Questions regaring SMPs

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>I'm a second year psychology major who recently started looking into medicine seriously. I've finished most of premed reqs already (I took most of eng, bio, chem, math, phys, and orgo already because they either satisfied my major requirement or GE) with not so great /not so bad grades. I have a GPA of 3.5 and am now looking into SMPs to enhance my chance (and perhaps gain more experience, knowledge, etc). </p>

<p>My question is:
"Would finishing undergrad in 3 years and doing a SMP program be at disadvantage?"</p>

<p>I'm mostly done with premed requirements, could easily finish undergrad by next year, and feel like I would be wasting my time if there is no way I could raise my science GPA during the rest of my undergrad years. (Given that science GPA consists of those pre-reqs, am I correct?) On the other hand, I wonder how graduating in 3 years would look to medical schools.</p>

<p>Another factor I'm worried is EC. I've been volunteering at a hospital and have a few experiences in the field, but would medical schools require/question about research experience? I thought enrolling in a SMP program would help me in that area as well, but I wonder if it'd be better to look for research experience as an undergrad.</p>

<p>Has anyone gone through a special master's program? Could you give me a word or two about how it is like?</p>

2

<p>"Science GPA" is actually BCPM; any course under biology, chem, physics and math will count, not just the pre-reqs.</p>

3

<p>If your science GPA is around a 3.5, I don't think you'll need a SMP.</p>

<p>SMP's are rigorous which is why they are so valued by med schools. You take med school courses (often with medical students) and you often need to score better than most of them. I think at Georgetown SMP (which is the best one), you need to score better than 90% of Georgetown's med students in order to get an A.</p>