C+ and PI says "don't do research," what are my chances?

[yabbadabba]

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I would like to ask for some advice on an unfortunate situation. I was working on a senior thesis project, when my PI fired me at the end of the year. He said that I was careless. I received an A from him the first semester but a C+ the second semester. I was not the perfect undergraduate researcher (as in I did make some dumb mistakes), but I was competent and I worked hard. Unfortunately, I did not obtain the results they wanted. I also think the situation arose because my class schedule prevented me from coming in during business hours. I think this made me seem lazy, and I did not become part of the lab socially. (I would come in around 9 pm and work late into the night.) I also did not have a good relationship with my graduate student supervisor. Basically, my PI discouraged me from going to grad school, and I think I was judged much more harshly than the standard undergrad researcher.

A little more info about me:
I (perhaps stupidly) went for breadth instead of depth in research: worked for 4 other labs (3 were summer projects) who I think were happy with my performance and are writing me recommendations (however, in some cases PI is not the author). I have one 2nd author publication from a low-impact journal, but the other experiences were not particularly deep.
mcat: >41
gpa: 3.88 (downward trend)
sci-gpa: ~3.8
no non-clinical volunteer experience
some (~130) hr clinical volunteering experience
2 weeks private-practice doctor shadowing
decent non-medical leadership/ec
I just graduated and am applying to MD/PhD programs now. In my off year I will be working on a computational bio project for a 5th PI, volunteering, and working a full-time non-medical/non-science job.

What are my chances at MD/PhD (just MD)? And, how should I talk about this experience without coming off poorly (as I perhaps do in the above description)? Finally, has anyone had a similar experience or care to give advice?

 

[URHere]

Assuming that you are not leaving out any vital details, I think that your late-night solo time in lab was the major problem here.

When someone never seems to be around but data keeps magically appearing, it is easy to assume that data is being falsified. If your PI suspected you of such substantial dishonesty, then that is a real problem. I think your best chance here is to describe your research on your application but to stay silent about this particular conflict until you are asked about it. The poor research grade is likely to raise eyebrows, though, so you should be prepared for that discussion.

I do not think that your chances of being accepted to an MD/PhD program are shot, but I do want to stress that whatever happened in your last lab cannot happen again. You need to make your research a priority and devote daylight hours to it. Fit the rest of your life around your research and not vice versa - another misunderstanding like this in the future could destroy your career.

 

[StIGMA]

You will need a letter of recommendation from him. You worked in this lab for 2 semesters and it is your most substantial research experience. If you do not have one and it is not overly positive (yabbadabba was one of my top 5 students in my 15 years at this university), it will hurt your application. Hopefully you can get these letters from your other research experiences, but not having a letter from this PI will raise eyebrows and you will be asked about it. You still have a good shot at MSTP schools but you need to apply broadly and hope for the best.

How you talk about these experiences depends on what your PI is going to write. I would not sign a waiver and instead read what he is giving to the schools. Decide at that point whether you will include it (and not including it will raise questions; some schools may require a letter from him). Hopefully the other letters will paint a better picture of you. You come across and very independent, which is a good quality for research, but the flipside is that research is collaborative not just within your lab but across departments and institutions. It will help if you can show that you have initiated collaborations with other researchers or can work well in a team. In my opinion (besides a potential bad letter), this is your biggest drawback in presenting yourself to both medical and graduate schools [working well as part of a team].

 

[Shifty B]

I agree that the late night sessions were probably the issue. This emphasizes the fact that personal relationships are very important and how you get along with people plays a huge role in how you are perceived.

I think you will be fine. It's probably ok to just have letters from your other research experiences, supposing you have enough letters. With outstanding MCAT and good grades, you will be able to get in some places. Just use this in the future to guide your interactions with other people.

 

[soundnin]

unless your PI is completely off the wall crazy, i think you would benefit greatly from sitting down and having a conversation with him to clear up any misunderstandings that might be present. although i think it's crazy for a PI to be mad at anyone for the sole reason of not getting data that they want, it's happened to me before at my first undergrad position, and i definitely agree it's not because i didn't get the data they wanted, but that they didn't perceive me to have worked hard enough to try to get that data.

 

[echod]

I would like to ask for some advice on an unfortunate situation. I was working on a senior thesis project, when my PI fired me at the end of the year. He said that I was careless. I received an A from him the first semester but a C+ the second semester. I was not the perfect undergraduate researcher (as in I did make some dumb mistakes), but I was competent and I worked hard. Unfortunately, I did not obtain the results they wanted. I also think the situation arose because my class schedule prevented me from coming in during business hours. I think this made me seem lazy, and I did not become part of the lab socially. (I would come in around 9 pm and work late into the night.) I also did not have a good relationship with my graduate student supervisor. Basically, my PI discouraged me from going to grad school, and I think I was judged much more harshly than the standard undergrad researcher.

A little more info about me:
I (perhaps stupidly) went for breadth instead of depth in research: worked for 4 other labs (3 were summer projects) who I think were happy with my performance and are writing me recommendations (however, in some cases PI is not the author). I have one 2nd author publication from a low-impact journal, but the other experiences were not particularly deep.
mcat: >41
gpa: 3.88 (downward trend)
sci-gpa: ~3.8
no non-clinical volunteer experience
some (~130) hr clinical volunteering experience
2 weeks private-practice doctor shadowing
decent non-medical leadership/ec
I just graduated and am applying to MD/PhD programs now. In my off year I will be working on a computational bio project for a 5th PI, volunteering, and working a full-time non-medical/non-science job.

What are my chances at MD/PhD (just MD)? And, how should I talk about this experience without coming off poorly (as I perhaps do in the above description)? Finally, has anyone had a similar experience or care to give advice?

One of the PI with whom I rotated told me something similar. I think it was because I was too busy with med school classes to spend much time in the lab. Don't let one person's opinion discourage you. In the end, it's your own interest in research that will drive you forward not someone else's opinion about how fit you are for research.

 

[Musclemass]

I think there's likely more to the story (in an unfavorable sense), that the OP doesn't fully grasp or just hasn't mentioned.