Graduate Record Examination and an Admittedly Peculiar Path
Hi fellas, 2006 LSA grad (CMB and Political Science) checking in.
I don't post here much and you may not recognize me. To that end: hello. Otherwise, I should say I pleasantly lurk with frequency as the mgoboard well satisfies my need to feed a confirmation bias that Michigan fans and alumni are frankly "different" and "better" (the sort of self-fulfilling arrogance about which many Michigan fans self-loathe yet exceptionally few care enough to change by way of uncomfortable M-admonishment). Given that I've seen what I've seen and now know some things about this group, it's natural for me to wish to tap into the Mgocollectiveknowledgebase as I approach an important milestone.
Background: I'm a current medical student with just-barely-non-zero interest in clinical practice. As such, I intend to forego residency after graduation next April and subsequently matriculate at a competitive graduate biochemistry program the following August. For clarification, I've never really envisioned myself as anything but a basic scientist of human biology. I came to med school, then, for superficial (get a helpful degree) and practical reasons--wherein the practical ones involve picking up a wild breadth of knowledge of human biology and not prematurely sacrifice my potential to perhaps practice clinically some day (a prudent "don't burn bridges" tendency that's nearing the end of its course). Furthermore, I have a ceaselessly smoldering passion for membrane proteins and their structure-begets-function-begets-structure axis. And as I also adore neuroanatomy and pharmacodynamics, I see myself becoming some sort of collaborative neuroscientist, biophysicist, neuropharmacologist, and x-ray crystallographer (unless I figuratively batter my bruised head against the proverbial wall enough times to luckily knock it down and develop a less flawed technology for delineating proteins' structural information). Neurotransmitter receptors seem an appropriate eventual subject matter. And should you actually be interested and kind enough to have read this far--maybe even intending advice when you finish--I should add in that (1) I would sooner pack a knife, some books, and several GoreTexy things into a pack and walk into the woods as a hermit for four years than spend that time as a medical resident and (2) this plan--even outside its personal intrigue and excitement--makes perfect sense to me.
Moving on, then: this application process begins later this year. Taking the GRE will be one part of that. I have my C.V. and personal letter knocked out early. I intend to send 15 completed applications to graduate schools by late-September. This summer, then, I have to first take the USMLE step 2, which whatever, and next take the GRE. I will not be taking a GRE subject exam because f' an evaluator if, despite everything else in my application, he wants that too. So: It seems this thing is relatively brief and its anatomy shows a writing, a math, and an expansive vocab section, all of which sounds like a good bit of fun.
My questions regard the best study materials for the GRE, the amount of time you suggest I actively study for it, and miscellaneous other things you've thought of that it seems I haven't. I should also point out for the unaware that the GRE is scheduled to receive a complete makeover within the next few months. As far as that's concerned, I am additionally curious whether you think I ought to hurry and take the old one (the test will be more predictable for students as the exam is decades-old) or wait to take the new one (there will barely be a standard against which to compare this year's GRE scores).
Thanks for sifting through this necessarily self-absorbed contribution and for just helping me. Really. Though I'm not anxiously tweaking about this and though I might've been able to solo-ly reason out my own preparative schedule/plan, I am nevertheless certain that I'm about to pick up at least one--maybe many--new idea at which I wouldn't have arrived on my own. And, for that, I thank you in advance.
The length of your post is interesting. Are you trying to convince us or yourself of your decision?
I'm worried that you're thinking a bit "in the box" too much. Why not take a few years off med school and get your PhD here? You might not need go through the whole GRE thing. Are there any labs here that you want to be a part of? You could take time off and go to the NIH and maybe do the same thing.
There is a huge need (and desire) for M.D. researchers at academic centers (i.e. those who want to and can bring in grant funding) as well as a desperate desire for "translational" research. Do you plan on working in academia or industry?
