same old dilemma

[SolNiger]

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Hi Everyone,

i've read a lot of posts in the archives and you all seem very experienced and helpful hence i've decided to present my situation and ask for some (personalized) advice.

I just finished my undergrad with an extremely unstellar GPA, but I have a good MCAT 30Q: 9 physical, 11 verbal, 10 biological. I have a lot of research experience and I actually LOVE research (and i'm good at it too according to all the profs I've worked with so reccomendation letters will probably not be an issue)

I want to get an MD and become a neurologist (the most academic of specialties according to some).

So what should I do? There are a lot of special masters programs such as at Georgetown that would imporve my academic record but those are really expensive and hold no guarentee. A regular research based masters (from what I understand a 'hard science' masters) would suit me fine but would be a lot less helpful in scoring medschool admission. I guess what i'm asking is, is the special masters worth the monetary risk? (I know its sounds petty to bargain on one's future but some of us are..to put it plainly, poor)

Also I'd like to mention that I'm a canadian student and canadian medschools are slightly less sympathetic to the masters route, it seems. Would I get into an american medschool with a special masters?

 

[relentless11]

I just finished my undergrad with an extremely unstellar GPA, but I have a good MCAT 30Q: 9 physical, 11 verbal, 10 biological. I have a lot of research experience and I actually LOVE research (and i'm good at it too according to all the profs I've worked with so reccomendation letters will probably not be an issue)

Your MCAT seems to be decent, so it really depends on your GPA. If its sub-3.0 then you would probably benefit more from a post-bacc program rather than an SMP. Besides with a sub-3.0 GPA, it would be challenging to get into an SMP anyway.

So what should I do? There are a lot of special masters programs such as at Georgetown that would imporve my academic record but those are really expensive and hold no guarentee. A regular research based masters (from what I understand a 'hard science' masters) would suit me fine but would be a lot less helpful in scoring medschool admission. I guess what i'm asking is, is the special masters worth the monetary risk? (I know its sounds petty to bargain on one's future but some of us are..to put it plainly, poor)

That really depends. For the most part you would get more out of an SMP than a standard masters program in terms of getting into med school. But some traditional masters programs include med school coursework. You just have to point that out to the adcoms (personal statement for example). The problem may lie with not having time to take a lot of courses beyond your degree requirements if you are doing a thesis-based masters.

My PhD program requires a few courses from the med school, and combines grad level equivilents of med school courses as well. Additionally, with the larger time frame, I am taking undergrad electives to boost my undergrad GPA while doing a graduate program. So this is another option (masters or PhD).

Also I'd like to mention that I'm a canadian student and canadian medschools are slightly less sympathetic to the masters route, it seems. Would I get into an american medschool with a special masters?

US schools favor undergrad GPA over any graduate level GPA. Reason being that graduate GPA is usually higher and the fact that most applicants only have undergrad GPA (allows easier comparison). Ultimately you need to weigh your GPA, MCAT, and the value of an SMP. If given a choice I probably wouldve done an SMP even though it costs so much. You can do away with most of the more tedious classes involved with masters/PhD programs. But that really depends on you and your stats.

An MCAT of 30 is average among US schools. In CA its 33, so it will also depend on where you apply, not to mention your GPA. The average GPA in the US is prolly 3.4-3.5. With some schools screening GPA/MCAT with a cut off of 3.0-3.2 and MCAT of 24-26.