Take the 5 year route or do a formal postbacc

[AwaPremed]

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i have to make the decision of whether or not i want to graduate with what i have or try to raise my gpa by staying for five years instead of 4 and then applying to med school? do schools think it is better to do a formal postbacc?

ALSO-

I'm highly interested in doing an MPH but from what everyone says, it's a bad idea to even try to apply to an MPH because MPH classes are considered easier and so med schools wouldn't really look at them as good even if you aced your mph.

 

[Pemulis]

Could you post some more specifics about your situation? A couple of factors that will be relevant:

1. Have you already taken the premed courses, or do you still need to complete them?
2. What caliber is your current school (i.e. Ivy league? Well known state U? Unheard of private in the middle of Kansas)
3. Roughly what is your gpa?

In general it probably doesn't matter whether you stay another year or do a formal, but the overall rule of thumb is to do the best you can at the best school you can, so if you're currently at generic U. and think you can get into a more prestigious program somewhere, it might be to your advantage to do that. Also, you'll want to consider personal issues, such as: if your gpa isn't that great at your current school, is there something in the environment there that is factoring into that? If so, a change of scenery might be to your benefit.

 

[Mags74]

AwaPremed, it's always a good idea to contact the admissions offices of the med schools to which you are interested in applying to get their advice. They are after all going to be reviewing your application down the line.

I think it depends on what you would plan to do during that 5th yr. I stayed a 5th yr for undergrad to conduct my own bench project and obtain a bio minor. Many med schools offer MD/MPH dual degree programs THAT OFFER SCHOLARSHIPS to dual degree candidates. So explore that option w/ your pre-med advisors as well before jumping into an MPH program prior to applying to med school. A part-time post-bacc program (ex: U of Penn allows this option) might allow you to bolster your math & science GPA while obtaining research experience and/or clinical exposure.

Best wishes to you in the application process!