<p>Hello all. One can say that I have had a fairly tumultuous (both personally and academically) undergraduate experience. Nevertheless, I will be graduating (on time) this August with my bachelors in psychology. My primary goal is to go to medical school, however, my grades are not so great and I have not even begun preparing for the MCAT. That being said, I applied for several MPH (master of public health) programs back in March and was accepted everywhere I applied. I will most likely be attended the University of Miami this fall to attain my masters in public health. I will use my summers in between to finish up my science prerequisites and take my MCAT. My question is, do you think having this MPH under my belt will help with medical school admissions, considering that my record isn't so great? (I will be graduating with a 3.0). Thanks in advance. </p>
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<p>Short answer–no.</p>
<p>Longer answer-- graduate degrees (including PhD.s) are not usual among med school applicants.
A MPH will not redeem a below par undergrad GPA since med admission offices still use undergrad GPAs as a screener even if the applicant has a grad degree. Additionally, adcomms know there is substantial grade inflation in grad programs so unless your grad GPA is a near perfect 4.0, a grad degree might actually hurt your chances.</p>
<p>About the only grad program which might help your admission chances would be a rigorous bioscience master’s program. (These are called grade enhancing post-baccs.)</p>
<p>If an MPH is what you’re passionate for then pursue it. If you failed any of the necessary pre reqs for med school in undergrad then I suggest retaking them. If you are doing an MPH to just impress AdComs then you are wasting time and money, do an SMP to make up for your grades and show them what you got. </p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. I am definitely not doing the MPH just to impress anyone. I want to be a public health physician and I’ve wanted this for a while now. I was just curious if getting the masters might also benefit me in other ways. I do plan to retake the classes I did worst in and I also plan to take an MCAT prep course. When the time comes, I will be applying mostly to DO schools and some MD schools as well. I feel that DO schools may look at more than just my numbers and consider that I will make a great physician. Correct me if I’m wrong. If this doesn’t work out then I may just end up getting my phd in epidemiology, though that’s not truly what I want. </p>
<p>I do not know if Graduate degrees are helpful with admission. However, D’s Medical school class has a good number of of people with the various Grad. degrees, including PhD from Harvard, several lawyers, several Masters of Science (including from top Elite Grad. schools). Another point is that D. has mentioned that those with Masters in Anatomy are definitely having advantage in Medical School. They can do Medical School Anatomy with “their eyes closed” so to speak and they are helping others a lot. </p>
<p>@MiamiDAP Yes, I would imagine that certain grad degrees could be very helpful while in medical school, such as anatomy, biochemistry etc. I really don’t see how the MPH could hurt my chances at admission. @WayOutWestMom could you explain that further? Or did you mean that a low grad GPA could hurt my chances? I may have misunderstood. Thanks for all input. </p>
<p>By the way, the program that I will be doing is not actually an MPH, it is an MSPH, which is similar, but more research (science) based. </p>
<p>Yes, a low graduate GPA will hurt your application.</p>
<p>A grad degree (assuming a strong GPA) by itself is neutral–won’t help you; won’t hurt you.</p>
<p>@miami4rmjax
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<p>I believe there is a greater distinction between the two than you state. An MPH is a professional degree that could help employ you. Have you thoroughly considered your long term goals and options? What if your plan to become a physician doesn’t pan out?</p>
<p>@plumazul If med school doesn’t work out, I will go for a phd in epidemiology. </p>
<p>It’s not that easy to just decide that you want to go for a PhD, either, though. PhD programs have their own GPA and research requirements. It’s not just a fall-back option. Getting into a good PhD program is difficult and requires a different type of preparation than medical school.</p>
<p>@nanotechnology any suggestions on what I should do then?</p>
<p>Yes, I think a graduate degree (and informal post-bac) to complete med school requirements is a very good plan especially if you can explain what went wrong in undergrad. However, it will be very challenging, so plan on spending time on the bio-chem-physcs-stat-calc-biochem coursework to start, then MCAT intensive review. Remember you may need a lot of time for applications and interviews (hopefully). Definitely talk to the pre-med advisor at your University and find out if the committee will be involved in your recs. </p>
<p>@2prepmom thank you for actually suggesting a solid plan for me to work with. I like your suggestions. I am pretty sure that this is what I am going to do. I honestly don’t care how long it takes for me to get to med school. And despite what someone else said, I do think that a graduate degree will make me stand out as someone who has additional skills and experience compared to someone who hasn’t done one. That must count for something. It also shows that I can handle graduate level work and that I am committed/passionate about all aspects of health. Plus I am hearing more and more that there is a desire for public health physicians, especially where I live (south Florida). At UMiami (the school where I will be doing my MPH), the public health program is part of the Miller School of Medicine, which is a huge plus for me. They have a combined MD/MPH program so I will be taking classes with medical students and get to really get a feel for the med school. I don’t think this could ever be a bad thing. I am not worried about getting a low GPA. Yes, my undergrad GPA is 3.0, but that’s because I dealt with some serious issues junior year that I don’t want to get into. I am much more mature and determined now anyway and doing much better. </p>
<p>By the way, I do appreciate all opinions, even if I may disagree with some. Gives me something to think about. </p>
<p>OP - I’m not saying that getting a PhD isn’t an option, but I just want to make sure that you are aware of what is required for that route. In general, lots of research experience, solid grades, and strong letters of recommendation are some of the most important factors. Depending on what research you get in school, you might have to take a few years of work or a thesis-based masters program to build up research experience before applying to PhD programs. It’s not uncommon to have a 3.0 GPA cut off for PhD applications, but above a 3.5-3.7 GPA really isn’t important. Demonstrating solid grades in a master’s program will help make up for low undergrad grades when applying for PhD programs, but having a lower GPA means you will have to find other ways to stand out and demonstrate that you are qualified.
If you want to think more about this route, I would check out the grad school forum here on CC as well.</p>