research or clinicals–a dilemma!

[oanochie]

Hi guys,
I have a 3.025 GPA right now, and haven’t taken my MCAT yet. I’m a senior right now and plan on taking the MCAT upon matriculation. My GPA is rising, and I’m confident it wil be atleast a 3.3 by the time I graduate. The problem is that I don’t have sufficient clinical and research experiences. I’ve had to work while going to school throughout most of my college career, as a result, I haven’t had the time to invest in clinical and research experiences. However, this summer I plan on doing an independent research at Cornell university, or doing a steeping stones’ program (a program that allows me to shadow doctors). I plan on taking the mcat after graduation to allow myself enough time to concentrate on boosting my gpa. I really don’t feel confident that I am ‘competitive’ enough to go to med school–which begs one question: should I take the cornell summer research internship over the stepping stones clinical experience…because having a research experience will enhance my chance of getting into grad school; which is where I probably plan on transfering to medical school, or should I go ahead w/ the stepping stones program, ignoring the research internship?

I know this post may seem confusing…but it’s a dilemma I’ve been trying to resolve. Please help!

oanochie

[bubabuggy]

I think you should definitely do the research internship, since that will help you both in applying to med school and will be a good fall back if you decide to go to grad school. In terms of having a clinical internship, I think you should volunteer once a week in a hospital. Most volunteers do 4 hours per week. That’s what I did for 2 years= 400+ hours. Even if you go for half a year for 4 hours you should accumulate 104 hours. For med school they just want to see that you have some experience in the hospital and that you know what you’re getting yourself into. I don’t think the intensity of the experience really matters. If you go to studentdoctor.net, almost all of the applicants have volunteer experience– it doesn’t help you stand out in the crowd even if it is ” a clinical internship” since it’s almost a prereq to volunteer if you want to get into med school. Bottom line: do the research internship and volunteer once a week in a hospital.

[y82benji]

I like bubabuggy’s advice on this … the only thing I would add is that research is also an “academic” experience so if you do a good research project and can get a strong letter of recommendation from a principal investigator or a supervising person it will help a little in mitigating the fact that your GPA is below average for the people getting into medical schools.

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