SMP: what-if

[321616]

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Hey Guys!
First just want to say that this might be somewhere in another post. However I have looked and fair it is to say that it isn't normally discussed.

Anyway I am strongly considering an SMP program after I figure out the results of this year's decision. My question is: If I complete an SMP (and of course assuming I do well) and I apply to medical school what happens if I don't get accepted? As a side note What can an SMP lead into in terms of Grad school? (just in case say you are the unfortunate 25% who don't get in)

Thanks everybody - GL to all applicants

 

[willen101383]

You have an utterly useless masters in something like biomedical sciences. Sad but true.

Thats why I decided to get my masters in something marketable rather than a SMP.....gotta have a backup plan.

 

[Perrotfish]

Hey Guys!
First just want to say that this might be somewhere in another post. However I have looked and fair it is to say that it isn't normally discussed.

Anyway I am strongly considering a SMP program after I figure out the results of this year's decision. My question is: If I complete an SMP (and of course assuming I do well) and I apply to medical school what happens if I don't get accepted? As a side note What can an SMP lead into in terms of Grad school? (just in case say you are the unfortunate 25% who don't get in)

Thanks everybody - GL to all applicants

Generally if you do well in an good SMP (good = historically high success rates) you will be accepted to a medical school within 2 years of matriculating in the program (i.e. you will do well the aplication cycle that begins after you finish the program). On the off chance that you did well, applied early and still didn't get accepted evaluate your application and interviewing skills to see if something in there is really toxic, because the SMP should have worked. If you really just had bad luck, for example if you ended up on several wait lists but didn't quite make it in, then you work for a year and try again.

If you F- up the SMP: you have just wasted a lot of money because that degree isn't usefuly for much of anything. Actually it's worse than just wasting money since you have now irrevocably damaged your chances of getting into medical school. The 2 year master programs that some SMPs lead into are, in my opinion, just money grabs and aren't any more marketable than the SMPs themselves. You're doing this to get into medical school and that's all these programs are designed to do. However I would argue that even in this case the SMP was, in a way, worth it because it has bought you something very few premeds get: closure. Once you f- up an SMP you can take a deep breath, walk away from medicine, and never look back. You won't need to be that sad perpetual premed trying to focus on lower paying research jobs and taking college classes on the side for the next decade so that 'one day' you'll have a good enough app, but can instead go on to another fulfilling career after wasing just one year and a few thousand dollars.

You have an utterly useless masters in something like biomedical sciences. Sad but true.

Thats why I decided to get my masters in something marketable rather than a SMP.....gotta have a backup plan.

Just to be clear, this isn't a backup plan so much as a completely different plan. 'Back up' implies that the primary plan is to get into medical school. A normal masters degree will in no way help you get into medical school, so if you didn't get in once and then went to graduate school the primary plan can't really be medical school any more. You're just deciding on a new career.

 

[vicinihil]

As the above posters have mentioned, SMP's are useless and may or may not boost you into medical school. It depends on what you lack. If you lack grades or "academic promise" kicking the feces out of a SMP will benefit you greatly. That being said, sucking will also seal the deal that you will not get into a medical school. Doing ok aka B's or so won't hurt you much but certainly won't help you as much either.

If you have a low MCAT score, an SMP won't help you in either department. It doesn't prepare you for the MCATS unless it has a MCAT prep program and the extra knowledge you gain is useless and definitely not worth the 40K+ you'll be spending.

Find out what you're lacking and hit it hard.

 

[willen101383]

Generally if you do well in an good SMP (good = historically high success rates) you will be accepted to a medical school within 2 years of matriculating in the program (i.e. you will do well the aplication cycle that begins after you finish the program). On the off chance that you did well, applied early and still didn't get accepted evaluate your application and interviewing skills to see if something in there is really toxic, because the SMP should have worked. If you really just had bad luck, for example if you ended up on several wait lists but didn't quite make it in, then you work for a year and try again.

If you F- up the SMP: you have just wasted a lot of money because that degree isn't usefuly for much of anything. Actually it's worse than just wasting money since you have now irrevocably damaged your chances of getting into medical school. The 2 year master programs that some SMPs lead into are, in my opinion, just money grabs and aren't any more marketable than the SMPs themselves. You're doing this to get into medical school and that's all these programs are designed to do. However I would argue that even in this case the SMP was, in a way, worth it because it has bought you something very few premeds get: closure. Once you f- up an SMP you can take a deep breath, walk away from medicine, and never look back. You won't need to be that sad perpetual premed trying to focus on lower paying research jobs and taking college classes on the side for the next decade so that 'one day' you'll have a good enough app, but can instead go on to another fulfilling career after wasing just one year and a few thousand dollars.



Just to be clear, this isn't a backup plan so much as a completely different plan. 'Back up' implies that the primary plan is to get into medical school. A normal masters degree will in no way help you get into medical school, so if you didn't get in once and then went to graduate school the primary plan can't really be medical school any more. You're just deciding on a new career.

My masters was actually instrumental (as in the only reason) I was accepted to medical school. So I dont think that is true all the time.

 

[Perrotfish]

My masters was actually instrumental (as in the only reason) I was accepted to medical school. So I dont think that is true all the time.

Nothing is true all the time. However generally when posters on this board have reported a masters degree working it is one of two situations.

1) They were a pretty borderline applicant to start with. Someone with a 3.4 and a great performance in a masters program might get some benifit out of it.

2) They put a lot of time in between themselves and undergrad. If you were in a job long enough for it to reasonably have been considered a career and THEN went back to grad school they might be more likely to buy that you changed your ways.

What posters on this board have generally not reported is going from a poor Ugrad GPA directly to a masters program (even with a year or two gap) and then getting into a medical school based on a good performance in that masters program. I'm sure even that has happened, of course, but it doesn't seem to happen often.

 

[TriagePreMed]

Can't you at least get a job at a community college teaching Anatomy or something like that or entry level at Genentech or another similar company?

 

[321616]

Very informative! Thank you guys so much for your input. Definitely, will have to think hard about what to do - but it helps to have perspective.

 

[Compass]

Georgetown's rates of acceptance: 50% get in their year of. They specifically tell you that chances are, you're probably not going to ace in the hole while taking classes. Unless you did something awesome during the year you missed the application, this alone won't push you in during a same-year application.

That being said, these are the classes you take for a Physiology Master's. Technically, if you strike out, you have plenty of options.

APP PBIO-568 Advanced Physiology & Pathophysiology 3 credits
CP PBIO-562 Cardiopulmonary Biology 5 credits
Forum PBIO-567 Physiology Forum 1 credit
Genetics PBIO-566 Fundamentals of Mol Biology & Genetics 1 credit
GA Gross Anatomy
GI PBIO-563 Gastrointestinal Biology 2 credits
INS PBIO-569 Introduction to Neuroscience 2 credits
MCP BCHB-560 Molecular & Cellular Physiology 3 credits
MIM MICB-608 Medical Immunology & Microbiology 2 credits
MNE BCHB-561 Metabolism, Nutrition & Endocrinology 3 credits
Paper PBIO-907 Physiology Research Paper 2 credits
Pathways PBIO-602 Biomedical Career Pathways 1 credit
PGA PBIO-542 Principles of Gross Anatomy 1 credit
RNL PBIO-564 Renal Biology 2 credits
SDR BCHB-565 Sexual Development & Reproduction 3 credits