Should I do an MHA or MPH before my MD?

[LukeLC23]

Hi everyone, I'm a rising junior studying Biomedical Science at Ohio State trying to figure out what would be the best path I could take. Any help would be appreciated! 🙂

My three main questions are:
1. Do any of you think it would be wise to do an MPH or MHA before I decide if I want to apply to medical school? (I will explain this below)
2. Will an MPH or MHA propel me to better MD schools or will it be a detriment to my application?
3. Should I study for the GRE or MCAT this summer?

Basically, I don't know if I want to be a doctor or not. I am interested in a lot of things but healthcare management and policy appeal to me because I am a people person.
The gist is I'm studying for the MCAT right now but don't know if I should be studying for the GRE and figuring my career path out in grad school. I used to be very shy in high school which is part of the reason I chose to try to pursue this path first but now have become a great people person.

Here are my stats and EC's currently:
-GPA: 3.82 (Should increase after a bad freshman year)
-Science GPA: 3.72 (Again should increase after my bad freshman year)
-MCAT: (Took a practice test before studying and got a 31 on AAMC #8) I'm guessing if I took this after all my studying this summer I could get at least a 35.

EC's:
-Contributing author on published genetics paper
-Research Assistant for 2 years
-Social Work Volunteer at the Columbus Free Clinic helping match up patients with services around the Columbus Area.
-Non voting student board member of a non profit (hopefully the American Lung Association)
-OSU Homecoming Court Member 2013
-Led two alternative break trips, one being to a AIDS non-profit in NYC
-Planned the Homecoming Parade in 2012 ($70,000 budget)
-President of my Residence Hall freshman year
-Student Leadership Advocate (Consulting for student organizations helping to improve leadership skills in my peers)
-Shadowed a few doctors but will definitely shadow more (My undergraduate program has an internship where you round and shadow doctors for 10 weeks in the summer)
-Greek Relations Chair and Academic Chairman for my Social Fraternity

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[Mt Kilimanjaro]

If you're not sure you want to be a doctor, don't apply to medical school. That said, everyone has doubts now and then. Determine whether these are normal pre-wedding jitters or if you really need to rethink this marriage.

If clinical medicine is your goal, I think you get way more out of the MPH or MHA later in your career, after you have some experiences to bring to the table. If you know you'd be happy working as an administrator or in a non-clinical role using your MPH, I'd say study for the GRE and go that route.

One important thing to realize is that it is not imperative to attend medical school just because you are competitive (which you obviously are). Choose what you want to do, excel in it, and be happy.

 

[wholeheartedly]

Current Pre-med MPH student here.

First more background from you:


1.) What do you like about policy and healthcare mgmt.?

2.) What exposure have you had in the medical field and what exposure have you had to public health fields? Have you done shadowing? Do you have a realistic view of what you'd be doing either either way?

3.) What do you envision yourself doing with either degree.

In answer to your questions.

1.) Depends entirely on your circumstances, a lot of times it can be more cost effective to do it after medical school. In my case, it seemed better to do it before.

2.) The wisdom around here tends to be that graduate school performance won't offset a poor undegrad GPA (which doesn't seem to be an issue for you). Grad Programs tend to be viewed like an EC. Some people don't think too highly of an MPH and some think it's great.

How it would impact your medical school application is probably going to depend on the schools you apply to and how you "sell" the degree. I also think it depends on what you make of your training. If you just take the courses and do the bare minimum to earn the degree it's a little different than someone who goes out and does some interesting field work, networks with a lot of ppl, maybe does some work with a non-profit, and generally maximizes the experience.

I'm focusing on epidemiology because I have an interest in clinical & population level studies, but I can say I very much love what I'm learning in my general MPH coursework as well as the advance epi stuff.

 

[pandahunter]

seems like you are really only considering medical school because you have the resume to get in. That's not a good reason to sacrifice 8+ years of your life and income in medical training if you better picture yourself doing health administration work.

Don't go to med school. Just do your MPH and MHA. However, you didn't really elaborate on why you want to do those things either other than you being a people person. Lawyers, bankers, nurses, PAs, social workers, teachers, event planners, etc all work with people. You mentioned liking the idea of policy making - why not law school? business school?

My advice to anyone on the fence about anything pertaining to med school is to not do it if you think you could be happy doing something else. The sacrifice is just not worth it if you can reach your goals in life without medical training.

 

[nabilesmail]

getting a 31 on AAMC8 before studying is amazing. You could possibly score 37+ if you dedicate 3-5 months on MCAT studying!

 

[plumhill]

From a fellow OSU student, there are plenty of opportunities on and around campus that will give you exposure to other fields of health care besides medicine. If you aren't sure about medicine, I encourage you to use your time to explore those options before you commit to applying. The application process in itself is draining, not to mention the 4 years that will follow. The OSU College of Medicine is hosting a Q&A every Wednesday this summer for students with Dr. Capers and other members of the Admissions Committee, and if you're on campus now you can always drop by and get more information about what the medical profession (and medical school, and the application process) entails. If you're looking at public health, take some of the public health courses that are being offered. We have a course about health administration, and a ton of other public health classes (epidemiology, health behavior, etc). See if you like those types of classes more.

Given your current profile (which is very strong, as I'm sure you already know), an MPH or MHA will neither help nor hurt you. I would not get either of those degrees simply to get yourself into medical school, but if those are areas that you've worked in during undergrad/after undergrad and would like to work in more as a part of your medical profession, then the degrees make sense.

 

[PreDrTriathlete]

You could also consider a dual MD/MPH or MD/MBA program if you're looking into management. I'm not familiar with any MD/MHA programs. They also save a year. So it takes 5 instead of 6 years. I know OSU has a great MD/MBA program.

 

[daolso]

You could also consider a dual MD/MPH or MD/MBA program if you're looking into management. I'm not familiar with any MD/MHA programs. They also save a year. So it takes 5 instead of 6 years. I know OSU has a great MD/MBA program.

Seconding this. Doing the MPH/MHA before applying won't really help you, but a combined-degree program might be a good choice. OSU has both an MD/MPH and an MD/MHA. A lot of schools do.

You should try contacting the College of Public Health. Ohio State is decently ranked (#20 by USNWR) and they should be able to give you some advice. They run both the MPH and MHA programs.

http://www.cph.osu.edu/prospective-students/dual-combined-degrees

 

[brazenredhead]

Many public health schools will take the MCAT in lieu of the GRE. Check on school-specific requirements. If you even think there's a possibility you'll apply to medical school, why take two separate exams?

As other posters have said, you have a pretty strong application as-is. On the other hand, I tend to disagree with a lot of the conventional thought-- I believe that my MPH IS the reason I got into medical school. I concentrated in infectious disease epidemiology, and I will (most likely) be published as a first author before the year is out.

I'm a re-applicant, and I got into MPH programs at the same time I was initially rejected MD. My thought was that I would discover if medical school was truly for me--and I did. My coursework in pathophysiology was fascinating, and I discovered I really missed clinical contact.

Depending on the path your MPH takes you, it may truly bolster your application. It just depends on your classes, your involvement, and your research initiative.

You're young, so why not take the time to explore your options? At the worst, you'll have a useable graduate degree, even if you decide not to go to medical school. Good luck!