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Very Lost About Getting a Masters


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I am student who has just finished second year and would like to keep the possibility of a Masters in mind. I am doing 110% to get into Med school after Undegrad, but understand that not everyone gets in the first time around. However, I am completely lost on where to start. Do I approach professors personally and start volunteering/ working for them if I am really interested in their research? Or is it more of a set path, in which I apply for a certain Masters program (similar to Undergrad). I am guessing it varies across different universities? Any help would be great! 

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For most schools (in my experience in Ontario), if you're applying for a research-based masters program, you generally apply to work with a particular professor, so you put their name down on your application. 

It definitely doesn't hurt to start volunteering/working with professors now - it will give you a chance to figure out what kind of research you like doing and you would get to work with professors to find out if they'd make a good supervisor before you apply to be their grad student. However, it's not necessary to do so! When I was applying for a MSc program at Queen's, I randomly contacted a professor whose research area interested me to ask him if he was taking on grad students. He said yes, scheduled a phone interview with me (as I was living in another city), and told me to put his name down as a possible supervisor when I applied. I met him for the first time when I arrived in Kingston to start working with him.

If I remember correctly, there was space for you to list more than one potential supervisor that you wanted to work with on the application so you could speak to multiple people and rank them on your application in case something fell through in their lab or if they told you they weren't sure yet if they could take you on. 

Hope that helps :) 

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I think you might be getting a little bit ahead of yourself. It is great that you are thinking about the future, but there are a few things to consider. 
I have seen a trend over the past few days about people considering a masters if they don't get into med right out of undergrad. Let me just say very plainly, as many other posters have, A MASTERS IS NOT A WAITING SPOT FOR MED SCHOOL. A masters is a wonderful opportunity to learn from many talented scientists, research in an area that interests you, and generally grow as a person. However, it is by no means necessary to get into med school. I'm sorry if that comes off as harsh, but a PI puts a significant amount of time, money, and effort into training graduate students. It should not be thought of as a way to bide your time until you get accepted.  

If you are interested in research, then I would suggest that you think about volunteering in a lab, getting a summer research project, or do an honors in your final year to get an idea of what research is like. To do any of these just start looking at supervisors in your school and send them an email telling them what you are looking for. From there, you have multiple ways of going about applying. You can ask the PI that you worked with initially if they will take you on (usually works out well since they know you pretty well by that point), or you can do what trj03 suggests. It all depends on what area you would like to work in and if your school offers that. You never know until you get involved with a lab first! Find something that you genially enjoy and ask yourself, "Would I enjoy studying this for 2 years?" Once you get involved in that field of research you start to know who from other universities also study that area. 

 

 

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I wouldn't plan on completing a master's degree unless you are absolutely sure that you enjoy research and want to immerse yourself in one area of study.  Unless you plan on applying for course-based masters or professional masters programs.

How to get research experience as an undergrad to find out if you like it?  Ask to volunteer with professors whose research interests you.  Apply for NSERC USRAs or other research awards.  Complete a fourth year thesis.  You may find you do not enjoy research. 

As for course-based masters, while you don't need to enjoy research as much, most typically involve a capstone project of some sort, so you have to like some aspects of researching a problem, program, or question.  Some professional masters, like some MPH degrees, will involve practicum placements, and you have to be ready and willing to travel to where those placements occur.

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4 hours ago, trj03 said:

For most schools (in my experience in Ontario), if you're applying for a research-based masters program, you generally apply to work with a particular professor, so you put their name down on your application. 

It definitely doesn't hurt to start volunteering/working with professors now - it will give you a chance to figure out what kind of research you like doing and you would get to work with professors to find out if they'd make a good supervisor before you apply to be their grad student. However, it's not necessary to do so! When I was applying for a MSc program at Queen's, I randomly contacted a professor whose research area interested me to ask him if he was taking on grad students. He said yes, scheduled a phone interview with me (as I was living in another city), and told me to put his name down as a possible supervisor when I applied. I met him for the first time when I arrived in Kingston to start working with him.

If I remember correctly, there was space for you to list more than one potential supervisor that you wanted to work with on the application so you could speak to multiple people and rank them on your application in case something fell through in their lab or if they told you they weren't sure yet if they could take you on. 

Hope that helps :) 

That's a lot of help, thank you! 

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4 hours ago, ExercMed said:

I think you might be getting a little bit ahead of yourself. It is great that you are thinking about the future, but there are a few things to consider. 
I have seen a trend over the past few days about people considering a masters if they don't get into med right out of undergrad. Let me just say very plainly, as many other posters have, A MASTERS IS NOT A WAITING SPOT FOR MED SCHOOL. A masters is a wonderful opportunity to learn from many talented scientists, research in an area that interests you, and generally grow as a person. However, it is by no means necessary to get into med school. I'm sorry if that comes off as harsh, but a PI puts a significant amount of time, money, and effort into training graduate students. It should not be thought of as a way to bide your time until you get accepted.  

