Getting good research experience as a nontrad

[AMDG_nontrad]

Hi all,

I'm curious to hear anyone's input on getting a foot in the door to do research as a nontraditional student so I can pursue even top-tier medical schools when I apply next year. I want to apply to these schools because the academic caliber really excites me - I love the thought of what doors could be opened to further study, teaching in clinical settings, joining med school faculty, etc., by attending Hopkins or Harvard or something. (And I think I have a shot at them - we'll see, though!)

However, when I realized I wanted to go to med school, I had my humanities bachelor's and was doing faith-based/ministry work and was completely on my own about the process, so I just registered for prerequisite courses at a few community colleges. Later I happened upon a post-bacc pre-health program at a (primarily) chiropractic school, where I took the rest of my prerequisites. Now I'm realizing I could've enrolled at my local state school and built relationships with professors there, but since I did this instead, I have now completed most prerequisites and have few to no research opportunities. (I'll take the MCAT by next April and apply next June.)

My ideal would be to work a full-time position as a research assistant for much of the next year, so that I can devote quite a lot of hours to that - but how do I come across those positions? I've heard that pharmaceutical companies could serve as employers for research assistant positions; but do they hire relatively random people like me? Or should I just email professors/PIs at my state school and offer to help them on research projects for free, even though I have no affiliation with their university? I could even try to enroll there for one or two last, semi-necessary prerequisites.

Any advice is appreciated - thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Dr Meow]

NIH Postbac IRTA is awesome
I got 7 pubs (though it took me 7 years and I didn't intend on going to med school at the time mainly cus I couldn't do well on the mcat so I kinda gave up for a while).

Easier I think to get the postbac IRTA to do research than to get the NIH MRSP during med school.

 

[premedBF]

How competitive do you think this program is? Do you think someone trying to do gpa repair with a < 3 Gpa would have a realistic chance of landing a spot?

 

[Dr Meow]

How competitive do you think this program is? Do you think someone trying to do gpa repair with a < 3 Gpa would have a realistic chance of landing a spot?

Apparently, on google it says it's competitive. With acceptance rate around 25%.
hmm, I didn't know that. My boss emailed me a week after I sent the app. I accepted it. And then 7 years flew by.
I think I got lucky.

You could email PI's too just in case

 

[Mr.Smile12]

The IRTA is competitive and pay attention to the eligibility rules.

You also can "knock" on lab doors if you have interest in a person's lab, but admittedly that may be a bit more challenging. Search: Research Experience | Activity Finder .

 

[AMDG_nontrad]

Hm - the IRTA sounds really cool, but moving is out of the question for me, unless I were to wait another whole year to apply (and I’m already waiting until June of next year to apply).

I could potentially take a full time job as a clinical researcher at a nearby hospital; that’s definitely appealing to me, and I think I should be able to study sufficiently for the mcat while doing that since I don’t necessarily need to take the mcat until this time next year. Do you guys think that would help open some doors?

 

[Dr Meow]

Hm - the IRTA sounds really cool, but moving is out of the question for me, unless I were to wait another whole year to apply (and I’m already waiting until June of next year to apply).

I could potentially take a full time job as a clinical researcher at a nearby hospital; that’s definitely appealing to me, and I think I should be able to study sufficiently for the mcat while doing that since I don’t necessarily need to take the mcat until this time next year. Do you guys think that would help open some doors?

Just know that clinical trial coordination isn't research if that's the route you're going but it's definitely a good experience.
I don't think you need a publications to get into med school. It'll help for sure though

Med students even, essentially most DO schools can't get research.

So I still think it's best to figure out the research component before even starting med school because once it starts and if you're at a low tier school, it's gonna be VERY difficult.

 

[TragicalDrFaust]

I personally didn't apply to programs that were too concerned with research but I cold emailed profs affiliated with my university and got lucky to work with a fairly productive lab.

I don't want to discourage you but I have a couple thoughts from your post (1) a year at a random lab might not give you sufficient quality publications to apply at a research powerhouse. From my observations, it's helpful to have connections to the institution to get a sense of who is publishing which is why it's such a huge advantage to attend a top tier school UG you want to get into a top tier medical school (2) top tier schools can be snobby about community college coursework and science classes at a chiro school could raise eyebrows, though I hear their anatomy training, at some institutions, is ≥ to physicians'. Johns Hopkins only started accepting community college credits in the last decade. Still doubt they're considered equivalent to university courses. What I'm trying to say is, just having x hours research isn't enough, though it's a good place to start.

