What Should I do for the next 9 months?

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I'm planning to apply to the various Texas medical schools in the summer of 2013. Right now I have a 33 mcat (11/11/11P) and a 3.68 GPA with a BS in Physics and a Music Minor (also 2 yrs of chinese and 1 yr of Arabic). My GPA is low but I think that having 167 credits and always taking 18-20 hrs/semester should help to balance that. My question is, how/what can I do to strengthen my application over the next 9 months? My concerns are

Volunteer Hours - I've been teaching sunday school/ushering at my church for years now and I spend at least 2 hrs every sunday helping out and usually 3 hrs each Wednesday but I'm not sure how much that will count for. I also have been involved in a lot of service projects with the Boy Scouts - particularly in High School. Additionally, I've tutored a lot of church/neighborhood kids who were struggling in their classes. What I don't have is medically related volunteer hours and "official" volunteer hours. Do I need to get some volunteer time in a clinic as well?

Shadowing - I've never shadowed a doctor until very recently. Now I'm getting in about 4 hours a week. Should I just keep shadowing at every chance I get?

Research - I've been doing research since before my freshmen year of college (I was in a special research program for high school graduates) and I have several professors that will write excellent letters of recomendation for me but none of my research is medically relavent. I worked on a Rail Gun, designed and assembled a micro satelite instrument, and worked on a UAV project for a while, but I never published anything. Will non-medically relavent research count on my application?


I don't really want to be one of those guys who just trys to build the perfect medical school application. I'm shadowing a doctor because I want to know more about medicine. But, with that said, I also want to make sure that my application is solid and since I'm really hoping to get into a good school (Baylor or UTSW would be nice), I want to try and fill in any "holes" in my application while I have the time to do so.

A 3.68 in physics with an unrelated minor and an 18-20 credit load is low?

as I understand, anything below a 3.8 is a little below average. Most of my premed friends had higher GPA's.

Originally Posted by taaltrek

as I understand, anything below a 3.8 is a little below average. Most of my premed friends had higher GPA's.

https://www.aamc.org/download/161690/data/table17.pdf
https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/appl...ethnicity.html

Shadow at every chance you get. The more the better when you are applying. It will show you have dense knowledge about the medical field. Volunteering in a free clinic or ED definitely helps plus you can get some shadowing most often from them too. Research is nice to have but not necessary on the application unless you plan on applying to MD/PhD, so don't worry too much about more research.

Originally Posted by taaltrek

I'm planning to apply to the various Texas medical schools in the summer of 2013. Right now I have a 33 mcat (11/11/11P) and a 3.68 GPA with a BS in Physics and a Music Minor (also 2 yrs of chinese and 1 yr of Arabic). My GPA is low but I think that having 167 credits and always taking 18-20 hrs/semester should help to balance that. My question is, how/what can I do to strengthen my application over the next 9 months? My concerns are

1) Volunteer Hours - I've been teaching sunday school/ushering at my church for years now and I spend at least 2 hrs every sunday helping out and usually 3 hrs each Wednesday but I'm not sure how much that will count for. I also have been involved in a lot of service projects with the Boy Scouts - particularly in High School. Additionally, I've tutored a lot of church/neighborhood kids who were struggling in their classes. What I don't have is medically related volunteer hours and "official" volunteer hours. Do I need to get some volunteer time in a clinic as well?

2) Shadowing - I've never shadowed a doctor until very recently. Now I'm getting in about 4 hours a week. Should I just keep shadowing at every chance I get?

3) Research - I've been doing research since before my freshmen year of college (I was in a special research program for high school graduates) and I have several professors that will write excellent letters of recomendation for me but none of my research is medically relavent. I worked on a Rail Gun, designed and assembled a micro satelite instrument, and worked on a UAV project for a while, but I never published anything. Will non-medically relavent research count on my application?


I don't really want to be one of those guys who just trys to build the perfect medical school application. I'm shadowing a doctor because I want to know more about medicine. But, with that said, I also want to make sure that my application is solid and since I'm really hoping to get into a good school (Baylor or UTSW would be nice),
4) I want to try and fill in any "holes" in my application while I have the time to do so.

1) Both clinical experience and nonmedical community service strengthen an application. It sounds like you are strong in the latter already. Active interaction with sick people can be acquired through volunteering, a job, or clinical research. This is important and I'd urge you to set something up as soon as possible. Options include a hospital, hospice, skilled-level nursing home, clinic (VA, free or low income, family-planning, or private).

2) About 50 shadowing hours is the average listed. Some shadow one doc and others many specialties. It's a good idea to include someone in primary care.

3) Yes, so long as it was hypothesis-based research rather than a lit review. Publication is not necessary.

4) Peer Leadership is also beneficial, though not required, if you have a chance to get this in.

What counts as peer leadership? I don't have a lot of formal positions (worked as director/founder of my schools video news program for a year but thats about it). I'm usually a leader in my social group (I formed teams for nearly every intramural sport my school offered every year) but I don't know if that counts for much since it's not quantifiable. I actually have considered getting a letter of recomendation from my schools intramural sports director, would that be worth it?

So far, it sounds like I should just focus on being in hospitals/around doctors as much as possible.

You could get a job and save for med school... I see you're lacking there. Your numbers look good though.

Actually, I work full time for a test prep tutoring company (teaching the SAT, ACT, LSAT, and GRE). Unfortunately, I don't teach the MCAT but other than that I have 5 years of experience teaching high school and middleschool in small and large classes as well at private tutoring. I'm hoping to have some money saved before medical school but that depends on how things go with my job and my living expenses.

Originally Posted by taaltrek

1) What counts as peer leadership? I don't have a lot of formal positions (worked as director/founder of my schools video news program for a year but thats about it). I'm usually a leader in my social group (I formed teams for nearly every intramural sport my school offered every year) but I don't know if that counts for much since it's not quantifiable.

2) I actually have considered getting a letter of recomendation from my schools intramural sports director, would that be worth it?

3) So far, it sounds like I should just focus on being in hospitals/around doctors as much as possible.

Peer leadership requires that you organized people to work toward a common goal, that you delegated tasks, that you took responsibility for a satisfactory outcome, and maybe that you had an idea that you inspired others to help you actuate.

Both activities you mention have the potential to qualify, as you surely didn't do all the work yourself.

2) It depends on how strong the letter would be.

3) This is your priority for activities (after GPA).