Thesis vs Nonthesis masters? Can't decide

[r1b0s0m3]

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[Isoprop]

don't do the thesis then. why are you even doing the MS. why not just get a job and work or do something fun.

 

[CyberDragoon]

Doing a masters nonthesis (1 year) at UCLA. At interviews they did not seem to care what kind of masters I was doing.

May or may not have affected overall decision but I doubt it.

After my experience I would recommend you work if you can. Grad school can be expensive.

 

[ShinyDome19]

What ever you do, dont do thesis if your planning on starting medical school at a specific time. Thesis based studies means you have very little say on when you will graduate. For instance, I did a thesis based masters in Microbiology prior to starting medical school. I was genuinely interested in research and pursuing a PhD at the time. What I thought was going to take me two years, ended up taking 2.5. But, one of my friends who was also in the same program hit a wall with his research and, well he's still doing the program 4 years later for the same degree that I got...

 

[raltima07]

What ever you do, dont do thesis if your planning on starting medical school at a specific time. Thesis based studies means you have very little say on when you will graduate. For instance, I did a thesis based masters in Microbiology prior to starting medical school. I was genuinely interested in research and pursuing a PhD at the time. What I thought was going to take me two years, ended up taking 2.5. But, one of my friends who was also in the same program hit a wall with his research and, well he's still doing the program 4 years later for the same degree that I got...

I have heard horror stories as well

 

[necoli]

What ever you do, dont do thesis if your planning on starting medical school at a specific time. Thesis based studies means you have very little say on when you will graduate. For instance, I did a thesis based masters in Microbiology prior to starting medical school. I was genuinely interested in research and pursuing a PhD at the time. What I thought was going to take me two years, ended up taking 2.5. But, one of my friends who was also in the same program hit a wall with his research and, well he's still doing the program 4 years later for the same degree that I got...

😱

 

[yamaraja808]

Doing a masters nonthesis (1 year) at UCLA. At interviews they did not seem to care what kind of masters I was doing.

May or may not have affected overall decision but I doubt it.

After my experience I would recommend you work if you can. Grad school can be expensive.

You can get a TA or RAship as a masters student. Covers all tuition and you get a stipend. Grad school is expensive but is far easier to pay off than undergrad. It is the reason why I regretted being a post-bacc.

Advise to the OP take the non-thesis and do not do post-bacc (waist of time and money).

 

[nabeel76]

I took a year off for the MCAT and now that I'm done with my MCAT, I have free time from today until the end of summer of 2012 (planning to start med school in Fall 2012), and I decided to do my masters (already got in to my current college). My undergrad GPA was 3.85 and my future plan is to do MD only (no PhD).
I decided to do masters just to get some more experience and take more advanced classes. I was thinking about doing a thesis but I'm not sure if I can finish a project in a year and graduate in one year (I have to finish it in a year, that way I can start med school on time).
Personally, I prefer doing a nonthesis since I get to focus more on classes (which I think will help me in med school) than working in the lab (since I will not go into MD/PhD). But maybe doing a thesis will be more advantageous for me? I'm not sure...

What do you guys think I should do?
Thnx

If you only have a year to complete the program then you've got no choice, I think your going to have to go the non-thesis route. I don't know of any MS programs were you can realistically finish the coursework in addition to presenting a thesis in just 1 year. As far as I know, all the thesis based options that I have ever seen require a good 2 years to complete.

 

[Mindscrew]

do the non thesis to get more cred that apply to gpa if and only if its considered graded...i didn't know at the time i did my MHA-MPH that it would be considered non graded lol. AMCAS won't count it. Also...my MS is considered research so only counts for 9 credits via AMCAS..b/c i did a thesis

it wasn't bad planning on my part i just wanted to learn what I thought was important to be a better physician/scientist/person

 

[yamaraja808]

do the non thesis to get more cred that apply to gpa if and only if its considered graded...i didn't know at the time i did my MHA-MPH that it would be considered non graded lol. AMCAS won't count it. Also...my MS is considered research so only counts for 9 credits via AMCAS..b/c i did a thesis

it wasn't bad planning on my part i just wanted to learn what I thought was important to be a better physician/scientist/person

Wow that sux... I had a different situation. It was strange that the AMCAS counted my grad courses (during my post-bacc years) toward my cumulative undergrad GPA. I know I was at the wrong in counting them toward my post-bacc but I found it very weird they actually factored it in. I also had one course, done in the summer, count toward my grad GPA (this was done before the start of my masters). So it seems to be a slightly different process for different people.

I suggest trying to put the courses in toward the science GPA again. I actually had research credit (at grad level) counted toward my science GPA. You never know what may happen.