Research Opportunities for 4th gap year?

[Pastafari]

I have been working as a medical assistant for the past 2.5 years. For personal reasons I am going to have to leave that job and start something new. I am currently part of this year's cycle and have had 1 interview already (post-II R) and have another interview lined up. However, if this cycle is not successful I am planning on waiting until the 2023 cycle (2022 is unrealistic in terms of significant changes to my application).

For some background: GPA = 3.7, MCAT = 513. A few volunteering experiences, two of which have been for extended periods of time. Over 6000 hours of medical assisting as well as other minor medical experiences. 1.5 years in an undergraduate research lab with no publications and not much in the way of results to talk about.

I believe the weakest part of my application is research. For that reason I am trying to find some way to get more research experience but it seems limited for someone in my position. Most research experiences are aimed at current undergraduate students or students who graduated less than 3 years ago. Otherwise there are plenty of research jobs but they seem to be more lab technician type jobs where I'd have no chance of a publication. There are few research assistant positions here and there, but I'm looking to see if there's anything I'm missing.

Are there any programs (such as NIH IRTA) that might be more open to those who graduated 4+ years prior? Or anything else similar?

TIA!

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[dem0225]

Just my two cents- the notion that lab techician jobs do not lead to publication is 100% false. If your PI is fair, they will put your name on papers, as long as you put in the work. I've been working as a tech since I completed undergrad and have multiple publications from the experience, more than one within the first year of working in the lab. Best bet is to apply to academic labs at universities and to be clear about your intentions and what you would like to get out of the experience, publications included.

 

[MyOdyssey]

I have been working as a medical assistant for the past 2.5 years. For personal reasons I am going to have to leave that job and start something new. I am currently part of this year's cycle and have had 1 interview already (post-II R) and have another interview lined up. However, if this cycle is not successful I am planning on waiting until the 2023 cycle (2022 is unrealistic in terms of significant changes to my application).

For some background: GPA = 3.7, MCAT = 513. A few volunteering experiences, two of which have been for extended periods of time. Over 6000 hours of medical assisting as well as other minor medical experiences. 1.5 years in an undergraduate research lab with no publications and not much in the way of results to talk about.

I believe the weakest part of my application is research. For that reason I am trying to find some way to get more research experience but it seems limited for someone in my position. Most research experiences are aimed at current undergraduate students or students who graduated less than 3 years ago. Otherwise there are plenty of research jobs but they seem to be more lab technician type jobs where I'd have no chance of a publication. There are few research assistant positions here and there, but I'm looking to see if there's anything I'm missing.

Are there any programs (such as NIH IRTA) that might be more open to those who graduated 4+ years prior? Or anything else similar?

TIA!

It's not clear that your target schools will be ones that especially value a lot of research given your 3.7/513 stats.

Are you looking for a one year research position?

Consider creating an account on the Indeed website and running searches on there for the kind of research positions you want.

You can also use a search engine to look up open research positions. The name of the medical school/hospital and the type of position you want will typically pull up several hits.

 

[KnightDoc]

It's not clear that your target schools will be ones that especially value a lot of research given your 3.7/513 stats.

Are you looking for a one year research position?

Consider creating an account on the Indeed website and running searches on there for the kind of research positions you want.

You can also use a search engine to look up open research positions. The name of the medical school/hospital and the type of position you want will typically pull up several hits.

This^^^^. Schools outside the T20 don't really care that much about research, and, unless you are URM, your stats are not really competitive for T20. You can definitely throw in a few reach applications to see what happens, but it would be a waste of time for you to focus on that aspect of your application, since it will be low yield due to your stats.

1.5 years in a lab is plenty for all but the very top schools, and it might even be enough for them. Pubs are not the be all that many SDNers believe them to be. Adcoms have repeatedly said experience and learning about the process is what they look for. Not necessarily results, other than for MD/PhD candidates.

Your application is already fine, as evidenced by your 2 IIs. You might be fine applying next year, because the only change you might need might be to your school list, if it is too top heavy now.

 

[Pastafari]

Just my two cents- the notion that lab techician jobs do not lead to publication is 100% false. If your PI is fair, they will put your name on papers, as long as you put in the work. I've been working as a tech since I completed undergrad and have multiple publications from the experience, more than one within the first year of working in the lab. Best bet is to apply to academic labs at universities and to be clear about your intentions and what you would like to get out of the experience, publications included.

Thank you for this, I was led to believe that idea by the MD I work for but I can imagine that success varies significantly by lab.

This^^^^. Schools outside the T20 don't really care that much about research, and, unless you are URM, your stats are not really competitive for T20. You can definitely throw in a few reach applications to see what happens, but it would be a waste of time for you to focus on that aspect of your application, since it will be low yield due to your stats.

1.5 years in a lab is plenty for all but the very top schools, and it might even be enough for them. Pubs are not the be all that many SDNers believe them to be. Adcoms have repeatedly said experience and learning about the process is what they look for. Not necessarily results, other than for MD/PhD candidates.

Your application is already fine, as evidenced by your 2 IIs. You might be fine applying next year, because the only change you might need might be to your school list, if it is too top heavy now.

