WAMC: Polishing Resume before Applying Next Cycle

[benlikeslizards]

Hi! I'm a fairly new pre-med, I was going to do a PhD in engineering, but then after a CNA-type job, decided I really wanted to be a doctor. Found out about MD/PhDs and now here I am! I am uneducated about the norms for research experience and things, so I would love any critique so I can polish before applying next cycle. My school list is limited (I think); if you know anything about schools with good tissue engineering/personalized medicine programs, I'd like to know. Want to make personalized medicine accessable.

Originally posted this in pre-med, realized later that this is where I should post. I think the questions are fairly explanitory.

1. cGPA and sGPA both 3.85 (May take a hit this semester, though, so conservatively, 3.70 cGPA and 3.85 sGPA when I apply)
2. MCAT 521: 130/130/131/130
3. Residency: Colorado, wife Texas resident
4. Not a minority (Is that what ORM means?)
5. Clinical experience : 810 hours total (Caregiver/Hospital volunteer)
6. Research experience and productivity: 1400 hours total, 1 pub (Research conference, nothing to brag about), 2 presentations, hopefully 2 more pubs, plus one more submitted by the time I apply.
   1. Nuclear Engineering
      1. 500+ hours over 2.5 years
      2. Paper/2 presentations
   2. Tissue Engineering
      1. 500+ hours over 1 year (Conservative estimate)
      2. I will be on two paper (Not primary/ co-author) we are submitting this month (One submitting to Science! We'll see... I'm a bit skeptical it will get accepted.)
   3. Modular Insulin Bioreactor (For undergrad Bench to Bedside team... does this count?) 500 hours over 8 months
      1. 2nd/1st at entrepreneurship competitions
7. Shadowing experience and specialties represented: 9.5 hours
   1. Neonatology - 8 hours
   2. Orthopedic Surgeon - 1.5 hours
8. Non-clinical volunteering: About 200 hours
9. Relevant honors or awards
   1. NASA Space Grant Fellowship in 2019 (Nuclear)

School list:

CU Denver
Ohio State
Case Western Reserve
Oregon Health & Science
Univ. of Washington
Univ. of Utah
Texas A&M (EnMed too)
UT Houston (McGovern)
Baylor
UT Galveston
UT Southwestern
Penn State
Pennsylvania (Perelman)
Carle Illinois
Indiana University
UCLA (Shouldn't even try, since no connections?)

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[Fencer]

For MD/PhD applications, state of residency doesn't matter. You are missing two MSTPs from Texas (UTSW and UTH San Antonio). Otherwise, you seem to be competitive. Given your Engineering interest, consider Indiana (Purdue), Emory (Georgia Tech), Harvard (MIT), UCLA (CalTech), & Stanford. There is also a good bioengineering group at Wake Forest.

 

[JoaoMoutinho]

Doesn't Pitt have affiliation with Carnegie Mellon? If so that would be another good school to add.

 

[benlikeslizards]

Wow, those are amazing schools! I thought UPenn was a bit unrealistic for me, but they published something that I really would like to get involved in, so I threw it on the list. I may have been under the misconception that most MD/PhD matriculants at those top schools typically do research at the NIH or equivalent post-bacc, do you really think some publications could make the difference? There is a chance that I will be a co-author for a potentially high-impact paper to be submitted at around the same time I apply (Probably in May). I was thinking, I would only apply to those top 20 schools if I get that publication out by then, otherwise, it might be a waste of my money.

 

[biobukowski]

Wow, those are amazing schools! I thought UPenn was a bit unrealistic for me, but they published something that I really would like to get involved in, so I threw it on the list. I may have been under the misconception that most MD/PhD matriculants at those top schools typically do research at the NIH or equivalent post-bacc, do you really think some publications could make the difference? There is a chance that I will be a co-author for a potentially high-impact paper to be submitted at around the same time I apply (Probably in May). I was thinking, I would only apply to those top 20 schools if I get that publication out by then, otherwise, it might be a waste of my money.

I did do postbac research and got authorship in a couple of papers before applying to MD/PhDs. I believe it boosted my application.

Showing you can do scientific publications makes one less worried about your ability to complete a project, defend a thesis and return to med school.

On a more philosophical note: Having now been through an MSTP and a PSTP residency, knowing what I know and have seen in terms of what MSTP directors, residency directors, and faculty divisions are looking for/want to accomplish (with the physician scientist pipeline) the most important quality in successful applicants is examples of grit and persistence. Whether it is that you have a Black belt in two martial arts, mastered an instrument and played in a serious setting, made a cabin in the woods—whatever it is, it shows grit and persistence, which is key for success in this career. It’s not just dropping the PhD that directors are worried about, but the ability to choose people who will continue on the pipeline. PhD training is the length of a residency, and it takes effort to continue and train for residency, fellowship, and maintain research output, write grants, etc. The idea is to cultivate people who would actually do it and incorporate their combined training into their interests going forward.

This is the main thing that distinguishes the American style of education vs other places—the non quantitative aspects of the application that show a certain promise that can’t be described by MCAT, GPA