Basics:
- 26
- Female
- Basically white
Education:
- 3.508 GPA from a liberal arts college, majors in English and History and zero science classes
- Ran the school newspaper, committed about 70 hours a week to the paper
- Honors thesis in history
Post-college work:
- Worked as a paralegal for 3 years in anticipation of applying to law school
- After deciding to pursue med school, spent 1 summer working in a bariatric surgery clinic on a volunteer basis (my interest is in working with the obese population), 325 hours worked total (though I suppose it would be wildly optimistic to consider this “volunteer work”)
- Began working full-time in research, doing analysis on CTs and managing studies (I’m not sure whether this would actually be considered research on an application).
Post-college education:
- 3.419 GPA
- Worked 45-50 hours a week, took 8 credit hours a semester @ Harvard Extension
- Courses completed: general chemistry (B+), biology (B), physics I (A-), physics lab (A), orgo I (B-), biochem (A-)
- Physics II and Orgo II remain for next semester
Research:
- The extent of my research experience is what I have done professionally; no published works or anything of the sort.
Shadowing:
- Approximately 100 hours spent shadowing
o Interventional cardiology: 40
o Bariatric surgery clinic: 18
o General surgery: 6
o Bariatric surgery: 15
o Trauma surgery: 6
o Orthopedic surgery: 11.5
o Palliative care: 6
Bad things:
So I know my GPA situation is pretty damning. I have clearly struggled to overcome the arrogance that comes with being told you’re “gifted” in high school, and now must come to terms with the true extent of my mediocrity. I never learned to dedicate myself to academics when I was young, and skated through high school with a 5.0 (my GPA was more inflated than the Hindenburg) (I’m not sure if that metaphor makes sense). I've thus developed the tendency to over-commit and devote too much time and attention to other work. In college it was the newspaper, and now, it’s my research job.
Another failing is my lack of volunteer work. I spent a few months doing work for a microfinance organization in Bolivia back in college, but at present, I spend 50 hours a week at work and 16 sitting in class/lab/section, and have not really had the time. I spend most of my free time trying to get through those odious orgo p-sets. I am guessing I cannot count “administering insulin shots to my overweight diabetic cat” as a credible volunteer activity.
Maybe-good things:
I haven’t taken the MCAT but I test decently enough. I managed a 1500 on the SAT and 165 on the LSAT without studying a whit (maybe this should go on the bad list), and if the last two years have taught me anything, it’s that I’ve got to study my face off for the MCAT.
Anyway, my options are thus:
1) Quit my job now and hopefully finish out orgo and physics with better grades, take the MCAT in May and start applying for 2016 (and get another job after the MCAT is over? Take classes to prepare for when I don’t get in anywhere? Move home? I don’t know what people do about this awkward gap.)
2) Table the thought of starting med school in 2016, keep the job, and apply to SMP programs that start in fall 2015 with an eye toward improving my GPA (I don’t know if SMP is the correct term, but I’d likely apply to the Tufts program as well as an MRes program in clinical research in obesity at Imperial College of London). Shoot for a 2017 matriculation into med school. For the last few years I’ve had this desperate sort of feeling that I’m way behind, so I’ve rushed everything and hate the idea of pushing off application by another year, but am starting to realize it may be necessary.
3) Abandon hope, pursue work as a Somali pirate.
Sorry for the novel, but if anyone’s listening, any advice would be much appreciated. I’ve not really had anyone else to ask and have well and truly been winging this whole process.
- 26
- Female
- Basically white
Education:
- 3.508 GPA from a liberal arts college, majors in English and History and zero science classes
- Ran the school newspaper, committed about 70 hours a week to the paper
- Honors thesis in history
Post-college work:
- Worked as a paralegal for 3 years in anticipation of applying to law school
- After deciding to pursue med school, spent 1 summer working in a bariatric surgery clinic on a volunteer basis (my interest is in working with the obese population), 325 hours worked total (though I suppose it would be wildly optimistic to consider this “volunteer work”)
- Began working full-time in research, doing analysis on CTs and managing studies (I’m not sure whether this would actually be considered research on an application).
Post-college education:
- 3.419 GPA
- Worked 45-50 hours a week, took 8 credit hours a semester @ Harvard Extension
- Courses completed: general chemistry (B+), biology (B), physics I (A-), physics lab (A), orgo I (B-), biochem (A-)
- Physics II and Orgo II remain for next semester
Research:
- The extent of my research experience is what I have done professionally; no published works or anything of the sort.
Shadowing:
- Approximately 100 hours spent shadowing
o Interventional cardiology: 40
o Bariatric surgery clinic: 18
o General surgery: 6
o Bariatric surgery: 15
o Trauma surgery: 6
o Orthopedic surgery: 11.5
o Palliative care: 6
Bad things:
So I know my GPA situation is pretty damning. I have clearly struggled to overcome the arrogance that comes with being told you’re “gifted” in high school, and now must come to terms with the true extent of my mediocrity. I never learned to dedicate myself to academics when I was young, and skated through high school with a 5.0 (my GPA was more inflated than the Hindenburg) (I’m not sure if that metaphor makes sense). I've thus developed the tendency to over-commit and devote too much time and attention to other work. In college it was the newspaper, and now, it’s my research job.
Another failing is my lack of volunteer work. I spent a few months doing work for a microfinance organization in Bolivia back in college, but at present, I spend 50 hours a week at work and 16 sitting in class/lab/section, and have not really had the time. I spend most of my free time trying to get through those odious orgo p-sets. I am guessing I cannot count “administering insulin shots to my overweight diabetic cat” as a credible volunteer activity.
Maybe-good things:
I haven’t taken the MCAT but I test decently enough. I managed a 1500 on the SAT and 165 on the LSAT without studying a whit (maybe this should go on the bad list), and if the last two years have taught me anything, it’s that I’ve got to study my face off for the MCAT.
Anyway, my options are thus:
1) Quit my job now and hopefully finish out orgo and physics with better grades, take the MCAT in May and start applying for 2016 (and get another job after the MCAT is over? Take classes to prepare for when I don’t get in anywhere? Move home? I don’t know what people do about this awkward gap.)
2) Table the thought of starting med school in 2016, keep the job, and apply to SMP programs that start in fall 2015 with an eye toward improving my GPA (I don’t know if SMP is the correct term, but I’d likely apply to the Tufts program as well as an MRes program in clinical research in obesity at Imperial College of London). Shoot for a 2017 matriculation into med school. For the last few years I’ve had this desperate sort of feeling that I’m way behind, so I’ve rushed everything and hate the idea of pushing off application by another year, but am starting to realize it may be necessary.
3) Abandon hope, pursue work as a Somali pirate.
Sorry for the novel, but if anyone’s listening, any advice would be much appreciated. I’ve not really had anyone else to ask and have well and truly been winging this whole process.
