What to do? A little help here!

[nali1]

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Ok, so I just graduated undergrad and I have two options that I am trying to decided between.

Option 1: I got into the formal post-bacc program at LMU-DCOM. I know this will help me with the linkage to their medical school (guaranteed interview and success of past students in the program) but I don't think it will help much with other schools around the country. I love the idea of the linkage but not so much on basically being restricted to this one school. This program starts very soon, so I wouldn't have sufficient enough time to study for the MCAT.

Option 2: Enroll at a local university initially as a non-degree graduate student for a semester and then transfer into a one/two year M.S. program (Physiology or Applied Anatomy), get my MCAT score higher, work on ECs and then apply at a later cycle. All this would been in hopes that I would become a better applicant and broaden my choice of where I can attend med school.

Any help on deciding would be great! Thanks! 🙂

 

[DrMidlife]

Gpa? Mcat?

 

[nali1]

Gpa? Mcat?

Probably should have mentioned that -- sorry!

cGPA - 3.03
sGPA - 2.93
MCAT - 23M

 

[DrMidlife]

Go to LMU-DCOM if you want to stay there for med school. You could potentially get away with not having to retake the MCAT this way.

Otherwise...

Regular grad work isn't going to help you, because it doesn't offer a body of work that's standardized by an exam (as is undergrad+MCAT). It doesn't relate to the quantity of the academic load of med school. Doing an MS in physio or whatnot is basically another EC.

If you want to go MD, then you need a better-than-average MCAT score in addition to a new pile of A's in science classes. Average MCAT for MD is about 32, which may or may not be within your reach. If you want to go for a 32+, then I suggest that you will want to look at repeating the prereqs for A's in addition to some upper div science, in addition to doing months of rigorous prep such as Kaplan. Additional undergrad won't raise your GPA into competitive range, but it'll help. Once you have a decent MCAT and lots of new A's, you can either start applying MD or get into a good SMP such as Cincy.

Best of luck to you.

 

[nali1]

Go to LMU-DCOM if you want to stay there for med school. You could potentially get away with not having to retake the MCAT this way.

Otherwise...

Regular grad work isn't going to help you, because it doesn't offer a body of work that's standardized by an exam (as is undergrad+MCAT). It doesn't relate to the quantity of the academic load of med school. Doing an MS in physio or whatnot is basically another EC.

If you want to go MD, then you need a better-than-average MCAT score in addition to a new pile of A's in science classes. Average MCAT for MD is about 32, which may or may not be within your reach. If you want to go for a 32+, then I suggest that you will want to look at repeating the prereqs for A's in addition to some upper div science, in addition to doing months of rigorous prep such as Kaplan. Additional undergrad won't raise your GPA into competitive range, but it'll help. Once you have a decent MCAT and lots of new A's, you can either start applying MD or get into a good SMP such as Cincy.

Best of luck to you.

Thank you so so much for the advice! I'll definitely refer back to this while making my decision.

I have one final question if you don't mind: As far as grad work, the program in specific that I was referring to was the Case Western Post-Bacc M.S. in Applied Anatomy..I'm not sure if you're familiar with it at all? But it's essentially designed to get people into medical school via a masters degree.. Would you recommend against a graduate program like this as well?

 

[DrMidlife]

Thank you so so much for the advice! I'll definitely refer back to this while making my decision.

I have one final question if you don't mind: As far as grad work, the program in specific that I was referring to was the Case Western Post-Bacc M.S. in Applied Anatomy..I'm not sure if you're familiar with it at all? But it's essentially designed to get people into medical school via a masters degree.. Would you recommend against a graduate program like this as well?

That got discussed here: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=826272

If you can get the Case program to put you in touch with grads who have your GPA/MCAT who got into med school, then you might be in good hands. Otherwise I'd assume that the program won't do for you what an SMP will do. Specifically, an SMP puts you through most of the first year of med school as an audition. What med schools (including Case) will take this masters degree in lieu of competitive stats?

Best of luck to you.