phdtobe5656
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I am currently finishing up a PhD in Biochemistry and am highly considering applying to medical school next year (in 2023). As an undergraduate student, I went back and forth for many years about whether to go to med school, graduate school, or apply to MD/PhD programs. I ultimately fell in love with research and went the graduate school route. Additionally, as an undergrad I was at a small liberal arts college and was only able to meet one MD/PhD who gave some pretty bad advice. I now know several MD/PhD students and have met up with some MD/PhD faculty at my school and know it really is possible to do a combination of practicing medicine and research. I plan to apply to research-focused schools because my research is so strong.
Below are some stats and a few questions.
1. Undergraduate GPA: 3.98 cGPA, 3.97 sGPA (small liberal arts college, mid-tier)
Major: biochemistry, Minor: neuroscience
2. PhD (biochemistry) GPA: 3.9 (top 5 biochemistry school)
3. Race: ORM
4. Research: I will have around 15,000 hours since I will have been doing research for 5 years well over full-time. I will have ~8 publications when I apply (3 first author). I will also have over 20 presentations/posters in a variety of settings. I also obviously did a lot of research as an undergrad to get into grad school, but that is almost negligible at this point. Maybe worth including on an app, though?
5. Clinical hours/volunteering: I did a lot of this stuff in undergrad. I volunteer tutored at a hospital for two years (120 hours), did an internship at a Federally qualified health center one summer (400 hours), worked at my campus doctor's office for two years (300 ish hours).
6. Extracurriculars/leadership: I had a job I worked 15-20 hrs/week when I was in undergrad. I also did the typical TAing/tutoring. I was president of 1 club and vice president of 3 and served on several committees. As a graduate student, I have served as outreach chair for my program's student leadership committee.
7. Shadowing: I did around 60 hours of shadowing a variety of specialties when I was in undergrad.
8. Non-clinical volunteering: I have done a lot of volunteering as a graduate student. I have volunteered with Big Brothers Big Sisters for 4 years (probably 700 hours when I apply). I have volunteered for a non-profit, Clean Lakes Alliance, to measure algal blooms/water quality in the lakes in my city (~50 hours). I have mentored high school students through a program called SMART Teams. I basically teach a group of inner city high school students about protein structure/function throughout the school year and they make/present a poster over at a conference at the end. We studied the structure of the SARs-Co-v2 Spike protein last year (~120 hours)! One of my friends and I started a coding club for middle schoolers at a local school. I helped get it started but only helped run it for one academic year (~40 hours). I have also done several other summer mentoring things for programs that provide opportunities for URMs in STEM.
9. Honors/awards: I was inducted into my undergrad's academic hall of fame. I won 8 ish academic awards as an undergrad and have won some poster/travel awards as a graduate student. Not sure how relevant this stuff is.
I am thinking that in order to be competitive, I should pick back up on some clinical volunteering? I am interested in OBY/GYN, so I may try to volunteer at Planned Parenthood for the next year. I should also maybe get a few more more recent shadowing hours? If I do these two things and score high on the MCAT, would I have a good chance? I have a really good idea of what research I would want to do in med school, and it actually ties in very nicely with the basic research I have done for my thesis.
Are the things I did in undergrad basically irrelevant since I'll be 5 years out when I apply? Or are some of the above things worth including?
Does anyone have opinions on the 3 year MD accelerated tracks? Do you basically have to go in knowing what specialty you want to do (you apply for residency after your 2nd year, before rotations?)?
Below are some stats and a few questions.
1. Undergraduate GPA: 3.98 cGPA, 3.97 sGPA (small liberal arts college, mid-tier)
Major: biochemistry, Minor: neuroscience
2. PhD (biochemistry) GPA: 3.9 (top 5 biochemistry school)
3. Race: ORM
4. Research: I will have around 15,000 hours since I will have been doing research for 5 years well over full-time. I will have ~8 publications when I apply (3 first author). I will also have over 20 presentations/posters in a variety of settings. I also obviously did a lot of research as an undergrad to get into grad school, but that is almost negligible at this point. Maybe worth including on an app, though?
5. Clinical hours/volunteering: I did a lot of this stuff in undergrad. I volunteer tutored at a hospital for two years (120 hours), did an internship at a Federally qualified health center one summer (400 hours), worked at my campus doctor's office for two years (300 ish hours).
6. Extracurriculars/leadership: I had a job I worked 15-20 hrs/week when I was in undergrad. I also did the typical TAing/tutoring. I was president of 1 club and vice president of 3 and served on several committees. As a graduate student, I have served as outreach chair for my program's student leadership committee.
7. Shadowing: I did around 60 hours of shadowing a variety of specialties when I was in undergrad.
8. Non-clinical volunteering: I have done a lot of volunteering as a graduate student. I have volunteered with Big Brothers Big Sisters for 4 years (probably 700 hours when I apply). I have volunteered for a non-profit, Clean Lakes Alliance, to measure algal blooms/water quality in the lakes in my city (~50 hours). I have mentored high school students through a program called SMART Teams. I basically teach a group of inner city high school students about protein structure/function throughout the school year and they make/present a poster over at a conference at the end. We studied the structure of the SARs-Co-v2 Spike protein last year (~120 hours)! One of my friends and I started a coding club for middle schoolers at a local school. I helped get it started but only helped run it for one academic year (~40 hours). I have also done several other summer mentoring things for programs that provide opportunities for URMs in STEM.
9. Honors/awards: I was inducted into my undergrad's academic hall of fame. I won 8 ish academic awards as an undergrad and have won some poster/travel awards as a graduate student. Not sure how relevant this stuff is.
I am thinking that in order to be competitive, I should pick back up on some clinical volunteering? I am interested in OBY/GYN, so I may try to volunteer at Planned Parenthood for the next year. I should also maybe get a few more more recent shadowing hours? If I do these two things and score high on the MCAT, would I have a good chance? I have a really good idea of what research I would want to do in med school, and it actually ties in very nicely with the basic research I have done for my thesis.
Are the things I did in undergrad basically irrelevant since I'll be 5 years out when I apply? Or are some of the above things worth including?
Does anyone have opinions on the 3 year MD accelerated tracks? Do you basically have to go in knowing what specialty you want to do (you apply for residency after your 2nd year, before rotations?)?
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