It was a long post, I admit. I like to think it's that way because I'm the one living this life, so I think about these things all of the time, and if asked to be succinct about something specific like the GRE, I have a small amount of trouble because I've spent all of my days forming an intricate web in my mind that connects all of the factors regarding the GRE to others and those to others, and so I end up tasking myself with packaging enough of that web's interconnected vertices into a narrative such that the story feels consistent to me and makes sense to others. Moving on, I'll tackle your comments in a bullet-like fashion:
*I'm preparing for an academic life. I foresee myself as a professor, author, and basic scientist.
*And in response to your concern that a boxing-in of myself is happening to an extent:
(1) I'm 3/4 finished with my medical degree. If I leave now, then I'll have satisfied several of my practical reasons for coming to medical school (acquisition of a great breadth of knowledge, the careful ruling out of "clinician" from the list of things I might one day want to do). That said, I have superficial reasons from wanting to stay, too: I like the idea of having M.D. at the end of my name and, though this marks one of the few times I've ever uttered the phrase "my earning potential" which sickens me a bit, I think having it will better enable me to keep my future family clothed and fed.
(2) I've been informed that the GRE is mandatory at most of the institutions I'll be applying, that the subject exam should be waivable, and that--in rare cases--my MCAT scores in conjunction with an M.D. and a strong research background (including one instance each of scholarly publication and securement of my own funding) will itself be enough.
(3) There are a number of labs at Michigan with which I am highly familiar and interested. Having said that, my goal is to work my damnedest to secure tenure in Ann Arbor one day and to, until returning as faculty, spend the rest of my training developing elsewhere. This is but a preference, though. It's not rigid. And of course I will be applying to M-biochem, too.
*By the way, now that I've responded to those bits: [a] thanks for taking a moment to show some genuine interest. I appreciate that. Also: [b] As you are the first person I've encountered to say I am--to quote--"thinking a bit 'in the box' too much," I'd like to take the opportunity to ask why. I think your answer will be refreshing, that is to suggest. Most folks--either through support or concern--believe that I'm doing something that might be prosaically termed trailblazing (i.e., creating a program of my own, however I please, as I move along). So, I suspect I'll find your dissenting opinion valuable.
/apparently.I.just.plain.ramble
a lot of people who have done or were contemplating what you are going to do. I wasn't suggesting not getting the MD. Quite the contrary, I think that you absolutely must finish getting the MD. What I was trying to talk you out of, potentially, was the PhD. The real question you need to ask yourself are what those three letters are going to add to your MD. If there is something you really want to research in particular so much that you want to spend three or four years of your life working on it and write a long thesis on it, then defend it, then I'd say to go that route.
But if you're thinking you need it for credibility for grants, or to get a job, then you probably don't need it. The "in the box" comment comes because the degree is a means to an end and you seem to think you have to go the usual route. You don't. Here are some alternatives you may have considered (and I've had friends do each):
1. Take a leave of absence from Med School to get your PhD. If you have a lab that you like, see if they would take you in. Sometimes you can skip the whole GRE thing. Sometimes, depending on how much the lab (or mentor) wants you, you can gloss over some of the requirements (i.e. just take the test and you're basically already in). Sometimes, like I mentioned, you just take a leave to do research (either at U of M or NIH) and skip the PhD. After doing your time, finish your last year of med school (4th year is a cakewalk as you know).
2. Decide what academic institution you want to work at. Choose a nonclinical specialty (like Pathology) and basically sign on to do a concurrent residency/research path where at the end you become faculty. I know that med school programs you to think you've got to go through the match, to your residency, fellowship, etc but it doesn't have to work that way. You can create your own path. Do you have basic science publications already?
The breadth of medicine is barely skimmed in med school. I've had friends opt out at the end to go into business consulting (the MD helps a lot there). I've had some opt out after residency to become medical informatics specialists. Likewise, keep in mind that what you may think of as clinical medicine is like looking out a porthole on a ship on the ocean. Its vastness is much greater than what you can see from your view.
