I started out with the idea that I wanted to cure ADHD. I'm also pretty interested in mood disorders as well. From there, I deduced that I would have to be a researcher of some sort. I don't know any other way to live than to read text books, especially when I don't have to deal with school, so it seemed like the natural choice. I also knew that I didn't want to be poor my whole life, so I'd want a profession compatible with both my natural interests and my financial interests. The possibility of having to provide the best for children in a economy ever-more beset by inflationary pressures limits my possible careers to those that will likely make 150k by the time I'm 35. For the record, I'm 20 right now.
I'm a sophomore now, but I had an unusual start.
Summer -
1st Session
Microbiology (5 credits) A
2nd Session
Political Science 106 (1 credit) A
Political Science 101 (3 credits) B
Fall
Did not attend
Winter
Developmental Psychology B
Spring
Macroeconomics (3 units) C
Humanities (3 units)(Creativity, Arts) F
Photography 100 (2.5 units) W
Philosophy (3 units) B
Public Speaking (3 units) B
Summer
1st Session 5weeks
Precalculus (5 units) A
English 102 (3 units) A
I took the AP tests for Physics (3), Biology (3), Chemistry (4)
Psychology (5), English (5). However, my school doesn't give
credit for the equivalent general science classes, so I'm taking\
General Chemistry, General Physics, Honors Calculus, and some general
education requirements. I tend to do better in more difficult classes,
and I didn't attend most of my AP courses, so I expect there to be a
sharp upward trend from this point out. I hadn't really figured out what I wanted to be until recently.
I've resolved to make it my aim to enter an MD/PhD program. It's
difficult to decide what specific path is most suited to my goals, though. I know I want to do behavioral medicine, so would I best be suited doing my residency in Psychiatry, subspecialize in pharmacology, and get a PhD in neuroscience?
Am I already out of the running for a MD/PhD? Should I expect to be doing post-bacc work so my GPA will be up to snuff? If I had a 3.3 GPA and a 3.8 Science GPA, what MCAT score would I need for the lower ranking MSTRP programs? 35+?
The idea of being the lead investigator in clinical trials conducted by industry also sounds like an intriguing possibility. What would be required to attain this goal? Should I be perhaps be looking towards a Masters in Public Health instead of a PhD, in that case? Maybe I'd specialize in something clinical? idk. need guidance. what kind of salary should someone conducting one of these investigations expect as a lower bound?
What if I got an MBA? What kind of opportunities in the behavioral medicine field could I seek out? Would I still have the opportunity to perform research? Would the knowledge only be helpful in running my own practice, or could I conceivably get a nice job from a biotech company? how would having an MBA affect my financial earnings over the life-time of my career?
I know, in part, I want to be doing basic science research. Since the issue of behavioral drugs is so intertwined with neuroscience, genetics, and biochemistry, it's very difficult to decide what will best complement my objectives. Maybe my dream of discovering a drug myself is the myth of the "rockstar scientist" - everything is done in large teams now, right? Everyone only holds a small piece of the puzzle individually. It seems difficult to be too specialized in the case of behavioral medicine, though. If push came to shove, I think I would choose basic neuroscience research though.
I don't have any research experience, though. That's one big problem I'm having in making my decision. Right now i'm going to a community college. I don't think there are many research opportunities available to me. I figure I can just cold-call some labs and offer free labor. Would any of you have any advice as to what kind of labs to call or search out? Or any resources that would direct me to them, keeping in mind my interest in behavioral medicine?
Lastly, right now I'm looking for a job. I was thinking of working as a pharmacy technician since I want to work with behavioral medicine. This seems like a reasonable job for an aspiring MD/PhD. From what relatives in the health field have told me, there's a lot of opportunity to learn. Above and beyond everything, I'm primarily interested in learning theory. Patient care is something I would take great delight in, but theory is my true love.
I know I need to have clinical exposure and volunteering experience. I was thinking that if I took a job as a pharmacy tech and volunteered at a hospice for a while, then I'd cover all my bases. Of course, I'd need to get in research experience, so I'd volunteer the minimum number of hours so I could maximized my time spent researching. How many hours of clinical expose do you think is appropriate as a minimum? How many hours of volunteering is appropriate as a minimum? These questions should be answered keeping in mind that the other EC's hope to be a strong research background and pharmacy tech. work.
Alternatively, I'm considering getting a job as a nurse's aid to gain the money and clinical experience, and volunteering at a research lab to hit all of the suggested admission EC's. What other jobs would be decent sources of income, requiring little time to train, and suitable medschool EC's? the more learning I can do while on the job, the more I desire it. one upside with the nurse's aid position is that eventually you can get private patients and spend virtually all your time studying. this makes the nurse's aid position relatively attractive.
Do medschools care if you read textbooks extracurricularly? I've read Durand's Abnormal Psychology, Stahl's Psychopharmacology, and Voet&Voet's Biochemistry. I don't know if they care since it's ungraded.
Also, I play the piano (10+ years), compose music, and play the trumpet (3+ years). I can play pretty impressive things like moonlight sonata mvmt 3 and liebestraume. brass score of westside story on trumpet. should i include this on my application? entreat them to test my skill during an interview? bring a keyboard with me? bring CD's with my music to the interview? just throwing out ideas. I know that if I was "so good" I would have awards and accolades. I don't, because I'm not "so good", but I do believe that the level of time required to reach the level I'm at does demonstrate substantial commitment and motivation, especially for someone not intrinsically musically talented like me.
