MPH vs SMP

[blondepremedd]

Hi!

I'm a junior at a top-notch public school closing out my third year. I made another post about this, but my question in this post will be slightly different. Basically, if I do well in my last year, I'll probably have a 3.5ish cGPA and a 3.1-3.2 sGPA. MCAT tba this summer but I'm taking a course and grinding for 4 months.

I'm currently trying to make a list of programs I want to apply to during my senior year for post-grad but am struggling. I'm split between an MPH-esque program and an SMP.

Goal-wise, I want to work in infectious diseases and dabble in some larger public health stuff. Ideally a combination of seeing patients and hopefully doing some public policy work.

My dilemma lies in the fact that my GPA is the weakest aspect of my application and certainly needs work. My advisor told me that I could do an MPH and take additional "hard science" classes and if I did well in those upper-levels that would look good in terms of med school apps. A different advisor told me to just do an SMP or a hard science masters sort of program.

My thinking is this: If I do well at an SMP, I raise my chances of getting into med school and could possibly get in. If I don't do well at an SMP though, it's over and I'm 50K under.

With an MPH, it seems that med schools generally don't prefer this route, but if I take a lot of hard sciences, it's a maybe. The cost would be similar to an SMP, buuuttttt if I don't get into med school after an MPH, then I have a useable degree to fall back on and could further go on to a career or a PhD or something.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance

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[vzr05]

Hi!!
Pre-med to public health concert here. I never actually made it that far into looking at what med schools want outside of pre-reqs because I was always planning on getting my MPH first. But, I did some shadowing with an MD/MPH who does admissions for med school and residencies at her hospital.

She told me the most disappointing thing that would happen in admissions scenarios is asking an applicant why they got a specific degree (i.e. MPH) and being told they thought it would help their chances getting into med school pretty much killed the interview for said physician. This obviously isn’t the case for all potential adcoms but I think it’s something to consider.

When thinking about which path you want to take, think: why am I doing this and how is it going to help me reach my goals of being a physician? And how can I portray that in a way that shows that this was the best path for me?

I’d also say do A LOT of research on potential MPH programs for “hard science” courses. A biomedical sciences concentration could be advantageous and I think there are STEM certified MPH degrees at certain schools but I’m not sure how much hard science you’ll get from an MPH. I definitely think an MS would be better in that aspect.


Good luck!! Hopefully I’ll see you in the policy world one day.

 

[blondepremedd]

Hi!!
Pre-med to public health concert here. I never actually made it that far into looking at what med schools want outside of pre-reqs because I was always planning on getting my MPH first. But, I did some shadowing with an MD/MPH who does admissions for med school and residencies at her hospital.

She told me the most disappointing thing that would happen in admissions scenarios is asking an applicant why they got a specific degree (i.e. MPH) and being told they thought it would help their chances getting into med school pretty much killed the interview for said physician. This obviously isn’t the case for all potential adcoms but I think it’s something to consider.

When thinking about which path you want to take, think: why am I doing this and how is it going to help me reach my goals of being a physician? And how can I portray that in a way that shows that this was the best path for me?

I’d also say do A LOT of research on potential MPH programs for “hard science” courses. A biomedical sciences concentration could be advantageous and I think there are STEM certified MPH degrees at certain schools but I’m not sure how much hard science you’ll get from an MPH. I definitely think an MS would be better in that aspect.


Good luck!! Hopefully I’ll see you in the policy world one day.

Thank you for your response!

If I could ask, what made you fully commit to the switch from pre med to full public health?

Thanks

 

[vzr05]

Hi!!
Pre-med to public health concert here. I never actually made it that far into looking at what med schools want outside of pre-reqs because I was always planning on getting my MPH first. But, I did some shadowing with an MD/MPH who does admissions for med school and residencies at her hospital.

She told me the most disappointing thing that would happen in admissions scenarios is asking an applicant why they got a specific degree (i.e. MPH) and being told they thought it would help their chances getting into med school pretty much killed the interview for said physician. This obviously isn’t the case for all potential adcoms but I think it’s something to consider.

When thinking about which path you want to take, think: why am I doing this and how is it going to help me reach my goals of being a physician? And how can I portray that in a way that shows that this was the best path for me?

I’d also say do A LOT of research on potential MPH programs for “hard science” courses. A biomedical sciences concentration could be advantageous and I think there are STEM certified MPH degrees at certain schools but I’m not sure how much hard science you’ll get from an MPH. I definitely think an MS would be better in that aspect.


Good luck!! Hopefully I’ll see you in the policy world one day.

I found myself in a situation in the hospital where I was frustrated with the lack of care that was being received by certain patients, I would never see physicians when I was there and it made me realize that this was a product of their environment.

I wanted to be a superhero/double agent of sorts and thought I would be able to make the best impact on improving the healthcare system by working in it as a physician, but I realized I wouldn't be happy or productive if I did that. I decided I'd rather make an impact behind the scenes and hopefully improve the situations for future doctors and patients!

Now given that we're in the middle of a global pandemic, I don't know if I could handle working in the hospital in a situation like this. This situation was just confirmation that I made the right decision.

I hope that helps!