Masters or Post-Bac?

[Traumaturtle]

In my struggles to get into med school, I have talked to a lot of admission counselors about different paths I can go down. I have a B.A. in Religious Studies and a uGPA of about 2.4. I have yet to take the MCATS, but I have thousands of hours of medical ECs, I have work in an Emergency Room and I have some pretty good LORs. But someone has brought something new to my attention:

In talking to a counselor, they felt that although I wanted to pursue a post-bac program, maybe that isn't right for me. Instead, maybe what I need to do is go after a Masters degree. he said that would freeze my uGPA and although i need to still take my pre-reqs for med school, I could do that while going after a masters. This would allow me to start my GPA over in a sense.

Does that make sense? I would probably get my masters in Exercise Science and see if I can take the pre-med courses along the way. Or, does it just make more sense to try and do a post bac program? Assuming the GPA is the same after both, what would a medical school look at more fondly?


Comments, concerns, experiences, lotto numbers...I'll take it all!


~Trauma Turtle~
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[gman33]

Whether formal or not, you need post-bac work to do the pre-reqs. All post-bac means is UG coursework after you already haev a degree.

I would think you would be better off taking as much UG science coursework as you can before you start thinking about grad work. Your UG GPA is much more important. In fact, many would say the only grad coursework that would be worthwhile is a SMP.

 

[njbmd]

Graduate GPAs are not considered in the same light as undergraduate GPA. By obtaining a graduate degree, you do nothing about your previous low uGPA which is one the most important parts of your medical school application. It is far better for you to do postbacc work than enter a graduate program. Currently, unless you are in a special masters in physiology (like the one at Georgetown), a graduate degree is not going to be of much help to you as graduate degrees are considered like an extracurricular.

You need to raise your uGPA. Your pre-med coursework (provided you do well) can do this. The other thing that you need to consider is that most medical schools require you to finish any graduate degree work before matriculation. Depending on your course of study, that can delay your entrance into medical school.

Your best couse is a post bacc, especially one that has grade enhancement potential. That 2.4 is a bit low for many Special Masters but check out some websites and see what you can find. Good luck!

 

[sunny1]

Agree with gman. You do NOT want to freeze your uGPA and in fact, you thankfully will not since you still need to complete your prereqs. Even if you take your prereqs while pursuing a Master's, if your prereqs do not count towards your graduation requirements for the Master, they will still be counted as post-bacc GPA which boosts your uGPA I believe.

I think you will have an uphill battle with a cumulative 2.4 gpa as it stands and so as the other person said, you actually want to continue with your prereqs and classes to boost that GPA as much as you can.

So you have three options that I see: 1) just take your prereqs post-bacc informally, 2) do a SMP (others can tell you more about that), or 3) do the Master's in Exercise Science while also slowly completing your prereqs.

For #3, the only benefit that would confer is if you aren't sure you will end up in medicine and then you have a graduate degree to fall back on. It's not going to make you any more competitive in my opinion and, in fact, may detract your attention from getting the best grades possible in your prereqs. For #2, there is a forum on here about formal post-bacc programs and certainly others know a lot more about it. My concern for that route would be whether those prereqs would then count toward your uGPA or a grad GPA?

 

[Beast11]

In my struggles to get into med school, I have talked to a lot of admission counselors about different paths I can go down. I have a B.A. in Religious Studies and a uGPA of about 2.4. I have yet to take the MCATS, but I have thousands of hours of medical ECs, I have work in an Emergency Room and I have some pretty good LORs. But someone has brought something new to my attention:

In talking to a counselor, they felt that although I wanted to pursue a post-bac program, maybe that isn't right for me. Instead, maybe what I need to do is go after a Masters degree. he said that would freeze my uGPA and although i need to still take my pre-reqs for med school, I could do that while going after a masters. This would allow me to start my GPA over in a sense.

Does that make sense? I would probably get my masters in Exercise Science and see if I can take the pre-med courses along the way. Or, does it just make more sense to try and do a post bac program? Assuming the GPA is the same after both, what would a medical school look at more fondly?


Comments, concerns, experiences, lotto numbers...I'll take it all!
_________________

I agree with this recommendation in a sense. A masters program would allow you to try to take the pre-reqs at a greatly cheapened rate. Some masters programs will help pay with tuition. However, what I think the recommendation meant was a way of "doing no harm" to your application.

In brief-most M.A/M.S/Ph.D. programs are generally graded quite a bit easier, and so a graduate GPA is MUCH higher (less than 3.5 is virtually unheard in many cases). That said, the ADCOMS know this and don't give it as much weight, so you would have to try a few undergrad retakes. However, the prevailing wisdom is that you should finish a program (whichever you start) which may be 2 additional years for M.A. An informal post-bac, taken at the normal fees would probably cost about the same as a MA but the MA would carry a little more "weight" (sense of accomplishment).

