Grad School Advice

[atm14834]

Hi all! I was wondering if anyone was willing to weigh in on helping me decide what grad schools to choose.

I have a 3.7 GPA and about 2.5 years of research experience on four different projects. Two projects have abstract publications and three have been presented at national/international conferences. I work for a state laboratory and have been there for almost 3 years now as a fuel analyst/researcher. I applied to MD/PhD programs, but my MCAT score is pretty low and I feel it's very unlikely for me to get in. So now I am leaning towards applying to biomedical science programs. My current list is below if anyone wants to add to it or offer any kind of advice. I really want to narrow down my list to around 5 or 6 schools that I have a decent chance of getting into, whether that be five from this list, five not on this list or a combination. 

Thanks in advance!

-Emory, Vanderbilt, University of Alabama at Birmingham, University of Virginia, Indiana School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve, UPenn, University of Pittsburgh, Penn State, University of Michigan, UNC at Chapel Hill, and Ohio State.

[cephalexin]

6 hours ago, atm14834 said:

Hi all! I was wondering if anyone was willing to weigh in on helping me decide what grad schools to choose.

I have a 3.7 GPA and about 2.5 years of research experience on four different projects. Two projects have abstract publications and three have been presented at national/international conferences. I work for a state laboratory and have been there for almost 3 years now as a fuel analyst/researcher. I applied to MD/PhD programs, but my MCAT score is pretty low and I feel it's very unlikely for me to get in. So now I am leaning towards applying to biomedical science programs. My current list is below if anyone wants to add to it or offer any kind of advice. I really want to narrow down my list to around 5 or 6 schools that I have a decent chance of getting into, whether that be five from this list, five not on this list or a combination. 

Thanks in advance!

-Emory, Vanderbilt, University of Alabama at Birmingham, University of Virginia, Indiana School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve, UPenn, University of Pittsburgh, Penn State, University of Michigan, UNC at Chapel Hill, and Ohio State.

Your research experience will look great to the programs you've listed. I applied to Immunology and Microbiology programs, so not exactly the same niche, but your list looks fairly similar to mine. I applied to Princeton (accepted), Pitt (accepted), UNC (declined interview because I had already received interviews for my top choices), Michigan (rejected), Johns Hopkins (my accepted, my ultimate choice), UW-Madison (accepted), UCSF (rejected), Emory (rejected), Washington University in St. Louis (rejected). They were all great programs in molecular biology, microbiology, and/or immunology, and I would assume their biomedical sciences programs are great too. I also love UPenn, and would have applied there; however, they do not fund phD students with professional degrees, and I have a pharmD. I also know many faculty at Pitt's school of medicine, and they are great. I probably would have gone there if I wasn't interested in moving to a new city.

My question to you as someone who went clinical -> phD is how important do you value patient care/interaction? I ask that because if that is important to you/you have interest being a physician, it might be worth another shot at the MCAT to try for a better score.  A  physician can move his/her practice towards research through fellowships etc, but a researcher can't (easily) become a physician.

If you have any questions about specifics about any of the programs I applied to, let me know.

[atm14834]

@cephalexin 

Thanks so much for replying. This gave me some more schools to look into and hopefully start to concise my list a little more.

I am more interested in research than patient care and am okay with just doing a PhD for now. I'm still interested in doing an MD as well, but I don't mind taking the scenic route and spending a few extra years in school. I'm not opposed to retaking the MCAT, I just don't feel that my score would improve enough right now. If the time comes, I know I'll probably have to pay for med school myself, but I figured if I still wanted to do it bad enough, I'd find a way. 

Thanks again for your help!

[cephalexin]

Anytime! Let me know if you ever have any other questions. Happy to help!