Take a 5th year, change priorities?

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HeronsBeak

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Hello,

I am currently a junior who has taken a long and oft changed path to pre med status. Starting as an engineering student, I inadvertantly got most of the prereqs out of the way but with an avg engineering gpa of a 3.1 and a sgpa of a 2.75. Now I have moved over to int'l studies major and am looking at possibly completing a bio major. I could graduate this coming summer with all prereqs done with just an international studies degree, but I don't really want to and my app would be really weak. My current cgpa is a 3.33 and a sgpa of 3.0, with no hospital volunteering, and minimal volunteering(~20hrs) with my pre med orgs, one of which I am a co-chair. If I maybe double that would be the extent of my app with a slightly higher gpa. Hence not graduating early, but I still have to apply with that. I am planning on a public health internship which would be about 400 hrs of clinical experience over the summer. However, I would like to study abroad as well, fall or spring it doesn't really matter, if I do study abroad I likely won't have a bio degree, probably shy about 10 credits, but having taken classes by then in physiology, epidemiology, parasitology, and immunology and hopefully raising my gpas. For reference I also have a 27 mcat.

This all brings me to my question: should I take a fifth year, finish the bio degree, apply during my fourth year instead of this summer with a better gpa, continue participation in orgs another year and probably tack on a few certificates just by sheer credit numbers(already have 110), or should I apply as is this summer and not finish bio? I would really like to study abroad, or at least do a summer program, which if I did the internship this summer I couldn't do. This is what sucks about becoming a premed late in college. Also, if I did graduate on time and didn't get in this coming cycle, would I be well served to do a MPH or not really?If I don't get in in the coming cycle, I would have to choose between a fifth year or a MPH, supposing I don't delay the application until two summers from now.

I realize this is a long and complicated question and I greatly appreciate anyone who took the time to read the whole thing. Thanks,

Trent

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Simple, take the 5th year and improve your stats.
 
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27 is on par with a lot of the DO schools. Work on raising your GPA. Take physio, biochem, neurobiology, and other UD classes and strive to get A's in them. Also, volunteer and maybe look into becoming a scribe. It is, hands down, the best clinical experience you will get.

If you can devote to doing that (becoming a scribe), not only will you be making money, but you will also get invaluable experience by essentially shadowing a physician every day. Where I work, we take this history, ROS, physical exam, write a detailed differential diagnosis, place some order (labs, imaging, medications), consultations, and discharge instructions.
 
Additionally, if I take a fifth year I will graduate with 4-5 degrees and three to four certificates: international studies, history of science, biology, medical microbio and immunology, and possibly an African language degree, as well as a global health certificate, global cultures certificate, and African language and politics certificate. Does having all these things really matter? If I graduate in four years I will probably have the international studies and bio degree as well as those three certificates.
 
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