One year master's vs. more undergrad

[Sahren]

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[DrMidlife]

3.6/3.4 says you can handle rigorous coursework over a long period of time. That's a completely reasonable GPA for applying to med school.

What's your MCAT status?

 

[DrMidlife]

30S: 8/11/11

The problem is, I've gotten one C or D in science courses (mostly pre-reqs) EVERY semester of my first 3 years in college. I've retaken the most awful grades but not for much improvement (C/D to B/C). My last two semesters I've completely avoided chemistry and physics so I've been able to bring my GPA up to this point (bringing the sGPA up with some upper division bio classes). My professors have all advised I wait the extra year so I can improve my application.

Oh ok, for once professors are giving good advice. (Usually they're delusional.)

Your GPA calcs may be overly optimistic for MD schools. DO schools will forgive the old grade when you repeat, but MD schools do not. All grades count, and your college's GPA calculations don't count at all. So don't use your college's GPA from your transcript. Do a spreadsheet or whatever.

30S on the MCAT says you weren't sleeping through the prereqs, but a couple more points would help before you apply.

How about a real SMP, like Georgetown? That would be more helpful than the other 2 choices. I'm not sure if more undergrad would be demonstrative, since a 3rd try on a prereq would be lame and you've already done some upper div science.

Basically, yes, do another year, but make it a really hard year where you show A's under pressure, in a way that med school admissions committees can understand. The one-year masters program might be harder to understand than a good SMP or more undergrad.

Best of luck to you.

 

[bkprodigy]

I'm going to retake the MCAT eventually, and I did apply to one real SMP but who knows if I'll get in. Thank you for the advice!

Edit: Also, you're right about the GPA. For AMCAS it's a 3.45/3.3, but the GPA I listed at first is for AACOMAS and TMDSAS (only slightly different from DO GPA).

Don't jump the gun too soon on the real SMP before you feel like you are ready. If you were struggling with undergraduate science, then there's a good chance you may feel the SMP like a nightmare.

I would take a year reinforcing science and concretely grasping an efficient way of studying a large volume of materials. Then you can either apply or go for an SMP if you choose to do so.

 

[bkprodigy]

So would you suggest maybe taking another year of upper division sciences in undergrad next year? Or could the one year master's work better for this?

Take a bunch of upper division science courses in undergrad for a year. If you can handle 5+ upper division science classes in a semester (and what I mean by being able to handle is getting close to a 4.0), then you can handle any SMP.

To put things into perspective, I have done 3 semesters filled with upper division science courses. Now that I am taking these medical school courses, I think that I would not have done as well had I not done those classes in the undergrad.

There are a few who do well without having to do a postbac, but these kids have done well throughout their college life, put in more time, yet still lack the diverse background info that you can only get from taking a variety of upper division biology/biochemistry courses.

 

[bkprodigy]

So would you suggest maybe taking another year of upper division sciences in undergrad next year? Or could the one year master's work better for this?

I'm just asking because assuming I don't get into the SMP (or don't feel ready), I want to do the most for my application in that time. I don't know if a .15-.2 increase in my sGPA would be better than say a 3.5+ gGPA in a pseudo-SMP.

The purpose of doing the undergrad post-bac is

1. getting yourself better prepared aside from all the gpa, admission concerns
2. show the committee that you can get a 4.0 which will have more impact than raising the gpa by an increment

 

[bkprodigy]

True. Thanks for the advice. I still don't know exactly what I'm going to do, but I'll go ahead and contact my local university to figure out how to even apply as a second bachelor's student.

I hear ya.
I graduated with a biology degree, and they just let me re-enroll as a biochemistry major. I talked to my advisor about my plan, and he let me customize my schedule. You should be able to do the same.

Gluck