The key to your future is deciding EXACTLY what you want to do. Otherwise, the degree is just a delaying tactic because you don't know. And that's fine too. But before you give up on clinical medicine completely, take some time off and work in the lab for a while and then decide. Life is long and you don't get extra points at the end for hurrying.
I'm an MD PhD student at another school. I am not sure what med school you go to, but you need to talk to your school's MSTP office ASAP and sort this out. I highly recommend taking time off between 3rd and 4th year to get a PhD. It might be a little late, but you can still probably pull it off with some help.
As far as the GRE, for some reason my MCAT score and engineering degree and at michigan wasn't enough for michigan's MSTP, so I was forced to take it. I took Kaplans course and memorized 500 vocabulary words, and my verbal score went down. For a science PhD they care far more about your math score than your verbal score. My writing section landed me 50th percentile. My writing on the MCAT was 95th percentile. I have no idea what they wanted. T
As for the general gre it depends on your basic strengths. When I was planning on applying for biophysics programs, my basic strengths were mathematics and my weakness was my verbal skills. Therefore, to study for the for the gre general I picked up a kaplan gre verbal booklet and use the verbal exercises. I also used the website freerice.org to increase my vocabulary. I did not study at all for the gre math section. The gre math tests math at a precalculus level. At the time I had just completed my minor in mathematics. If you have a strong background in math, just do a light review of basic algebra, trig, functions, number systems, and mathematical operations.
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<br>I read that you plan on not taking a subject test. I strongly urge you to read the requirements for each program you are applying and contact to get their true feelings if a subject test is required. I took the gre physics test. Most of my programs I was applying to required it since I was applying at a mix of physics and biophysics programs (Michigan-biophysics, msu-physics, Carnegie Mellon-biophysics, Illinois UC-biophysics, Minnesota-physics). You may have to still take a subject test. The usmle could act as your subject test.
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<br>Good luck in your applications.
I took the GRE a couple years back when I finished undergrad & did the first round of applications. Honestly, the thing is not that difficult. The writing section is very easy, and the math doesn't really go beyond high school geometry/basic trig (because of all of the liberal arts folks - like me - who didn't really do any math in college). I studied for just a couple of days & did pretty well. What I would recommend is tracking down a practice test or two, and seeing what parts stump you. Then pick up a study book & review those. But it's really not too much of a thing to worry about.
Number2 offers online prep and it's free. Also get some GRE books.
If I weren't so lazy, I'd probably dedicate more time to the GRE, but I think I've learned all I can out of the educational system. General GRE seems alright from the prep I've done, just know the words.
Since you're looking for something scientific I would assume you'd also need one of those GRE Subject tests, which are generally harder than the General GRE.
Good luck.
BTW: Someone I know prepped and passed the GRE in 10 days. That's an amazing feat. I'd probably spend a lot more time prepping though, about a month or more.
I'm a current PhD student doing research in neuroscience, so I decided to share my experience on the basis that it seems rather relevant. I spent a month studying for the GRE several hours per day. I didn't take a class, just purchased the Princeton Review book, which came with a CD. I went through the whole thing in about 2-3 weeks, leaving myself some time to take the two practice tests allotted by EDS. When reviewing vocabulary, I spent time identifying words I was slightly familiar with but couldn’t exactly define, and words I had no knowledge of, reviewing the latter group more thoroughly. I also focused on the “tricks,” or common types of math questions that people tend to screw up. For the writing, I spent very little time practicing, just reviewing the structure of this section briefly and doing a couple of practice essays. I used one practice test 2 weeks in advance and the other four days ahead of time, in both cases shutting myself in my room to simulate a real test environment. Hope this helps.
P.S. I forgot to mention that I signed up for Merrian-Webster's word-of-the-day emails a few years back in an effort to expand my vocabulary to prepare for the GRE. Got this tip from a speaker at Michigan who came to a student group meeting with advice for taking the test. Not sure how much it may help in the short term, but I kind of liked it and still enjoy reading them every day.