If you are interested in research, then I would suggest that you think about volunteering in a lab, getting a summer research project, or do an honors in your final year to get an idea of what research is like. To do any of these just start looking at supervisors in your school and send them an email telling them what you are looking for. From there, you have multiple ways of going about applying. You can ask the PI that you worked with initially if they will take you on (usually works out well since they know you pretty well by that point), or you can do what trj03 suggests. It all depends on what area you would like to work in and if your school offers that. You never know until you get involved with a lab first! Find something that you genially enjoy and ask yourself, "Would I enjoy studying this for 2 years?" Once you get involved in that field of research you start to know who from other universities also study that area. 

 

 

You are definitely right. It is a two-year worth project, which I will have to like. And thanks for putting it that way. I think I need to stop looking at academic and research experience as "something for my application" or a way to "bide my time". I have a new perspective to this now. Really appreciate your response. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 2017-06-08 at 1:52 PM, ExercMed said:

I think you might be getting a little bit ahead of yourself. It is great that you are thinking about the future, but there are a few things to consider. 
I have seen a trend over the past few days about people considering a masters if they don't get into med right out of undergrad. Let me just say very plainly, as many other posters have, A MASTERS IS NOT A WAITING SPOT FOR MED SCHOOL. A masters is a wonderful opportunity to learn from many talented scientists, research in an area that interests you, and generally grow as a person. However, it is by no means necessary to get into med school. I'm sorry if that comes off as harsh, but a PI puts a significant amount of time, money, and effort into training graduate students. It should not be thought of as a way to bide your time until you get accepted.  

If you are interested in research, then I would suggest that you think about volunteering in a lab, getting a summer research project, or do an honors in your final year to get an idea of what research is like. To do any of these just start looking at supervisors in your school and send them an email telling them what you are looking for. From there, you have multiple ways of going about applying. You can ask the PI that you worked with initially if they will take you on (usually works out well since they know you pretty well by that point), or you can do what trj03 suggests. It all depends on what area you would like to work in and if your school offers that. You never know until you get involved with a lab first! Find something that you genially enjoy and ask yourself, "Would I enjoy studying this for 2 years?" Once you get involved in that field of research you start to know who from other universities also study that area. 

 

 

I'd say I disagree with you! Since when do you only do things that you enjoy? I definitely did not enjoy grinding through my undergrad, but did I still do it? Of course! Did it help me grow as a person and make me think more critically? Yes! 

Just because someone doesn't "like" research doesn't mean that going through the whole process of getting a masters degree won't help them be a better physician some day. The fact that someone is willing to put themselves through 2 years of extra agony to increase their chances at med school shows a huge amount of perseverance!

Doing things that you don't enjoy helps you grow as a person. I personally am not a huge fan of research, but my undergrad thesis was probably the most useful thing I did in my undergrad. 

Just because you're not actively pursuing research at the end of a Msc doesn't mean that you're not going to implement many of the hard learned skills that you took away while getting it. 

- T

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 @ThatCanadianGuy

Sure, I agree that we can grow and learn a lot about ourselves by overcoming adversity. However, putting yourself in a difficult position for the sole purpose of increasing your chance of getting into med school is not going to make you a better physician. If you want to increase your chances at certain schools then take a course based masters.

The problem that I have with doing a thesis based program just to pad your resume is that you are waisting a lot of people's time. As I said in my original post, supervisors invest a lot of money and effort in their students. You are taking up a spot in the PI's lab that could be reserved for someone who actually enjoys studying the subject area. If you hate what you are doing and taking the spot of someone who would love to be there, then you should probably reconsider. 

I'm not trying to say that you need to actively pursue research for the rest of your life if you do an MSc (many people don't). But having the attitude towards the program that you demonstrate above is not in anyone's best interest. 

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3 hours ago, ExercMed said:

 @ThatCanadianGuy

Sure, I agree that we can grow and learn a lot about ourselves by overcoming adversity. However, putting yourself in a difficult position for the sole purpose of increasing your chance of getting into med school is not going to make you a better physician. If you want to increase your chances at certain schools then take a course based masters.

The problem that I have with doing a thesis based program just to pad your resume is that you are waisting a lot of people's time. As I said in my original post, supervisors invest a lot of money and effort in their students. You are taking up a spot in the PI's lab that could be reserved for someone who actually enjoys studying the subject area. If you hate what you are doing and taking the spot of someone who would love to be there, then you should probably reconsider. 

I'm not trying to say that you need to actively pursue research for the rest of your life if you do an MSc (many people don't). But having the attitude towards the program that you demonstrate above is not in anyone's best interest. 

To add on to this, the actual advantage you gain from having a Master's degree in medical school applications is usually overexaggerated.

Doing a Master's solely to improve your chances is generally pretty low yield considering the huge 2 year investment in time and resources.

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40 minutes ago, Monkey D. Luffy said:

To add on to this, the actual advantage you gain from having a Master's degree in medical school applications is usually overexaggerated.

Doing a Master's solely to improve your chances is generally pretty low yield considering the huge 2 year investment in time and resources.

