<p>She says keep Pitt on. “They have to accept somebody.” ;)</p>
<p>It appears I mis-spoke. This should read “I didn’t even go to some OOS interviews or complete secondaries after I pre-matched.” Since she interviewed late at Yale, she obviously made an exception.</p>
<p>^ Thanks again.
I really do not know how much he loves research, as he changes his mind in 180 degree all the time. He can swing from “I will explode if I am in the lab doing research all day long” (in freshman, when he gave up his guaranteed stipend for a research opportunity.) to “research is interesting after all. I do not mind being a professional researcher my whole life, if only the funding issue is not a constant struggle.” (now.) Which statement should I believe? All I can say is that a mentor may have much more influences on him than his old folks at his age now. He is not like your D who shows a consistent interest on this over a long period of time. This may be his weak point for shooting for these reseach schools.</p>
<p>An interesting story: one of his classmates was applying for a position in a lab and got the job. She learned her pay would be a little bit lower than some other jobs. She went to the PI to ask for a raise before she even signed up the job officially. The PI turned down the request and gave the job to another applicant. Poor girl!</p>
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Mine has long-term, near continuous exposure to bench research but knew after her first NSF summer that she could not be at the bench her whole career. She needs the patient contact. She framed a lot of her application about her need for both the large grain and the small grain of medicine.</p>
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<p>Personally, I hate lab bench research, however; I really enjoy clinical research and I have had significant exposure to it. Above all, I want to be a clinician because i love patient contact. My interest in attending one of the ‘top research’ universities is not based on what they are doing to mice, but rather what’s coming out in clinical trials, etc. It is a little bit of a myth that everyone at HMS, Hopkins or Penn is also working in a lab while they are attending med school. I know more than a few that have nothing to do with any research at all.</p>
<p>For some reason, DS’s biology department discourages its students from doing clinical research as a part of their graduation requirement, the reason being that the student’s work may be limited to a small segment of a multiple-year research project – a lot of grunt work but tend to lack substance (at least in the eyes of the professor in charge of this course for all seniors.) The professor thinks it is often the case when the senior research project lasts only one year or less.</p>
<p>So, back to manipulate the mice, rat, fruit flies, small insects, bacteria, etc., if you want your credits after a year-worth of work. Of course, if your research work is a part of your ECs rather than a mandatory course, you are free to do anything, as long as your PI agrees.</p>
<p>I heard it takes more efforts to handle a rat. A rat is smarter than a mouse or insect, so a researcher needs to spend time with it (play with it) because it becomes frustrated when it is bored. When it becomes friendly with you, it is easier for you to experiment on it. Then, it distrusts you because you open it up and hurts it. You need to spend even more time with it until it trusts you again.</p>
<p>What constitutes as research as viewed by a professor with a PhD may be different from what is as viewed by a professor with an MD. Because you need to get a degree from somebody with a PhD (not an MD), you need to satisfy his demands.</p>
<p>D. loves to work with rodents. She gives them names and gets attached to them. Her research experiences during HS and college involved rodents, she feels lucky about that. However, she is not looking to be in research at all. Not interested, she wants to be working directly with people as an MD.</p>
<p>I’m very glad that DS doesn’t give names to his mice because from what I understand they don’t live all that long. Part of his job currently, is managing all the mice colonies for his lab. DS also is emphasizing his desire to move toward clinical and away from research in his essays. </p>
<p>Current status is 8 secondaries received. 2 completed with a third in final review. Very surprisingly he has only received one from an instate school so we’re wondering whether that is due to the missing LOR’s. He has been told that he will have the missing two by the end of the month. The premed advisor gave him some garbage about how the date was moved up this year. Seems like that was just an excuse, thoughts?</p>
<p>mcat2, I did my undergrad work a gazillion years ago at Penn. I don’t think that is considered a bad part of Philadelphia even today. The area around the campus has been gentrified and there are a lot of rehabbed houses (just as an FYI, a quick look on zillow shows many homes in the 600k and so range, not what I would consider a bad neighborhood).</p>
<p>sharonohio,
When did you S. applied? How long it took to get secondaries?</p>
