Hey all - I posted here the first time a few months ago and got some great advice.
I have a follow up question on how to position myself with respect to research.
Here is my profile.
- Applying in 2026
- U/G GPA: 3.95 from non flagship state with physics and chemistry majors and all pre reqs
- MS non thesis, MBA from T20 with 4.0
- MCAT 525
- Texas resident
- 2 years in investment banking, 8 years in hedge fund investing. Both experienced high pressure / hours, and the latter experience was highly intellectual and analytical.
- Purpose: I want to keep the intellectual rigor and keep the fast paced / high pressure environment; keep the ability to be at the intellectual cutting edge of a field; while pivoting to make a more meaningful and significantly more human impact. Basically, life experience has taught me both what I want and what I’m missing.
- Taking a year to immerse myself in the clinical/human experiences, which apart from the mcat study hours, will include 300 underserved volunteering, 1,000 emt hours, and 100 hospice volunteering. Enjoying that process.
- While I did well in coursework when I was younger, I was pretty aimless (at least until deciding to gun for finance) and my college ECs and research are low and non existent respectively
- Semi EC is being a sort of theoretical physics hobbyist (I just like to read it, no pubs or anything)
So here’s my question.
My hedge fund work specifically is, in my opinion, really important to my application and I want to frame it correctly. It was hypothesis driven, under high stakes and pressure, required a ton of data analysis and creative/analytical insight, was cutting edge in the sectors I covered, produced a ton of quantifiable impact, was with one of the best firms in the field etc. I know some might frown on economics/finance/stock research as not the same as bio/clinical, but I personally don’t think it’s a stretch to say the work I did demonstrates the same flavor of process and capability for research in med school.
I want to carry this momentum into research opportunities in med school -
I’m quite excited for that opportunity - both for the process of actually doing it, and how it could help me build towards the cutting edge of my specialty.
My concern is that if I pop a “0” into clinical research, I’m just going to get auto excluded from researchy schools. And the high mcat makes it tough because it may box me in that corner to begin with.
So -
1: should I list some of my work experience as research in AMCAS / TMDSAS?
2: am I in a rough spot in school choice and if so how can I best position myself on the research issue?
Thank you all
