Applying for 2014 admission, should I take a job at the school I want to attend?

[cferry22]

Stats: B.S. Biochem & Mol Bio May 2012 from Penn State. GPA 3.85, took challenging/grad courses. Lots of research (4 years at Penn State, internship at National Cancer Institute, internship at Genentech - all cancer/translational research). I have my name on 6 publications (no first authors yet). I was planning on grad school, but decided my last semester of college (based on a pathology course) I want an MD, so I've shadowed several pathologists and am about to take MCATs, which I expect to do well on. I have reasonable extracurricular, but they aren't really tailored to Med School as I wasn't planning on this all along (teaching yoga, leader with school outing club). I volunteered a lot in high school (food cupboard, mental health facility with patient contact) and a little in college (environmental center). I am putting my application together and my top choice school right now is OHSU.

I got a job offer in an MD's lab at OHSU doing translational research. He is a pathologist (the specialty I'm interested in) and runs the pathology core for the cancer center there. Would taking this job boost my chances of getting in to that school? If I lived there for the year prior to beginning an MD, would I get residency or at least preference over OOS?

I'd say the weakest part of my application is volunteering and clinical experience. Would it be better to focus on these things over the next year or should I go for a new challenging research position at my dream school?

If i didn't take the job, I'd continue working in a lab at Penn State, get some first author publications, take anatomy and physiology at the uni to prepare for med school (i've never had these before), and beef up my volunteering (i have hospice patient care/companionship set up to begin this summer, and I'm looking into volunteering at a low income clinic in the area- looks promising).

Thanks for you input in advance, I'm stressing out like crazy trying to decide what to do!!

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[Goro]

Interesting conundrum. Your numbers are great, and it's clear you're excelling at research, but without the proper amount of ECs, you're likely to get rejected or wait listed. I've seen it happen plenty of times. You need to show us your altrusim, and that you want to be around sick and injured people. What you did in high school really doesn't count.

Is the MD on the AdCOM? If not, then it probably won't help, but it can't hurt. Yes, living there for a year would give you state residency, so there's a plus.

I got a job offer in an MD's lab at OHSU doing translational research. He is a pathologist (the specialty I'm interested in) and runs the pathology core for the cancer center there. Would taking this job boost my chances of getting in to that school? If I lived there for the year prior to beginning an MD, would I get residency or at least preference over OOS?


Addressed at top of post

I'd say the weakest part of my application is volunteering and clinical experience. Would it be better to focus on these things over the next year or should I go for a new challenging research position at my dream school?

And that will get you into multiple PA schools, if not more! The key thing is to present the best possible package.

If i didn't take the job, I'd continue working in a lab at Penn State, get some first author publications, take anatomy and physiology at the uni to prepare for med school (i've never had these before), and beef up my volunteering (i have hospice patient care/companionship set up to begin this summer, and I'm looking into volunteering at a low income clinic in the area- looks promising).