How's it looking?

[Chromium Surfer]

Hello everyone I've just finished my sophomore year and have one more year till I apply. I was hoping to get some feedback on what I've done so far and any areas where I can improve going into junior year. Thanks all!

University: Honors program of large state school.
Major: Biology with humanities minor
Demographic info: Male AA

sGPA: 3.66
cGPA:3.77

Activities:

-volunteer at center for undeserved in my college town ~100 hours ( should be ~200 hours by end of junior year)
-camp counselor for church ~50 hours over 1 week ( will do again but not till summer of senior year likely)
-Camp counselor fo kids whose families have been affected by cancer ~50 hours over 1 week( will do again but not till summer of senior year likely)
-TA for intensive 1st year eng class for all honors freshman( 1 semester done 1 semester upcoming)
-1 year competitive shadowing and pre-med program with top hospital nationally
-1 week immersion program with internationally recognized hospital.
-Premed club member for 2 years( officer soph year and will be again junior year w significant and verifiable leadership not just a title)
-Summer public health internship( upcoming roughly 400 hours sponsored by parternship with CDC and another state U and SOM)
-1 year leadership program ( focus on developing leadership skills first semester lead community service project for community for 2nd semester will complete during junior year) Mentor another newcomer into program the following year
-Hospice Volunteer( ~30 hours completed, ~100 more hours during junior year)
-Fast food worker for 1 summer
-Retail job for 1 summer


My LOR's should be strong most of the people who will write for me have know me for at least 1 year decent amount 2 years and I have developed close relationship with all letter writers.

How is everything looking and are there any pressing holes in my application I need to address during junior year? I know that the MCAT is key and i have begun to prep since I finished all preqreqs except biochem.

My dream school is definitely Mayo med school. I would also love to go to a top academic institution because of the research and other opportunities they provide. My goal is to obtain an MD/MPH. Of course nothing is guaranteed and I plan to apply to to many "safety and reach schools as well.

Also paging the big guns @gyngyn @Goro @GrapesofRath @WedgeDawg

Thank you all for your time, and I am looking forward to hearing on what I can do to improve.

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[WedgeDawg]

Looks good so far. If you're aiming for the big names, adding some biomedical research to your app will help you out (doesn't matter if you get published, but do your best to be productive, obviously). Also, if you're taking the MCAT in the next year, make sure you do your best to ace it because it can make your application very strong or very mediocre depending on how you do.

 

[Chromium Surfer]

Looks good so far. If you're aiming for the big names, adding some biomedical research to your app will help you out (doesn't matter if you get published, but do your best to be productive, obviously). Also, if you're taking the MCAT in the next year, make sure you do your best to ace it because it can make your application very strong or very mediocre depending on how you do.

Whoops I forgot to add that I have done about ~100 hours of health disparities research. I also was published on a poster for that research and presented at a conference with my PI. Does that change anything? I was also under the impression that any research is good, but for top schools does biomedical research take precedent?

 

[WedgeDawg]

Whoops I forgot to add that I have done about ~100 hours of health disparities research. I also was published on a poster for that research and presented at a conference with my PI. Does that change anything? I was also under the impression that any research is good, but for top schools does biomedical research take precedent?

Research isn't really an activity that can be measured in hours. The metrics I generally use to determine strength of research is productivity and overall length of time participating in it. However, that being said, 100 hours of research is really pretty low. Most types of research are worthwhile, though I think it would be a good idea to at least try your hand at research within the medical sciences (from an application standpoint, a professional standpoint, and a personal standpoint).

 

[Chromium Surfer]

Research isn't really an activity that can be measured in hours. The metrics I generally use to determine strength of research is productivity and overall length of time participating in it. However, that being said, 100 hours of research is really pretty low. Most types of research are worthwhile, though I think it would be a good idea to at least try your hand at research within the medical sciences (from an application standpoint, a professional standpoint, and a personal standpoint).

Ah got it, thank you for the advice! Last question if you don't mind, what MCAT score threshold should I have in mind given my current application in order to not disqualify myself from consideration at these bigger name schools?

 

[WedgeDawg]

Ah got it, thank you for the advice! Last question if you don't mind, what MCAT score threshold should I have in mind given my current application in order to not disqualify myself from consideration at these bigger name schools?

I'm not going to give you a score cutoff because I don't really know what it would be. Medians for top schools range from 36-38 (518-521). I would say the equivalent of a 34 makes it worth applying while scoring around the medians or higher makes you competitive. Really, just do the best you can and see where you land and make your school decisions based off of that.

 

[Goro]

Looking great!

Hello everyone I've just finished my sophomore year and have one more year till I apply. I was hoping to get some feedback on what I've done so far and any areas where I can improve going into junior year. Thanks all!

University: Honors program of large state school.
Major: Biology with humanities minor
Demographic info: Male AA

sGPA: 3.66
cGPA:3.77

Activities:

-volunteer at center for undeserved in my college town ~100 hours ( should be ~200 hours by end of junior year)
-camp counselor for church ~50 hours over 1 week ( will do again but not till summer of senior year likely)
-Camp counselor fo kids whose families have been affected by cancer ~50 hours over 1 week( will do again but not till summer of senior year likely)
-TA for intensive 1st year eng class for all honors freshman( 1 semester done 1 semester upcoming)
-1 year competitive shadowing and pre-med program with top hospital nationally
-1 week immersion program with internationally recognized hospital.
-Premed club member for 2 years( officer soph year and will be again junior year w significant and verifiable leadership not just a title)
-Summer public health internship( upcoming roughly 400 hours sponsored by parternship with CDC and another state U and SOM)
-1 year leadership program ( focus on developing leadership skills first semester lead community service project for community for 2nd semester will complete during junior year) Mentor another newcomer into program the following year
-Hospice Volunteer( ~30 hours completed, ~100 more hours during junior year)
-Fast food worker for 1 summer
-Retail job for 1 summer


My LOR's should be strong most of the people who will write for me have know me for at least 1 year decent amount 2 years and I have developed close relationship with all letter writers.

How is everything looking and are there any pressing holes in my application I need to address during junior year? I know that the MCAT is key and i have begun to prep since I finished all preqreqs except biochem.

My dream school is definitely Mayo med school. I would also love to go to a top academic institution because of the research and other opportunities they provide. My goal is to obtain an MD/MPH. Of course nothing is guaranteed and I plan to apply to to many "safety and reach schools as well.

Also paging the big guns @gyngyn @Goro @GrapesofRath @WedgeDawg

Thank you all for your time, and I am looking forward to hearing on what I can do to improve.

 

[Chromium Surfer]

I'm not going to give you a score cutoff because I don't really know what it would be. Medians for top schools range from 36-38 (518-521). I would say the equivalent of a 34 makes it worth applying while scoring around the medians or higher makes you competitive. Really, just do the best you can and see where you land and make your school decisions based off of that.

Will do. Thank you for your candor!

 

[Chromium Surfer]

Looking great!

Shoot I might have to add this quote to my AMCAS application