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Dear all,
I don't want to be whining here, but I think I do need some advice from the nontrad friends here.
Here is my situation: I just got my PhD in immunology from a pretty good program here in the US two months ago - actually, two weeks before the August MCAT. My career goal is to become a physician-scientist so I can do translational research and hopefully some teaching (in med school) as well. You may wonder why I did not apply to MD-PhD program in the first place; as probably some of you have guessed - I was a foreign student and illegible for any MD program back eight years ago. My graduate GPA is not too great, mainly because during my first year in PhD program both my parents got very seriously ill and I was distracted by that. I am applying for entering class 2007 now. I took the August MCAT, and I was kind of optimistic about it (and consequently, my chance to get in or at least, interview), until this morning when I checked my scores. I was totally shocked - only 30 N (BS 12, PS 12, VR 6). I felt I did quite well right after the exam, and I was expecting the worst case scenario would be like 13, 13, 8. In particular, I was (mistakenly?) thinking the curve would do me a favor in BS, as many people complained about it. But the biggest shock came from VR - I took MCAT back eight years ago and I know my English was surely worse (much worse, indeed) than it is now, but I scored a 7 back then! I did request for rescoring right after I got the scores this morning, but I doubt it will change anything. I did think about the post-bacc program before, particularly because my undergraduate was done outside the US, but my committee and a person I know from the admissions office (MD program) did not want to entertain that idea - they said I have done quite decent research (in fact, it was good enough for me to apply for green card on my own without permanent job offer) and I would have my PhD by the time I apply, so they thought it's kind of wasting time and money to spend another one year or two in post-bacc. Well, they even did not want to write reco for me to get into post-bacc program (but they did write quite postively for my med school applications). Making things worse, since I focused on those "research-oriented" schools and those are usually more competitive ones, I think I am doomed🙁 . I know there are some PhD to MD here, but I am not quite sure my situation is similar to yours: if I want to change direction and become a physician focusing on primary care, then undoubtedly I would have tried to get better GPA rather than spending more time doing bench work (research), and done more voulnteer work as well. However, I kinda emphasized my interest and career goal in academic medicine (i.e. research and teaching, which are my true love) rather than primary care in my applications. Do you think I still have a chance to get an interview (I don't even want to think about getting in now)? What should I do from here?
Any constructive comments/advice are greatly appreciated. Good luck to those of us who are applying this cycle!
I don't want to be whining here, but I think I do need some advice from the nontrad friends here.
Here is my situation: I just got my PhD in immunology from a pretty good program here in the US two months ago - actually, two weeks before the August MCAT. My career goal is to become a physician-scientist so I can do translational research and hopefully some teaching (in med school) as well. You may wonder why I did not apply to MD-PhD program in the first place; as probably some of you have guessed - I was a foreign student and illegible for any MD program back eight years ago. My graduate GPA is not too great, mainly because during my first year in PhD program both my parents got very seriously ill and I was distracted by that. I am applying for entering class 2007 now. I took the August MCAT, and I was kind of optimistic about it (and consequently, my chance to get in or at least, interview), until this morning when I checked my scores. I was totally shocked - only 30 N (BS 12, PS 12, VR 6). I felt I did quite well right after the exam, and I was expecting the worst case scenario would be like 13, 13, 8. In particular, I was (mistakenly?) thinking the curve would do me a favor in BS, as many people complained about it. But the biggest shock came from VR - I took MCAT back eight years ago and I know my English was surely worse (much worse, indeed) than it is now, but I scored a 7 back then! I did request for rescoring right after I got the scores this morning, but I doubt it will change anything. I did think about the post-bacc program before, particularly because my undergraduate was done outside the US, but my committee and a person I know from the admissions office (MD program) did not want to entertain that idea - they said I have done quite decent research (in fact, it was good enough for me to apply for green card on my own without permanent job offer) and I would have my PhD by the time I apply, so they thought it's kind of wasting time and money to spend another one year or two in post-bacc. Well, they even did not want to write reco for me to get into post-bacc program (but they did write quite postively for my med school applications). Making things worse, since I focused on those "research-oriented" schools and those are usually more competitive ones, I think I am doomed🙁 . I know there are some PhD to MD here, but I am not quite sure my situation is similar to yours: if I want to change direction and become a physician focusing on primary care, then undoubtedly I would have tried to get better GPA rather than spending more time doing bench work (research), and done more voulnteer work as well. However, I kinda emphasized my interest and career goal in academic medicine (i.e. research and teaching, which are my true love) rather than primary care in my applications. Do you think I still have a chance to get an interview (I don't even want to think about getting in now)? What should I do from here?
Any constructive comments/advice are greatly appreciated. Good luck to those of us who are applying this cycle!
