Hello!
My name is Hutch and I have been reading around the site for a while, loved all of the information and figured I would join up. I am currently 27 and in the military, getting out in 2012 with a return to school, and hopefully an application to medical school shortly thereafter. I received my BS in 2007 and spent 2008 taking pre-reqs, then did a shoddy attampt at an application in 2009 that yielded no success. I joined the military in 2010 and have loved it, but wake up every day longing for medicine.
I have been a paramedic for several years and worked in a trauma center for most of those. I am from Texas and intend on pursuing a Masters in Biology prior to the application in order to get back in the swing of school and prove my academic worth! Glad to be on a site with like minded individuals and looking forward to hopefully contributing at some point! Here are my (less than stellar) stats:
Overall GPA 3.0
Science GPA 3.0
MCAT 23O
Here is the plan as of yet: Masters in Biology, Re-Take the MCAT, and re-apply. I am confidant that I will have much better GPA success as well as MCAT success due to the GI Bill allowing me to “only” got to school for the first time in my life. I am not here to make excuses, I earned every grade I ever received, but it will be nice to not work two jobs and attempt a decent course load.
Here is where my question comes in: would it be more beneficial to pursue a second bachelors in a science field in order to boost both the overall and science GPA, or pursue the masters in Biology? I would rather pursue the Masters as it is geared towards individuals applying to medical school and I like the set up of the program, however I have been getting mixed results from the adcoms I have contacted.
Anybody been in a similar situation and chose one option or the other … and can comment on their outcome?
Thanks all!
- whitecoatoneday Said:
My name is Hutch and I have been reading around the site for a while, loved all of the information and figured I would join up. I am currently 27 and in the military, getting out in 2012 with a return to school, and hopefully an application to medical school shortly thereafter. I received my BS in 2007 and spent 2008 taking pre-reqs, then did a shoddy attampt at an application in 2009 that yielded no success. I joined the military in 2010 and have loved it, but wake up every day longing for medicine.
I have been a paramedic for several years and worked in a trauma center for most of those. I am from Texas and intend on pursuing a Masters in Biology prior to the application in order to get back in the swing of school and prove my academic worth! Glad to be on a site with like minded individuals and looking forward to hopefully contributing at some point! Here are my (less than stellar) stats:
Overall GPA 3.0
Science GPA 3.0
MCAT 23O
Here is the plan as of yet: Masters in Biology, Re-Take the MCAT, and re-apply. I am confidant that I will have much better GPA success as well as MCAT success due to the GI Bill allowing me to "only" got to school for the first time in my life. I am not here to make excuses, I earned every grade I ever received, but it will be nice to not work two jobs and attempt a decent course load.
Here is where my question comes in: would it be more beneficial to pursue a second bachelors in a science field in order to boost both the overall and science GPA, or pursue the masters in Biology? I would rather pursue the Masters as it is geared towards individuals applying to medical school and I like the set up of the program, however I have been getting mixed results from the adcoms I have contacted.
Anybody been in a similar situation and chose one option or the other .... and can comment on their outcome?
Thanks all!
Hello, Hutch. It's nice to see some more military folks on the forum. Pursue the masters in Biology if and only if it is a Special Masters Program (SMP) geared towards both pre-meds who are borderline competitive for med school and those who have been out of school for awhile - preferably a SMP with linkage to a medical school.
Its definitely geared towards those pursuing doctoral education in medicine, so that is good. It is not directly linked to any school, unfortunately in Texas we don’t really have any SMP programs which are linked to a medical school per se. Texas College of Osteopathic does pull from the local post bacc program at UNT and I have looked into that program as well but I am more interested in applying Allopathic. I guess the main thing is the masters / second bachelors, curious which route others have chose in a similar situation. Thanks TicDoc!
whitecoat-
If you’re planning on going the DO route, you could just retake some of those old classes. AACOMAS uses grade replacement. You just need to be sure that the class is equal in credit or higher than the previous class you took, and fits in description too.
olderguy -
I plan on applying to both DO/MD, however due to location, I am leaning towards MD. I understand that is likely a longer route, but I am willing to work with that. Thanks for the information!
I would be willing to get anyone’s opinion on the pre-health masters programs and if they feel they helped them prepare for medical school.
Thanks all!