I used to play a lot of tennis. I started when I was 4 and played until I was 13. During my last year, I attended 50+ league tournaments and 3 satellite tournaments. I believe I was ranked 56 in my age bracket. Is there any way I could leverage this past experience to bolster my medschool resume? If I joined a tennis club, would medschools see that as a substantial positive? If I simply explained my tennis history, my experience might seem too dated. If I explain, plus have current tennis experience to back it up, would it be something worth investing my time into?
I'm a sophomore now, but I had an unusual start.
Summer -
1st Session
Microbiology (5 credits) A
2nd Session
Political Science 106 (1 credit) A
Political Science 101 (3 credits) B
Fall
Did not attend
Winter
Developmental Psychology B
Spring
Macroeconomics (3 units) C
Humanities (3 units)(Creativity, Arts) F
Photography 100 (2.5 units) W
Philosophy (3 units) B
Public Speaking (3 units) B
Summer
1st Session 5weeks
Precalculus (5 units) A
English 102 (3 units) A
I took the AP tests for Physics (3), Biology (3), Chemistry (4)
Psychology (5), English (5). However, my school doesn't give
credit for the equivalent general science classes, so I'm taking\
General Chemistry, General Physics, Honors Calculus, and some general
education requirements. I tend to do better in more difficult classes,
and I didn't attend most of my AP courses, so I expect there to be a
sharp upward trend from this point out. I hadn't really figured out what I wanted to be until recently.
I've resolved to make it my aim to enter an MD/PhD program. It's
difficult to decide what specific path is most suited to my goals, though. I know I want to do behavioral medicine, so would I best be suited doing my residency in Psychiatry, subspecialize in pharmacology, and get a PhD in neuroscience?
Am I already out of the running for a MD/PhD? Should I expect to be doing post-bacc work so my GPA will be up to snuff? If I had a 3.3 GPA and a 3.8 Science GPA, what MCAT score would I need for the lower ranking MSTRP programs? 35+?
The idea of being the lead investigator in clinical trials conducted by industry also sounds like an intriguing possibility. What would be required to attain this goal? Should I be perhaps be looking towards a Masters in Public Health instead of a PhD, in that case? Maybe I'd specialize in something clinical? idk. need guidance. what kind of salary should someone conducting one of these investigations expect as a lower bound?
What if I got an MBA? What kind of opportunities in the behavioral medicine field could I seek out? Would I still have the opportunity to perform research? Would the knowledge only be helpful in running my own practice, or could I conceivably get a nice job from a biotech company? how would having an MBA affect my financial earnings over the life-time of my career?
I know, in part, I want to be doing basic science research. Since the issue of behavioral drugs is so intertwined with neuroscience, genetics, and biochemistry, it's very difficult to decide what will best complement my objectives. Maybe my dream of discovering a drug myself is the myth of the "rockstar scientist" - everything is done in large teams now, right? Everyone only holds a small piece of the puzzle individually. It seems difficult to be too specialized in the case of behavioral medicine, though. If push came to shove, I think I would choose basic neuroscience research though.
I don't have any research experience, though. That's one big problem I'm having in making my decision. Right now i'm going to a community college. I don't think there are many research opportunities available to me. I figure I can just cold-call some labs and offer free labor. Would any of you have any advice as to what kind of labs to call or search out? Or any resources that would direct me to them, keeping in mind my interest in behavioral medicine?
Lastly, right now I'm looking for a job. I was thinking of working as a pharmacy technician since I want to work with behavioral medicine. This seems like a reasonable job for an aspiring MD/PhD. From what relatives in the health field have told me, there's a lot of opportunity to learn. Above and beyond everything, I'm primarily interested in learning theory. Patient care is something I would take great delight in, but theory is my true love.
I know I need to have clinical exposure and volunteering experience. I was thinking that if I took a job as a pharmacy tech and volunteered at a hospice for a while, then I'd cover all my bases. Of course, I'd need to get in research experience, so I'd volunteer the minimum number of hours so I could maximized my time spent researching. How many hours of clinical expose do you think is appropriate as a minimum? How many hours of volunteering is appropriate as a minimum? These questions should be answered keeping in mind that the other EC's hope to be a strong research background and pharmacy tech. work.
Alternatively, I'm considering getting a job as a nurse's aid to gain the money and clinical experience, and volunteering at a research lab to hit all of the suggested admission EC's. What other jobs would be decent sources of income, requiring little time to train, and suitable medschool EC's? the more learning I can do while on the job, the more I desire it. one upside with the nurse's aid position is that eventually you can get private patients and spend virtually all your time studying. this makes the nurse's aid position relatively attractive.
Do medschools care if you read textbooks extracurricularly? I've read Durand's Abnormal Psychology, Stahl's Psychopharmacology, and Voet&Voet's Biochemistry. I don't know if they care since it's ungraded.
Also, I play the piano (10+ years), compose music, and play the trumpet (3+ years). I can play pretty impressive things like moonlight sonata mvmt 3 and liebestraume. brass score of westside story on trumpet. should i include this on my application? entreat them to test my skill during an interview? bring a keyboard with me? bring CD's with my music to the interview? just throwing out ideas. I know that if I was "so good" I would have awards and accolades. I don't, because I'm not "so good", but I do believe that the level of time required to reach the level I'm at does demonstrate substantial commitment and motivation, especially for someone not intrinsically musically talented like me.
I used to play a lot of tennis. I started when I was 4 and played until I was 13. During my last year, I attended 50+ league tournaments and 3 satellite tournaments. I believe I was ranked 56 in my age bracket. Is there any way I could leverage this past experience to bolster my medschool resume? If I joined a tennis club, would medschools see that as a substantial positive? If I simply explained my tennis history, my experience might seem too dated. If I explain, plus have current tennis experience to back it up, would it be something worth investing my time into?
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