am I on the right track?

[DrNiceGuy]

Hey guys,

I am new to the forum but would like some input as to whether or not I'm headed in the right direction for an MD/PhD education (or MSTP). I am a junior (sort of) at a large public university and I am majoring in honors Biomedical Engineering with minors in Physiology and Neurobiology, and Material Science Engineering. I transferred my sophomore year from a small four year college with a 3.9 and when I got to my current university I had to basically enroll as a freshman in my major. Since I had so many credits from my first college I was able to pick up minors in two subject areas. I have been keeping my GPA above 3.8 for my entire career yet I feel that it will realistically drop as I have an additional 5 semesters of school to complete (with increasing difficulty). I wanted to know what my chances would be of getting into a top-tier MD/PhD program would be if I can keep my GPA in the 3.5-3.8 range. (3.5 would be the absolute lowest). I honestly have no clue how I am going to do on the MCAT as I have never even taken a practice test, but I am a good test taker and will be signing up for the test this summer.

Here are my extracurriculars so far:
-EMT-basic working 48-70 hours a week over the summer
-Medical technician at my universities health center 4 hours a week during school
-Officer in my universities premedical society, I plan on being vice president next year
-Research in a lab that studies predominately neurogenesis but essentially any facet of the brain. This is where my heart is and I plan on doing more and more research.

So what do you guys think? Any pointers or suggestions for an aspiring MD/PhD? I know you all are busy but any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[mercaptovizadeh]

Hey guys,

I am new to the forum but would like some input as to whether or not I'm headed in the right direction for an MD/PhD education (or MSTP). I am a junior (sort of) at a large public university and I am majoring in honors Biomedical Engineering with minors in Physiology and Neurobiology, and Material Science Engineering. I transferred my sophomore year from a small four year college with a 3.9 and when I got to my current university I had to basically enroll as a freshman in my major. Since I had so many credits from my first college I was able to pick up minors in two subject areas. I have been keeping my GPA above 3.8 for my entire career yet I feel that it will realistically drop as I have an additional 5 semesters of school to complete (with increasing difficulty). I wanted to know what my chances would be of getting into a top-tier MD/PhD program would be if I can keep my GPA in the 3.5-3.8 range. (3.5 would be the absolute lowest). I honestly have no clue how I am going to do on the MCAT as I have never even taken a practice test, but I am a good test taker and will be signing up for the test this summer.

Here are my extracurriculars so far:
-EMT-basic working 48-70 hours a week over the summer
-Medical technician at my universities health center 4 hours a week during school
-Officer in my universities premedical society, I plan on being vice president next year
-Research in a lab that studies predominately neurogenesis but essentially any facet of the brain. This is where my heart is and I plan on doing more and more research.

So what do you guys think? Any pointers or suggestions for an aspiring MD/PhD? I know you all are busy but any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot!

My suggestions are the following:

Convert those three minors into one major. It's better to have two majors than one major and three minors. In the end, as long as at least one of your majors is a hard science/mathematics (biology or better yet biochemistry, chemistry, physics, or math) or engineering, you're more than OK in that regard for MD/PhDs.

Don't hurt your GPA by pursuing harder and harder course loads due to majors/minors. Nobody cares.

There's a vast difference between 3.5 and 3.8. I had a 3.5 and I think it hurt me with the top 10 schools but I was OK with other schools because of an excellent MCAT. Keep that 3.8 and you'll be fine for MD/PhD. Majors/minors is irrelevant compared to GPA.

For your activities, nobody cares about EMT, medical technician, or premed club. A very few MD/PhD program require some sort of MD screening to get an interview, so you need some activities and clinical experience (shadowing is acceptable), but not much.

What will make you relevant to the programs is your research experience > projects, years, recommendations, interviewing and answering questions about your project and plans, etc. Publications help but are not a must.

Intensify your research efforts and consider taking a year off after college to devote a full-time experience. If your grades and MCAT are really great and you can get great experiences from part time lab work during school and/or summers, then you'll be fine directly out of college, of course.