I am in my last year of my Master's program and am in the process of applying to medical schools. If I don't get accepted, I will apply next year again but I'm not sure what I should do next year. My options so far are to either transfer to a PhD or find a healthcare/research job. Does anyone have any ideas of what I could do to improve my medical school application? Any suggestion would be helpful.
Master's students
- Thread starter adam17
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Depends on your application. Most people here will tell you not to pursue a PhD unless you truly are interested in doing so. If your MCAT score is not strong, spend some time studying and retaking it. If your app is lacking in clinical experiences, volunteering, or research, then work on that for the year. I'm a reapplicant and I think schools really consider reapplicants who truly show that they want to be a physician, so if you don't get accepted this year, do anything you can in your gap year to prove that. For example, since my last application cycle, I have started a masters program (which I will finish this year), done more shadowing, started a research project, taken on two volunteer positions, and gone on a medical mission trip. (I've had 2 years though, not 1.)
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the PhD idea is not a good one if you end up applying again for 2012. Medical schools want to see that you will have completed whatever program you're in by the expected matriculation date.
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Yes. This.
Also, what you decide to do in your "year off" should be tailored to the weakness(es) of your application.
If you are light on volunteering, do that. If you have poor grades - take part-time classes, if at all possible, maybe even full time classes. No research? Try to find a research job. Just depends on what your deal is. 👍
I think one of my weaknesses is my undergrad GPA, but how can I improve that when I already graduated with a B.Sc. and M.Sc. degree? To take more courses, full-course load to be considered by Adcom, I would have to pursue another degree right?
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Average stats would help. Did you perform substantially better in your masters than in undergrad?
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Not necessarily. There are a number of things you could do.
What I personally did to boost my UG sGPA a tad was to take undergrad classes WHILE I was taking my master's classes. But since you already have your master's, unless you are going back for another master's, that might not be an option.
Many schools will allow you to take undergrad classes as a "non-degree seeking candidate". You can look into that. You could also do community college, but CC classes are generally not as highly regarded by ADCOMs. However, they are an option if money is tight. [Also, I don't know exactly what kind of post-bacc you would be eligible for if you've already taken all the pre-med requirements - you should ask someone who's done a post-bacc.] Just a few options, I guess.
Doing well in master's classes, in general, doesn't offset the UG GPA by much, but I'm sure it doesn't hurt.
Your exact plan may need to depend on your exact stats...