Any other type of programs (SMP) is highly competitive and you would be at a disadvantage with your GPA. Furthermore, SMP is viewed as last chance-if you don't do well there, you would probably never get into med school (a really big black mark)

That said, there is no true "start over"-your uGPA is with your forever, for good or ill. You can try to mitigate it (higher level classes) but never erase it.

Good luck!

 

[Traumaturtle]

If I am able to go back and go through a post-bac program that is certified and obtain a 3.x in pre-med reqs, is getting a Masters even going to help me? I have plenty of EC stuff, so that isn't the issue, although this would definatly be unique as far as ECs go.

Thanks

~Traumaturtle~

 

[princekc]

In my struggles to get into med school, I have talked to a lot of admission counselors about different paths I can go down. I have a B.A. in Religious Studies and a uGPA of about 2.4. I have yet to take the MCATS, but I have thousands of hours of medical ECs, I have work in an Emergency Room and I have some pretty good LORs. But someone has brought something new to my attention:

In talking to a counselor, they felt that although I wanted to pursue a post-bac program, maybe that isn't right for me. Instead, maybe what I need to do is go after a Masters degree. he said that would freeze my uGPA and although i need to still take my pre-reqs for med school, I could do that while going after a masters. This would allow me to start my GPA over in a sense.

Does that make sense? I would probably get my masters in Exercise Science and see if I can take the pre-med courses along the way. Or, does it just make more sense to try and do a post bac program? Assuming the GPA is the same after both, what would a medical school look at more fondly?


Comments, concerns, experiences, lotto numbers...I'll take it all!


~Trauma Turtle~
_________________

would strongly recommend post-bac. Science focus...do very well..>30MCAT stressed!

 

[gman33]

If MD schools are your goal, you need 2-3 years of full-time UG coursework at close to 4.0, and then may need to follow up with a SMP.

DO schools are much more forgiving, so you may want to look into that option as well.

Don't think about grad degree until you take about 12-15 UG courses and boost your GPA. Also, you may want to start out slow, 1 course at a time, for the prereqs. With your low GPA, you really can't afford to get anything less than an A. If you start out poorly with the prereqs, you will find yourself in a hole that will be even harder to get out of.

 

[sawood]

I'm doing an MS in Biomed engineering. It may not be the same for you, but here's a few things to consider.

First, I'm doing my masters at the same school I got my undergrad engineering degree. This has made completing the MS much more streamlined. I'm not sure about tuition of post-baccs, but being a matriculated graduate student has afforded me nice things, such as cheaper tuition than someone who is not matriculated, availability of financial aid, priority registration each quarter (a big plus if you're trying to get the impacted undergrad science courses), and longer library loans and a graduate room in the library. I would look at what 'perks' are available for post-bacc vs masters.

Also, I faced having an undergrad degree that wasn't bio/medical related and the only prereqs I had were physics and gen chem (gen chem I got C's at a JC back in 1996). Bmed engineering bridged that gap and I felt good about being able to use my undergrad education because I do enjoy engineering as well. If there is a masters program that can provide a bridge between your undergrad and med school, linking them together, I would consider that.

I've had no problems taking extra classes for med school that are not counted towards my masters degree. Plus, when I started, I knew that it would be two full years before I matriculated to a med school, so why not get a masters degree while simultaneously fulfilling my prereqs? That way I do have something to fall back on, and I like the idea of having an advanced degree for all the time and work I put in.

The one biggest drawback is that yeah, I have to finish my masters degree, even if I get accepted to a school. I want to finish, but it would be nice to not have that pressure. I just found out this weekend that some things fell through with my thesis experiment, and being on such a short timeline is stressful.

Good luck, hopefully my rambling helps in some way.

 

[vicksx44]

This is from my own experience: although I did have a lot of medical EC's, my UG GPA sucked at ~2.8; so I did post-bacc work taking all required science/math/English courses and included Biochem and Cell Bio in the process. I did well with those courses, but I think what stood out was that I took the maximal load each semester and still did okay. I'm glad I took BC and CB as it really helped a great deal during M1.

I actually did the maximal load thing as per the advice from the admissions office. I did ask if a masters was necessary but they said that it really didn't matter. So I guess the moral is to ask the admissions office what they're looking for from applicants.

Oh, and even though I had a lot of medical EC's, they still wanted to see some volunteer (non-medical) work, which actually added to my personal statement and was usually asked about during the interviews.

I hope this helps a little. Good luck with your endeavors, you'll eventually get there.