Am I too research focused?

[levodopa]

.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[technopoly]

I really don't think there is such a thing as "too much research," as long as you also have clinical experience, clinical/nonclinical volunteering, and are otherwise a well-rounded person with sound reasons for wanting to pursue medicine rather than research.

I would expect to answer the question "Why medicine and not bench research" in your interviews, but I don't think there is "too much", ESPECIALLY at schools that are research oriented.

 

[sector9]

Hi all,

Just asking for some advice regarding what I should be doing in the next year. I recently graduated from a private liberal arts college with a degree in neuroscience. My grades are fine- I ended up with a 3.84 GPA, high honors, and two years of laboratory experience. I'm currently working as a post-bac fellow at the National Inst. of Health in a neurodevelopmental/neuroendocrinology lab and my term ends in the summer of 2013. I'm hoping to enter medical school that fall. However, should I spend time volunteering and/or shadowing during this time off from undergrad? I still need to take the MCAT and I work 65 hrs/week between my NIH job and as a server. I shadow a pediatric endocrinologist once a month at the clinical center, but is this enough? I'm never too sure on how much shadowing you should do. I volunteered a couple hundred hours in college, but honestly I have so much on my plate right now that I think I would be stretched too thin. I'm just worried that with all of my wet lab experience, admissions officers are going to think that I'm not very clinically focused. How do I get around that? My independent project in the lab I'm working at now has clinical relevance because I'm studying and creating a mouse model with the same genetic mutations as people suffering from a specific neuroendocrine disorder called idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism. My interest is endocrinology. Does this count for anything? 😕 I want to go to a med school with a strong research focus like Mt. Sinai, but I don't want to do MD/PhD.

1. You need to shadow in some different specialties. Add a PCP for sure.
2. What was your volunteering? Do you have both clinical and non-clinical volunteering? How many hours for each and what were the time spans?

 

[levodopa]

1. You need to shadow in some different specialties. Add a PCP for sure.
2. What was your volunteering? Do you have both clinical and non-clinical volunteering? How many hours for each and what were the time spans?

I volunteered 12 hrs/wk for 3.5 months at a small school in Ecuador for children with learning and physical disabilities. I also volunteered 200 hours at a Bronx high school. I've done various volunteering gigs with the service organization at my school (non-clinical). But that's basically it.

I also worked as an ER scribe for 9 months before I went abroad and got a lot of clinical experience there, even though I wasn't technically "shadowing." It's so hard to shadow a PCP.. do I absolutely need to do that?

 

[ucsfstudents]

I think you'll be fine. Schools that focus on getting a diverse student body try to make sure that they have some students in the incoming class who have an exceptionally strong research background (aside from the mdphd applicants). So if research is going to be your angle, you'll have to make sure you have publications, and strong letters from your PIs. In terms of clinical experience and community service, I think you are fine. Leadership experience would help too.

 

[1TB4RKSB4CK]

"omg I have too much research and a 3.8+ GPA will I get rejected by top 20's??"
NOOOOO NOOO NOOO!

 

[levodopa]

"omg I have too much research and a 3.8+ GPA will I get rejected by top 20's??"
NOOOOO NOOO NOOO!

That wasn't my question.

 

[chiapet874]

I think you will be fine, just make sure that you can explain "why medicine" and you will be set.

I would use your research experience as an advantage, many students perform research purely for the sake of resume padding. You are clearly someone who went above and beyond- play up on it.