Masters to Medical School

[doctor_inthe_making]

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[161MD]

I don't think it'll hurt you but what were you planning on using the Masters for? Is there a specific reason why you're doing it? You're going to just need to write something up during application season as to why you chose to spend your time there 🙂

If you're not going to do the Masters for any other reason besides raising your GPA, I'd say go for a linked SMP instead. You've got a stellar GPA for those programs and they have better overall chances for med school acceptance provided you do well in them.

 

[doctor_inthe_making]

Thank you for the reply. I'll definitely look into those, and others with contingent linkages into medical schools.

 

[161MD]

Sure! With a 3.47, however, I'm not completely sure if you'd be best served with an SMP. It's not the best GPA but it's certainly not bad, especially for DO or lower tier MDs, paired with a decent MCAT.

Perhaps consider the cheaper alternatives too - such as boosting hours for ECs or finding a clinical job 🙂

 

[Catalystik]

It is quite likely that I'll graduate with a 3.47 overall cumulative undergraduate gpa. Although my end goal is to go to medical school, I want to get my masters in Biomedical Sciences first. I'm likely going to defer taking the MCAT until the summer after the first year of my masters program. I believe that I'll have more time to gain research and volunteer experience, as well as having a high grad school gpa. I believe that the difficulty of the classes could also prepare me some for medical school.

I guess my question is whether this route would hurt my application for medical school (MD)?

You'd be better served by a straight A performance in another year of undergrad coursework, whether you do so by delaying graduation or by engaging in postbac work. The vast majority of med schools don't judge one by traditional masters GPAs, as they don't allow comparison to applicants who don't have one, and are widely considered to be grade-inflated. The associated research and (potentially) teaching opportunities can be gained in other ways.

 

[doctor_inthe_making]

Sure! With a 3.47, however, I'm not completely sure if you'd be best served with an SMP. It's not the best GPA but it's certainly not bad, especially for DO or lower tier MDs, paired with a decent MCAT.

Perhaps consider the cheaper alternatives too - such as boosting hours for ECs or finding a clinical job 🙂

Yes you're quite right, it is not as terrible as I was thinking. I'm hoping to knock out the MCAT this summer. My goal is to get into an MD school with a focus in research, and get into a good residency program in Emergency Medicine. Does the ranking of the medical school necessarily matter, in terms of matching to residencies?

 

[161MD]

I'm probably not the best person to ask about residency matching, I'm going through the cycle myself and have just been repeating things I've learned. I am currently in a gap year so I had many of the same questions you do now. 🙂

You can search for your question in the Allopathic forum (where med students are) or see if you can find anything posted by some of our resident adcoms instead! ~

 

[doctor_inthe_making]

I'm probably not the best person to ask about residency matching, I'm going through the cycle myself and have just been repeating things I've learned. I am currently in a gap year so I had many of the same questions you do now. 🙂

You can search for your question in the Allopathic forum (where med students are) or see if you can find anything posted by some of our resident adcoms instead! ~

Thanks for the help, and good luck in your application process!

 

[161MD]

Of course, good luck to you as well! Thanks 🙂

 

[Sardinia]

You'd be better served by a straight A performance in another year of undergrad coursework, whether you do so by delaying graduation or by engaging in postbac work. The vast majority of med schools don't judge one by traditional masters GPAs, as they don't allow comparison to applicants who don't have one, and are widely considered to be grade-inflated. The associated research and (potentially) teaching opportunities can be gained in other ways.

I understand this is not necessarily your position, but I think adcoms turning a blind eye to the systemic subversion of grades in undergrad sciences is absurd. If they are actually looking for bias when it comes to academic rigor then they have many options, however there is far more potential to manipulate your GPA in basic course work than there is for post-bachelor work.

It's been awhile, however I had to turn a blind eye to what other students were doing because I wanted to learn the material. However, I came out with my B.S. very jaded in the reliability of the grading system when I understood how many avenues different people pursued to reverse engineer the exam so they wouldn't have to worry about actually having to perform when it came to test day.

 

[Catalystik]

I understand this is not necessarily your position

Thank you for refraining from "shooting the messenger."