MD- 39 mcat 3.9 gpa / not much research/ Need advice!

[1210]

Hello all,
I would really appreciate your advice (and chance, if it is possible). I'm applying next cycle.

MCAT 39 (PS/BS/Verbal: 14/14/11).
GPA 3.8-3.9
* English is my second language and I only recently became a green card holder.

Shadowing - Oncology Neurology so far (each 3-4 months). worked with psychiatrists too.
EC - will not specify too much in detail because it's not the main issue here in my post.. Major things are peer counseling, teaching and raising baby parrots.

RESEARCH - not too much.
1 yr of clinical research in psychiatry but did not get much out of it.
3 months of lab research in my home country (not US)
started working in immunology lab in US 2 months ago. will continue working there as a research assistant.
no pending paper publications.

I'm going to take a gap year so I have some time, so should I pursue research during that time? I'm wondering because I have so many other things I want to do, but I think research is definitely something that I lack in my application.

1. I really need advice - should I really start focusing on research?
2. Which specialty should I shadow next?


Thanks so much!!

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[bpperry]

You could do some more research, but having a year on your resume might be fine. If anything, when I've asked about my extracurriculars, I've been told that having some community service/volunteering is great on your application. Many of the schools I'm looking to apply to specifically mention "Servicing the needy in the community" or something of that nature. They talk about research too, but it seems to me that medical schools love to have applicants that have given their services voluntarily to the community. Hope this helps!

 

[Goro]

It appears that patient contact experience is what you're lacking. Do NOT sweat lacking a publication.

Hello all,
I would really appreciate your advice (and chance, if it is possible). I'm applying next cycle.

MCAT 39 (PS/BS/Verbal: 14/14/11).
GPA 3.8-3.9
* English is my second language and I only recently became a green card holder.

Shadowing - Oncology Neurology so far (each 3-4 months). worked with psychiatrists too.
EC - will not specify too much in detail because it's not the main issue here in my post.. Major things are peer counseling, teaching and raising baby parrots.

RESEARCH - not too much.
1 yr of clinical research in psychiatry but did not get much out of it.
3 months of lab research in my home country (not US)
started working in immunology lab in US 2 months ago. will continue working there as a research assistant.
no pending paper publications.

I'm going to take a gap year so I have some time, so should I pursue research during that time? I'm wondering because I have so many other things I want to do, but I think research is definitely something that I lack in my application.

1. I really need advice - should I really start focusing on research?
2. Which specialty should I shadow next?


Thanks so much!!

 

[darkjedi]

You have the research 'checkbox' ticked. If you really wanted to go for a publication, it could help a little, however, from here it looks like your application is quite good already. You should definitely feel free to spend your gap year pursuing whatever passions you have. They will likely be more interesting to talk about, and if you do something super neat, it could be an opportunity to provide an interesting letter of update to school.

If you want to shadow some more, choose whichever specialty you think you would like to know more about. Adcoms don't really care about the specialty you shadow in, but much more about what you took away from it.