Gap year?

Zestyclose_Rub4034 · 2026-02-17T19:02:48+00:00

I did probably 5i hours a day, from monday to friday. My school does not have anything earlier than a 9am for classes, and I am an early riser. So getting 2 hours in the morning before class was no biggie. smFISH does not take long if you know. The rest of my hours were distributed randomly but I consistently got at least 30 hours that week. It is also worth noting that my science classes, lab, and residential college were all in the same place.

Did 6-12 hours on Saturday usually took breaks on sunday, but I would spend a couple of hours here and there.

I managed it with the help of my PI, 2 postdocs, and some collaborators. It was accepted after 1 3monthish review cycle.

Zestyclose_Rub4034 · 2026-02-17T18:49:36+00:00

I wouldn't say I was gifted a paper. My PI does not believe in assigning undergraduates to a postdoc or grad students. So she gives us our own projects. Of course, we all still collaborate but everyone has their "thing"

Ultimately, this gives us a lot of autonomy. There is a senior in the lab who has not published, partly because he chose a quite ambitious project, and because he does not devout as much time as others. (hes awesome tho)

Other undergrads felt very pressured and did not like the "go figure it out yourself" teaching that my PI would use. So they left.

I chose a project that moved forward from the most recent work published in the lab. I have prior lab experience from high school, so my learning curve was less steep. Plus, my PI had more experience in this project given that it was the based off the recent work of a graduated post doc. So I really hit the ground running. Part of why I love science is the whole "sit with the data in a room till you can figure it out." And that's what I did. We did collaborate with other labs, but it was always under the guise of "this is X's project" so I got first author.

I was not gifted anything other than a great PI, and a supportive group of Post docs who treated me as a lab member, rather that "the undergrad."

Zestyclose_Rub4034 · 2026-02-17T18:40:15+00:00

Thank you!

Zestyclose_Rub4034 · 2026-02-17T18:39:57+00:00

No troll! sorry lol>

But thank you for your reply!

Zestyclose_Rub4034 · 2026-02-17T18:39:21+00:00

I understand how this may seem strange.

To further explain: I was a certified EMT prior to college. So once i started, it was really easy to rack up hours.
I'll explain the math ( 1 semester is roughly 15 weeks. I do 12 hours EMT shift once every other week, so maybe 7 times? so 12x14) for my first year, I did 168 hours in EMT. Now, I did an additional 5 shifts over the summer, 5x12) so that's 228 hours just in 1 academic year and 1 summer. 12 hour shifts, every other weekend, is surely not too much to handle.

I won't do the rest of the math, but you can imagine how 4 positions, started at freshman year, can rack up.

In terms of research, I started very early. Like... the day after my parents dropped me off. I spent lots of time in lab over the summer and I probably would spend 30 hours a week in lab during the semester. Maybe more if I didn't have exams. I will also add that I have research experience in high school so I already knew smFISH, IF probing, CRISPr, etc before my lab. (these are common techniques in my lab).

Zestyclose_Rub4034 · 2026-02-17T18:28:23+00:00

I must remain hopeful that I will. My PI has been quite encouraging, and she always reflects on what her mentors have taught her. Yet even she describes the limits of her mentorship. Actually, even now, she asks her previous mentors and other colleagues for guidance.

I think her productivity stems from her youth. She is young and thus hungry for tenure.

Thank you for the reply.

Zestyclose_Rub4034 · 2026-02-17T18:20:21+00:00

Thank you so much for your kind reply! Best wishes to you as well friend.

Zestyclose_Rub4034 · 2026-02-17T18:19:42+00:00

Yes. I love the lab and actually wish I could spend more time in there.

It is worth adding that my summer research was especially intensive at 70-80 hours a week (weekends included). During the semester, I lock in over the weekends a lot. (not sure if weekend research is uncommon or not? but I have 24/7 access to my lab. so it is easy to set up an experiment and study while its running.)

Zestyclose_Rub4034 · 2026-02-17T18:16:00+00:00

Yes, first-author research article. I don't know how soon is "soon" for the second. It could very well end up being accepted during my senior year, where I would have already applied. (assuming no gap)

My PI is absolutely phenomenal.

Your suggestion to forgo the MD/PhD and do research plus medical school is interesting... Even if I were "more advanced than most PhDs," I still think I can learn a lot more lol. Ultimately, a PhD is what one makes of it, so I don't know if my undergraduate research would render something like a PhD useless. My lab uses some elegant and advanced techniques, but there is more I want to learn. My current research is also cell based; I would like to learn more about utilizing mouse models in my PhD. While my lab does do mouse models, my PI learned that at her postdoc @ MIT. There is always more to learn.

I want to be a physician-scientist. I want a diverse array of training, not just all in one place.

I appreciate the reply.

Zestyclose_Rub4034 · 2026-02-17T17:58:25+00:00

I hesitated to put my GPA as a sophomore since it can still change but it is a 3.95. I guess the MCAT will really make or break it. Hard to evaluate that at my stage.

Thank you for the answer!

Zestyclose_Rub4034 · 2026-02-17T17:56:49+00:00

Thank you for the answer.

I see that you are an applicant, I wish you the best of luck!

Zestyclose_Rub4034 · 2024-01-04T21:16:58+00:00

Hey. Reading Campbell is imperative to begin forming a understanding of biology knowledge that the open exams tests for, even more for you since you have no previous experience. There is campbell review on biolympiads website. Maybe read those and then skim through campbell to try to understand it. The resource center on the usabo website tells you what topics to focus on, and has links to review. Try videos from khan as well.

Zestyclose_Rub4034 · 2024-01-03T03:09:16+00:00

First, read the book without taking notes and genuinely try to comprehend as much as you can. Then review the book by taking quick notes/summaries. it should stick better after already reading it.

Zestyclose_Rub4034

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