Masters for US meds

[Alastriss]

I know that some schools in canada..mac, UT give an advantage to students with Masters and others take the grades u get in grad school into account

are US med schools like that as well? or are they rather indifferent on doing grad school and/or don't take them into account

 

i understand each school will be totally different, but if anyone has an idea about say x school that may follow this policy..plz do throw a name out!

[Jochi1543]

I've read something on SDN about this guy who applied with his grad marks, and while the school had access to both, the interviewer only had access to the grad school marks...he didn't figure out until the interviewer said "Wow, you must've had a very successful academic career at MIT" when he had only had like a 3.1 undergrad (but 3.8+ grad). So that little anecdote shows that yes, at least some schools will look at your grad GPA as part of your academic history.

[sonyvaio2700]

I know that some schools in canada..mac, UT give an advantage to students with Masters and others take the grades u get in grad school into account

are US med schools like that as well? or are they rather indifferent on doing grad school and/or don't take them into account

 

i understand each school will be totally different, but if anyone has an idea about say x school that may follow this policy..plz do throw a name out!

 

Ok i PM you a similar answer. but this is for everyone.

 

ALL MD US schools do not lower your undergrad grades if you did a masters. In fact, most dont even care about your grad grades, since almost all graduate grades are inflated. A masters comes into play to show your maturity. If you get published its icing on the cake. My personal advice is if your GPA is less than 3.4, dont bother with a Masters.

 

But sadly undergrad GPA is still king and so are the MCATs.

 

If you are looking to substainally boost your GPA just do a "victory year" (called a post-bacc in the states)...which basically means doing another year of undergrad. If you are rich also look into 1 or 2 year SMP programs in the states (american schools LOVE this because you compete in med school classes)

[sonyvaio2700]

Ok i PM you a similar answer. but this is for everyone.

 

ALL MD US schools do not lower your undergrad grades if you did a masters. In fact, most dont even care about your grad grades, since almost all graduate grades are inflated. A masters comes into play to show your maturity. If you get published its icing on the cake. My personal advice is if your GPA is less than 3.4, dont bother with a Masters.

 

But sadly undergrad GPA is still king and so are the MCATs.

 

If you are looking to substainally boost your GPA just do a "victory year" (called a post-bacc in the states)...which basically means doing another year of undergrad. If you are rich also look into 1 or 2 year SMP programs in the states.

 

THIS IS WAY OF TOPIC:

 

 

I'll just like to add that I personally think grad courses can be as tough as undergrad courses. And the whole Canadian masters programs can be hell. So much time spent in the lab its ridiculous. But you see in US, there are no such things as a a rigorous 2 year Masters program. All they have are 1 year MSP programs...which tend to have courses where everyone gets a 4.0 and almost minimum bench work in some cases.

 

I think Canadian schools adcoms recognizing how hard a Canadian masters program can be...is the reason they give special bonus to master students.

 

But American adcoms, just think you did a cheap little MSP program... ALL i gotta say is sucks to be canadian. You gonna hear that quite often as you apply to american schools...

[lostintime]

Actually I think grad courses are much worse than undergrad, just because they take the creme of coupe students (however you spell that) and mesh them all together. It might be inflated, but that doesn't mean the expectations are any less.

 

And the lab, ha, the Masters and pH. D. students I see around the lab look SOO miserable, and the funny thing is that almost EVERYONE wants med, and not research.

[Jochi1543]

Actually I think grad courses are much worse than undergrad, just because they take the creme of coupe students (however you spell that) and mesh them all together. It might be inflated, but that doesn't mean the expectations are any less.

Cream of the crop, lol.

 

Yeah, I took some grad courses during my study abroad, it wasn't pretty. I wrote 200 pages' worth of papers during that class and our weekly readings were about 500 pages....and these were some HARD texts.

[Jochi1543]

The most expensive SMP programs in the country run upwards into the mid $30,000 range, while others may run as cheap as the low $20,000's, or even less

 

Woah, not pretty. That's how much an entire new bachelor's degree gonna run you in Canada in most places.

[sonyvaio2700]

Actually I think grad courses are much worse than undergrad, just because they take the creme of coupe students (however you spell that) and mesh them all together. It might be inflated, but that doesn't mean the expectations are any less.

 

And the lab, ha, the Masters and pH. D. students I see around the lab look SOO miserable, and the funny thing is that almost EVERYONE wants med, and not research.

 

I think it depends on which grad program courses you take at uoft. Certain ones I know (BCH) are notoriously difficult. Others are easier...but I do not know which is the norm.

 

Personally I had an offer to do a masters with NSERC funding. And I simply refused. Didnt want to do it. Excatly as you said. Didnt want to be miserable.

[sonyvaio2700]

Woah, not pretty. That's how much an entire new bachelor's degree gonna run you in Canada in most places.

 

You need a rich sugar daddy do afford those places. Um...say a father of a girl who owns banks in the motherland....

[Jochi1543]

You need a rich sugar daddy do afford those places. Um...say a father of a girl who owns banks in the motherland....

Quiet, quiet, I have transcripts of all our MSN convos saved.

[BiNa]

So basically a masters in physiology at UofT is worth nothing to get into med school in the states or Canada???

[sonyvaio2700]

So basically a masters in physiology at UofT is worth nothing to get into med school in the states or Canada???

 

I wont say that. It's definitely worth lots. Not only applying for med school...but even residency eg. your physiology masters will help you get an interview at a top IM school such as UC San Fran for example. But if you dont publish I would say its pretty much useless; however, I have met very few people who never end up publishing (as a first author).

 

Please note though: if you are using the masters to boost a low GPA (sub < 3.4)...then you are better of taking undergrad courses (e.g doing an extra post-bac year).