WAMC (4.0) MA ORM. Gap year advice. No research? Interested in psych/neuro

[wyck]

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I'm currently a psychology and neuroscience major, philosophy minor, set to graduate soon with a 4.0 GPA at a large good state school. I have not taken the MCAT yet. I currently have ~1000 hours working in an inpatient psych facility as a mental health counselor/tech working with eating disorder patients (adults and adolescents), ~200 hours volunteering as a nursing technician at a large hospital near Boston, and ~30 hours of shadowing (1 CL psychiatrist, 1 psychiatrist at eating disorder facility).

However, I have basically no research experience. I will be finishing college early with 3 years, and I didn't get involved in any labs on campus. However, I have taken some grad level courses (a seminar in ethics where I wrote a term paper; grad-level applied stats, grad-level psychopharmacology). I plan on taking a gap year to study and take the MCAT.

My question is this: should I just use the gap year to try and get the best MCAT score and get more clinical and shadowing? Or should I try to get some research experience?

There are some interesting 1 year masters programs in the UK. I'm considering the MSc Clinical Neuropsychiatry program at KCL and Birmingham since I am interested in psych and neuro, and I would get a chance to do some neuroimaging research which I'm curious about. However, this program is quite expensive. I'm open to hearing any other ideas! Thank you for your time.

 

[Faha]

Concentrate on doing well on the MCAT. You need another 20 hours of physician shadowing, preferably primary care. You also need 150+ hours of non clinical volunteering (food bank, homeless shelter).

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums.

At this point, you let your research opportunities pass. I know so many psych majors who were heavily pushed to do research that I wonder how you would have avoided it, but hey... . It is your choice to do research in your gap year now.

Focus on the MCAT and score satisfactorily. I would be mindful of the UK degrees if they require you to be a medical student (or completed your medical school education) there to take those courses. It sounds like that is an expectation/requirement.

 

[wyck]

Welcome to the forums.

At this point, you let your research opportunities pass. I know so many psych majors who were heavily pushed to do research that I wonder how you would have avoided it, but hey... . It is your choice to do research in your gap year now.

Focus on the MCAT and score satisfactorily. I would be mindful of the UK degrees if they require you to be a medical student (or completed your medical school education) there to take those courses. It sounds like that is an expectation/requirement.

HI, thanks for the reply! I actually started as a philosophy major and focused on that my first year and a half. I became interested in philosophy of mind, which made me interested in psychology and neuroscience. My second year was focused on getting clinical experience in psych (my school helped me secure 2 internships mentioned above). Since I decided to only do 3 years (I'm OOS and college is very expensive for me), I didn't have much time to get involved in any psych/neuro labs. At my school they want a longer commitment like getting involved freshman or sophomore year and continuing until graduation. Though it is mainly my own doing; I prioritized clinical experience a lot more.