Hello all,
I wanted to ask this question here because i believe you can help.
so i have decided to follow my heart and apply to medical school. I am looking at the application cycle of 2014 to enter in 2015. My current focus is to gain acceptance to an osteopathic medical school. I am currently in a PhD program and want to know what I should do. I need to boost my uGPA as it is a 2.8/sci 3.0. I have a research base MS in biology with a 3.8GPA and got a gre score of 1300( just to say where I am testing wise).
I want to know if it is worth it to continuing with the masters portion of my PhD. I know that that the second masters wont help me,but I want to know if it will look very very poorly for me to leave after one year.
Would it be worth it to take some classes at the undergrad level( anatomy and phys) to boost my gpa… The issue that i have is I have taken a good bit of classes( Immuno, Micro,Genetics,Cell, Molecular, Biochem) all at the graduate level ( with A’s) so I dont think I can repeat them.
Or should i try to apply to a SMP to boost acceptance? There are a few that focus on underrepresented minorities ( I am an African American woman) that have linkages with medical schools that I would be a strong candidate for acceptance.
I am currently working as a medical scribe, have good research experience, and a few publications under my belt. I havent takent the MCAT yet, because I will be retaking Physics to replace the C i got when i first took it.
Any help is needed.
Thanks
Hi prettypuff1
You shouldn’t be concerned with your undergrad GPA if you did very well during grad school (3.8 is very good I think).
If you already started your PhD (or any other program), I think you should finish it. It won’t be at your advantage to start something and stop in the middle to do something else.
I think a master degree is a two-year program so you have only one year left. Focus on your master first and do well. After that, focus on your prerequisites then the MCAT, and apply to med school.
If you think you can do everything all together, good for you but remember “No rush”; at this point your grades are very important whatever you’re doing.
If you didn’t start with your master/phd yet and you really want to go to med school. Take your prereq now, then the MCAT, and apply. You already have a master I just don’t understand why you’re doing another one.
Rethink about your choices, You are the best judge. Good luck and merry christmas.
If I were in your shoes, I’d finish the PhD and go for an SMP with linkage the following year. At the very least, I’d finish a Master’s since leaving this unfinished may give the impression that you don’t finish what you start.
Unfortunately without an MCAT score, I think it’s difficult to gauge how competitive you are as an applicant. And while a solid grad GPA is great, it doesn’t replace any weak undergraduate grades. In fact, some schools look at graduate courses as an extra curricular activity ( and I was shocked when I heard this).
I think your premed foundation is solid, so with a good MCAT score, you should do well in the application process. But applying to med school as “Dr.” could give your app an extra boost, especially since there are so few Black MD/PhD’s around.
Good luck!