People are too quick to disregard graduate school. It has done wonders for me (2 MD acceptances and a forthcoming decision in the near future from another MD).
I was able to take core program courses plus whatever other classes I wanted. More importantly, I was paid to attend graduate school through an assistantship that provided me with invaluable experiences via research and tutoring. In my opinion, grad school is much better than an smp (and my wallet agrees). The people who say that it doesn't look impressive either underperformed, didn't take full advantage of available opportunities, or, more likely, never attended graduate school and need to justify their choice of paying mega bucks for a smp.
Every interviewer thus far has talked extensively about my graduate education (note, it is not in a traditional 'hard' science). My only advice...stay away from an mph. Look into graduate education, it is not the 'pit' that sdn makes it out to be. My school has a med tech program and ai know several students who are holding MD acceptances from the program. And if you fail to get into medical school, at least you have a degree that can grant you a salaried position to hold you over until reapplication.
Note: I entered grad school without an extensive scientific background.
