Advice??

[benge88]

Looking for advice:

 

I have just finished my degree at U of O.

This year I applied to: all ontario schools, manitoba and sask; interviewed at queen's and western.

I was bad waitlisted at western and waitlisted at queen's. I am looking to the future, and looking for a bit of guidance.

 

GPA:

1 - 3.86

2 - 3.69

3 - 3.66

4 - 3.72/3.78 depending on what I get for my thesis

CGPA: 3.73 - 3.75

 

MCAT: P/V/B/W

9/11/12/S 32S

 

EXC: long term hospital volunteer, long term nursing home volunteer, soccer player, very high level soccer ref, semi - pro musician and teacher, lifeguarding, etc

 

Right now I am thinking of pursuing my masters, and have found a supervisor and a cool project, but I am not sure how much help this will be - I'm also not sure I would be able to stomach going back for more undergrad...

 

Advice??

 

Thanks....

[kmoh]

Dude, I'm in the EXACT same position as you, scary....

 

Considering the same option. I just had a meeting with the chief of transplant surgery at UWO to do a Masters with him, I told him my predicament and he totally sympathized... the guy actually interviews candidates at Western and what I thought would be an interview for a Masters turned to half an hour of guidance counselling.

He said that a Masters in basic science may not be that helpful to my application, a Masters in epidemiology is key though, because then you could say that you want to be a physician and a leader in healthcare (e.g. hospital chief or administrator). Though he said that's just his opinion, also, all the deadlines for this masters have passed at all schools.

 

The Masters rout appealed to me because I thought it may not just be helpful to get in, but also for residency and maybe for doing research as a doctor if I wanted to. But he said this wouldnt hold up in an interview because then they would expect that if you like research you would do a PhD. The only way to "sell it" (his words, not mine, surprising, lol) to an interviewer would be to claim that you want to apply to MD PHD at some point.

 

I would be very curious to see what other ppl think about this, what advice ppl have been given relating to doing a masters.

Lets face it, if I'm going to commit 2 years to basic science masters (e.g. biochem, immunology, cell bio...etc) I want to get something out of it to the degree that its not JUST going to help me get in, but ALSO give me an edge later on (residency, opening doors when you have your MD...etc)

 

Thoughts, opinions?

[Aetos]

Hi benge88 and kmoh-

 

I can definitely relate to what you both are going through. I myself made the recent decision to do my masters in what kmoh describes as a basic sciences masters. I also applied to epidemiology at the same time but was rejected- U of T epidemiology applications increased by ~ 30% this year alone! Despite the rejection, I felt that a research based masters was better for me because I couldn't see myself taking two more years of full course loads with the expectation of maintaining a high average (I had enough of that in undergrad). Doing a masters, in my opinion, is kind of bitter sweet: On the one hand, for those schools that don't really consider what you do in grad, you kind of freeze yourself from ever improving your undergrad marks. However, for the schools that do look at grad, you separate yourself from the undergrad pool and let your masters/PhD performance do the talking from there. I do feel that for me personally, doing a masters will open more doors for me in the future than if I stayed in undergrad hoping to just improve my gpa.

 

Kmoh- by doing a masters, I don't necessarily think you should feel forced to declare you intend on doing a MD/PhD in the future right away. A masters introduces you to the demands on conducting original research which has tremendous benefits for a career in medicine such as having a better understanding when keeping up with the latest clinical trials and studies. At an interview, you could simply say that you'd like a few years of clinical experience before you decide if getting a PhD is what you want to do so don't feel you need to apply right away to MD/PhD programs. I would much rather stress about what to say at an interview than stress about getting there in the first place.

 

Yes, most masters program deadlines have past, but look at each department carefully. Some application cycles begin in the fall for January admittance so that may give you some time to consider your options further.

[benge88]

Thanks guys!

 

I know that for certain programs at U of O I can apply as late as the 1st of August for September entry, so not all is lost on that front! It is nice to hear from others in this situation for sure!