How much research is enough?

[wolfe24]

I am submitting my application probably in the next couple of days and I wanted to get everyone's opinion on how much research is considered enough for MD/PHD.

This is my second summer in the same lab and I also worked over the last school year in the same lab as well. I will stay in my lab until I graduate which is in May. So in total I will have 2 summers and 4 semesters in one lab working on one project the entire time. I hopefully will publish before I graduate but I do not have one out by the time I apply. I also have presented one poster. I really know my project inside and out and I feel like I could do really well in an interview talking about it. I am just worried because most people on SDN have like 4 years of research and my MCAT is low-32.

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[reine1jb]

I am submitting my application probably in the next couple of days and I wanted to get everyone's opinion on how much research is considered enough for MD/PHD.

This is my second summer in the same lab and I also worked over the last school year in the same lab as well. I will stay in my lab until I graduate which is in May. So in total I will have 2 summers and 4 semesters in one lab working on one project the entire time. I hopefully will publish before I graduate but I do not have one out by the time I apply. I also have presented one poster. I really know my project inside and out and I feel like I could do really well in an interview talking about it. I am just worried because most people on SDN have like 4 years of research and my MCAT is low-32.

I wouldn't say it is on the low side, but you're right a lot of people on this forum do have more than you but I would say you're ok. If you can get a rock solid LOR from your PI attesting to your abilities to do research and also your passion for research, I think that is the most critical..Also, knowing your project is key....Publishing is something that only lucky undergraduates or extremely talented undergrads accomplish, it is definitely not required...
Your MCAT is fine as long as you're smart about where to apply to, a lot of the top 10-20 schools might not give you a fair chance but an MD/PhD is an MD/PhD no matter where you go to school so

 

[reine1jb]

you could also try emailing some schools and see what they say

 

[redoc]

There is no maximum to research. You should be and show that you are passionate about research during the interview process. I think what you gain out of the research experience is more important than the number of labs or the number of publications. Sounds like you're on track with research but as the above individual stated, a lot of the top 20 programs may not give you a fair chance with a 32 MCAT. However, you become more and more aware that a part of your future or your entire future is dependent on a standardized test score to some degree at least.

 

[mudphudwannabe]

I think that is a reasonable amount of research - as others have said, the key is that your essays, interviews, and letters of recommendation show that you are excited about and committed to research. Your MCAT is a bit on the low side, but if you apply broadly I think you should have a good shot - assuming the other elements of your application are in order (GPA in particular).

 

[wolfe24]

There is no maximum to research. You should be and show that you are passionate about research during the interview process. I think what you gain out of the research experience is more important than the number of labs or the number of publications. Sounds like you're on track with research but as the above individual stated, a lot of the top 20 programs may not give you a fair chance with a 32 MCAT. However, you become more and more aware that a part of your future or your entire future is dependent on a standardized test score to some degree at least.

I agree that most top 20 programs might give me the snub because of my MCAT. I am interested to know when everyone speaks of top 10 or top 20 prorgrams what they mean. Is there a specific MD/PHD rankings that I don't know of or is it just based of the medical school rankings?

 

[ecoli]

I agree that most top 20 programs might give me the snub because of my MCAT. I am interested to know when everyone speaks of top 10 or top 20 prorgrams what they mean. Is there a specific MD/PHD rankings that I don't know of or is it just based of the medical school rankings?

yes, thank you for asking this question, because I was wondering it myself.

I mean, obviously the Ivies are going to be in the top 10, but how can I determine if a school is right to apply to... especially because not all of them list ave. GPA and MCAT scores on their websites. (and some schools MD/PhD websites are one stupid page without any useful info at all).

 

[achamess]

US World and News Report rankings I think. Good question though.

 

[nystargate]

I think all of us applicants have the same question - where is this list of MD/PhD schools? I mean, I want to apply to schools that have PhD programs I'm interested in, but I don't want to accidentally apply to the top 15 programs in the country and ignore safety schools. Any senior member got this secret list?

 

[ecoli]

US World and News Report rankings I think. Good question though.

do they have a list for Md/PhD schools, though? You can't really assume the programs will be the same, esp. for MCAT/GPA/research purposes.

 

[nystargate]

do they have a list for Md/PhD schools, though? You can't really assume the programs will be the same, esp. for MCAT/GPA/research purposes.

I don't think they have a list of MD/PhD schools, just a list of all MD schools. The good thing is that some rankings break down their score and give rankings for research aspect and medical training. The MD-only students look at medical training ranking, but the advice I received was to focus on the research ranking. The schools you'd expect to be top MD/PhD programs have the top research rankings.

 

[reine1jb]

link for MSTP's

http://www.nigms.nih.gov/Training/InstPredoc/PredocInst-MSTP.htm

link for all MD/PhD programs:


http://www.aamc.org/research/dbr/mdphd/programs.htm

The US world rankings are probably pretty good to go off of...Alot of the schools that have crazy high MCAT averages are obviously top 10-20..A list of top graduate schools can be found at :

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/bio/search

While there may not be a huge correlation with all schools that are in the top 20 for graduate school, i would say there is probably a fair number that correlate well together