What are my chances of getting into Villanova?

Will getting a  masters program in Biomedical Sciences increase my chances of getting into a medical school? Or should I consider getting an Associates of Science degree in a healthcare related field alongside finishing my bachelors?

  • Hello all, I am trying to get into medical school but have a very low GPA (Range: 2.39-2.7). I have not taken the MCAT yet but am planning to very soon and am preparing for it. However, I am not very confident in getting a high score in MCAT (so assuming that I get a low score on my MCAT). I have looked into masters program in an effort to increase my chances of getting into a medical school. The only one that I thought was the most interesting was Biomedical Sciences. Does getting a masters in this heighten my chances of getting into a medical school? If not, what kind of careers are there and what is the job outlook for a masters in this? If masters won't cut the slack for getting into a medical school, should I may be consider looking into an Associates of Science Certification courses along with finishing up a Bachelors in Biology as a backup and to raise my GPA before getting into a medical school? All answers would be highly appreciated!!! :) Thank you!

  • Answer:

    Quality matters more than quantity, and there are plenty of medical school applicants who are fully capable of both. From the question details it appears you may have failed at both thus far. So unless your performance in the MS program is significantly (read: GPA at least 3.5, preferably 3.7-4.0) better than your performance in the BS and/or there are extenuating circumstances[1] that can explain your poor performance in the BS, it's likely a meaningless endeavor. Medical school admission committees are well aware that people who obtain MS/MPH/MBA/etc degrees and then immediately apply to medical school only did these programs to "beef up" their application, feeding into the popular myth that a few extra letters after their name will mean something. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of these applicants are pathetically boring. MS: Okay, great, you have a master's degree in a science field. Please tell me you published some good research in a respected journal, or at least produced some solid abstracts and presented at national conferences. MPH: Cool, so you're interested in public health. Please tell me your thesis involved some actionable health objectives that were implemented with the help of your local legislative/governing body, or that you created a new public health initiative website that now gets thousands of hits and has the backing of local hospitals, or worked with local hospitals to address an unfulfilled public health need like dentistry. MBA: Awesome, someone business-oriented. Please tell me you analyzed cost-benefit ratios of medical equipment or peak hours of emergency room visits to minimize nurse:patient ratio and still reduce costs, or worked on a hospital committee to create business proposals for approval by the board of directors, or started a new healthcare business with VC funding. There are literally thousands of undergrad-only applicants who may not have gotten an extra degree, but they did at least one of the above while maintaining a 3.8, teaching for extra cash on the side, and helping run a non-profit clinic for the underserved. Their productivity levels are insane, and you are applying to beat them for a spot in medicine. Unless this extra degree adds seriously compelling credibility to the strength of your application, doing it solely for applying is likely a huge mistake. [1] For example, I know of an applicant with a poor GPA and MCAT who, midway through college, became the sole caregiver of her 3 siblings after their parents passed away in a freak accident. Hard to study all the time when working 60 hours/week to support the family.

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To start, I would say that a low MCAT and a low GPA are probably indicators that med school will be long and painful for you and are usually associated with a low chance of passing the Step I and Step II. If you are that concerned about your numbers, it may be worth looking into alternative career paths into medicine which include but are not limited to Nursing, Phamacy, Public Health, or Lab Technicians. Save yourself the trouble of going into debt, not passing your boards, not getting into residency, not being a certified doctor and get a well paying job working with patients without the hassle. I would typically frown upon medical student applicants who pile on extra MS degrees since those degrees usually don't add much to the MD's ability to be a doctor. All you MPHs out there taking an extra year to fill out your resume, I'm talking to you! However, in your case, it sounds like an additional year of graduate classes may help boost your GPA and supplement your MCAT. So if you're determined to go to medical school, I would suggest looking into Masters of Medicine (either MSMS or MOM). The program that I'm most familiar with is Boston University's which is a one year program that essentially does the first year of medical school. Reasonably, if you can survive the first year of medical school in one of those programs, you can survive the first two years of real medical school and have a chance at passing your boards.

Christopher VanLang

Honestly, at this point, I would approach this through a different angle. Rather than focusing on how to get into medical school, take a step back and ask yourself, "why are you going to medical school?" Rather than wasting money on various degrees just to get into medical school, I would advise potentially working in other fields of the medical industry (healthcare IT, clinical research assistant, etc.) AND job shadowing doctors. Yes, right now, your chances are quite low as medical school applications are like number games, but showing that effort that you thought of the box to really assess your motives behind going to medical school can help as well. If you find that there's nothing else you can see yourself doing than to become a healthcare professional, THEN I would recommend pursuing the MSMS degree mentioned by . Yes, they want to find candidates who can academically succeed in their schools, but also want candidates who can also possess the drive and compassion to utilize the knowledge from their schools into helping patients.

Virginia Lin

Virginia Lin's answer is very good:  why are you pursuing medicine when you're not academically prepared for it? I loved molecular biology, but couldn't do the math; I wound being one course short of a biology major, and finished a philosophy major. I still love biomedical issues, and read and work with them (designing my own diabetes treatment program), but I couldn't work in biology. It sounds like you just don't know enough science, if both your grades  and expected MCAT score are low. You can learn science at community college or on YouTube, but learn the science first. If you're not capable of that, you not only won't get into medical school, you'll be miserable and terrified.   Every time you made a diagnose or prescribed a medicine, some part of you will wonder "what if I'm wrong?" So try learning one course in biology, working on your own. When you think you know it, take that one course at your community college and see whether they agree.  If not, then you might want to look at the other health-related professions, like Physician's assistant or X-Ray technician.

Loretta B DeLoggio

Actually, I strongly disagree with the answers written below. You should call a few medical schools and ask them. One problem you may encounter is that most schools will not consider a candidate with a GPA lower than a 3.0 furthermore they will NOT count a masters GPA towards your overall GPA. If you do not want to go to the Caribbean your best bet may be to pull up your undergrad GPA with a second major rather than a masters degree. PS: DO schools also require a GPA of at least 3.0 to be considered, but will offer grade forgivness.

Vadim Fuchs

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