Medical What should myPlan B be (assuming no II's this cycle)?

[TheBoneDoctah]

As of now, I have not received a II from any of the 33 schools to which I applied in July and August. I am now figuring out my plan B in the event I do not receive any interview invites. I really enjoy computational and synthetic chemistry research and was thinking about applying to several Chemistry PhD programs. I majored in chemistry and my chemistry GPA is a 3.95 and my science GPA is a 3.9. Since the GRE is optional this cycle and I could easily repurpose my AMCAS personal statement for the PhD application, I was wondering: will graduate schools see redundancy in my PhD application if I reuse my personal statement from AMCAS (i.e. are there people on the board of both the medical school and graduate school admission committees for a particular school that will see this redundancy)? I only applied to MD programs--not MD-PhD programs--in AMCAS.

I am confused? Are you completely done with medicine if you don't get in the first time?

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[Goro]

I surmise there's a BIG difference in "Why Medicine?" as opposed to "Why Chemistry and research?". Don't be lazy, you're just asking for a rejection from the PhD programs.

 

[Goro]

I am interested in being a pathologist and having a lab where I can conduct biochemistry/molecular biology research. I know that I do not want to only do research and cannot see myself 100% invested in being a practicing doctor without conducting research. I would rather start a graduate program next year than a masters or some gap year program where I feel like whatever I am doing is to boost my application for my re-application to medical school, the admission to which is not even close to being a given. I hope that does not come off as being pretentious or arrogant. I just know that I want to do research in my career and also practice and that the path to medical school is not one-way.

MD schools do not count graduate GPAs due to grade inflation.

What's your MCAT score? What are your ECs?

Having a research-heavy PS and essays is not going to go over well. Med schools will simply ask "why not PhD"?

 

[Goro]

Stats are not an issue for me: my MCAT is a 515, sGPA is a 3.9 and cGPA is 3.85. EC-wise, I am definitely on the weaker side: I am a TA (3 years), have ~3 years of basic and translational research experience, am the editor of a publication on my campus, and am canvassing right now to register votes in Michigan. I tried to make it clear in my personal statement that I was not satisfied by only doing research.

No shadowing?
No clinical experiences?
No volunteering?

I can't sugar coat this, your app is DOA.

What are you going to say when asked how you know you are suited for a life of caring for the sick and suffering? “That you just know”? Imagine how that will go over! This isn't the app of someone who dearly wants to be a doctor, it's the app of someone who wants to do research and not have to deal with those annoying patients.

From the wise LizzyM: I am always reminded of a certain frequent poster of a few years ago. He was adamant about not volunteering as he did not want to give his services for free and he was busy and helping others was inconvenient. He matriculated to a medical school and lasted less than one year. He's now in school to become an accountant.

Here's the deal: You need to show AdComs that you know what you're getting into, and show off your altruistic, humanistic side. We need to know that you're going to like being around sick or injured people for the next 40 years.

Here's another way of looking at it: would you buy a new car without test driving it? Buy a new suit or dress without trying it on??

We're also not looking for merely for good medical students, we're looking for people who will make good doctors, and 4.0 GPA robots are a dime-a-dozen.

I've seen plenty of posts here from high GPA/high MCAT candidates who were rejected because they had little patient contact experience.

Not all volunteering needs to be in a hospital. Think hospice, Planned Parenthood, nursing homes, rehab facilities, crisis hotlines, camps for sick children, or clinics.

Some types of volunteer activities are more appealing than others. Volunteering in a nice suburban hospital is all very well and good and all, but doesn't show that you're willing to dig in and get your hands dirty in the same way that working with the developmentally disabled (or homeless, the dying, or Alzheimers or mentally ill or elderly or ESL or domestic, rural impoverished) does. The uncomfortable situations are the ones that really demonstrate your altruism and get you 'brownie points'. Plus, they frankly teach you more -- they develop your compassion and humanity in ways comfortable situations can't.

Service need not be "unique"; it can be anything that helps people unable to help themselves and that is outside of a patient-care setting.If you can alleviate suffering in your community through service to the poor, homeless, illiterate, fatherless, etc, you are meeting an otherwise unmet need and learning more about the lives of the people (or types of people) who will someday be your patients.

Check out your local houses of worship for volunteer opportunities. The key thing is service to others less fortunate than you. And get off campus and out of your comfort zone!

Examples include: Habitat for Humanity, Ronald McDonald House, Humane Society, crisis hotlines, soup kitchen, food pantry, homeless or women’s shelter, after-school tutoring for students or coaching a sport in a poor school district, teaching literacy or ESL to adults at a community center, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Meals on Wheels, mentoring immigrant/refugee adults, being a friendly visitor to shut-ins, adaptive sports program coach or Special Olympics.

So there's your Plan B.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

I presumed shadowing, clinical experiences, and volunteering did not fall under the umbrella of EC's. I have ~60 hours of shadowing (2 specialties) and 2 years volunteering in multiple wards of my university hospital. I have also tutored students registered with the disability center at my university. I agree with you that I need to get more experience working with those who are less fortunate.

So your plan is to apply Ph.D. (which I presume is 7 years) and then apply internally to your home program and hope they take you? What if they don't? Then you are leaving the other 150+ medical schools out of your apps?

 

[lord999]

So, you want to do postgraduate work in Chemistry as Plan B. Fine, but repurposing your essay seems off. I actually think it would be best though if you reconsidered the health professions given this thread and the previous one as what you write is rather solipsistic in both approaches to a postgraduate. If you are so detached that you think repurposing is going to work, I would reply that your insight into what is desired in a postgraduate basic sciences program as well as a postgraduate clinical science program lacks sufficient preparation in depth.

If you wrote like this in your essays, you definitely would not receive an interview as it would be obvious to any reader that your motivations and experience are superficial (and I am also an ORM). That is not to say you have to be this hardcore humanitarian to get in, many of the veterans have little volunteering due to their military requirements but that is made up with other matters. There is nothing in what you write that is enticing for a II. It's not just the hours, it's how you represent them. Because maybe superficial is not true, but the way you wrote them, it seems like you just had your chit punched at the stations.

My two pieces of advice are:
1. You know what you want. You have some idea of the people who can give you what you want. But you have no idea how to convince those who have the ability to give you what you want that it is worth their effort to give it to you and more importantly, you do not seem to think about that as a large problem. It is not about convincing yourself in the application process, we assume this by just the paperwork. You're trying to convince us, and what you are offering is what you want rather than what we want. Before you actually start working on what we want, you need to get away quickly from solipsism as a life philosophy. That can work in finance, but it does not work in medicine or even in basic science as you'll find out soon enough that being a successful basic scientist usually means being a successful professional beggar (whether grants, or equipment, or lab space, or time).

2. From this thread and the other, you do not seem to lack any of the personal hours necessary. But if your motivations look superficial even if you did the exact same or better than others, potentially your problem is representing yourself well. And that might take a spell outside of the academy for that perspective to develop. If you really want to go into medicine or computational chemistry, why not spend a year working in a computational chemistry/cheminformatics lab (and if you're Berkeley or SF, it's among the very best) as well as join Toastmasters or something to help with your communication?

Way out advice, if you are an entering senior, considering taking Acting for Nonmajors or doing some community theater/improv class. The ability to read your audience and make the message fit is something that I think working on would be useful for either path or even others that may come in.

 

[tantacles]

If you truly want to be a physician, do not use a chemistry PhD as your springboard. Get the clinical and volunteering experience you need and apply again.