Tuesday, April 22, 2008

So What About People With a Science Background?

Well...basically you're screwed. Honestly though we are at a slight disadvantage because we have already taken all the prerequisites, and if your GPA is a little too low for comfort (anything around or below a 3.0) you will have to get a little creative in boosting up your GPA. From what I can tell there are currently 4 programs that are geared toward individuals who come from a science background. These schools include University of Pennsylvania's Special Science Program, Drexel (MSP, IMS & MMS), American University's Premedical Certificate Program and Georgetown's Special Masters Program. I applied to all four and got into Drexel's MSP and UPenn's Special Science. I have only researched Drexel and UPenn in depth so I will describe those two programs in more detail. Trying to decipher Drexel's different programs can get a little confusing. It took me a while to figure out which one to actually apply to. There are two routes one can take at Drexel depending on whether or not you have a good MCAT score. Both routes lead to a masters degree:

  • MSP → IMS (Master of Biological Science)
  • IMS → MMS (Master of Medical Science)
Drexel Medical Science Preparatory (MSP) program "is a one-year certificate program designed to help students enhance their credentials for application to medical school. The curriculum offers graduate and undergraduate coursework as well as an in-house MCAT preparation review course. The program has been designed to help students improve their academic science background as well as offering preparation for the MCAT or improvement upon existing MCAT scores."
Drexel Interdepartmental Medical Science (IMS) program "is considered a 'special master’s' program, students in the IMS program are afforded the opportunity to take actual first-year medical school courses and are graded based on the performance of the medical school class."


Penn's Special Science program is slightly different and a lot less structured in terms of curriculum. For one thing you are taking all undergraduate classes, which is great for boosting ones undergraduate GPA. I hear that the program has great support staff and counseling. I would have gone to Penn, but unfortunately I still need to take the MCAT and it seems like the MSP has a better curriculum for that purpose. I am not sure if I made the right decision and will probably be agonizing over it for a while. I may still take the MSP and then reapply to Penn's Special Science the year after that.
Photo Credit: http://www.chrisdellavedova.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/scientist.gif

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey what was your gpa like when you got into Drexel and mcat score? Which of the two programs did you get into?

Johnny Utah said...

My Science GPA was 3.2 and I applied without taking the MCAT using a GRE score instead. I started in the MSP and I will be in the MBS program this year which is also known as the IMS program. The MSP is good for students who have either never taken the MCAT or who have low scores while the IMS is good for students with decent MCAT scores but low GPA's.

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Trying to decipher Drexel's different programs can get a little confusing.
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