Well, most of my information comes from this website, so take it with a rain of salt. But, from what I've gathered an SMP (special masters program) is basically a masters program (after you have done all the pre-reqs and taken the MCAT) that can essentially prove to the adcomms that you are capable of doing the science coursework in med school. It is usually indicated when you have a low undergrad gpa, but a fairly high MCAT. I think, basically, you would just be taking the coursework as if you were a med student, with med students, but you aren't a med student. This should be your last resort in gpa repair however, because if you do bad in one (below a 3.5) you basically have 0 chance of getting into med school at all. Around here, the general consensus is that you should do a post-bacc first, before thinking about SMPs if your gpas need help. This can be formal or informal. You can just sign up for science classes and start taking random ones, or some schools have post-bacc programs designed specifically for non-trad people trying to get into med school that haven't taken the pre-med prerequisites yet. All other grad programs (MPH, etc) aren't on the same level as SMPs and most people around here think they are basically worthless (in terms of helping your chances of getting into med school) because adcomms look at undergrad gpas, and graduate programs (other than the smps) have no weight on the undergraduate gpa. This is because graduate programs are known for heavy grade inflation. Hope this answers your question....