The GRE is changing how the test will be consturcted this summer. Go to their web site at www.gre.org and review the information about this. Many students take Kaplan prep courses but they are costly. At the very least, you should buy a prep book at a bookstore and take all of the practice exams in that text.
Good luck to you.
Just take the GRE. Don't worry about it so much.
You can't study for the vocab words - you are either well read and have a large vocab or you don't. You can't memorize a dictionary on a short term basis.
Take a couple practice tests, make sure you can ace the math (because you really can control that) and write well. The vocab is a crap shoot and schools can look at scores individually. If they see 750 on math, high scores in writing, and maybe a 600 in vocab, you're fine.
Actually, you can study for the vocab words, and can memorize a (limited) dictionary on a short term basis. At a bookstore, you can find small books of the vocab words most likely to be on the test. If the english component of the test matters to the programs you are applying to, or you just want to maximize your score, I advise that you grab one of those books (similar lists are online), make flashcards, and spend a few weeks looking them over for a little bit each day. My friend and I did this and I have still never met anyone who scored better on the english section than I did, since so much of it is about vocab (friend scored slightly lower, but still a stunning accomplishment for a Spartan). Good luck.
It can help, but its a crap shoot. I did the same thing and memorized a bunch of words - none were on the test.
So, IF you have the extra time, then sure. I think time is better spent maximizing your math score, which is completely in your control. There's a limited set of material math tests on, whereas the vocab you could study is endless.
April 24th, 2011 at 11:19 AM ^
And I do the same thing and 2-3 words were actaully on the vocab part. So in my position, it actually did help. To each his own I guess.
Studying vocabulary never hurts. And there are some words like noisome that appear more frequently than most because they help GRE separate guessers from knowers. Any word you find on a GRE list with a misleading root, add it to your hit list.
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Given your interests, I'm curious why you didn't apply to MSTP programs. Maybe you did, but you chose to enroll in a straight MD program. Best of luck with the GRE and your future studies.
April 24th, 2011 at 11:22 AM ^
Yeah, for someone who so seems to "get it' and knew you didn't want to do clinical, surprised the dual MD/PhD route wasn't taken. You (Carrismyhomeboy) realize most PhD program will pay for your MD and give you a stipend? Too little too late, I guess.
April 24th, 2011 at 10:46 AM ^
History PhD here, so the math section was almost inconsequential for me. Still, it was pretty easy and I did decently on it without studying at all.
As far as the writing section goes, I found it extremely easy. If your writing skills are good, I wouldn't worry about that section, as long as you can type quickly. My girlfriend and I are about the same writing ability, but I can type 90-100 wpm and she can only type 50-60. That really showed up in our writing scores.
The verbal section of the exam is constructed horribly. It's extremely arbitrary and random and you really live or die whether or not you get a few of the early hard questions correct or not, as that will open up harder questions down the line and allow you to increase your score. I strongly recommend studying vocab for it. Get a test prep book and goes through their list of most common GRE words. I used an online flashcard program to study. Still, as I said it is extremely arbitrary. I took the test twice and my verbal score jumped 100 points without actually having anymore knowledge than I did the first time. You may want to wait and take the new test if the verbal section is going to be more logical.
April 24th, 2011 at 10:47 AM ^
Assuming you can prepare well enough, I'd take the GRE early. The prep industry has got the current graduate exams wired. It will take a few years for them to get the new version of the GRE down. I'm a preparer who probably spent 200-300 hours prepping for the GMAT--I really overdid it and ended up having a relatively bad day come test day.
If you think you're a mental superstar, which you may be, then it may be advantageous to take the new version because all of the folks like me won't be able to game the test as well.
Edit: The GRE website says those taking the new version won't get scores prior to mid-November. Factor that into your calculations.
