Put Down That MPH Application: How to Reapply to Medical School the Right Way

Monya De, MD MPH
1 min readOct 5, 2018

Unsuccessful medical school applicants face a quandary. What to do next?

A popular option has been the master’s degree in public health. Students figured it was a way to spend a year doing something “health-related.” They could take off for medical school interviews, maybe write a paper or two. But the MPH is too easy a route. It is not enough. Here is what the MPH telegraphs: “I sat down for a year in easy to moderate difficulty classes and passed. I have a broad overview of public health.”

Note: none of this says “I have a new skill” “I have distinguished myself” or “I have made a significant sacrifice”. And the admissions committee already knows the student can pass easy to moderate classes — that is what a college diploma with a respectable GPA is for. The MPH is a *great* degree to get during residency or fellowship, when the program is paying for it, when it creates a needed break in residency, and when it can extend loan deferment in a time of financial need…

Read the full article, originally published on The Student Doctor Network on August 6, 2018, here.

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Monya De, MD MPH

Words @stat @abcnews @economist @latimes Interests: #meded, integrative med, health policy, tech, environment. Internal medicine MD based in LA. Go @stanford