Students may wish to obtain a Master of Science degree, especially if they have a specialty they want to expand on and research. According to the Princeton Review, many colleges offer a Master of Science program through the medical college, so medical students may complete both.
Completion of a medical degree and a Master of Science can take five or six years of full-time schooling.
A Master of Business Administration degree prepares students for managing businesses. Health professionals often step into administrative roles in the health care field, such as in hospitals, when they have the proper combination of schooling for it. Accordingly, many medical students desire to also obtain a Master of Business Administration.
This combination gives medical professionals the proper credentials to work in the administrative area of medicine. Medical directors and chief medical officers are two examples of medical professionals who require business administration backgrounds.
Public health is an important and growing facet within the health care industry today. Medical students may be interested in getting a Master of Public Health degree to focus their medical studies toward working in public health clinics or for government-funded medical organizations, such as the Center for Disease Control.
The course of study to obtain a Master of Public Health degree teaches medical students about public health regulations and standards that pertain to medical treatment services, public health safety concerns, pandemics and pharmaceutical trends.
Medical students can go to school for an M.D., as well as for a Ph.D. Both degree programs provide students with the credential of a doctor, but M.D.s and Ph.D.s are not the same thing.
Ph.D.s are useful for medical doctors who wish to specialize in theories and research, and who are interested in writing for medical journals or teaching in universities or communities. For instance, a medical doctor with a Ph.D. in society and philosophy can teach and educate different societies about medicine. Or the doctor can focus on different types of medical philosophies, such as naturopathic healing.