Agreed. The boost you get GPA wise isn't that significant, if not sometimes non-existent. If you're looking specifically to add research experience to your med application, I would definitely suggest a 1 year MSc that offers a research project, as opposed to a full 2 year MSc. Less time, same effect on GPA, and the research experience you need.

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7 hours ago, ExercMed said:

 @ThatCanadianGuy

Sure, I agree that we can grow and learn a lot about ourselves by overcoming adversity. However, putting yourself in a difficult position for the sole purpose of increasing your chance of getting into med school is not going to make you a better physician. If you want to increase your chances at certain schools then take a course based masters.

The problem that I have with doing a thesis based program just to pad your resume is that you are waisting a lot of people's time. As I said in my original post, supervisors invest a lot of money and effort in their students. You are taking up a spot in the PI's lab that could be reserved for someone who actually enjoys studying the subject area. If you hate what you are doing and taking the spot of someone who would love to be there, then you should probably reconsider. 

I'm not trying to say that you need to actively pursue research for the rest of your life if you do an MSc (many people don't). But having the attitude towards the program that you demonstrate above is not in anyone's best interest. 

If a PI doesn't want people doing research with them for the purpose of med school apps, he/she can just ask the applicant and not accept those who are gunning for med. Nothing wrong with doing that, it's the PI's right to choose whoever they want. If the applicant lies about their future career path just to get into an MSc program, the PI can always just refuse to write a reference letter or worse, write a bad one.

Apart from that, admissions to programs are merit-based and so it makes no sense to say people "should not" apply to MSc for the sole reason of med school resume padding. If such a person is good enough to get into an MSc program despite their intentions, then they deserve it over someone who is less qualified regardless of whether the latter applicant enjoys the subject area more than the med-geared applicant. Whether the MSc is an efficient choice for the med applicant is a different issue, but it's better than sitting at home after graduating undergrad, if you're at a loss for better ideas. The attitude the OP shows is common amongst those who are seriously considering all possible avenues for getting their foot in the med door, and may in fact sometimes be in their interest.

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26 minutes ago, Hanmari said:

If a PI doesn't want people doing research with them for the purpose of med school apps, he/she can just ask the applicant and not accept those who are gunning for med. Nothing wrong with doing that, it's the PI's right to choose whoever they want. If the applicant lies about their future career path just to get into an MSc program, the PI can always just refuse to write a reference letter or worse, write a bad one.

Apart from that, admissions to programs are merit-based and so it makes no sense to say people "should not" apply to MSc for the sole reason of med school resume padding. If such a person is good enough to get into an MSc program despite their intentions, then they deserve it over someone who is less qualified regardless of whether the latter applicant enjoys the subject area more than the med-geared applicant. Whether the MSc is an efficient choice for the med applicant is a different issue, but it's better than sitting at home after graduating undergrad, if you're at a loss for better ideas. The attitude the OP shows is common amongst those who are seriously considering all possible avenues for getting their foot in the med door, and may in fact sometimes be in their interest.

Exactly, the best interest of the applicant, not the PI. Completing only 1 year of a traditional 2 year MSc and then dropping out upon acceptance to med is a waste of time/money for the PI, and also most likely gained the applicant nothing as you cannot use anything from a MSc on a med application unless your degree is complete. In fact, so many people are doing this that many med schools in Canada require your degree by complete by the end of July/early August before being able to count towards your GPA etc, so unless you do a 1 year MSc there's little point. If all you're searching for is research experience, take the year off and volunteer in a lab. Many people, both students and non-students, are doing just this in the lab I'm currently completing my MSc in. 

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13 minutes ago, Chels1267 said:

Exactly, the best interest of the applicant, not the PI. Completing only 1 year of a traditional 2 year MSc and then dropping out upon acceptance to med is a waste of time/money for the PI, and also most likely gained the applicant nothing as you cannot use anything from a MSc on a med application unless your degree is complete. In fact, so many people are doing this that many med schools in Canada require your degree by complete by the end of July/early August before being able to count towards your GPA etc, so unless you do a 1 year MSc there's little point. If all you're searching for is research experience, take the year off and volunteer in a lab. Many people, both students and non-students, are doing just this in the lab I'm currently completing my MSc in. 

Agreed on 1yr > 2yr for efficiency, if you do 2yrs program then you gotta stay til it's done. The PI's interest is for the PI to take care of, it's not the applicant's problem.

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@PreMedJen bottom line is, if you're willing to commit at least 2 years, losing 2 application cycles, then go for it. I would not count on a MSc for boosting GPA though, the effect there is usually minimal. It does give you the opportunity to add both research and other volunteer/extracurricular experiences to your application, but I would not brush off wasting your PI's time and hard earned grant money as easily as others. That's my 2 cents.

I would however recommend Western's 1 year Non-thesis MSc in biochem. You get exposed to so many different topics in your course work, and then during the summer you have the opportunity to do a research project of your choosing in a lab within the faculty. It's a pretty good combination of everything, and up until May you have time to span out and do some volunteering.

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