April 24th, 2011 at 10:50 AM ^
That's an interesting story. Comments (in no particular order):
* Your combination of undergrad majors is CRAZY! Color me favorably impressed.
* As others have asked, are you sure that there wouldn't be a way to squeeze in the PhD before you finish school? From a distance, it's my understanding that the track is generally shortened for medical types (often to the consternation of non-medical types, who are apt to sneer at "quicky" PhDs).
* Have you considered that, with each passing year, PhDs in the academic world play a nastier 'n nastier game of musical chairs when it comes to funding for research?
* Are you ready for all the nonsense (worse every year, it seems) that comes with a tenure-track position? (See the point just prior to this one.)
* The longer you stay in clinical medicine (say, through an internal medicine residency and a few years of practice), the more currency your MD will have. Ditch medicine after next year and it will be more of a hood ornament on your CV.
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Anyway, I'd be surprised if you hadn't already considered all of these. Just thought I'd toss them out there ... best wishes.
April 24th, 2011 at 12:21 PM ^
Your third point is why I am leaving grad school early to enter the MAC program. It is going to be hard getting a teaching certificate in one year but it beats the current research environment.
April 24th, 2011 at 11:05 AM ^
Keep in mind on the writing section that length is almost always the most important factor. Obviously you need to make sure you don't have any overt grammatical errors, but if you've ever read anything about the people who grade standardized test essays they really only have time to skim it. I took the GRE twice (the second time purely to boost my writing score)--the first time I wrote a clear, consise, well-thought-out essay and got a 5.0. The second time I simply tried to make the damn thing as long as possible. It was a far inferior essay in my opinion but was almost twice as long as the one I had written before due to all of the fluff I put in...and I got a 5.5.
April 24th, 2011 at 11:54 AM ^
The writing section is ridiculous and a crapshoot. I consider myself to be a decent, not excellent, writer. After spending the entire alotted time writing reasonable responses to how a tiny island nation might respond logically to complaints about eroding beaches in the face of increased tourism demands and budget shortcomings and whether it's important that teachers have real world experience in their field or something like that I ended up with a 4.0. No idea what they were looking for.
That said, it was good enough to get me into Michigan, so unless you're going into journalism or English for a PhD, I have a hard time believing it has much effect at all on your chances unless you bomb completely.
April 24th, 2011 at 12:06 PM ^
Is the GRE writing section even important? The GMAT writing section is commonly thought to only be used as a basic comparison against the school's essays. If your GMAT essays display barely coherent English, but your essays are almost Hemingway, then a red flag is raised. Schools get a copy of GMAT essays, so they can read the essays themselves rather than rely on an arbitrary grade.
The GMAT test prep companies also teach basic formats to get a 6.0 rather than teaching how to write cogent essays.
April 24th, 2011 at 12:16 PM ^
The gre writing for the sciences is basically only used to insure you can speak and read basic English. It is pointless.
April 24th, 2011 at 12:06 PM ^
In my ideal world there wouldn't be any standardized tests like SAT or GRE for one to get into college, and GPA plus extracurriculars would be enough. Unfortunately, there's all this complication with different schools and different systems, so they need something to standardize :(
April 24th, 2011 at 12:45 PM ^
Hey,
Check out the PowerPrep software available directly from the GRE website. They offer a practice test or two, using real test questions. No, really, at least a couple of the questions on that test were on my actual GRE. It is also valuable to get a feel for how the questions change as you go along in the test, as the next question is influenced by your performance on the previous one. It can be easy to psyche yourself out when you see an easy question pop up, and this helped me get used to that and not think about it too much. The computer program is the exact same as the one on the real test, so you will be familiar with it. Also, they have a list, somewhere on that site, of every essay question that they have that they could ask. It is pretty long, but will give you an idea of how the questions are shaped in general.
