<p>An undergrad institution offers these three options to Biology majors graduating in 4 years: a BA, BS, or BS and MS.</p>
<p>Assuming it is easiest to maintain the highest GPA with a BA (then a BS results in a lower GPA and a BS/MS results in an even lower GPA) but the most focus on research and prestige (both at the university and in the real world) comes with a BS/MS (and less research focus/prestige with a BS, then almost no research focus/prestige with a BA), which do you think would be the best option for a premed student and why?</p>
<p>It shouldn’t really matter, take classes you like and excel; I don’t think most adcoms will care about BA v BS as long as you have done the premed prereqs</p>
<p>The MS is going to make you a more competitive applicant, that much is certain; however, depending on the intensity of your distate for research, pursuing the additional MS may or may not do more harm than good. Most top medical schools prefer to see their applicants have productive research experiences, but it is not an absolute requirement. If you think research is tolerable (as opposed to abhorrent) but simply don’t want to make a career out of it, pursuing the MS might still be worthwhile.</p>
<p>Getting a BA or BS makes no difference. Some undergraduate institutions offer both degrees. Others only offer one or the other. It doesn’t make sense to discriminate between students based on the kind of baccalaureate degree their school happens to offer.</p>
<p>An MS makes some difference since technically, it’s another degree. I’m not sure if it’s going to be a huge boost in it of itself. However, if you published some papers while completing your MS, that would be a big help.</p>