Will this plan make me a competitive MSTP applicant?

[flotsam]

Cumulative GPA: 3.55
Science GPA: 3.2
MCAT (taken October 2015): Overall 513 (90%); Chem/Phys 125 (57%); CARS 130 (98%); Bio/Biochem 126 (67%); Psych/Soc 132 (100%)
Research Experience: two semesters in undergrad, a year of clinical research with publications
Extra-curricular: executive role in non-profit, significant music involvement, tons of volunteering, etc.

In the past, I have put relatively little effort into school because I didn't have clear goals and always did "well enough." I wanted to go to medical school, but I don't think I knew why. I have grown tremendously as an individual and learned quite a bit about myself since graduating, and after a lot of thought I know a career as a medical scientist is the right move for me. Below, I have laid out a plan that I'm willing to work hard at to achieve this goal.

My plan:

Get 2 years of experience in one neuroimaging lab. I plan to accomplish this by reaching out to lab faculty and telling them my goals, research interests, and that I'm more than willing to accept an unpaid position for the time being. Being in Boston will help tremendously.
Take upper-level biology courses to raise my science GPA and show that I can handle difficult science courses. I plan on doing this at the Harvard Extension school. I will probably take neurobiology and microbiology...should I add a chemistry course as well? These courses will help me in the next part of my plan. (Also, if I take 4 courses and do well, I can raise my sGPA to about a 3.4 and my cGPA to about a 3.6)
Retake the MCAT and focus on Chem/Phys and Bio/Biochem in my studies. I didn't study much CARS or Psych/Soc before the exam, so I believe I can replicate those scores with only minor review. If I can add a few points without hurting my strong sections, I will have a very competitive score.

I imagine I will take two years to accomplish these goals, and then apply for matriculation for 2019 (I'll be 26 then).

What are your thoughts? Will I have a shot even after these improvements? What courses should I take to prove to schools that I can handle a rigorous courseload? Any suggestions for reaching out to faculty (I plan on cold-emailing)? Any other suggestions or advice?

I know ultimately I will likely need to apply broadly, and perhaps apply MD-only as well at schools with good research opportunities. But, I'm hoping with some work I can ultimately become a medical scientist and do work that I'm passionate about.

Thank you for your feedback and let me know if you need any more information to give advice!

All my best,
flotsam

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[Datypicalpremed]

From my experience, adcoms didn't care about the difficulty of my courses. You would probably be better off taking easier courses to more reliably increase that sGPA

 

[Neuronix]

Have you read the sticky?

You know that your GPA is sub-par. The overall is more important, but a particularly low sGPA raises eyebrows. Getting yourself up to at least 3.6 cGPA/3.4 sGPA will help you.

Your MCAT is decent, but not great, and doesn't compensate for that GPA. I wouldn't necessarily re-take with that score, and it's a pretty good score for most MD programs outside the top-tier, but it's still an issue for MD/PhD. The score is going to expire anyway if you apply in 2019. You'll be stuck being far from your pre-med courses at that point which will put you behind the 8-ball for improving that score.

My reading of your post is that you only have less than a year of basic science research. MD/PhD Programs expect at least 2 years.


All that written, you have presented a reasonable plan. It's just that you're going to spend several years on it, and it's still a gamble.


My advice to to you would be to just apply MD now and/or after a year of some science courses to try to bump the GPA up. One advantage to this approach is that you don't have to do basic science now if you apply MD, though you could, but at least you have more flexibility. If you still want to get involved in research, take advantage of opportunities during med school, year out programs, and fellowship/post-doc opportunities for research or even a PhD later during/after residency. The research you do at that point will be far more meaningful to your future goals than whatever research you do as an undergrad.

As Datypicalpremed points out, it's really the GPA number that adcoms focus on. While they sometimes try, they have a very hard time figuring out grade inflation/deflation or course loads in the gazillion undergrad schools out there. Even different courses within the same institution can have wildly different grading schemes. Analyzing that among the hundreds of applications being reviewed is too low yield of a task for most. So just raise that GPA with whatever courses you can take at a 4-year university that don't obviously look like a joke and don't cost you a fortune.

 

[flotsam]

Thanks for the replies, Neuronix and Dattpyicalpremed. I think I will take courses to bump up the GPA and aim to apply next year as MD-only to schools with solid research opportunities (mostly in the 20-50 range in national rankings), and hope to get in somewhere. I know I couldn't get into a top-tier program...but maybe schools like BU, Emory, and Rochester are realistic? Is it a safe assumption that any school with an MSTP program would provide good research opportunities for their MD-only students? Or is there another way to ferret out which schools have provide good research training to MDs?

Also, I looked at the stats for DO/PhD programs, and I would be far more competitive there. But would a DO/PhD be worth pursuing? Does it confer similar advantages to an MD/PhD? Or should I really just stick to MD and be confident that if I'm proactive and attend a decent school, the research opportunities will be there?

Sorry for the barrage of questions but I appreciate the feedback!

 

[Neuronix]

but maybe schools like BU, Emory, and Rochester are realistic?

Sure. The schools away from big cities on the coasts will be less competitive. Look up their average accepted stats and try to determine a good mix of what you might be competitive for, what seems to have good research opportunities, and where you'd want to live (and hopefully not go broke). State schools are always nice as a backup.

Is it a safe assumption that any school with an MSTP program would provide good research opportunities for their MD-only students? Or is there another way to ferret out which schools have provide good research training to MDs?

Yes. Even MD programs that aren't MSTP will mostly have research opportunities for you. Certainly anything ranked in the top-50 on the research rankings. Probably some stuff below that too.

Also, I looked at the stats for DO/PhD programs, and I would be far more competitive there. But would a DO/PhD be worth pursuing? Does it confer similar advantages to an MD/PhD? Or should I really just stick to MD and be confident that if I'm proactive and attend a decent school, the research opportunities will be there?

I don't typically recommend DO/PhD because as of last check, none of them are fully-funded (full tuition remission and stipend for the entire program). I have always been of the opinion that without funding, the PhD is not worthwhile due to the restrictions placed on you by medical school debt. That's just my opinion.