<p>D. just got her first secondary, but this school sends to everybody who apply. However, at least we know that her application went thru OK.</p>
<p>My DD did NO research in undergrad so took at RA job in lab for her post-grad ‘gap’ year and it would be considered clinical. She was in the operating room collecting tissue samples, but also working with the patient performing tests on those muscles in action. Another study on which she worked involved cadavers…sort of clinical and really quite cool 
I don’t think she would have the patient for true bench research.</p>
<p>Her summary of the year, which culminated in a podium presentation at a conference and should result in her name as last author on several publications was that the research track is incredibly self-directed. She is looking forward to med school and more tracked learning. Her sister is working on a PhD and is extremely self-directed. I think that is the big requirement, to be a strong successful researcher you should be self-directed and like that style.</p>
<p>DS applied 6/8 and was verified before the general release date. Other than the one school who sent a secondary before the general release date (strange I know), the second was received on the 27th, a few on the 29th and the rest seems to be coming in slowly. Two schools who seem to do extra screening for OOS have just sent him emails stating that they received his application and are reviewing to determine if they will send secondary. These are fine with us since it gives him a chance to get his LOR’s caught up to the application and if they aren’t interested in the extra money that also is fine.</p>
<p>sharonohio,
Congrats to your S! </p>
<p>What is “verified” and what is “general release date”? D. just got secondary from one school and nothing else. She applied on either 7/1 or 7/2. Is your S’s IS is OH or another state? I know I have asked before, but was a little confused. You do not have to answer this one. Thanks.</p>
<p>Sharonohio, Contrats to your S.</p>
<p>DS is definitely behind. DS said he will likely send in his AMCAS primary this weekend. What will he be doing during the weekdays this week? He cooks, reads papers assigned by his post-doc and works in the lab. The not-so-fun AMCAS application can wait. Borrowing a sentence that MyOpinion mentioned not long ago on this or other thread (?): “He should know what he is getting into.” This is his laid-back style, and his parents are OK with this.</p>
<p>^Sounds very productive though. I have to make appointment with my D. to see her once in a while. She made appointment with me to send primary in case she had question. That is how it was done. Otherwise, she is with her HS friends, they are still very close and there are very many of them.</p>
<p>Rejected from Mayo, ouch. Great way to begin the application process. I’m a little worried about my ECs and PS at this point, as I am pretty sure my stats didn’t cause me to be screened out. It’s going to be a loooong year… But do I get an award for earliest rejection :P?</p>
<p>^Most are rejected from Mayo, they prefer IS and it is very cheap (if not free) for most, so they have more applicants than others (in theory, I did not investigate this info). I would not worry about it too much. Congrats for being way ahead of others, though, yes, you get award!</p>
<p>lollybo, Rumors have it that kids from DS’s school had troubles getting into that particular school in many recent years. Kids would rather apply to all other top medical schools (even like H, ucsf, JHU, UPenn, wustl, stanford) than that medical school. Maybe that medical school is like Deerpark (sp?) College, some hard-to-get-in tiny, two-year-only, free college at some desert somewhere in Ca, during college application cycle.</p>
<p>Look at it in this positive way: You are at least well ahead than DS, as you have got a rejection but he has not started the application process yet 
He does not worry though ; he will work on his application when he has time for it. He thinks if he does not get into any MS in the end, he can still find a job elsewhere (God will always have a plan for him :))</p>
<p>BTW, Do you think DS will have a shot at your school? His premed ECs are likely worse than yours, if all his non-directly-premed-related ECs are not appreciated by adcoms at your school.</p>
<p>^Do you mean Deep Springs?</p>
<p>entomom, Yes. Thanks for the correction. During high school years, many students of DS’s age talked about that school, but no one dared to apply there. Few kids these days are capable of being there, I suppose. I heard almost all kids graduated from Deep Springs (which is two year only) are wanted by top colleges. They must educate them well.</p>
<p>mcat 2, yeah I am not too sad from it. Since the admit rates are so low for all of these schools, it is really no surprise. Your son has a good attitude, one should not let failures have an effect on one’s self esteem.</p>
<p>Wash U seems to favor applicants with strong MCAT/GPA. I think its average MCAT score is a 38. I think your son has a great shot at Wash U.</p>
<p>My ECs aren’t super medical either. I did research (biology, not medical), volunteered at a non-medical institution, and joined a variety of non-medical clubs. It is good to have diverse interests.</p>