One of my essays on the test was to critique an argument made in a made up essay. The argument was basically that in 1910 there were 8 species of some rodent in Yellowstone park, and now in 1995 there are only 3 species of that rodent, so therefore environmental pollution is contributing greatly to global warming. I'm pretty sure I could have written forever about that one.
April 24th, 2011 at 12:50 PM ^
Since I am going to be taking the GRE also I just wanted to thank all those who commented and shared their experiences. This thread has shed some light on the subject and I appreciate your insight.
To me I would devote 90% of my time to the verbal section. Granted I took the test in '08, and maybe the test has changed, but I received a 780 on Math and a 580 on verbal. This was with a heavy majority of my time on the verbal section. Get a vocabulary book off Amazon (Kaplan was what I used), and grab a Kaplan study guide. I also used the powerprep software, and I feel it at least gave you a chance to take more practice tests, which helped a ton.
Also, I would hesitate to spend as much time as they suggest. I read a lot of things that said to spend 2 hours a day for 4-6 weeks. I was a slightly above average college student, and I would say that about 10-14 hours total is sufficient if done properly.
Why are you going to grad school? You have a medical degree. Can't you just apply to a lab for a postdoc. You'll learn everything you need as a grad student or a postdoc, but by skipping grad school, you'll cut 4-5 years off your path to getting a job. If I had an MD (instead of my PhD), that's what I'd do.
The OP never stated, at least I didn't see it, what his undergraduate major was. Medical school gives one a broad yet somewhat superficial background due to the volume of information that must be covered. The dozen or so courses he would take before spending several years working on a thesis, might close some knowledge gaps and create a solid foundation in others.
I still don't understand why an MD/PhD wasn't the course of study, although that is an incredbily tough program to get accepted into.
Exactly. There are many aspects of biochemical research that gets a superficial coverage in graduate school. I seriously they cover basic genetic research techniques such as mutagenesis, or even basic spectroscopy needed to elucidate the chemical mechanisms being investigated. Biochemical research basically comes down to the study enzymatic mechanisms. He would need courses covering catalysis, spectroscopy, statistics, and kinetics. I doubt they cover protein expression and purification.
The classes in grad school are only a minor part of the degree. The degree is all about your thesis research, which is the same thing with your postdoc. You can always sit in on some classes that you feel you've missed if there are knowledge gaps. If you're going to do lab research, your real training is in the lab and reading primary literature related to your work. There are plenty of MDs who join labs for their postdocs without grad school, learn what they need to about research and the field they're interested in, and then start their own labs. It's a little more difficult for them initially, but they usually pickup what they need to know to be successful.
Hi, interesting post.
1. Agree with the earliest commentator that you have obviously given this a lot of thought already but have to wonder if you might be having some reservations.
2. As a working clinician, I would respectively point out that from a practical standpoint the MD you are getting is as you noted just for the letters. Without a residency, there is little that you can do and frankly little that you actually know about the actual practice of medicine. By the time you are done with M4 year, you've seen some stuff and maybe helped take care of a bunch sick people, but really don't have a clue on how the diagnostic and treatment decisions were made and you never had the final responsibility of deciding a plan and making a decisive call on what to do and what to order. Don't take this too harshly, but your last post mentions money - so I'll call it - you want to be paid like a busy clinician but don't want to work like one.
The worst clinicians are those who are really lab experts and who because they are in a clinical department (e.g. internal medicine) and haven't been able to construct a career devoid of clinical care, end up doing a month or so of clinical duty each year. They don't like it and don't have their hearts in it. They make the minimal number of ward rounds and often don't see their patients for two or three days - they are totally dependent on having a good senior resident cover their interns. As a medical student, resident and now attending this is seen all of the time, and the care they render is spotty - sometimes the patient has a condition they are quite keen about it because it dovetails into their research and they get phenomenal care; othertimes, with the usual "routine" cancer, cirrhosis, pancreatitis, COPD, diabetes, HTN, cardiovascular disease, they let the interns and residents flail away.
