I'm relatively new to these discussion forums, so please bear with me if I commit a serious faux pas.
I graduated from a top 20 school last year (2009) with a BA in Mathematics. I completed all the prereqs, my sGPA was a 3.8, overall was a 3.85. I did a 5-year MPH program, which I am currently in the process of finishing. My whole rationale for doing this program was to get a stats background so that if I want to do clinical research in the future, I'd be pretty well set, and let's face it, we all need a back up in case med school doesn't work out.
The one thing I've been fighting really hard against since the very beginning was the whole "getting a degree just for the sake of getting one." I want to utilize my education, so I applied for the Fulbright and was notified as a finalist a few weeks ago. I'm planning on the taking the MCATs in March.
So here's the dilemma, if I don't get the Fulbright, no problem, I'll work fulltime at the lab I did my thesis in. If i do get the Fulbright, however, I'll be abroad during application time. My program will be in China from end of August to March, and from what I understand, this is when all the interviews go down. How will med schools deal with this for my situation?
I'm sure I'm not the first person in the world to encounter this situation, could anyone shed some light on this?
I graduated from a top 20 school last year (2009) with a BA in Mathematics. I completed all the prereqs, my sGPA was a 3.8, overall was a 3.85. I did a 5-year MPH program, which I am currently in the process of finishing. My whole rationale for doing this program was to get a stats background so that if I want to do clinical research in the future, I'd be pretty well set, and let's face it, we all need a back up in case med school doesn't work out.
The one thing I've been fighting really hard against since the very beginning was the whole "getting a degree just for the sake of getting one." I want to utilize my education, so I applied for the Fulbright and was notified as a finalist a few weeks ago. I'm planning on the taking the MCATs in March.
So here's the dilemma, if I don't get the Fulbright, no problem, I'll work fulltime at the lab I did my thesis in. If i do get the Fulbright, however, I'll be abroad during application time. My program will be in China from end of August to March, and from what I understand, this is when all the interviews go down. How will med schools deal with this for my situation?
I'm sure I'm not the first person in the world to encounter this situation, could anyone shed some light on this?