Chances/Advice for next app cycle

[Hiphopscorpio31]

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Hey guys,

So I have decided to apply for medical school next year. I graduated in 2017 with a degree in Chemical engineering and a minor in Biological Sciences (GPA 3.42) from an ivy league University. I also participated in a D1 sport for all 4 years. I did several volunteering activity with my team and I also tutored and TA´d. In addition I have done summer research in both a chemE and biomed eng lab. After graduating, I worked for a energy and utility financial software company for a year, and then I decided to go abroad for a year (something I have always wanted to do) and taught english for 6 months, then found an IT position in an office that I'll be working in until I return. I have just been offered a 1 year or longer research assistant position in a cardiology pediatric medical center to get clinical experience, starting this summer. Also I have started studying for the MCAT about 1 month ago.

So, I want to ask, with a clinical research assistant position, if I should also seek out other clinical/volunteer activities in the next year? and Also what is the recommended amount of time to studying for the MCAT while working? Would my application be pretty solid assuming I don't drop the ball on the MCAT? Thanks in advance

 

[Goro]

Hey guys,

So I have decided to apply for medical school next year. I graduated in 2017 with a degree in Chemical engineering and a minor in Biological Sciences (GPA 3.42) from an ivy league University. I also participated in a D1 sport for all 4 years. I did several volunteering activity with my team and I also tutored and TA´d. In addition I have done summer research in both a chemE and biomed eng lab. After graduating, I worked for a energy and utility financial software company for a year, and then I decided to go abroad for a year (something I have always wanted to do) and taught english for 6 months, then found an IT position in an office that I'll be working in until I return. I have just been offered a 1 year or longer research assistant position in a cardiology pediatric medical center to get clinical experience, starting this summer. Also I have started studying for the MCAT about 1 month ago.

So, I want to ask, with a clinical research assistant position, if I should also seek out other clinical/volunteer activities in the next year? and Also what is the recommended amount of time to studying for the MCAT while working? Would my application be pretty solid assuming I don't drop the ball on the MCAT? Thanks in advance

Typically in clinical research you are not involved with patients, but with research subjects. There is a difference in this regard.

You want to actually be doing something for patients because admissions committees want to see that you really want to spend the next 30 to 40 years hanging around sick or injured people, and that you really know what you're getting into.

Not all patients are nice people

 

[Hiphopscorpio31]

Typically in clinical research you are not involved with patients, but with research subjects. There is a difference in this regard.

You want to actually be doing something for patients because admissions committees want to see that you really want to spend the next 30 to 40 years hanging around sick or injured people, and that you really know what you're getting into.

Not all patients are nice people

Yeah I agree, but during this particular program I will be required to provide support to the cardiologists to "faciliate patient care" and there are also occasional shadowing opportunities of doctors and surgeons from different areas of the medical center. I guess what I want to ask is if this program seems like it would boost my application in itself? Thanks for replying

 

[Goro]

Yeah I agree, but during this particular program I will be required to provide support to the cardiologists to "faciliate patient care" and there are also occasional shadowing opportunities of doctors and surgeons from different areas of the medical center. I guess what I want to ask is if this program seems like it would boost my application in itself? Thanks for replying

Shadowing is good, but shouldn't be taken to excess (50 hrs is enough)
Employment is always good.
If you are actually interacting with the patients, other than enrolling them and organizing data, that's good. Doing stuff like taking BPs etc, is really good.

guess what I want to ask is if this program seems like it would boost my application in itself?
This will depend upon how you talk/write about it, and what you get out of it. Just as a rule of thumb, I perceive too many SDners thinking that clinical trails are more of a boost than they really are, because they don't understand that research subjects are the same as patients, even if they are patients!

 

[fyang0414]

Everything Goro said!

And just to add my experience/comments, I am fortunate to have had about 2 years in clinical research, both at renowed research institutions. My first job was as a clinical research assistant and it was more about data collection and consenting patients. It was, however, a pretty broad role as well and I was involved in identifying patients to recruit, regulatory aspects of the study (such as IRB submissions), as well as helping family's navigate through the study as well as their primary care (mainly speaking ith parents as this was a children's hospital and the participants were primarily infants.)

This prepared me well for my current job in infectious disease research! On top of usual data collection methods such as surveys, I get to take vitals, perform neurospcyh tests, and again help the participants navigate healthcare since many are study subjects as well as primary care patients. Many do these visits together so I get to see both at the same time and end up taking histories as well as just having conversations with the patients, especially since these patients are typically from marginalized, underserved communities.

Both of my jobs were really at the forefront of clinical research as well so that gave me some very exciting points to talk about in my interviews when the opportunities arose. Clinical research is very broad, but being proactive in the job you take will definitely help give you more to talk about if you are able to get as involved as possible. I will say my stronger points with regards to clinical research really only came from being in clinical research for at least over a year. I would say the boost really came in here when I was filling out secondaries. I can't say how much it contributed but in one of my interviews these experiences were directly brought up so probably?

Another point, clinical research pays me enough to pay rent, student loans, and food. Scribing was not gonna cut it 😛

With regards to the MCAT portion of your question, I spent about 2 hours a day on weekdays (including a bit of studying during downtime at work), maybe like 4-6 hours on Saturdays, and about the same on Sundays if I wasn't doing a full length on either of the days. I did this for about 3 months and although I wasn't too happy with my score, I apparently did well enough on the MCAT for this application cycle. If you're working full time AND studying for the MCAT, I personally suggest you not take on any other activities. If you have time for other activities, redirect that towards your MCAT. After you're done feel free!