3.95 GPA, 3.92 sGPA, 36 MCAT

[ARKR]

Hi all,

So I'm about to enter my senior year at my state school. I'm applying next cycle (as in June 2014). My breakdown on the MCAT was BS 13 V 12 PS 11. My Major is Biology, with a minor in philosophy. I've taken quite a few upper level bio courses, a good array of philosophy courses, and well beyond my required coursework in math (calc 1-3 +intro to linear)

Extracurricular
Co-founder, VP & Treasurer of a Club (will be 2 years at time of app). Also ave activities that go along with this. It is a sports club, so I'm not sure how much they'll count. But we are planning on doing some charity events next year.

Volunteer Work
3 Semesters volunteer tutoring for course (Cell bio/ neuro)
(hopefully)1 Semester volunteer tutoring for course (Endocrine studies)

Work Experience
Worked at panera bread for a summer in customer service
Will work as a tutor for the sports program all next year

Clinical Exposure
Will have about 100 Hours shadowing an ER doc (currently 50, but will be getting 50 -100 more between now and application date).


Letters of Rec
1.) from prof I tutor for. They're a good friend and I've little doubt it'll be great
2.) Doc I shadow; Knows me well from shadowing + has allowed me to assist (legally haha) him with simple procedures.
3.) Professor of endocrine studies. Cool guy who I've talked with a bit, I'll probably tutor for him in the future too.
4.) Biochem prof; went to office hours a couple times, taken both course and lab with him. Both A's in courses, and he is a really good writer, even if he is a little generic. Advisor said that it was a good letter.
5.) TBD... hopefully will get it from a philosophy professor. Have has a hard time getting access because most undergrad courses are taught by grad students.
6.) Comittee letter, (I should be getting it, but I won't apply for it until next year)


My main concern is a lack of clinical experience. I plan to get volunteer experience at a hospital over the next year, and am in the process of setting that up now.

So my first question is does my excess (I'm told I have an excess) in hours of shadowing make up for, in part, my lack of volunteer work in a hospital?

Second question is what would be the level of safety school i should be looking at (I guess am looking for examples)? I live on the east coast, but really am okay to go just about anywhere within the United States. Also, what would be a good reach type school? My adviser keeps telling me to apply to my state school, but it costs more/equal to go there (gotta love NJ) when compared to many out of state schools, so I'm really not bent up on going there.

Finally, as is apparent, I'll be taking a gap year. I have intentions in learning Spanish during this gap year, hopefully doing some traveling, and I'll be working as a tutor. I also plan to keep volunteering at the hospital. Is there anything else that would be beneficial for me to pursue during this year? I'm a bit nervous about it, as it will be the first time in memory where I'll be out of school longer than 3-4 months.

Thanks for your time, and i appreciate and advise/wisdom you can give to me!

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[Catalystik]

Hi all,

So I'm about to enter my senior year at my state school. I'm applying next cycle (as in June 2014). My breakdown on the MCAT was BS 13 V 12 PS 11. My Major is Biology, with a minor in philosophy. I've taken quite a few upper level bio courses, a good array of philosophy courses, and well beyond my required coursework in math (calc 1-3 +intro to linear)

Extracurricular
Co-founder, VP & Treasurer of a Club (will be 2 years at time of app). Also ave activities that go along with this. It is a sports club, so I'm not sure how much they'll count. But we are planning on doing some charity events next year.

Volunteer Work
3 Semesters volunteer tutoring for course (Cell bio/ neuro)
(hopefully)1 Semester volunteer tutoring for course (Endocrine studies)

Work Experience
Worked at panera bread for a summer in customer service
Will work as a tutor for the sports program all next year

Clinical Exposure
Will have about 100 Hours shadowing an ER doc (currently 50, but will be getting 50 -100 more between now and application date).


Letters of Rec
1.) from prof I tutor for. They're a good friend and I've little doubt it'll be great
2.) Doc I shadow; Knows me well from shadowing + has allowed me to assist (legally haha) him with simple procedures.
3.) Professor of endocrine studies. Cool guy who I've talked with a bit, I'll probably tutor for him in the future too.
4.) Biochem prof; went to office hours a couple times, taken both course and lab with him. Both A's in courses, and he is a really good writer, even if he is a little generic. Advisor said that it was a good letter.
5.) TBD... hopefully will get it from a philosophy professor. Have has a hard time getting access because most undergrad courses are taught by grad students.
6.) Comittee letter, (I should be getting it, but I won't apply for it until next year)


My main concern is a lack of clinical experience. I plan to get volunteer experience at a hospital over the next year, and am in the process of setting that up now.

1) So my first question is does my excess (I'm told I have an excess) in hours of shadowing make up for, in part, my lack of volunteer work in a hospital?

2) Second question is what would be the level of safety school i should be looking at (I guess am looking for examples)? I live on the east coast, but really am okay to go just about anywhere within the United States. Also, what would be a good reach type school? My adviser keeps telling me to apply to my state school, but it costs more/equal to go there (gotta love NJ) when compared to many out of state schools, so I'm really not bent up on going there.

Finally, as is apparent, I'll be taking a gap year. I have intentions in learning Spanish during this gap year, hopefully doing some traveling, and I'll be working as a tutor. I also plan to keep volunteering at the hospital.

3) Is there anything else that would be beneficial for me to pursue during this year? I'm a bit nervous about it, as it will be the first time in memory where I'll be out of school longer than 3-4 months.

Thanks for your time, and i appreciate and advise/wisdom you can give to me!

1) 50 hours of shadowing is about the average listed, ideally including a primary care doc. Since some of your shadowing time is "assisting" you could reasonably call this additional active clinical experience rather than passive shadowing, but it would not be a volunteer experience. Some schools will feel heavy shadowing compensates for light active clinical experience and others will not. It's best to have both to satisfy the widest range of expectations. Average for clinical experience is about 150 hours gained over 1.5 years as a volunteer.

2) For school ideas, Download this google.doc spreadsheet data (an SDN collaborative effort from 6/2011), so you can fill in your own stats (on the "Your Stats" sheet at the very bottom), and it will tell you for which US med schools you're competitive. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...Ex2MjlBTDE0bXFXNGFZczZqYTZKb2c&hl=en_US#gid=0

Next look at the sheet's in-state matriculation data before you do further research on each school, removing any from your list that take more than 85% in-state students:

Once you have a list, check out other factors that you care about: curriculum type, grading policy, weather, safety of area, rural vs city, cost of living & cost of attending, jobs or schools for significant others, location of clinical sites, proximity to home, etc, and use those to prune the list to a manageable number.

3) Research, if you to apply to schools that empahsize this in their mission statement. Also, schools with a humanitarian mission will appreciate some nonmedical community service that helps the poor.