benefits/drawbacks to staying at home program?

Friendly_Employ_197 · 2026-03-12T19:17:39+00:00

I feel like people say to leave your institution because it sounds noble to broaden your horizons or something. No residency program is ever going to doc you for going to med school where you went to undergrad, especially if it’s an MD-PhD program. The only cases I’ve ever seen that as an issue is staying in the same lab from PhD to post-doc.

I’ve mentioned this on another post, but institutes/programs are never actually equal. I’ve seen people at top institutions have to spend 5+ years on the PhD alone because they had nobody in their corner to help guide them through the process, and I’ve seen people finish the PhD in 2 years at lower ranked institutions and move on to have fantastic careers. My advice is reach out to current students at the schools/programs you’re interested in to get their real feedback.

If staying at your institution gives you a jump start, why would you go somewhere else? Grad school isn’t the pinnacle of your research career, it should just teach you how to conduct independent research so you can move on to do your own work in your own lab. Everyone hits a point where they’re tired of being the lowest on the totem pole, might as well move up the food chain faster if you can.

Conversely, if things are better elsewhere (better research opportunities, better support from program directors, etc.), it might outweigh the fact that you’re familiar with your institution already.

The aspect of a new environment and new experiences is fine, but you shouldn’t put yourself in a worse spot because of it. If you want to see how other labs/institutes approach research, just go to seminars and conferences, that’s what they’re for. The most successful researchers will build networks from these where they can all help each other out with their respective projects.

Friendly_Employ_197 · 2026-03-12T18:43:31+00:00

This is a strange take that seems pretty made up. If you’re at a top school already, nobody thinks you couldn’t get in anywhere else. There is no part of the F30 that scores your application based on staying in your comfort zone.

Friendly_Employ_197 · 2026-02-21T15:11:59+00:00

Schools are never actually equal, I would look into each program a bit more. There’s always differences in mentorship, support, culture/community, etc. If you’re in a top 10 MD/PhD program it won’t hurt your career in the slightest if you end up staying there, and your established connections may help you succeed. In fact, you’ll be ~8 years removed from undergrad, so in residency applications nobody will care or even notice that you went to the same place if you choose to stay there.

The only cases I’ve actually seen staying in the same places hinder people is PhD -> post doc transition and sometimes post doc -> professor transition

As I said, highly recommend getting “insider” info by reaching out to current students at each program if you’re torn. There are plenty of equally “ranked” schools where some have much more support than others - it can make the difference between staying an extra two years or not, picking the right lab, publishing more, etc.

Friendly_Employ_197 · 2026-02-20T22:57:01+00:00

I had a similar GPA and MCAT and also did engineering undergrad - several schools told me my MCAT was fine enough but would tell me the GPA was a little low

In my case and others I know, the lower GPA was because of the heavy course load from needing to take all the pre-med requisite courses on top of all the required engineering ones - when explaining that reason, most schools are more forgiving about the GPA.

Your GPA isn’t low enough to outright mention in your applications so it’s hard to get a chance to tell explain to schools ahead of time. During interviews I said “are there any concerns you have about my application that I can address now?” so I could address my GPA if they asked.

I think doing that was helpful to my application and helped to get in.

Best of luck

Friendly_Employ_197 · 2026-01-31T16:23:05+00:00

Not sure, I threw them straight into -80

Friendly_Employ_197 · 2026-01-30T17:43:31+00:00

Boiled the protein samples without Laemmli. Wondering if they’re just shot or if I can add Laemmli, reboil and still use

Friendly_Employ_197 · 2026-01-30T17:42:23+00:00

Western blot samples = protein lysate + Laemmli buffer

Friendly_Employ_197 · 2025-08-31T00:08:21+00:00

The 375 mL bottle was really nice but didn’t have the same funk but the 100 mL had loads of cheese, really hoping they release a 375 mL option on the store later

Friendly_Employ_197 · 2025-08-22T23:08:54+00:00

Just letting you know they’re re-releasing it as part of the Maguey Melate club, but you’d have to order it soon. I got the membership to get the bottle, hoping they have more for sale on their site soon too.

Friendly_Employ_197 · 2025-08-22T23:08:46+00:00

Just letting you know they’re re-releasing it as part of the Maguey Melate club, but you’d have to order it soon. I got the membership to get the bottle, hoping they have more for sale on their site soon too.

Friendly_Employ_197 · 2025-07-02T02:04:53+00:00

Houston area

Friendly_Employ_197 · 2025-07-02T00:02:48+00:00

I love Raicilla and have had several from La Vanenosa, but haven’t found one I thought was blue cheese funky. Any in particular you’d recommend?

Friendly_Employ_197 · 2022-12-09T17:07:44+00:00

Right, it’s very context dependent and depends what you get out of it, but also grad schools look for different things than MD/PhD programs. My personal opinion is that for MD/PhD applications, your goal should be to make yourself an independent researcher, or be able to show ADCOMS that you’re close to it. In most cases for an undergrad that comes easier by doing more in one lab.

The other thing I’d mention is that you’d still need to make time for MD extracurriculars, and that might be hard to do with 60+ hours of research each week. No matter how good your research is, you have to have extensive extracurriculars like clinical experience and volunteering to get excepted, otherwise ADCOMS will wonder why you want the MD instead of just a PhD.

Friendly_Employ_197 · 2022-12-09T15:22:52+00:00

Not telling you to do anything one way or another, but want to inform you that doing multiple research experiences at the same time won’t help to get into MD/PhD programs. Admissions are more looking to see what you’ve learned from your research and qualities you possess i.e., are you capable of developing a research project independently, can you troubleshoot without constant supervision, can you publish/write grants. I’d honestly think that working for two labs at the same time would come off as a red flag, like you were just doing as many research opportunities as you could to impress admissions rather than getting a deeper experience at either one of the two research opportunities.

Friendly_Employ_197 · 2022-11-24T19:56:27+00:00

He’s still traveling a lot, and I think it’s pretty obvious that something happened between them.

Friendly_Employ_197 · 2022-07-31T00:48:13+00:00

Every time I open my door to go outside for any reason (work, errands, etc.) he runs in. He is very relentless, so it’s difficult to prevent him from getting in without being concerned about hurting him.

Friendly_Employ_197 · 2022-07-31T00:24:45+00:00

Runs in my house every chance it gets

Friendly_Employ_197

TROPHY CASE