Switching from MS to Second BS

[SgtGrumbles]

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So I've gotten myself into a bit of a precarious situation. Last year I started a bio masters program thinking that since I didn't get any real research experience in undergrad it would improve my application. I spent a semester designing a project for my PI to approve and only took one class other than research, so 6 credits total. Long story short, my PI was extremely distant and hard to get a hold of, and after a semester of lit searching and designing, there turned out to be no money for my experiment. Midway through the next semester I had to withdraw for various financial and personal reasons, and I decided to just focus on improving my D.O. app for next year by retaking any science classes I got a C in, in case of the (likely) event that I don't get into medical school this application cycle (I submitted my AACOMAS application in august).
I told my pre-med advisor I was fairly certain now that I wouldn't be obtaining the masters degree before applying, and she suggested possibly switching to a second bachelors degree (no post-bac option at my school) so that it wouldn't appear that I was leaving a masters degree for med school, but would switching to a second bachelors really look any better? True I'd be coming into med school from a second BS instead of MS program, but I'm sure they could still see that I switched from MS to BS anyway right? I know nobody here can read the adcom's minds, I'm just looking for opinions from anyone who has been in an even slightly similar situation.
edit: I read a random old SDN post where someone said that DO schools don't really care at all if you finish your master's degree before you start, can anyone confirm/deny this?

 

[scummie]

So I've gotten myself into a bit of a precarious situation. Last year I started a bio masters program thinking that since I didn't get any real research experience in undergrad it would improve my application. I spent a semester designing a project for my PI to approve and only took one class other than research, so 6 credits total. Long story short, my PI was extremely distant and hard to get a hold of, and after a semester of lit searching and designing, there turned out to be no money for my experiment. Midway through the next semester I had to withdraw for various financial and personal reasons, and I decided to just focus on improving my D.O. app for next year by retaking any science classes I got a C in, in case of the (likely) event that I don't get into medical school this application cycle (I submitted my AACOMAS application in august).
I told my pre-med advisor I was fairly certain now that I wouldn't be obtaining the masters degree before applying, and she suggested possibly switching to a second bachelors degree (no post-bac option at my school) so that it wouldn't appear that I was leaving a masters degree for med school, but would switching to a second bachelors really look any better? True I'd be coming into med school from a second BS instead of MS program, but I'm sure they could still see that I switched from MS to BS anyway right? I know nobody here can read the adcom's minds, I'm just looking for opinions from anyone who has been in an even slightly similar situation.
edit: I read a random old SDN post where someone said that DO schools don't really care at all if you finish your master's degree before you start, can anyone confirm/deny this?

I wouldn't flip out. If you were in an SMP, then yeah, flip out freely.

If you want, talk about it somewhere in your app. You can at least say you were in a lab for a semester and hopefully you retained some info from your PI.

Did you finish those classes with decent grades? Then don't worry about it.

If your GPA/MCAT is fine, then just get your app ready.

 

[Goro]

Concur with this poster. We really don't care if you've done research. What matters is that you can handle medical school. However, showing that you can't make and keep a commitment isn't good. As long as you explain your circumstances well, your torturous career path should matter to an AdCom.

I wouldn't flip out. If you were in an SMP, then yeah, flip out freely.

If you want, talk about it somewhere in your app. You can at least say you were in a lab for a semester and hopefully you retained some info from your PI.

Did you finish those classes with decent grades? Then don't worry about it.

If your GPA/MCAT is fine, then just get your app ready.

 

[costales]

I don't know about other schools, but at TCOM they give every applicant a score for non-cognitive values. One of the non-cognitive values is called "Commitment to the field of study".

 

[TriagePreMed]

I say just switch. Many D.O. schools count the masters together to make a cumulative GPA. If you explain that you wanted to do a masters to better prepare for Medical School but instead encountered a situation where only research and not academics was emphasized, it makes sense you switched to the second BS option.

 

[SgtGrumbles]

Sorry for the slow reply guys but thank you very much for the input. I think I will switch it over to second BS just to be safe, and apply for a 1 year SMP this spring as a fallback if I don't get in this year.