Graduating this year, no interviews, what now?

[sportsMD23 2]

Hi all,

I am in my last year of undergrad and I will be graduating after this term. Unfortunately, I did not receive any interviews this cycle (only applied to 1 school as my MCAT was AWFUL).

My plan is to rewrite MCAT this summer but I am not sure what to do afterwards while I wait for upcoming application cycles.

I am torn between 3 options which are working full-time (unrelated to medicine), research assistant part-time, or pursuing 2-year Masters (thinking of Public Health). These options will all begin in September after I re-write the MCAT.

 

Pros of working full-time

-make some money

-get real-world and valuable life experience

-can apply again next cycle

Cons of working full-time

-not many opportunities for career growth and development in this job

 

Pros of part-time research

-possibility of publishing, posters, presentations etc

-make money although less than full-time

-can apply again next cycle

Cons

-not many hours compared to full-time

-this research assistant position is in a field that I am not interested in

 

Pros of doing Masters

-get another degree (opens up many doors after graduation)

-possibility of publishing, posters, presentations etc

-can continue extracurriculars/volunteering on campus to improve my application

Cons

-can't apply next cycle

-research isn't really my passion

 

Stats: cGPA: 3.98

MCAT: 128/LOL/128/128

ECs: I'd say average? It is a mix of research (no pubs/no presentations), community/campus involvement, clinical experience, student council, TA, a few academic and research awards/scholarships, on-campus jobs, intramurals etc...

I apologize for the long post but I would appreciate any advice and recommendations!

Thanks everyone!

[youbesee 43]

I would personally go for the research position as it is a compromise between the other 2 options. You'll be making some money, have opportunities to add to the research portion of your application, and have leftover time to do ECs.

Working full time is also okay if you are dead set on medicine and need the money. Lack of career growth doesn't really matter, but you'll have a harder time fitting in other activities.

I would say don't do the masters as you aren't interested in research, and it isn't necessary since your grades are very good. You just need to add to your ECs and improve on MCAT and you'll be very competitive.

[Chels1267 158]

Do you feel like you need a significant amount of time to focus on rewriting the MCAT? If you want to try to do that, ECs and work full time that would be a lot. I would say research part time so that you have time to rewrite and do ECs.

[sportsMD23 2]

8 minutes ago, youbesee said:

I would personally go for the research position as it is a compromise between the other 2 options. You'll be making some money, have opportunities to add to the research portion of your application, and have leftover time to do ECs.

Working full time is also okay if you are dead set on medicine and need the money. Lack of career growth doesn't really matter, but you'll have a harder time fitting in other activities.

I would say don't do the masters as you aren't interested in research, and it isn't necessary since your grades are very good. You just need to add to your ECs and improve on MCAT and you'll be very competitive.

Thanks for the reply! However, is it often beneficial to do masters for med school admissions? For example, UofT has a separate pool for grad student applicants and it seems like the competition is "easier" although I could be wrong.

[sportsMD23 2]

6 minutes ago, Chels1267 said:

Do you feel like you need a significant amount of time to focus on rewriting the MCAT? If you want to try to do that, ECs and work full time that would be a lot. I would say research part time so that you have time to rewrite and do ECs.

Sorry, I forgot to clarify, the 3 options that I mentioned (full-time work, part-time research, and Masters) will all begin in September after I write the MCAT. I will be devoting the entire summer to MCAT (besides upto 10 hours of ECs/work per week).

[youbesee 43]

I mean having a masters is obviously better than not having a masters, and it does lend you some leniency. But you need to consider the opportunity cost (and literal costs). You'll be delayed by a year, and IMO doing a graduate degree is very time consuming and reduces your time for other ECs. Unless you are truly passionate about the field and research, and want to do it for the sake of it, it is not necessary to be competitive given your grades. 

[bearded frog 726]

Don't do a masters to help you get into med school, as it won't hurt but it won't help and will delay you another year, do it only if you are interested in it and have intrinsic motivation. Your GPA is great, and you're working on the MCAT, so the other thing to focus on is ECs. If you need the money to live, obviously work, but if you can afford to work part time, strongly consider the part time research work for that experience, and use the other time to volunteer, do other ECs, etc.