Post-Bac Pre-Med

Started by cokecanjedi
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cokecanjedi

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5+ Year Member
I am wrapping up my undergrad in psychology, and am somewhat regretting my decision. My plan is to work on gaining the prerequisite requirements for medical school. Would it be a terrible idea to pursue a MPH in Epidemiology while I complete these requirements?
 
gonnif said:
It would be a very inefficient and poor idea. MPH is at most, secondary importance in consideration by adcoms. Do well in your prereqs in post bacc and focus on MCAT. Med schools dont care what you major in, psych is fine
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My idea is that it will take me that long to finish the prereqs, might as well get a masters at the same time. My resume has no research to its credit also.
 
cokecanjedi said:
I am wrapping up my undergrad in psychology, and am somewhat regretting my decision. My plan is to work on gaining the prerequisite requirements for medical school. Would it be a terrible idea to pursue a MPH in Epidemiology while I complete these requirements?
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What would be the point? It would be a time distraction from the attention that you'd need to devote to the premed prereqs? Do you want to end up with B's because the MPH demands interfered with studying??

Don't hog-tie yourself. Just do the postbacc
 
PreMedMissteps said:
What would be the point? It would be a time distraction from the attention that you'd need to devote to the premed prereqs? Do you want to end up with B's because the MPH demands interfered with studying??

Don't hog-tie yourself. Just do the postbacc
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How much would not having research experience and no medical field experience hurt my chances of admission? Psychiatry is my intended field of practice if that matters at all. Not looking to get in to a top 40 or anything like that either. Just something close to home.

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cokecanjedi said:
How much would not having research experience and no medical field experience hurt my chances of admission? Psychiatry is my intended field of practice if that matters at all. Not looking to get in to a top 40 or anything like that either. Just something close to home.

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Get going on that. Volunteer, shadow, etc. when would the postbacc begin?

Do postbaccs offer any research opps?

Didn't you do any psych research as an undergrad?
 
No research yet. I'll graduate next summer and my 3 and 4 thousand level classes are just now starting, so I'm sure I'll get some research opportunities, but I'm online only right now. Where should I look for volunteering/shadowing. I work 8-5 m-f.

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cokecanjedi said:
No research yet. I'll graduate next summer and my 3 and 4 thousand level classes are just now starting, so I'm sure I'll get some research opportunities, but I'm online only right now. Where should I look for volunteering/shadowing. I work 8-5 m-f.

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All of your senior year classes will be online? Are you near the campus at all for research opps?

As for volunteering/shadowing.... volunteering can be done on weekends at a hospice or nursing home or whatever. Shadowing will be more difficult because you work a full week. Don't know if there are any docs in your area that have Sat morning hours...if so, you might try them. Don't know if some Doc in the Box places with weekend hours would let you shadow, but maybe.
 
PreMedMissteps said:
All of your senior year classes will be online? Are you near the campus at all for research opps?

As for volunteering/shadowing.... volunteering can be done on weekends at a hospice or nursing home or whatever. Shadowing will be more difficult because you work a full week. Don't know if there are any docs in your area that have Sat morning hours...if so, you might try them. Don't know if some Doc in the Box places with weekend hours would let you shadow, but maybe.
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Unfortunately about 9 hours away from campus, Texas is a big state. I will be reaching out to my professors for anything I can do to contribute to any research they have going on. Thanks for the ideas on volunteering and shadowing.

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Where will you be doing the postbacc? I don't think that can be done online. I think premed prereqs have to be done in classroom, but maybe I'm wrong.

Isn't there a CC or local state 4-year near you?
 
PreMedMissteps said:
Where will you be doing the postbacc? I don't think that can be done online. I think premed prereqs have to be done in classroom, but maybe I'm wrong.
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Yes I will do them locally in evenings, there is a community college and a small university nearby that offers what I still need.

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gonnif said:
As above .......

1) All actions have consequences. Taking in additional MPH coursework can impact the required prereqs. UG GPA and MCAT are the most important items. Grad GPA is at least a magnitude or two of less importance, even more so for MPH. a very poor use of time, money, resources
2) OP makes the assumption that MPH will always been seen as a positive by an adcom. This is false. MPH programs were often used by weak candidates to enhance or hide deficiencies and can raise that suspicion particularly if the applicant has no obvious public health background or connections
3) Clinical Volunteering and Community Service is of much higher importance than research, particularly at state schools as below

In a 2013 AAMC survey* where 127 medical admissions offices responded, found research experience is only of medium importance at private schools and of low importance to public schools as an experiential factor in offering both interview invitations and acceptance. Healthcare experience, community service/volunteer experience, experience with underserved populations, navigated through cultural barriers or challenges, leadership experience were considered of higher importance in factors for interview invites and offers of acceptances. This was further borne out in the 2015 AAMC Survey** where 130 medical school admissions found that both community service or volunteer in both medical and non-medical settings ranked higher in importance than physician shadowing

*https://www.aamc.org/download/434596/data/usingmcatdata2016.pdf#page=7
see page 3 (pdf p7) Table 1. Mean Importance Ratings of Academic, Experiential, and Demographic Application Data Used by Admissions Committees for Making Decisions about Which Applicants to Receive an Interview Invitation and Offer Acceptance (N=127)

** https://www.aamc.org/download/462316/data/mcatguide.pdf#page=10
See page 4 (pdf page 9) Table 1. Mean Importance Ratings of Academic, Experiential, Demographic, and Interview Data Used by Admissions Committees for Making Decisions about Which Applicants Receive Interview Invitations and Acceptance Offers (N=130)
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Okay so I do have volunteer experience, ongoing, but not medical, but is in rendering services to underserved populations. That will still help me correct?

One of the other ideas behind wanting to do the masters was something to fall back on if I don't get accepted.

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cokecanjedi said:
Yes I will do them locally in evenings, there is a community college and a small university nearby that offers what I still need.

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I have no idea if this is possible, but you could look into this. If you plan on doing the post bacc at a small univ near year, would it
cokecanjedi said:
Okay so I do have volunteer experience, ongoing, but not medical, but is in rendering services to underserved populations. That will still help me correct?


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Yes, but you still need some medically related clinical experiences.

As for the MPH as a career back up.....if you think it's needed, do it after the postbacc. Sounds like you'll be applying to Texas meds, so do the MPH then if you want.....but after the post bacc. Don't screw yourself up.

You're thinking like the premeds that do double majors as either back ups or to impress. They don't impress and they often damage the GPA, particularly the science GPA.
 
PreMedMissteps said:
I have no idea if this is possible, but you could look into this. If you plan on doing the post bacc at a small univ near year, would it


Yes, but you still need some medically related clinical experiences.

As for the MPH as a career back up.....if you think it's needed, do it after the postbacc. Sounds like you'll be applying to Texas meds, so do the MPH then if you want.....but after the post bacc. Don't screw yourself up.

You're thinking like the premeds that do double majors as either back ups or to impress. They don't impress and they often damage the GPA, particularly the science GPA.
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Would volunteering with mental health work as well, or more general practice clinical experiences?

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