Internship or Prepare for MCATS?

[mohammadali99]

Hello all,

I have this next summer coming up the summer after my sophmore year. Junior year I will be taking the inhouse MCAT course offered at my school to help prepare me for the MCATs. I took all of my biology and physics senior year in high school at a community college and really feel deprived compared to the students who took the class here at my school. I was thinking of forgeting about doing a research internship this summer and use all the time to study for MCAT. Is that a good plan? Maybe, I can apply to some shadowing thing for like 2 weeks. I really want to get my ground on bio and physics because right now I don't feel comfortable with the what I learned. I have an opportunity through my school to go to Harvard for the summer and do research. Should I let that go to study for MCATs or Should I do that and still study for MCATs...? Any suggestions would be appreciated. If I was to go study, I would invest in a Kaplan or PR class. Any suggestions on which one to choose? I figure I might as well give it my all, I really don't see myself doing anything but becoming a doctor.

Thank you guys again!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[fever5]

Well, I worked at a Cancer research lab this summer, where I had several time consuming projects (i.e. working on weekends, as I had live mammalian culture, etc), plus I was taking Kaplan course, I was shadowing a doctor, and volunteering in an ER. Basically it was more or less come home from work at around 5 (on a good day) Study from 6-12 every single day. I only took 4-5 hours off a week to do something with my g/f, but other then that didn't do anything else...

I did score fairly well on the August MCAT (33), which was my first.

The MCAT will get you in the door, but the research and clinical experience is nececssary for the interview. I gained a lot, and now have a broad range of experience to draw from for any questions I may get on an interview (Canadian interviews are in Feb-Apr).

Was it a fun summer? Not at all. Will I have to go through it again? Highly unlikely.

My advice: if you can make the sacrifice, you get what you put in! Lastly, I know lots of people who took the whole summer off to study (all with fairly good study habits). Guess what? 3/4 of them are writting it again!

 

[fever5]

oh ya did I mention by interviews I will have two publications? (and this was only after second year, as I graduate after three)

So definately get involved! Its hard but I gurantee you won't regret it! All you have to lose are your friends....just kidding.

 

[mohammadali99]

I guess to be more specific would it be better to go home and study and do an internship with a guy I know and have a possibility to get published or should I take the Harvard one whom the internship will be with a Faculty at the Harvard Medical School, and study there...?

 

[fever5]

I guess to be more specific would it be better to go home and study and do an internship with a guy I know and have a possibility to get published or should I take the Harvard one whom the internship will be with a Faculty at the Harvard Medical School, and study there...?

Lol...nice choice either way. Unless your publications are truly ground breaking and you are some enigma then I would go with Harvard. It sounds better ;-).

What you should really look for is a balance between 1) what you like and 2) how it may benefit you.

Personally I find cancer research interesting so I would a chance in this field then say being offered a summer student job at the CDC working with the highest classification of diseases (which of course would never happen, but I am sure you see the idea).

On the interview it really depends on what you can draw on and why it is important to you.

Do what you find intersting over what may "look better". In the end publications, institution don't really make a difference, its more about how you can articulate your experiences at whatever place you worked at.

 

[willthatsall]

There isn't enough information here to give advice. Put it this way, if you think you will do better on the MCAT if you stay home and work with the guy you know, I would do that. All things being equal, Harvard would probably be a cool experience. But going to Harvard for a summer isn't going to make up for a bad MCAT.

 

[fotolilith]

Hello all,
I was thinking of forgeting about doing a research internship this summer and use all the time to study for MCAT. Is that a good plan?
Thank you guys again!

First, you've got to realize that NO MATTER what your choice is, things are not going to work out as planned. Usually internships/ fulltime positions are about 50+ hrs/ wk - 8:30-6 or so, sometimes weekends, etc. Research is a BUSINESS and your time will be completely dictated by your PI/ director/ post doc, etc. Point is, you're absolutely not going to have the time you want to study for the MCAT (but then again, most ppl rarely do have the time they need ;-)). Not only will you have to adhere to a strict study schedule, but now you have numerous people DEPENDING on you in your lab.

I knew someone who decided to work full time in the US's top cancer research hospital right after she graduated. She thought she could get there 8a-4p, study 5pm-12 from May-August, and ace the August MCAT. Then she discovered that her post doc needed her 50+ hrs per week, the papers needed to be revised, her mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer, her applications should have been turned in before fall, etc.

She'll never know this for certain, but she probably could have performed better on the MCAT without the internship/ job. Yeah, you can't predict how everything goes (ie, family illness right before the test), but in hindsight she says she made a bad decision and should have focused on studying for the summer. Her eyes were blinded by the promise of expanding the limits of medicine and having a much more interesting interview/ more acceptances if she had her name on a few publications before her applications were sent.

As far as I know, this gal still thinks her work is worthwhile (it's not everyone who gets to say they've developed new chemotherapy agents), but it's not going to make up for an average MCAT score. I talked to her today (early November - no interviews yet) and she's already started studying for the April 2005 MCAT.

Everyone's story is different, but you said your focus is getting into school and you wanted some insight into how to balance research/ studying for the MCAT. It's going to be hard.

If you can take the MCAT in April, then definitely do the Harvard summer research, cuz it will likely tip your application into the accepted pile (and schools love accepting people who have done research AT their facility - they like people who can bring the school money! ).

But strongly think about how a lower MCAT score could get your application in a holding pattern. If the rest of your application is strong (ie, you could prove that you have the capacity to make A's in all the subjects tested on the MCAT, then if things go south on test day at least you have your transcript to back you up), then you can probably balance the summer with studying and research.

But if all of those classes were not taken in college (tested out, taken in HS, etc) or you feel weak in those subjects, it's going to be harder to do that research AND score how you want on the test. Your goal with your application is to ultimately show the adcoms that you have the capacity to make their school look good in the future. A high MCAT score is more important than research for most places, honestly.

 

[mohammadali99]

This summer 2005 I will start doing my studies for the April 2006 MCATs. I wanted to start early because of my poor background, as i feel, in bio and physics. I have full intentions of taking the Aprill 2006 exams.

So if I was to go home, take a Kaplan or PR course while working in a more laidback research job with someone I know at NIH, it would be better than going to Harvard and taking a similar course? I can do the Harvard internship next summer 2006, after I have taken then MCAT and other upper level science classes, to help me look better as a reseracher while working for the guy at Harvard. And since my AMCAS would allready be in by the begining of the summer, I wouldn't have a chance to send my LOR before the secondaries came, right?, so the LOR from the Advisor from Harvard would come in perfect timing, because I would have worked with him for a good time, and he could write a LOR during the period secondaries come in.

 

[SanDiegoSOD]

Do the internship. The thought of someone doing nothing but studying for the MCAT over an entire summer is simply appalling. And since you're not taking the test until at least Aug 05, you have plenty of time to study in advance. Please don't be a tool and spend 8 hrs a day for 3 months on one test.

 

[Lindyhopper]

It really is a tough call. It is tempting to think "don't be a tool", but its not the Medical College ADMISSION TEST for nothing. Good Luck

 

[fotolilith]

It really is a tough call. It is tempting to think "don't be a tool", but its not the Medical College ADMISSION TEST for nothing. Good Luck

haha, nicely put!