Rough Semester - 'traditional route' still feasible? Intl.

[Patterned_illuminator]

Hi all,

I apologize for the probably insanely repetitive post, but I would enormously appreciate your advice right now since I'm really freaking out. I had a 3.91 going into this semester (just As/A-), and I had a very emotionally tumultuous semester which prompted me to get ~3.5 and worst off, a B- in E&M physics and a B+ in intro bio. To be fair, my school's intro bio is notoriously difficult (Mowsh bio @ Columbia) but I'd managed an A- last term. I basically had a couple week long depressive episode as a result of family illness and anxiety over my sexuality...although I improved on a personal front, the damage was done.

I and my family really don't want me to take time off between school for financial reasons and I just feel so awful about this and everything. To top it off, I'm Canadian, so I have even less room for error. I have around 4-5 years of research w/ commensurate research fellowships etc. and I plan on studying ahead for my MCAT along with the usual volunteering...is there a way for me to remain a viable candidate for the regular 2017/18 cycle?

I apologize if this is stupid - becoming a clinician scientist has been a major dream of mine since forever.

Thank you,

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[mynameistoolong]

You'll be fine if you keep GPA high and have excellent research. I'm a non-Canadian international, had a 3.0 semester, B-/C+ in gen chem, but kept my final cGPA ~3.7, sGPA ~3.6. Got many, many interviews both cycles I applied (didn't get in the first time but not because of GPA/B- in chem--probably not competitive enough research for int'l and mediocre interviews). I wouldn't worry about your 3.5 semester at all and just focus on doing productive research. A stellar MCAT score will erase any doubts about your academic abilities too.

 

[Patterned_illuminator]

Thank you so much for your kind response. I still have a 3.8 cGPA, so it's not an insurmountable drop; I was just more concerned with coming off as academically unprepared. This may have been because both of the people I know who have done MD/PhD from my school had both insanely high GPAs and MCATs (both valedictorians, lol) so that likely coloured my perception. (Those guys went to Duke and Columbia) Anyway, there is nothing I can do about it now I guess except take care of myself and move on and do my best with the remaining stuff I have control over.

Forgive me for the naïveté , but what qualifies as excellent research? I obviously have starry eyed dreams of publishing but thats very lab dependent, and in my current one, I'm not sure if that's a feasible reality, not before applying at least. I'm curious as to what is good and how I can work towards that..I've been involved in research for a while, but I'm not sure if it's good, per se.

To elaborate on my research: I've worked in labs since my freshman summer of high school: in 2011-2012, i worked in 3 different labs (cancer bio and immunology primarily) and had informative and good learning, albeit short experiences. From 2012 fall to 2014 summer, I worked with a really amazing PI (who is also a clinician scientist) and basically worked on a project on my own. I was vaguely supervised but all of the experimentation, much of the analysis was independent, and I met with the PI to discuss data, next steps etc. . Admittedly, being completely thrown off into the deep end was challenging, especially given that I was still a HS student, but it was a great learning experience and I'm quite close with the PI even now (he's written multiple letters for me). The current lab I'm in is more of a BME lab, and I've mostly been on-off 1 project. I did a lot of the literature review/design/thinking/some prelim data analysis about the project last summer but it was delayed due to technical difficulties, so during the school year I worked on something else that has been going so-so - involvement was limited b/c of school year and obviously this term. I'm back on the main project for the summer onward and will be heavily involved with experimentation/analysis etc. I'm on good terms with the PI, though this lab is quite different in method/structure than the previous one.

Prior to this term, I had an optimistic, top-heavy list, but I'm kind of frightened now. Perhaps this is a good wake up call. Thanks again and congrats to you!

 

[Neuronix]

One or two mediocre grades won't hurt you. Your GPA is still high. Re-focus and make that a one off thing. Also consider taking some easier courses--E&M is really tough. You don't want to take all the hardest, most harshly graded courses at your undergrad and kill your chances for med school despite your hard work.