What shall I do?

[GloryofGreece]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hi I am new to the forum. I am graduating from UW with a 3.0 grade, having majoring in informatics, which no one knows what that is? I have completed most of prereqs, but done mostly 3.0 in them. But my senior years grades are like 3.8 and 4.0 (include science classes) I think i wanna do a formal undergrad postbac or a formal grad postbac (BU, Georgetown...etc masters degree be nice
1. Any husky out there smurfing?
2. I have no confidence in getting in med school (rightly so) and have no confidence in surviving and beating med school student in BU and georgetown, but i wanan a masters degree. What should i do?

😱 😴 😴

 

[Phil Anthropist]

First of all, I think that until you overcome the idea that you have "no confidence in getting in med school," you're going to have a lot of trouble. You're getting excellent grades now, why sell yourself short?

If you don't think you're ready for a special masters program that requires that you outcompete the med students, why not look into traditional masters programs? You mentioned you majored in informatics--did you know that there are biomedical informatics masters programs? I don't know too much about them, but they're out there. These programs may not be as helpful in getting into med school, but if you like informatics it might be a masters program that you would enjoy. Furthermore, even if it turns out medicine isn't what you want to do, you'll still have that advanced informatics degree to apply to medical fields.

If you're interested in something more medically related, there are lots of other biomedical masters programs. Many of them are two-years and around 30-36 credits. The difference with this vs. BU or Georgetown is that you don't have as intense of a schedule (e.g., 36 credits of coursework in one year). Also, you can increase your confidence by mastering this material (even if it's at a slower pace). Some of these programs even have full tuition remission (i.e., free). Many of these programs favor students who have good research experience, but they don't necessarily require it. These programs may not be as effective as the G-town SMP or BU MAMS, but if you aren't ready for these special masters programs, I think traditional masters programs are something you might want to consider.

 

[GloryofGreece]

First of all, I think that until you overcome the idea that you have "no confidence in getting in med school," you're going to have a lot of trouble. You're getting excellent grades now, why sell yourself short?

If you don't think you're ready for a special masters program that requires that you outcompete the med students, why not look into traditional masters programs? You mentioned you majored in informatics--did you know that there are biomedical informatics masters programs? I don't know too much about them, but they're out there. These programs may not be as helpful in getting into med school, but if you like informatics it might be a masters program that you would enjoy. Furthermore, even if it turns out medicine isn't what you want to do, you'll still have that advanced informatics degree to apply to medical fields.

If you're interested in something more medically related, there are lots of other biomedical masters programs. Many of them are two-years and around 30-36 credits. The difference with this vs. BU or Georgetown is that you don't have as intense of a schedule (e.g., 36 credits of coursework in one year). Also, you can increase your confidence by mastering this material (even if it's at a slower pace). Also, some of these programs even have full tuition remission (i.e., free). Many of these programs favor students who have good research experience, but they don't necessarily require it.

thx a lot for the reply. But my issue is 1. I hate programming, so i will not do bioinformatics (dont ask why i did it in the first place) 2. Although I am 4.0 my classes now, I still feel intimidated by real med students. 3. Traditional masters is really cool but I dont have research experience, nor will I get a biological sciences degree. 4. lastly is there traditionally masters program that takes MCAT instead of GRE>?

😀

 

[Phil Anthropist]

Regarding traditional biomedical science programs, some of them do take the MCAT. But if you don't have research experience or a solid academic record, you might have trouble getting into these programs. There are a lot of biomedical science programs I know of at allopathic MD and osteopathic DO med school campuses. Most of these are two years. The allopathic ones will be harder to get into, the DO biomedical masters programs (and DO feeder programs) aren't as competitive to get into from what I gather. And many of them do take the MCAT. Are you set on allopathic (MD) or are you interested in osteopathic (DO) too?

Oh yeah, two more things.

Welcome to SDN! 😀

and you asked about this in the SMP thread--

You can read old threads. The easiest way to do this is to use the search function. There's a general search box in all the forums that is found toward the top of the page. If you're in a particular forum's homepage, you can search in that forum specifically (this should be off to the upper right when you're in a particular forum's mainpage). You can also search within a thread if you're in a thread (this is toward the top by the first post in a thread). There's also an advanced search option that you can click on from the main search box. You might want to try messing around with that too. Sorry if that sounded confusing, but it's easier than it sounds, really! 😀