I definitely did consider applying next year and adding DO schools to the mix. I'll keep thinking about that although my concern is that they'll wonder why I never applied DO in the first place.

 

[KnightDoc]

Thank you for this, I was led to believe that idea by the MD I work for but I can imagine that success varies significantly by lab.

I definitely did consider applying next year and adding DO schools to the mix. I'll keep thinking about that although my concern is that they'll wonder why I never applied DO in the first place.

You are misunderstanding me -- Your stats are more than good enough for MD. They are just on the lower end for T20. Consequently, the MD programs you will be a good fit for are the ones that won't expect thousands of hours of research, or multiple publications. I never meant to suggest that you needed to add DO. I don't think you need to with your application.

 

[MyOdyssey]

You are misunderstanding me -- Your stats are more than good enough for MD. They are just on the lower end for T20. Consequently, the MD programs you will be a good fit for are the ones that won't expect thousands of hours of research, or multiple publications. I never meant to suggest that you needed to add DO. I don't think you need to with your application.

I agree.

 

[Pastafari]

You are misunderstanding me -- Your stats are more than good enough for MD. They are just on the lower end for T20. Consequently, the MD programs you will be a good fit for are the ones that won't expect thousands of hours of research, or multiple publications. I never meant to suggest that you needed to add DO. I don't think you need to with your application.

I hear you, thanks for clarifying. I definitely haven't lost hope for this cycle, especially considering my upcoming interview, but I agree with you that I may have applied a bit top heavy. A girl can dream, right? Although I will say my stats alone don't entirely make up for the red flag on my application, re: one of my previous SDN posts. That alone means I'm at a disadvantage even with relatively good stats. (But that's an unrelated topic that I've already dealt with.)

Still waiting to hear back from 2/3 of my schools so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Just trying to be as prepared as possible in case it doesn't work out. Thanks for your input, it's really appreciated!

 

[KnightDoc]

I hear you, thanks for clarifying. I definitely haven't lost hope for this cycle, especially considering my upcoming interview, but I agree with you that I may have applied a bit top heavy. A girl can dream, right? Although I will say my stats alone don't entirely make up for the red flag on my application, re: one of my previous SDN posts. That alone means I'm at a disadvantage even with relatively good stats. (But that's an unrelated topic that I've already dealt with.)

Still waiting to hear back from 2/3 of my schools so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Just trying to be as prepared as possible in case it doesn't work out. Thanks for your input, it's really appreciated!

My pleasure! What red flag? Underaged drinking from over 4 years ago? Trust me, that is absolutely nothing this many years later. You're fine. The cycle is far from over if you are still waiting to hear back from 2/3 of your schools and you already have at least 1 II. The fact that you are receiving any IIs at all means you do not have a red flag.

Nothing wrong with thinking ahead, but no need to worry needlessly. At least not yet! Insane levels of competition is impacting most of us. Whatever else might be holding you back, it's not an ancient, relatively benign IA.

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

school list?
Research is hardly a requirement to get into med school outside of top schools.

 

[dem0225]

Thank you for this, I was led to believe that idea by the MD I work for but I can imagine that success varies significantly by lab.

I definitely did consider applying next year and adding DO schools to the mix. I'll keep thinking about that although my concern is that they'll wonder why I never applied DO in the first place.

The MD you work for is correct, but again, be clear about what you're looking for by working in a lab. A PI worth their salt it going to be honest with you and set expectations regarding publication timeline and the likelihood of you being included on the author list. Remember-they are vetting you as a potential employee as well, so they want their goals to be met by hiring you.

However, there really are no guarantees in research and something I like to live by is "it's not published until it's published!!". You never know what your data is going to look like and how that's going to fit in to your narrative, nor the reviewers that will get to comment on your manuscript. Often there are multiple revisions and additional experiments that reviewers would like to see before re-submission. So if you are banking on one year of lab research, and an accepted manuscript within that time period, beware. Institutions that care about research (and if you have any interest in pursuing future research) are going to want you to have an accurate picture of what the research process entails, which is oftentimes involved, prolonged, and can have many reroutes.

This is all to help set expectations for you, and certainly not to push you away from finding a lab. Mostly, I think it's important for you to be blunt with the PIs you talk to, and see what they say! Every lab is different, and in my experience, finding good PIs who are motivated to mentor and help you along in your career leads to far better research experiences and outcomes than joining a lab to crank out publications. Ideally you get both, (with good, legitimate research, might I add!) but certainly not guaranteed.

 

[Pastafari]

My school list was maybe about 5 very high reach schools with the rest kind of more mid tier, 28 in total. I don't exactly know if any qualify as "low tier". I tend to be either at or below the average stats for most schools, so I don't consider any of them "safety" schools.

Thank you all for the responses, I'm going to consider it all. Honestly I've just been a neurotic pre-med all year, as is to be expected.

I just got an e-mail for another interview invite so the cycle is going considerably better than I expected. I'm going to be focusing my energy on interview prep for now. If things don't work out and I need to reformulate my plans next year, I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

Appreciate all the input!