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Call him again. You won't come across as annoying if you're professional, polite and straightforward. They should be understanding if they know your plans for school and the MCAT. x
Under no circumstances should you compromise your MCAT prep.
This is a career-deciding exam, after all. You've already had six months of research; you can find another PI and project.
Absolutely, positively, and without doubt follow the above. @Goro is the Man!
Call him again. You won't come across as annoying if you're professional, polite and straightforward. They should be understanding if they know your plans for school and the MCAT. x
Office hours matey (if available).
You should know by know that said PI is swamped with emails, so you won't get a direct response reliably.
Under no circumstances should you compromise your MCAT prep.
This is a career-deciding exam, after all. You've already had six months of research; you can find another PI and project.
Even if its a prestigious opportunity that could possibly have scope for a publication? (if only my PI would respond to let me get started on the paper!)
Even if its a prestigious opportunity that could possibly have scope for a publication? (if only my PI would respond to let me get started on the paper!)
It sounds like you need the time to study anyway, why are you still emailing your PI? Email him again after your MCAT exam.
I concur with ^. Let sleeping dogs lie.
Unless this project is something with the potential of being scooped, it can wait. Talk to your PI. They are a doctor? By what you say do you mean physician?
If so, and they are at least half way reasonable, they understand the importance of standardized tests.
Arguably, this is likely the second most important exam you will take in your life (after step I which is, for all intents and purposes, one chance...no take backsies).
Along with what others are saying, why don't you just physically go to his office/lab during normal hours.
OK, let's do it your way. You get back on the project and take the MCAT without adequate prep. You have to retake and do better. At interviews, when asked "why the poor first MCAT score?" You answers:
"I was busy doing research, because I wanted a publication"
I have Adcom colleagues who would reject you for making poor choices.
You don't need a paper to get into med school, even Harvard or Yale.
Given that your PI is problematic to get ahold of right now, your hypothetical publication is, well, hypothetical.
Your fear of informing him of your MCAT change is not very adult, nor professional. You're going to be dealing with tons of people to whom you have to deliver worse news.
You have a life and responsibilities to yourself and your planned career. What's more important, doing well on MCAT, or getting a paper?
If you really want to be a doctor, get your priorities straight.
Scooped means that another group is working on a project that is the same or similar and beat you to publication.
For instance, I was working on a project in grad school. I was about 1/3 done. I went to a conference and someone presented basically the same project basically completed and ready for publication. I got 'scooped'.
I'm afraid he is going to see an undesirable pattern…or maybe he's already seen it, and that's why he's not responding.
Thank you for the advice Goro! I'm just embarrassed to tell him of my MCAT change because honestly, I've been postponing it since January, and I've been telling him I will take it since January. I was supposed to take it in Jan and then didn't want to rush the old test, so postponed to June (but semester got the better of me, so wasn't prepared), and now it's the same story all over again in September. I'm afraid he is going to see an undesirable pattern…or maybe he's already seen it, and that's why he's not responding. He wrote me an LOR for my app this cycle, but doesn't know yet that I actually decided to take a gap year because of the MCAT (that I obv haven't taken yet) and low clinical experience…
Whatever the case, do you think I should let it be for now (since he is not replying) or should I email him again this time explicitly mentioning my MCAT dilemma and plan to come work in October? In other words, would leaving the situation as is be worse than emailing him yet again?