Reconsidering Pre-Med as a Rising Senior - Alternative Career Pathways

Hey everyone, I’m in a bit of a place of uncertainty right now with my future career. I’m a rising senior at Georgetown with a Neurobiology major and math minor. I was very set on the pre-med track for a while, and have worked extremely hard academically to maintain a competitive GPA (3.98). I’ve noticed, however, after about six months of doing research with Genetics and Genomic data, I’m a little more interested in the scientific process, and in research, then in the ultimate goal of being a practicing physician. After taking many science classes, I’ve found that I like the theory and class material more than I do the idea of shadowing doctors and imagining myself in their position.
I also have passions for entrepreneurship, video production and graphic design, and technology. I’m starting to think I may not want to go to med school, and am at a spot where I feel I need to make some decisions. The way I see it, if I want to commit to a path involving medical school, I should begin preparing for the MCAT and take it soon. If I don’t go to med school, my plan is probably going to be to continue doing research in bioinformatics, perhaps do an internship at the NIH, and apply for some fellowships such as the Gates Cambridge/Churchill Scholarship that could accelerate my career as a young scientist. I think ultimately I would find myself doing research in bioinformatics or data science more generally, working for certain big data companies using such information to pioneer the development of personalized medicine, or perhaps doing something with criminology/genetics. I don’t know, but I kind of like the idea of my future not being entirely mapped out and not being pigeon-holed into four years of medical school (+residency etc) if I’m not 100% sure about it, which I’m not.
Has anyone else been/ is anyone else at these crossroads? What did you decide/ consider? I would love to hear anyone else’s thoughts.

Medicine is a tough field. If you are not fully committed, you definitely should not work hard trying to get into it only to find out you don’t like it.

Medical school will always be there. I would take time to pursue your other interests and then decide. My daughter is currently doing a 2 years gap program and will decide during this time whether she is applying to med school or to another program that is of interest to her.

D2 was in similar position as you are now. She was undecided if she wanted to pursue a MD, PhD or MD/PhD. She spent 2 years working as a full-time research assistant/ research program manager in her research field after her college graduation before she made her final decision. Having the experience allowed her to make an informed choice with no regrets later.

As other have said–med school isn’t going anywhere. It will still be there if that’s your ultimate choice.

I think you could be a great fit for MD/PhD (no tuition plus monthly stipend) with your high GPA and research interest. How strong is your research so far? Calling @iwannabe_Brown to share his expert advice (he is PGY-2 after completed his MD+PhD).

@Andorvw 6 months is absolutely not enough for either a PhD or MD/PhD really. Doing a year or two of post college research full time would be good for OP both in terms of deciding what to do and in terms of actually getting in.

As a rising senior it’s already too late for a 2020 start so OP will need plans for a gap year anyway. I’d say given what’s posted here that they should plan on 2 gap years prior to either a PhD or MD/PhD which would mean senior year could be dedicated to getting more research as well as considering options. Don’t even bother with the MCAT until after graduation.

Agreed with what @iwannabe_Brown said, OP needs 1-2 gap years to strengthen the research, also need very high (close to 99 percentile) MCAT score to be competitive for MD/PhD so a long path ahead.

I’ve considered this route, but I know how arduous it can be both to get into a program and to get through one. Given that I don’t really envision myself as a practicing physician, I see it as more likely I would go the PhD route alone, unless I find myself in a spot where I am working in an industry where MDs are necessary to work your way up to any decent position (I believe this is the case for certain companies where the clinical perspective is highly-valued). I do think that it makes sense to take 1-2 years after college to continue doing research, further develop my interests, and to get a more concrete idea of alternative career pathways outside of being a practicing physician.