate courses.

Can you get into a medical school with an undergrad cume gpa and science gpa less than 3? Yes, it's possible. There are specific "special master's programs" that are often designed for that purpose. For example, if you have a solid mcat, but low undergraduate and low science gpa, you still might have a chance of getting accepted to their own medical school (and perhaps others if you're lucky). Some schools specifically mention that they DO pay attention to graduate work (take a look at the MSAR and the websites of schools that you intend to apply to).

You might be wondering, "Why wouldn't adcoms take graduate gpa into consideration?" Well there's several reasons. An earlier poster mentioned that graduate gpa is often inflated. That's true for many programs. Another reason is rankings. When med schools report statistics for matriculants, the schools usually report undergraduate gpa and MCAT (maybe undergrad science gpa too). Even with a 3.9 graduate gpa, if you have a 2.8 undergrad, 2.8 undergrad science, and a 32 MCAT, your numbers would still bring their statistics down because your graduate gpa doesn't get represented in the stats. Also, undergraduate gpa is believed to be a better predictor of medical school performance. But again, I don't know about the Texas schools as I'm not applying to them, so you should get in contact them to find out their own policies on the matter.

I suggest you take a look at:

www.mdapplicants.com (do some searches and you'll get an idea of some people who were accepted because of graduate work)

and

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=94480

(it's a long thread and sometimes it digresses considerably, but there's some good points)

hope that helps a little...

 

[BSChemE]

To the OP,
I called a couple of schools and asked if they considered the graduate GPA. One school said that they consider everyhing. Another said that they only consider it is in a science like Biology or Chemistry. The Admissions Director flat out told me that they really don't consider Masters of Public Health degrees.

So, I guess it just depends on the school. I hope this helps.