What should I do?

[girlscientist]

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I have the opportunity to do research this summer at a great medical school with an excellent preceptor. The problem is that I have to retake organic 2 which I was also hoping to do this summer. I am also hoping to take the august MCAT as I was hoping to apply this year. Should I try to do both since I'll be in the same city as my school or should I focus on just research. Also can I submit my application to AMCAS without finishing organic 2 ? Thanks for any advice.

 

[lilycat]

Ok, do not do all three of those things all in one summer, for the love of god! Pick 2 of the four, and focus on those two so you do them WELL (you want that good grade on the retake, you need to do well on the MCAT, and you want to get a good letter of rec from the preceptor. And I cannot stress how time consuming applications are. Secondaries take much longer than you think, and you really don't want to wait around on those, or do a shoddy job on them. Yes, you can submit AMCAS without having finished retaking orgo 2, but then I ask, what is really the point in retaking it. If you feel like you need to cram all of this into one summer, with applications as well, might I recommend taking a breather, spacing stuff out, and maybe applying next year? I don't know if this is a feasible option at all, but I am so glad I took time off (2 years, specifically). It definitely made me a better candidate, because I actually had time to concentrate/devote myself to a few things at once, rather than trying to do a million things at once, and doing them poorly. Just something to consider.


[This message has been edited by lilycat (edited March 30, 2001).]

 

[girlscientist]

Lilycat,
Thanks for the advice. I know its crazy to do all three. I know the recommendation for my preceptor will be great so I want to definitely take advantage of that. I guess what I'm really trying to decide is between applying this year or waiting for next year, it seems like such a long time and I'll be 24 soon. On the other hand the extra time will give me a better shot at getting in somewhere and maybe even raise my GPA a little.

 

[Stinky T]

From what I've read so far, I would recommend that you take a year off. One of the worst things you can do for yourself would be to apply late. I'm not saying that people don't get it when they apply late, just that their chances decrease dramatically. If you want to use the LOR from your research, you probably won't be getting the letter from him until the end of the summer when you are done. Studying for the MCAT, filling out secondaries, studying for O-Chem, and doing research is a lot to handle.

Even if you do get in, you might not get in to the school you want simply because you applied too late. You are only 23 (24 soon) and still very young. You have plenty of time. I wish I had taken a year or two off before medical school. I was burnt out the first day of medical school. The day before I started, I had to overnight my just completed 25 page research paper. I got to celebrate by starting medical school the next day. Yippee !!

Stinky

 

[limit]

How could you have still been doing a research paper in the summer having long been accepted to medical school ? what happened ? what if you hadn't finished ?