3. In the lab, you have tremendous power and leeway in who to set up your research. You can fine tune your hypotheses and create a circumstance where there is only one or a few possible variables. In the real clinical human medical world, that is rarely possible. One of the frustrations basic scientists have when pressed into a "translational" world is that they don't realize how messy real medicine is - it is a patch work of evidence based methods and treatments (all p-values, ROC curves, randomized controlled double blind trials), empirical methods (legacy observations dating back literally hundreds of years), and guesswork (if it works, keep doing it).
4. If you always knew that you weren't going to be primarily or even secondarily a clinician, have to agree with the earlier post that perhaps a medical scientist training (MSTP) option might be better suited but at this point, since you are certain about a non-clinical future, there is little point of doing the three step USMLE process if you don't plan on practicing medicine. To do part III, you have to be in an internship year...USMLE 1 and 2 are of use mostly to get a license and to help you apply for residency.
Good luck but think over your options - going back to take the Boards AFTER many years out is harder than doing the GREs.
While I applaud your interest in pursuing a graduate degree and subsequent employment, and I'm impressed with your thoroughness, it's quite apparent that you need to:
<br> 1. Relax
<br> 2. Take life a bit less seriously
<br> 3. Relax
<br> 4. Enjoy your youth a bit more
<br> 5. Get laid more often
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<br>I, too, am a Michigan grad (96'), and while I love reading about individuals pursuing their life's ambitions, I must admit, your writing is thunderously winded, and amazingly painful. May I suggest a few cocktails, and possibly a Xanax or two?
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<br>Here's my advice....have more fun, and meet as many people as you can.....it's the people that you will remember most, not the exams.
first, congrats on your decision to walk away from the health profession. it's a brave choice, and takes some guts. i myself recently left medical school after 1.5 years and sympathize with your struggle. though i, too, have a love for protein structure and function -- i decided to pursue something in the field of education instead.
i have taken the MCAT twice. first time i scored in the 87th percentile. didnt go straight to med, instead did a masters. when it came time to apply to med, i had to retake my MCAT given my score had expired. second go around i scored much better. i bring this up because im not sure how great of a test taker you are and what your MCATs were, but you can use this info to compare against when considering my advice.
im comparison to the MCAT, the GRE is a joke. it's the easiest standardized test i have taken since high school (and i have taken the MCAT, GRE, GMAT, and LSAT), and would put it on par with an "honors" SAT if one existed. i prepared for 4 days for the GRE and did very well (averaged 730s in every section). it took me a few days to go back and refresh on some principles of mathematics that i had not considered since high scool geometry and trig. my vocab was excellent given my biomedical background and strong understanding of latin and greek roots. perhaps the most useful thing i did was take a few practice tests simply to acclimate to the timing, style, and format of the test. unless you have major issues with standardized tests, worrying about the GRE is a complete waste of time.
as for test prep, i recommend the REA book, simply because i have intimate experience with kaplan and princeton review and feel like most of their stuff is garbage. the test evolves painfully slow, so dont worry about going onto amazon and getting a prep book from an earlier year like 2009 or 2010.
next, take a few non-ETS practice tests. ETS is the company that makes the GRE. i believe they provide one authentic GRE test for you to practice with. SAVE THAT ONE. the biggest strike against the test prep companies is their practice materials are poorly written and do not reflect the nature of the actual test.
once you have you bearings from brushing up on math and verbal basics, and have found your rythym on some impostor practice exams, then take the authentic GRE practice test provided by ETS. if you are happy with your score, proceed on and take the test ASAP. if not, rinse and repeat.
one last parting thought: DO NOT TAKE THE REVISED GRE. we dont know whats on it, how hard it is, and essentially how to prep for it. hurry up and take the "old GRE" before it is no longer available (august?).
