sGPA 3.7 cGPA 3.76 Low ECs

[grad2014]

Hey guys,

I am a junior in college and I am a little concerned about applying. I really do not want to take a gap year and and really worried about my lack of extra curriculars getting in the way of medical schools. This is what I have so far in terms of extra curriculars.

-Worked at a pharmacy about 2.5 years- cashier and book keeping mostly
-Volunteered at a hospital while in high school- more like a summer thing maybe 8hours a week?
-Worked at a camp as an office administrator it was an 8-5 gig 5 days a week
-Did a summer research internship at a hospital. Got patient contact there did 16 hours a week for the summer
-Also an academic peer advisor (TA for new students, mentor for those on academic probation)
-Part of Phi Delta Epsilon (premedical fraternity- I have done volunteer work through them: relay for life, volunteered at hospitals, soup kitchens, child care centers)
-Also a research assistant in a psych lab dealing with schizophrenia- recruiting participants, will start interviewing by the time any potential interviews for med schools come up.
-Going to start shadowing a pediatric oncologist will do about 3.5 hours a week for 10 weeks so about 35-40 hours

FUTURE SUMMER PLANS

-Have an internship in a nursing department at a hospital for 4 weeks. 9-5 routine. Hoping to gain more patient interaction
-Planning to shadow another doctor as well

I think what worries me the most is my lack of clinical ECs

My Science GPA Is a 3.7 hoping to bring it to a 3.74 at the end of this semester. My cumulative is 3.76
I haven't take the MCAT yet but I am taking it in June. Assuming I get atleast a 30, what are my chances of getting in this cycle with my ECs?

Thanks in advance!

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[syoung]

Hey guys,

I am a junior in college and I am a little concerned about applying. I really do not want to take a gap year and and really worried about my lack of extra curriculars getting in the way of medical schools. This is what I have so far in terms of extra curriculars.

-Worked at a pharmacy about 2.5 years- cashier and book keeping mostly This will be of concern to someone, that in 2.5 years you have not been promoted or given more responsibility
-Volunteered at a hospital while in high school- more like a summer thing maybe 8hours a week? why did you not continue through college?
-Worked at a camp as an office administrator it was an 8-5 gig 5 days a week What did you learn here? what kind of camp?
-Did a summer research internship at a hospital. Got patient contact there did 16 hours a week for the summer how come it's not continued?
-Also an academic peer advisor (TA for new students, mentor for those on academic probation) Did this result in anyone getting better grades, etc?
-Part of Phi Delta Epsilon (premedical fraternity- I have done volunteer work through them: relay for life, volunteered at hospitals, soup kitchens, child care centers) Be sure to talk about these experiences. Is there room for growth for you? Can you take a leadership position?
-Also a research assistant in a psych lab dealing with schizophrenia- recruiting participants, will start interviewing by the time any potential interviews for med schools come up. Will you help write the paper, be published?
-Going to start shadowing a pediatric oncologist will do about 3.5 hours a week for 10 weeks so about 35-40 hours Try to get other shadowing experiences too

FUTURE SUMMER PLANS

-Have an internship in a nursing department at a hospital for 4 weeks. 9-5 routine. Hoping to gain more patient interaction What else will you learn from this?
-Planning to shadow another doctor as well

I think what worries me the most is my lack of clinical ECs sounds like you have enough

My Science GPA Is a 3.7 hoping to bring it to a 3.74 at the end of this semester. My cumulative is 3.76 good
I haven't take the MCAT yet but I am taking it in June. Assuming I get atleast a 30, what are my chances of getting in this cycle with my ECs? numbers wise good (if you get a 30), but also depends on your PS and LORs and a variety of other factors

Thanks in advance!

See bold.

 

[grad2014]

Thank you got replying!

As for most of the things I haven't continued, it is because they were programs that lasted only a certain amount of time. mostly summer gigs.

The hospital I volunteered at was back at home during high school and when I went to college, I moved away and ended up doing other stuff over the summers which is why I didn't go back to the volunteering.

As for the pharmacy, I started there in high school, my senior year and then after that as I mentioned, I went back to college so during college summer and winter breaks I worked there for extra cash. I wasn't there on a regular day-to-day basis so it was hard to get promoted like that.

The camp was for young kids on summer vacation. Had a lot of interaction with kids and also with their parents, alongside dealing with higher up admin jobs as well.

Unfortunately, I do not think I will be published for my research work. It is a very large project with about 9-10 research assistants (which is what I am), along with a PI and people in between which makes it hard for the RAs to get published.

As for the mentoring, my mentee had a cGPA of 2.09 when I met with her. Her term GPA for the semester I worked with her was a 3.1 so I would say she is a decent increase.

I plan on doing more shadowing over the summer, but it will probably be after my apps are sent out, is that ok?

Thank you so much for all the questions! It really helps me gauge where I am. Feel free to ask more so I know what to expect and know where I should improve!

 

[Goobs]

Just a heads up, the AMCAS asks you to pick three things as your most meaningful experiences and delve into them deeper via a short essay. Which three things do you feel really define who you are and had the deepest impact on your life? If you can identify these three I'd recommend trying to get more involved in them while you still can. Although nothing strikes me as amazing, you seem to have a broad array of experiences, and I think you should get in somewhere as long as you apply broadly and smartly (not just the west and east coast, not top heavy). Personally I feel like you need to add some time volunteering in the hospital because high school experiences don't really count, an increased role in your research project (which you stated is incoming so thats great), and some leadership type of role in your fraternity. I don't feel like the number of hours you spent shadowing is very important since shadowing is just to make sure you semi-know what you're getting yourself into. PM me if you have any specific questions for me since I don't frequent the WAMC section too frequently, otherwise just post here and I'm sure someone will get back to you.