I was browsing at potential masters programs and stumbled upon UCLA and Berkeley. UCLA has a ms in Physiology and they accept mcat scores. Berkeley also has an ma in endocrinology and accept mcat. Are these considered SMP's as well?
There is an almost infinite supply of graduate programs in the sciences. If you are passionate about physiology or endocrinology, and you really want to do graduate study in these subjects, go for it. Doing one of these programs wouldn't exactly be orthogonal to the pursuit of medical school, but in my mind these programs are a detour from that pursuit, if your real issue is accounting for undergrad GPA damage in your next med school app.
If you have irreparable undergrad GPA damage, and you want to go to med school, and you're thus looking for a program to bridge that gap, you would do well to consider the following criteria:
1. Does the program specifically state that its sole purpose is to get you into medical school, and does it back that allegation up with support and statistics? For example, does the program publish the med schools that its alumni are attending, and publish the percentage of students who finish and when they start med school? Does the program actively support concurrent med school apps, by issuing letters at strategic times? Does the program otherwise focus on its students' needs for med school apps?
2. Is the program integrated with the medical school, such that its students are in class with, or at least graded on the same curve with, medical students? Is there any inclusion in labs, such as anatomy? In other words, by what basis does the program allege to set its students up to be considered as better candidates for medical school, having succeeded in the program?
3. Is the program optimized to accomplish improved med school app credentials, or is there instead an emphasis on traditional aspects of graduate study, such as research and an original thesis? Does the program take more than one year, and if so, how does that additional time contribute to the pursuit of medical school? Does the program expect students to take on more than, say, $50k of debt to complete the program prior to going on to med school?
These are my opinions and criteria, and you will certainly find folks who disagree with me.
Best of luck to you.
