Undergrad with a question

[SlippingSloth]

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I am planning to take the MCAT in spring, and I was wondering what your guys/gals thoughts were on taking a full load this next quarter. I am lacking in the research department(as in I dont really have any) but have 100's of hours of philanthropic/clinical/volunteer experience. Should I take a full load, continue my 10 hours a week of volunteering, maintain my student org responsibilities, and seek a research position all while studying for the MCAT? I feel like its just too much and I dont know what needs to be cut since it seems like you almost NEED research. Did any of you get into medical school without research or do I really need to look into an independent project to have a chance? (I live in California, go to school at UCSD).

 

[ishaninatte]

Absolutely no research (unless you count researching japanese literature), and I got in. In fact, I had taken nothing but the prereqs as far as sciences go, + a little extra math.

Do what makes you happy, you sound like you'll do fine on the MCAT regardless.

 

[ddmo]

If you have been doing all these ECs for awhile, then you are fine. I think what you should do is take a break from all the volunteering and student orgs next semester and focus on studying for the MCAT since that means more than a million ECs.

Then, if you want to do research, start it this summer, and that way you can still put it on yours apps.

 

[2DEG]

I was very pleased to read this post. With my situation, I am a non-trad premed, taking MCAT in april 05. I simply don't have any time to spend outside my work, and family and school life. I am still planning to shadow my internist and maybe do some volunteer work (not sure yet) in a hospital or such.

I talked to a ENT physician a while back. He was on the admissions committee at Johns Hopkins where he did his fellowship. He told me that in a situation like mine..admissions people understand.

I am still gonna do some volunteer work but its not gonna be as extensive as many other traditional pre-meds.

Absolutely no research (unless you count researching japanese literature), and I got in. In fact, I had taken nothing but the prereqs as far as sciences go, + a little extra math.

Do what makes you happy, you sound like you'll do fine on the MCAT regardless.

 

[debvz]

No research for me, but i (like you) was very involved in EC's, shadowing, etc. IMHO, with as much as you are involved in already, i wouldn't bother doing research just for the sake of putting it on your resume.

 

[Mediculous]

I am planning to take the MCAT in spring, and I was wondering what your guys/gals thoughts were on taking a full load this next quarter. I am lacking in the research department(as in I dont really have any) but have 100's of hours of philanthropic/clinical/volunteer experience. Should I take a full load, continue my 10 hours a week of volunteering, maintain my student org responsibilities, and seek a research position all while studying for the MCAT? I feel like its just too much and I dont know what needs to be cut since it seems like you almost NEED research. Did any of you get into medical school without research or do I really need to look into an independent project to have a chance? (I live in California, go to school at UCSD).

Do you have any interest at all in research? If so, I would recommend trying it out over the summer. That way, you have more time to focus on the MCAT and more time to focus on research. Even if you're taking summer classes, you still should look into spending time in a lab(that is, if you want to). UCSD is an awesome place for research, especially Scripps. I would take advantage of being at UCSD. I mean, San Diego sun and powerhouse labs? Come on Shelly; Shelly, come on...

 

[geromine]

Put all your eggs in one basket. MCAT is by far the most important factor to gettin into med school. I took the spring MCAT. To focus on studying for the test, I reduced work hours to 10 hours a week, stopped volunteering, suspended research activities, and took only 9 credits (instead of the usual 15) at school for the winter quarter and I did well on the test. Preping for the MCAT is (or at least should be) akin to taking 5 undergrad courses at the same time. You should allow sufficient time to study for them.

Nobody's gonna care that you didnt volunteer for 3 months during 4 years of undergrad. And from my experience, research on the resume is divided into two categories:
1) some research (anywhere from washing test-tubes for three weeks to four years of fruitless research at the nanotech center)
2) research with publication

If you're already in the first category but you're not even close to making it to the second category then I say forget doing additional research because its not really going to add anything to your resume.

 

[katrinadams9]

I would definitely not recommend taking a full course load while preparing for the MCAT. I did and also tried to take the Kaplan course as well. I recieved a big fat score of 23 on my first MCAT that I took in April of 2002. Of course, I was a chemical engineer as an undergrad, so maybe the difficulty of the courses should be weighed in as well. I was in the middle of some of the hardest CHE classes and also taking microbiology. I'd ultimately say that if you're planning on taking a lot of difficult classes during your spring semester (i.e. biochem, orgo), then delay your MCAT until August. You can still apply in time.

I never did any research at all. I didn't really do any volunteer work outside of my student council blood drives. I had to take a year off between med school and undergrad because I didn't get in on my 1st try. So, I studied really hard and retook the MCAT in August of 2003 (and got a 29). Also, I worked at the hospital as a dialysis technician. I think the hospital experience is really what got me into med school....

 

[fourthyearmed]

Never did research. If you don't have an interest in Academic medicine or research don't worry about it. Focus on the MCAT.