Mediocre med student wanting physician scientist career

[Palaver87]

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MD/PhD student here. I really want to do research in my career, and so I'm paranoid about my med school performance and am wondering if I have shot at an academic residency like Stanford, Columbia, Yale, etc

I am an average med student despite working as hard as possible. Step 1 was 224 (50th percentile), grades are pretty much 50th percentile, everything is 50th percentile.

The only thing I have going for me compared to other applicants is that I'm really good at research. Won awards, top grad student in department, etc. Pubs are in psychiatry, since I knew it's what I wanted to do since undergrad

I'm wondering if research heavy places will consider me given my mediocre clinical performance. I'm at a top 20 institution if that helps. Will I get interviews or be seriously considered after the interview?

 

[LimbicResponse]

Columbia ,MGH, UCLA, maybe UCSF are maybes .. Everywhere else you'll have a shot at

 

[OldPsychDoc]

If your pubs are quality, you'll be highly sought after for any academically-focused residency you choose.

 

[Jorje286]

I really don't think there's much overlap between clinical and research excellence. Most of medicine is about straightforward memorization and book regurgitation where you just shouldn't worry about mechanisms and in-depth understanding. If you are used to think like that you will naturally struggle. Having spent a year in research before coming to medicine, I would say it was more detrimental than anything else for med school performance. I had to completely rewire my brain because the approach is so different. I also had a couple of friends with very strong research backgrounds who struggled immensely with the intellectual approach to medicine and almost quit even though they were bent on becoming physicians. I think the residency directors may be aware of these factors when they pick out physician-scientists.

I think this would have been more an issue if you were going for IM or a more "medicine" heavy specialty. Psychiatry is the specialty that will least care about how you performed in Med 1/Med 2.

 

[billypilgrim37]

I'm confused as to why the OP believes that being 50th percentile at a top 20 school is somehow a poor performance. Those are perfectly solid stats for most non-surgical specialties, and with a good research track record, the sky is pretty much the limit. No worries. I have zero idea why MGH and the like would be off-limits.

 

[vistaril]

I'm confused as to why the OP believes that being 50th percentile at a top 20 school is somehow a poor performance. Those are perfectly solid stats for most non-surgical specialties, and with a good research track record, the sky is pretty much the limit. No worries. I have zero idea why MGH and the like would be off-limits.

well he's also around 50th percentile for all allo american grads in terms of step1, which is not a very good performance.

The biggest thing he has going for him is he's a md/phd in what is likely an mstp program.

But yeah, he appears to be a great candidate. If he wants to do psych I don't see any reason why every program in the country wouldn't want him. There are a few things(derm, plastics, etc) where the 224 may be a hiccup, in spite of the md/phd. But since he's on a psych board he probably is focusing only on psych.

 

[CertifiedFresh]

Columbia ,MGH, UCLA, maybe UCSF are maybes .. Everywhere else you'll have a shot at

That pretty much sums it up. To the OP. I bet Yale would be a good fit for you if they are OK with your board score...they have a very intellectual atmosphere that loves researchers. Yale is also surprisingly less competitive than some of the other less "branded" programs, because it is in New Haven and it has a rather intense workload. They training there is excellent IMHO.

 

[LimbicResponse]

If you are into new haven and their call schedule , I would say Yale would look at you very favorably OP.

 

[strangeglove]

MD-PhD with strong publications will not guarantee you an interview at Columbia and MGH-McLean without good clinical grades. Preclinical grades are not as important, nor are board scores. Some research-heavy programs place less emphasis on your clinical abilities as a medical student, especially if you publish good papers in your PhD, such as Yale, Stanford, UCLA, Pittsburgh.

 

[ratherbefishing]

It is also possible to do solid research at another non-name brand place. Still, you should still be a competitive applicant everywhere with that strong research background.

 

[ratherbefishing]

Ps. May also want to ask this question in the md phd forum.

 

[shan564]

My Step 1 score was not much higher than yours (Step 2 was a bit better in terms of percentile, but not by much) and my research experience was probably inferior to yours... and I'm an IMG... and I matched at WashU, which is probably a "top" research-heavy program by most common measures. But I never know what people mean when they say "top 20" or whatever - USNWR research ranking? NIH funding? Reputation?

But the point is - if you don't mind coming to the flyover states and you have decent interview skills and decent rec letters, your scores and research are good enough to make you competitive at WashU, Duke, Penn, Brown, Pitt, UCSD, etc. Yale, Stanford, and Hopkins will also probably invite you for an interview. Harvard Longwood and Cambridge should also be considered, depending on your specific interests. As has already been pointed out, the only programs that might not invite you for an interview are MGH, Columbia, Cornell, UCLA, and UCSF...

The following list is of very little practical value, but if you're trying to get an idea of research-heavy psych departments, it's a rough guide:
http://www.residentphysician.com/Psychiatry_rankings.htm
There are many reasons why this list isn't actually a good ranking of anything, but it does tell you that there are several research-heavy psych departments within that list of programs where I said that you'd be highly competitive.