Master's Degree while in Medical School

[MO232]

Hello,

I haven't seen this posted anywhere, so I was curious if anyone had any experience. I am a current medical student, and I was wondering if anyone knew of a Master's Degree where a majority of already taken medical school courses would count towards the completion of said degree. If so, what degree and what school offers it?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[getdown]

Any masters degree that's worth anything will be in things that add value to you as a physician. This by definition will mean that they have NO or MINIMAL overlap with medical school curricula. A masters degree that already contain components of your medical education is absolutely worthless and is a complete waste of time.

This is different than taking a gap year to do an MPH or MBA but those likely have zero to minimal overlap in your coursework. Not to mention you actually need time to study for them. If you were thinking about doing them simultaneously with your medical course work that's just a recipe for disaster.

 

[hamstergang]

If so, what degree and what school offers it?

Are you asking about getting a Master's just for the sake of it? What Master's are you interested in getting and why?

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

a Master's Degree where a majority of already taken medical school courses would count towards the completion of said degree.

These kinds of masters degrees are for the other way around.... my school has one but it's for people who they aren't sure will make it through the medical school curriculum so they admit them to the masters and then if they have above a certain GPA they start the medical curriculum and their masters classes count towards that.

As was mentioned above, if you are a medical student already these programs are worthless and any masters that you do from this point should be something that could benefit you as a physician. I.e MBA, MPH maybe, perhaps even something heavily research focused (could help build a CV for academic jobs).

 

[mrbreakfast]

What you're looking for is a masters in biomedical science, a degree with no practical benefit other than strengthening a resume for medical school admissions.

 

[kopftonmd]

There's a MA program at my school in medical humanities, where the required number of courses goes from 10->6 for med students, so we can complete it in 4 years (and not pay extra). Is it the most super helpful thing ever for residency or practice or whatever? Perhaps not. But it's a nice way to keep flexing your humanities muscle while in med school, if that's your thing.

Plus, if you decide to ditch medicine post-grad, you can use that master's for a totally different career path.

 

[Sleepingdoc]

OP: Why take the extra degrees just for the sake to piling up diplomas.. You are a doctor and you will work as a doc.. some degrees may add value to it like EMBA.. or MBA with it but I doubt Med school classes count toward that degree.. check with the school you plan to do it and it may fill the elective requirements.

 

[ed*26]

What are you hoping to get out of a degree that you don't want to take any classes for? You already are getting a terminal degree, and if you want to be a full-time clinician getting another degree probably won't significantly impact your career.

It can add something to a residency application, but more so from the perspective that you can get better connected with a field you're interested in and will likely have to do research. Like some people are getting a clinical research master's so they can learn the stats really well, and my school offers some other options like bioethics that could be great for someone interested in it. Some other people are getting a clinical research master's so they can learn the stats really well. It won't be better for residency than the classmate who starts pumping out research papers from day 1 or getting a great step 1 score.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

We have an MD/MPH at my home institution where you do both in 4 years and gets lots of MPH credit for the MD classes.

Even with that though it requires a couple extra classes ever semester, MPH classes in the summers, and overall just a more compressed MD curriculum starting day 1.

I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone who isn’t legitimately very interested in public health - an extra degree is not an efficient way to go about resume building

 

[MedScat]

At my school, you can get you MD/MBA and some of the MD courses actually do go toward the MBA. Only about 12 credits (elective credits) but it definitely makes a difference. I am currently finishing up this degree. I have also looked in to the Social and Behavioral MPH program at my school which is fully online and accepts like 20 of the MD credits (thats like half the degree!). With both of these degrees, if you don't finish them in your MD time, you can still graduate with the MD and finish the MBA or MPH later on, as long as you finish within 6 years. Check out what your school has to offer! I have learned so much from the MBA and it hasn't been a ton of extra work. But like everyone was saying above, make sure you aren't getting another degree for the sake of getting a degree.

 

[MO232]

Thank you all for your advice. My reason for the degree isn't based on medicine at all really. It is associated with online part-time work that I am doing in which I could add a Masters degree of any type to my resume, so I could continue doing this during years 3-4 to make a little extra cash. Therefore, if anyone has a degree in which they know of that could accept my already accumulated graduate hours (med school classes), that would be great. Thanks!

 

[MO232]

What you're looking for is a masters in biomedical science, a degree with no practical benefit other than strengthening a resume for medical school admissions.

Thank you! I'll look into this

 

[ed*26]

Thank you all for your advice. My reason for the degree isn't based on medicine at all really. It is associated with online part-time work that I am doing in which I could add a Masters degree of any type to my resume, so I could continue doing this during years 3-4 to make a little extra cash. Therefore, if anyone has a degree in which they know of that could accept my already accumulated graduate hours (med school classes), that would be great. Thanks!

I'm not following. Getting a master's will allow you to keep your job, but continuing to be a medical student wouldn't?

No degree is going to be fully covered by your medical school classes, so you'd have to take extra classes. Usually they're the core classes, so you may only have 1-2 options per semester. Unless they're online, it's unlikely that you'd be able to attend classes during M3/4 and work, and if the degree program isn't used to having medical students then they may not offer much credit transfer. Even if you could, you'd have to wonder whether that time could be better spent otherwise.