I'm not sure congrats are in order. At leat the OP plans on finishing his MD. When you walk away from a spot 1.5 years in med school, that means the system is short another doc capable of treating patients. That would be no big deal if there were a surplus of doctors, but there isn't. Unfortunately, you are not alone. I believe about eight or nine percent of med students fail to finish. Even with all the jumping through hoops, the MCAT, grades, research experience, shadowing, hospital volunteering, some people just don't get it.
1) Princeton Review practice tests accurately reflected my actual score, so that's a good measuring stick
2) Based on some of the sample questions they were considering for the new test format from when I took it back in 2006 ... my advice is to take the test before the makeover (unless it's already received one since then, in which case I don't know one way or the other). The new questions looked significantly more difficult (for example, having to fill out a matrix of possible answers correctly to get one question correct instead of your simple, pick-one-right-answer multiple choice).
i took this thing 3 times, 4 if you count the first where my answers were off by 1. in my not-so-humble opinion, it's a glorified sat; that said, they say it correlates well to performance in grad school.
i agree mostly with what's been said about the math. it's very practical; you can learn some principles and practice to improve your score.
as for the verbal, don't get bogged down in memorising a huge list of words. as you're a med student, i'm sure you can relate to learning prefixes, roots and suffixes, and using the combination to make an educated guess at the meanings of words you don't know. this was certainly very useful for me in vet school.
the writing - it seemed to me that the idea is to write a coherent, logical argument, with various points and supporting text for those points. i don't think you have to write pulitzer-quality work, just a logical argument.
for what it's worth, i scored reasonably well all three times, with a slight improvement the third time. my scores were more than competitive for vet school.
do well, whatever you choose.
Just make sure you don't burn out and have a pretty solid plan before you start another program. I just went back to school 6 years after graduating. It may have been a little too long of a break, but I'm 100% confident in the path I'm taking now.
It seems you've come too far (and spent a lot of money) to not finish your 4th year. Taking time off to do a PhD like some mentioned above seems like a good option, especially since you could bang it out in a few years. One thing to keep in mind if you want to end up as faculty at Michigan, is for some grants (especially for postdocs), the NIH and other organizations like to see people who have been trained at multiple institutions. It probably would help to learn from experts all over the country/world, and you a change of scenery may help your mental state.
I worked in a biochem lab for 8 years, contemplated a PhD, but discovered that the further you get then less fun it was (more grant and paper writing, less bench work). And it was boring. I like problem solving, but needed more immediate gratification than waiting months or years for experiments to work themselves out. I then went to med school at age 33.
If you've got a passion for research, and can't imagine doing anything else, then go for it. But consider giving a residency in neurology or pathology a try. Medicine gets more and more fun/satisfying the further you go. It's too early to judge it by your med school experience - you don't know anything and the attendings/ nurses/ patients don't take you seriously. Residency is where you learn "real" medicine. It's 3-4 tough years, but you'll learn so much and be able to ask better clinical questions.
If nothing else you can moonlight as a MD to make money to supplement the meager grad school paycheck, like one of my friends did.
I agree that the GRE is easy (no offense anyone).
And no decision you make is ever really final. You can always change your mind latter on and do something else. But you'll have more options if you do a residency.
April 24th, 2011 at 10:38 PM ^
As suggested above, studing vocabulary is a good idea, no matter how well read you are. It's likely there will be some words most people have not seen -- minimizing the points lost on those words is very helpful in maximizing your verbal score. I'll offer the same suggestion that I give to anyone who is taking the GRE: buy Norman Lewis' Word Power Made Easy and spend a lot of time with it. The value is learning the etymology of words, so you have a decent shot at figuring out what a word means if you haven't seen it before. Anyway, it worked for me, well enough for a 97% percentile on the verbal section.
April 25th, 2011 at 12:01 AM ^
Wow...you're a douche
How can the current GRE be decades-old when it's a computer-based test that gets harder or easier depending on whether you're answering correctly?