Applying to Medical School as a Graduate Student

[dwightschrute123]

Hi Everyone, 

DISCLAIMER: This is not a thread about me trying to leave a research-based Master's before completing it. This is regarding the transition between completion of a Master's degree into the beginning of medical school. 

I'm looking for advice - preferably from someone who has been in a similar situation regarding a researched-based Master's degree. I'll be applying to medical school again during the second year of my two year Master's degree with the intent to start medical immediately in the fall after completing the Master's degree. I initially thought this would be no problem until I realized that some med schools have a "strict" deadline for when all Master's related stuff needs to be completed. The date I've seen tossed around is June 30th, or some other date earlier in the summer. 

Now I fully expect to be completed my Master's degree within the two years, however I understand that many students often do not completely wrap up their degrees and defend until around August. Is this ever a problem with people entering medical school the year following completion of a Master's degree? How strict are schools (especially after accepting you) about completion early in the summer?

Obviously this is based around the hypothetical situation that I do get accepted, but lets pretend that will be the case. I don't want this to be a contentious issue with my PI with them thinking I am try to rush out of my Master's two months early. 

Any insight about this would be great!

Thanks in advance

[robclem21]

At least at UofT, this is a very strict deadline. The way I approached this was just that I was up front with my supervisor. She knew from the beginning that med school was my goal and was on board with whatever the requirements were. Hopefully your supervisor is able to provide you the same support and realizes that you need to be done early and its not about "rushing out". You don't have to have every little detail wrapped up, but you do have to have all the requirements for the degree completed. Just be honest and keep them updated. That's typically the best policy in my opinion.

[dwightschrute123]

15 minutes ago, robclem21 said:

You don't have to have every little detail wrapped up, but you do have to have all the requirements for the degree completed. Just be honest and keep them updated. That's typically the best policy in my opinion.

Thanks for your response. What types of things are less important and don't necessarily need to be wrapped up by the deadline? Also I know it likely varies, but typically how far in advance of the completion deadline would you need to make your decision that you will be finishing earlier. i.e. is it sufficient to wait until interviews are offered before committing to completing by June 30th?

[Arztin]

3 hours ago, dwightschrute123 said:

Hi Everyone, 

DISCLAIMER: This is not a thread about me trying to leave a research-based Master's before completing it. This is regarding the transition between completion of a Master's degree into the beginning of medical school. 

I'm looking for advice - preferably from someone who has been in a similar situation regarding a researched-based Master's degree. I'll be applying to medical school again during the second year of my two year Master's degree with the intent to start medical immediately in the fall after completing the Master's degree. I initially thought this would be no problem until I realized that some med schools have a "strict" deadline for when all Master's related stuff needs to be completed. The date I've seen tossed around is June 30th, or some other date earlier in the summer. 

Now I fully expect to be completed my Master's degree within the two years, however I understand that many students often do not completely wrap up their degrees and defend until around August. Is this ever a problem with people entering medical school the year following completion of a Master's degree? How strict are schools (especially after accepting you) about completion early in the summer?

Obviously this is based around the hypothetical situation that I do get accepted, but lets pretend that will be the case. I don't want this to be a contentious issue with my PI with them thinking I am try to rush out of my Master's two months early. 

Any insight about this would be great!

Thanks in advance

Hi there, it depends on the school. Some have very strict policies whereas McGill will let you finish later.

However, do know that not having your final version finished before med school is not fun: you won't have much energy and time for it once in preclerkship. The corrections will feel dreadful and you will most likely drag on uselessly for a fair bit (every person who hasn't finished their thesis by the beginning of med school did that/felt that way). Therefore, I would highly recommend you to have your final submission done before med school starts in any case.

[robclem21]

10 hours ago, dwightschrute123 said:

Thanks for your response. What types of things are less important and don't necessarily need to be wrapped up by the deadline? Also I know it likely varies, but typically how far in advance of the completion deadline would you need to make your decision that you will be finishing earlier. i.e. is it sufficient to wait until interviews are offered before committing to completing by June 30th?

Those types of things are program/supervisor dependent. For example my supervisor wanted me to have a manuscript submitted for my thesis, there were some small committee things that had to be done, conference abstracts that she wanted me to submit, etc. Those all came later and basically got pushed so that I could get my thesis submitted and defend. It was nothing degree related, more "extra" stuff to keep my supervisor happy.

[dwightschrute123]

2 hours ago, robclem21 said:

Those types of things are program/supervisor dependent. For example my supervisor wanted me to have a manuscript submitted for my thesis, there were some small committee things that had to be done, conference abstracts that she wanted me to submit, etc. Those all came later and basically got pushed so that I could get my thesis submitted and defend. It was nothing degree related, more "extra" stuff to keep my supervisor happy.

