Session 25 In today's episode, Ryan and Rich take a question pulled out directly from the forums over at OldPreMeds.org as they discuss getting a master's program versus postbac program. OldPreMeds Question of the Week: Poster, Megan, is a 27-year old professional with accumulative undergrad GPA of 3.04; currently enrolled in a master's degree program in molecular biology and biochemistry. She is now wondering if she should stop her master's degree program and go back and do more postbac work to help erase some of her other previous grades. Should she drop out of her master's program and go back and do undergrad classes for postbac? Here are the insights from Ryan & Rich: Go to AMCAS and AACOMAS to do grade conversions and get an idea of what you're year by year grade in science versus nonscience and get an idea of what your grade trends are. Master's programs are tricky in that their GPAs will not directly enhance a weak undergraduate GPA. They also have a reputation of awarding grades surely high for most graduate programs. Postbacs and SMPs designed specifically for a premed have more traction. If you're doing it part-time while working full-time, this is not something you can finish a year and go back and do something else. This all depends on what your undergraduate record looks like and what paths you may want to go, whether you need to do grade replacement and focus on a DO route, or have some good upward grade trends that can be salvageable for MD route or how far along are you from the master's to prevent the motivation and commitment question that will come out in some ad com's eyes. Major takeaway from this episode: A traditional master's program still is not going to be as acceptable or impactful as a special master's program or a postbac depending on your background. However, some schools may look at a master's degree more heavily. Some even use it to replace an undergrad GPA. Links and Other Resources: AACOMAS AMCAS www.mededmedia.com