PhD to MD

[LEL_1995]

Hello all, any help or advice would be greatly appreciated on this manner.
Currently, I am approaching the end of my 1st year in a PhD doing research in an inorganic chemistry lab. Prior to me joining this program I was in pre-med in undergrad and I have 2 years of working as a scribe in an ER. I applied to medical school twice with no luck. I also applied to chemistry graduate school and since I enjoyed undergraduate research, I thought I would give it a shot. However, towards the end of the Fall semester I started becoming disillusioned with doing research in general and I don't have much desire to keep doing this. I have also since started missing my time working in a hospital and being involved with direct patient care (I quit my job just before I came to graduate school). I am wanting to master out of this program and reapply to medical schools. The only reservation I have is that my PI will not be happy with me mastering out, but besides that I have plenty of people for letters of rec. I have given this a lot of thought and I want to give it some more time, but I am exploring the possibility now rather than later. Based off of this, what do you think is my shot of getting into medical school? Will the master hurt me? Alternate letters to a PI in this case? Thank you for reading this and any feedback you may have.

Side Notes: My GPA in undergrad is a 3.9 with a BS in chemistry, minor in mathematics. GPA in graduate school is 3.6. I have NO volunteer experience. My MCAT was very average and I am planning on studying for it this next semester to retake. I do have two years of being am ER scribe under my belt and if I master out I would go back to being a scribe until I get in (also do some volunteer work).

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[Goro]

Some people realize that the road they'r eon is not what they were meant to do. I agree with your decision to take the MS, and this will not hurt you.

Due to your scribing, you don't need any clinical volunteering, but it might be worth doing some to show Adcoms that you're making the right decision (or reinforcing it.).

Get in service to others less fortunate than yourself.

 

[hebrewBAMmer]

I did the PhD to MD path. If you don't love research, the PhD will be hell, so there's no reason to continue.

Do keep in mind some schools (e.g. Penn State) will require a letter from any institution you earned a degree from, so you would need a letter from the school giving you an M.S. degree for a couple schools. I presume that could be a professor from that school that taught you a class and doesn't have to be your P.I.

 

[doc05]

How bad was your mcat? Because not getting into medical school on 2 prior cycles means your chances are very very poor.

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

How bad was your mcat? Because not getting into medical school on 2 prior cycles means your chances are very very poor.

Plenty of people have gotten in after 3 or more cycles. I doubt that the success rate is much lower then 1st cycle attempts but feel free to correct me with data. No volunteering likely killed OP's app.