Okay thank you so much! Again I'm sure this varies school to school, but as long as your thesis has been submitted and your defence has been completed by June 30th is that all the schools are looking for? Or do they expect you to graduate and everything before that date?

[cw2lu4]

I'm in the same situation. Started my MSc last month (september) so normally I would be expected to finish in 24 months. I made my intentions super clear with my PI back in June about finishing early and she said it was completely do-able. In fact, I've seen posts on this forum where people got their PI to write a letter to UofT which allowed them to extend the deadline to like August. 

I'm in a different sticky situation now. I'm not sure if you're also in the same boat but if you are I may as well give you a heads up. UofT also requires you to get a 1st author pub to be considered as a grad applicant. It's highly unlikely that I will have one by the time I apply which is in September of next year. If you already have one under your belt then that's great. 

[Meridian]

For U of T as part of the application process your grad school Supervisor must provide a separate letter stating you will have completed your Masters by June 30.   This means you have completed your defense and revisions and finished final submission.  So realistically you must defend in early June. This can be done, but don't take it as a given as many research Masters can actually take 24-30 months.  Your supervisor writing that letter at start of 2nd year confirms you are on the  same wavelength on expectation.

U of T does not require completion of a first author publication to be considered separately in the Graduate stream.  Sure it helps to show "substantial productivity", but is not a requirement.  Your Academic CV and Supervisor's letter are your best avenues to show that.  Even if you do not get an interview in the graduate stream you are still eligible for an interview in normal undergrad stream.

    http://md.utoronto.ca/academic-requirements

[robclem21]

7 hours ago, dwightschrute123 said:

Okay thank you so much! Again I'm sure this varies school to school, but as long as your thesis has been submitted and your defence has been completed by June 30th is that all the schools are looking for? Or do they expect you to graduate and everything before that date?

nobody cares about the actual date of convocation. Just the degree requirements.

[cw2lu4]

4 hours ago, Meridian said:

For U of T as part of the application process your grad school Supervisor must provide a separate letter stating you will have completed your Masters by June 30.   This means you have completed your defense and revisions and finished final submission.  So realistically you must defend in early June. This can be done, but don't take it as a given as many research Masters can actually take 24-30 months.  Your supervisor writing that letter at start of 2nd year confirms you are on the  same wavelength on expectation.

U of T does not require completion of a first author publication to be considered separately in the Graduate stream.  Sure it helps to show "substantial productivity", but is not a requirement.  Your Academic CV and Supervisor's letter are your best avenues to show that.  Even if you do not get an interview in the graduate stream you are still eligible for an interview in normal undergrad stream.

    http://md.utoronto.ca/academic-requirements

"In some cases, graduate applicants may undergo a separate graduate application review if you are able to demonstrate substantial productivity on your academic CV. Aside from presentations, posters and conferences, we are looking to see if you have completed at least one first author publication. When applying to the MD Program after completing a one or two year course-based Master’s program, you will likely be assessed as an undergraduate applicant."

 

My choice of using the word "require" was too extreme. But it does seem like they're intent on the 1st author publication. 

[Olaf]

I can confirm that this is a strict deadline for Western. I needed to have completed all of my program requirements (for me: defending my thesis, making all recommended changes, and submitting it to the department) by June 30th. It's okay if you haven't convocated by June 30th though. 
Luckily this wasn't an issue for me as I took almost 3 years to do my MSc so I defended in April of this year haha...

[GH0ST]

On 10/22/2017 at 5:43 PM, dwightschrute123 said:

Hi Everyone, 

DISCLAIMER: This is not a thread about me trying to leave a research-based Master's before completing it. This is regarding the transition between completion of a Master's degree into the beginning of medical school. 

I'm looking for advice - preferably from someone who has been in a similar situation regarding a researched-based Master's degree. I'll be applying to medical school again during the second year of my two year Master's degree with the intent to start medical immediately in the fall after completing the Master's degree. I initially thought this would be no problem until I realized that some med schools have a "strict" deadline for when all Master's related stuff needs to be completed. The date I've seen tossed around is June 30th, or some other date earlier in the summer. 

Now I fully expect to be completed my Master's degree within the two years, however I understand that many students often do not completely wrap up their degrees and defend until around August. Is this ever a problem with people entering medical school the year following completion of a Master's degree? How strict are schools (especially after accepting you) about completion early in the summer?

Obviously this is based around the hypothetical situation that I do get accepted, but lets pretend that will be the case. I don't want this to be a contentious issue with my PI with them thinking I am try to rush out of my Master's two months early. 

Any insight about this would be great!

Thanks in advance

I know of students who have gotten in and was finishing up their defense. They worked on polishing everything up before they presented. Some people I know got a deferral but that situation is very rare

- G