What does the rest of your app look like? GPA, MCAT, ECs etc

 

[AMDG_nontrad]

My undergrad GPA (humanities major) was 3.90, and my post-bac (28 credits and literally all of my sciences) was close to 4.0 with 6 As and an A-. I haven't taken any FL practice MCATs yet, so my only data there is that my half-length diagnostic was 500 even before studying at all. I'm studying now and don't plan to take the MCAT until early 2023, so I'm hopeful that it should be plenty of time to study a lot and do well.

My ECs are up in the air right now, but I'm currently looking for a new full-time job, so I'd appreciate input on ideas of what to do or what jobs to look for! So far I have:

• worked as a scribe in the ED for about 500 hours
• worked as a PCA for ~1000 hours, about half of which was true clinical experience (worked for veterans who were often pretty impoverished)
• worked (unpaid) as a TA for Microbiology in my post-bac
• lots of volunteering, leadership, and people skills experience while serving a missionary for 3 years, taking on more leadership and responsibility each year
• volunteering/community service experience:
  • at least 50 hours working with an African refugee population and tutoring their kids at a transitional housing place/shelter while i was in seminary in college
  • Hoping to help out at the Spanish-speaking free clinic near my house beginning sometime soon
  • did several church retreats for low-income youth - maybe another 50 hours there, at least one experience there that was pretty powerful to me that I can talk about
• My Spanish is proficient enough that I was accepted to serve as a missionary in Spain (to do church retreats for Spanish youth) until Covid stopped that
• I also worked as a (paid) philosophy tutor in college, studied abroad, etc.

Notice the lack of research or science-focused experiences at all apart from TAing, which I think will be pretty necessary to balance out all the faith-based stuff in my background in adcoms' eyes, haha. Any thoughts?

 

[wgc0956]

The lab I’m in has a research assistant who works full-time. And they have a ton of time to dedicate to studying while at work outside of their normal duties, it’s a really good gig. These positions are available through the school and even on indeed. A lot of getting into a lab for me was luck (I’m 32 and doing a postbacc). I had an old professor who I just happened to run into one day who is the PI of a lab and we got to talking about how I was having trouble finding research positions. He said “come with me” and he took me over to his lab and introduced me to everyone, then said you start next Tuesday.

 

[skeptastic]

NIH Postbac IRTA is awesome
I got 7 pubs (though it took me 7 years and I didn't intend on going to med school at the time mainly cus I couldn't do well on the mcat so I kinda gave up for a while).

Easier I think to get the postbac IRTA to do research than to get the NIH MRSP during med school.

Geez I wish I qualified for this! Looks awesome. I graduated more than 3 years ago and have not recently completed a master's program, so I'm ineligible. This is great info, though, and I hope to pass it along to other non-trads who qualify.

 

[PandaBaer]

My undergrad GPA (humanities major) was 3.90, and my post-bac (28 credits and literally all of my sciences) was close to 4.0 with 6 As and an A-. I haven't taken any FL practice MCATs yet, so my only data there is that my half-length diagnostic was 500 even before studying at all. I'm studying now and don't plan to take the MCAT until early 2023, so I'm hopeful that it should be plenty of time to study a lot and do well.

My ECs are up in the air right now, but I'm currently looking for a new full-time job, so I'd appreciate input on ideas of what to do or what jobs to look for! So far I have:

• worked as a scribe in the ED for about 500 hours
• worked as a PCA for ~1000 hours, about half of which was true clinical experience (worked for veterans who were often pretty impoverished)
• worked (unpaid) as a TA for Microbiology in my post-bac
• lots of volunteering, leadership, and people skills experience while serving a missionary for 3 years, taking on more leadership and responsibility each year
• volunteering/community service experience:
  • at least 50 hours working with an African refugee population and tutoring their kids at a transitional housing place/shelter while i was in seminary in college
  • Hoping to help out at the Spanish-speaking free clinic near my house beginning sometime soon
  • did several church retreats for low-income youth - maybe another 50 hours there, at least one experience there that was pretty powerful to me that I can talk about
• My Spanish is proficient enough that I was accepted to serve as a missionary in Spain (to do church retreats for Spanish youth) until Covid stopped that
• I also worked as a (paid) philosophy tutor in college, studied abroad, etc.

Notice the lack of research or science-focused experiences at all apart from TAing, which I think will be pretty necessary to balance out all the faith-based stuff in my background in adcoms' eyes, haha. Any thoughts?

It is great to aim high, but I would caution that going to a top tier research powerhouse is not as simple as having x amount of research hours.
They are generally looking for students from prestigeous instituitions, who have a history of doing research, and are often already published, some I've seen have multiple first authors.
I suggest talking to current PIs at your nearby university or reseach institution so you can get a sense of what academia looks like and the requirements.
I was pretty naive about the research/academia aspect of medicine until I started doing it and talking to people in the field.