MD/PhD Chances and Advice. A thread for a student in need.

[GrandViewStudent22]

Hey y’all… As you can see from the thread title, I’m interested in hearing what others have to think about my chances of getting into a MD/PhD program. A little bit (or a lot) of background on myself:

BIOGRAPHY

-Junior at a small private university in Iowa
-Earning BS in Biochemistry and BA in Biology
-Love research, and would like to get into the MD/PhD side of things because of the tie to translational medicine, which I’ve fallen in love with

STATS

- 4.00 cumulative GPA
- MCAT = taking May 2018

RESEARCH

- Participated in a NSF-funded REU at the University of Oklahoma during the summer of 2017, where I conducted research on CRISPR
- Participating in another summer research opportunity this upcoming summer at either Johns Hopkins or the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, both projects are focused on stem cell based applications for translational research
- By the time I graduate I will have had two full years conducting research at my home university in the biochemistry department
-One project working on enzyme engineering (junior year)
-Other project involves analyzing nuclear hormone receptors (senior year, upcoming)
-In the fall of 2018 (senior year) I will also conduct a semester worth of research in the biology department (project is TBD)
- I have analyzed and published two genes to the NCBI
-Work in the chemistry department where I supervise NMR use, as well as care take the instrument
-Present 3 posters at home university (2 before hopeful application)
-Present 2 posters at national conferences by the time of graduation (1 before hopeful application)
-Presented poster at University of Oklahoma symposium and another at either JHU or Fred Hutch this summer

MEDICAL EXPERIENCE

-Definitely where I lack the most, didn’t have interested solid interest until last few years
-Shadowed about 30 hours so far, will reach 60+ before application hopefully

EXTRACURRICULARS

-3 years of serving on the university’s student government
-Helped start two clubs on campus related to science, one received national accreditation by the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
-Volunteer as assistant football coach for my high school team
- Tutor students for 3 years on campus by the time of graduation
-Serve as an unpaid TA for 3 semesters (hold a class once a week and go over problems answer questions), for both organic chemistry I and II as well as genetics

SCHOLARSHIPS AND HONORS SOCIETIES

-Many scholarships (although probably doesn’t matter too much at this point)
-National honor society for the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

VOLUNTEER

-Assistant football coach
-Judge many science fairs for elementary and middle schools
-Looking for more opportunities currently



Hoping to apply this upcoming summer/fall of my senior year of my senior year, in hopes of matriculating in the fall of 2019. What I'm mostly worried about is 1) Medical experience, hopefully others can help shine light on where and what I could improve on and 2) By the time I apply (hopefully this upcoming summer/fall) i will have had one full year of research at my home university and two summer projects. I'm curious to see if admissions will think that's not enough even though I'll be involved in two projects my senior year..?

Thanks for any and all help, I know this was super long, cheers!

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[HamiltonPineapples]

Have you read this? What are my chances? Read before asking.

Advice: Find a hospital you can volunteer at if you're worried about clinical hours. Score 516+ on the MCAT. Apply early and broadly. Understand that its ok if you end up taking a gap year, just be sure to use it to gain more experiences that will help your application.

 

[GrandViewStudent22]

Have you read this? What are my chances? Read before asking.

Advice: Find a hospital you can volunteer at if you're worried about clinical hours. Score 516+ on the MCAT. Apply early and broadly. Understand that its ok if you end up taking a gap year, just be sure to use it to gain more experiences that will help your application.

I did check that out first and it gave me some good info, but was hoping to just get some more advice on my unique situation and to see if my concerns are valid. Thanks for the help!

 

[Future MD/PhD]

Although much cannot be said without an MCAT score, I would say that you are in a comparable situation as I was (if not better), and if you don't bomb your MCAT, then you'll be fine. A program director once told me that high GPAs tend to be indicative of high MCATs, so I'm going to go ahead and assume that you will score at least a 515 (but shoot for at least a 517 for security). @Fencer is pretty spot on at explaining how the stats of the application process works. In his words, if you go on 8-12 interviews, you can expect at least 3-5 acceptances (which was exactly what happened to me, and I'm still waiting to hear back from a few institutions). Furthermore, if you go on at least 3 interviews, it's very unlikely that you won't get in anywhere.

Of course, the conversation gets a bit confusing when you only apply to top tier schools. Personally, I think you should go ahead and do that if you want to because you're a strong candidate. Just don't expect a slew of acceptances, especially if your MCAT doesn't pass the 95th percentile (which in my year was a 517). Nonetheless, if your MCAT is solid, and you apply early and broadly (like @HamiltonPineapples suggested) you should be fine. Can I ask the type of schools you're looking to enroll in? And how many schools you expect to apply to? Here is a link that vaguely portrays the competitiveness of each school.

 

[Lucca]

With a good mcat score, your chances are solid.

Consult the sticky.

 

[moggat]

Try to shadow physician-scientists over the summer if you get a chance (JHU is a great place for that; Fred Hutch/UW shouldnt be too bad either). They dont have to be MDPhDs but they should ideally do both bench and clinical work so you can prove that you know what the day-to-day for a PS actually is like.

Enjoy your summer and kill the MCAT.

Think about non-hospital alternatives to volunteering, they're often easier to get into and you have a better chance of finding something you really like doing.