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Gowri Anandarajah, MD is the Director of Graduate Studies for the Master of Science in Medical Sciences Program and Associate Dean of Medicine, Gateways to Medicine, Healthcare, and Research, at Brown University & Warren Alpert Medical School.
This unique Master of Science in Medical Sciences Program (Special Masters Program), housed at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University was explicitly created to help address the USA physician workforce needs regarding the care of underserved patients. Many aspiring medical students, who are genuinely passionate about caring for vulnerable or marginalized patient populations, face barriers to acceptance to medical school due to life circumstances that were beyond their control. These disadvantages may have negatively impacted their undergraduate academic performance or MCAT score, and/or access to clinical, research, or other experiences considered necessary for a strong medical school application. The Brown Gateways program is an intensive 1-year master’s program, which serves as a second chance for students to demonstrate their readiness for medical school. While the pace and intensity of the program is very rigorous, matching that of first-year medical school, we have designed the Gateways curriculum to be a “train up” program, rather than a “weed out” program, by providing additional required learning sessions, created specifically for Gateways, to augment learning. We have also kept the class size small to provide individualized advising, including a robust pre-health advising system and committee letter for medical school. Finally, we are fortunate to have a very engaged alumni network, so students benefit from the advice of those who have traveled a similar path to medicine.
Since our students come from a variety of backgrounds, Gateways provides a multi-faceted curriculum designed to prepare students broadly for the realities of medicine.
(1) Students take 6 required biomedical science courses side-by-side with first-year medical students and take the same multiple-choice exams at the same time and under the same course load. This trains students within an academic environment that matches what they will encounter as medical students. The Gateways curriculum also includes additional required learning workshops, small group learning sessions, quizzes and presentations, designed to help students keep up with and deeply learn the material. We also have Gateways specific faculty who teach these sessions and are readily available to answer questions.
(2) Gateways includes a unique longitudinal series of 2.5 required courses, created specifically for Gateways, covering content similar to medical school doctoring, health systems science (e.g., social determinants of health, disparities, population health) and medical ethics courses. These include longitudinal clinical fieldwork at community healthcare sites that serve vulnerable patients. This course series equips students with a broad understanding of the many complex factors that impact health as well as some direct patient care and health systems experience.
(3) Students complete a community-based capstone project at their longitudinal clinical site. These practical projects are immediately helpful to the clinical site and the patients they serve and also offer students the opportunity to expand their scholarly and presentation skills.
We take a holistic approach to assessing applicants to our program that includes a careful review of their application, followed by an interview for selected applicants. There are several factors that successful applicants have in common. First, is academic readiness for our rigorous curriculum. While an applicant might not be quite ready for medical school, we look for evidence to suggest that they are ready for Gateways, such as undergraduate major and institution, courses taken after college, and MCAT score. During interviews, we look for self-assessment ability and a willingness to work hard, learn, grow and take advice. Second, we look for evidence for passion for a career in medicine and for providing care for underserved patients. Since our program includes a lot of small group and team-based collaborative learning, as well as placement in clinical sites serving vulnerable patient populations, we also look for evidence that the applicant will be a great team-player, a collaborative member of our learning community and will approach patient care with kindness, cultural humility and professionalism. Finally, evidence for potential as a future leader in some aspect of healthcare (clinical, teaching, service, advocacy, research, etc.) is strongly considered.
I think the most important, and sometimes hardest, thing to do is an honest self-appraisal of your readiness for applying to medical school. What are your strengths? What holes or weaknesses are there in your application? What do you need to work on or improve before you are ready to apply? Take into account your academics, as well as your clinical, research and community service experiences. For assessing academic readiness, a great tool is AAMC’s Medical School Admission Requirements (MRSA) database. Here you will find incredibly valuable information about medical schools in the USA, including the averages and ranges of MCAT scores and undergraduate GPAs of accepted students. If you have not completed your pre-medical course requirements then consider taking individual missing undergraduate courses or enrolling in a formal post-baccalaureate pre-medical program, which provides undergraduate required pre-med coursework. If you have completed your pre-med coursework and your undergraduate degree but your GPA or MCAT is not within the typical range of medical school matriculants then a special master’s program, like Gateways, might be an appropriate next step. In exploring special master’s programs, look at the overall program and fit for you. Does it provide what you need to become ready to apply to medical school? Does it provide opportunities for you to fill holes in your application or enhance what you already have? Also consider the advising system and other aspects of the program. Take a close look at program outcomes, go to information sessions and speak to alumni of the program. All of these will help you decide if a program is right for you. Gateways welcomes you to take a close look at our website and reach out to us if you are interested in learning more. https://gateways.med.brown.edu/
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