<p>My mom has suggested (and I wholeheartedly agree) that I participate in some internships in either transcriptional or clinical research outside my university. A little bit about me:</p>
<p>Science GPA: 4.00 (thus far, though I doubt I will be able to keep it with organic chem this year)
Overall GPA: 3.96
Junior Standing (but in my 2nd year of school)
~5 months of bench research: both the professor leading the lab and my postdoc mentor know that I work very hard and will give me a good recommendation letter.
40 hours internship in a large hospital ER
leadership position in a special interest club
Tutoring on the side whenever I have time</p>
<p>By the end of the year I hope to have:
Overall and Science GPA: 3.9x
1 year of bench research
120 hours in medical internships
1 year of leadership</p>
<p>I plan to apply for summer 2014 internship programs (deadlines are in February). I am very interested in pursuing a MD-PhD program after I graduate, but am not 100% sure if I want to commit an extra 5 years of my life to research (even though I thoroughly enjoy it).</p>
<p>To keep things short, I am debating whether to apply to my university's UG honors research program for the summer or to apply elsewhere. I would really like to apply for a program with clinical research experience. And these are some of the things I am considering:</p>
<p>(1) How competitive are the programs?
(2) Has anybody had experience with these programs? Where? And how was it?
(3) Schedule Conflict: Many of the programs I've already looked into vaguely state that they are a 10 week program starting in May or June. My university uses the quarter system, so I will finish my spring quarter early-mid June. Are there even enough programs for me to apply to that work with this schedule (going back to how competitive some of these might be)?</p>
<p>Also, my lab professor has already suggested that I apply to the university's honors research program, so I am not very worried about getting in (strong recommendation from professor + not many applicants from my school despite the great program, just not a lot of local publicity I think).</p>
<p>Obviously a $3000 - $5000 stipend would be great to have, but I can't be picky when I'm looking at these kind of programs.</p>
<p>Any food for thought, advice, experiences, anything will be really appreciated!</p>
<p>2) D2 did. She enjoyed her summer program and it provided her with many unique opportunities that help shaped her decision to pursue/not pursue a MD/PhD. PM me if you want more info. D2 also spent a summer at her own school working for the PI she had been researching with during the school year. She was awarded a research fellowship sponsored by her university for that summer that more than covered her summer living expenses.</p>
<p>3) Yeah, scheduling can be an issue. Start dates for programs are pretty inflexible. (Exception might be NIH@ Bethesda, IIRC) Since your school is on a quarter system, look for programs at schools that run on quarter systems. (Many of the west coast schools run on quarter systems so tend to have later start dates for their programs.)</p>
<p>HINT #1: some application deadlines close well before February. (Think mid-January.) All programs require 2-3 LORs. It helps if you can get your recommenders lined up before leaving for winter break since you’ll need those letters with a fairly short turn around when you get back. Most programs will also require official transcripts mailed by deadline so make sure you know how to order transcripts and what the lead time on processing them is. (It can take as long as 3 weeks to get a transcript mailed.)</p>
<p>HINT #2: Because summer programs are short, investigators often are looking for students who already have some specialized skills. When applying for bench research programs, focus on those programs which are a good match for your previous research experience. IOW, don’t apply to immunology programs if you only have experience in neuro-imaging. Or vice-versa.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input WOWM. I will definitely look into some of the west coast schools. Also, what did D2 think about the workload? I understand that the pre-med path is not easy and requires a lot of dedication, but I am leaning toward going directly into medical school and my freshman year + summer 2013 have been course heavy. This quarter, I started a lot of ECs and am still taking a lot of classes to graduate early so I imagine I’ll be pretty burnt out by the end of this year. Plus, I stayed to take summer session classes to get ahead and secure my position in the lab (it was a long process to get placed).</p>
<p>Anyways, the bottom line is that if the program will consume all my time during the summer, I may reconsider doing something lighter this summer that encompasses a wider variety of activities.</p>
<p>Also, what is your take on taking a gap year or not? The pre-med adviser at my school has noticed a trend of taking a gap year and that applying at the end of my junior year may put me at a disadvantage if you compared the amount time spent on ECs.</p>
<p>Summer programs require a minimum of 40 hours per week. You will probably need to put in some time beyond that doing reading and library research. Her specific program also had a full complement of social activities outside of the 40 hours week. It was plenty of work, but there was also a lot of fun built in. You won’t have time to take a class. (Some programs require a signed pledge of such.) You probably won’t have time to prep for the MCAT.</p>
<p>The summer program was a great experience for her, but she did not have time for any vacation. She literally flew home from her program, spent 2 nights at home and left to start classes. Zero down time.</p>
<p>Both of my girls took gap years. D1 because she only decided on trying for med school as college senior (physics major) and needed to take pre-reqs and get her ECs in order. D2 because she wanted a break from academics before diving into the all-consuming whirlwind that is med school. D2 also had a research asst position at top med school lined up, which beefed up her research portfolio. </p>
<p>In general, I am in favor of gap years. Once you start med school, your opportunities to travel, to have the freedom of only working 40 hours/week, to go home and veg at the end of the day after a mindless job ends. It’ll be another 5-10 years (and maybe not even then) before your time will really be your own again to do with as you please. The extra year or two (especially since you will a younger than typical applicant) may give you time to broaden your world-view/life experience and time to develop additional maturity and the emotional resiliency needed to be successful in your clinical years.</p>
<p>It maybe true in some cases; but, I think students like OP are ready to skip the gap years. By the time they reach my age, they may find out that being able to retire a couple of years early is so sweet.</p>
<p>I agree that taking a gap year or not a very personal decision; however, the OP will be a younger than typical applicant. Younger than typical applicants tend to fare less well in the admissions process than do typical age applicants. The OP also said he/she felt “burnt out” by the rigorous schedule and was told his ECs were on the weak side. All of that suggests a gap year might be beneficial.</p>
<p>Burn out is a serious issue both among physicians and among med students. It’s the most common reason why medical students drop out.</p>