What can I improve?

[Turkishking]

Current GPA: 3.91c and 3.85s

After this fall: 3.96c and 3.91s

About to enter sophomore year.

-200 hours of clinical volunteering
- 1 year agreement with Big Brothers/Sisters
- Meals on wheels (next summer)
- President of a club
-Habitat for Humanity (next summer)
-I start volunteering at the nursing home soon
-Bio TA for the spring
-Hospital volunteer orientation leader
-No research
-No shadowing

What areas can I improve in? How many shadowing hours is ideal? And would it be late if I started research junior year?

My hobbies include playing Sudoku and reading

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[piii]

You've posted like three posts like this over the course of your freshman year. I think you should get off SDN, that'd be a huge improvement.

 

[Turkishking]

You've posted like three posts like this over the course of your freshman year. I think you should get off SDN, that'd be a huge improvement.

Probably

 

[theonlytycrane]

rush a frat and do a kegstand

 

[FutureOncologist]

Have fun? Join something that's completely unrelated to medicine. College isn't JUST about a stepping stone to becoming a doctor.

• Join a fraternity. Doesn't have to be part of the IFC (with the [huge] houses on campus and absolutely no hazing whatsoever.) One of the best and worst decisions I've ever made...
• Play a sport, like Rugby. Damn that'll make you a man. BONUS: invite a girl from class to a game and show off how hard you can tackle and make a 250-pound man cry
• Make friends that will be your drinking buddies for the rest of your life. They don't have to be premed. You'll need a support system like that through life, medical school, residency, marriage, (hopefully not) divorce, and so on.
• Take up a hobby you'd never think of doing when you came to college. I joined a gaming group that met 2x a week and we played board games til 3 a.m. Most of them are actually my drinking buddies now

 

[DingoPingo]

your credit rating

 

[stitch_rose]

Seriously, relax. Go have some fun. It seems like you already know what you need to do (i.e. shadowing and research). Unless you're planning on applying to MD/PhD programs or you're really interested in research, doing some junior/senior year should be fine.

 

[Gibbward]

You can improve by relaxing, having some fun, making friends, and stopping the constant 24/7 pre-med stressing you seem to do based on all your posts.

Seriously dude. I'm hoping you really are a chill person in real life and you post on SDN just to let out your anxieties or something. Nevertheless, the sooner you can stop caring about being the perfect applicant, the better of youll be.

 

[MoDiddy]

CHILL. GET GRADE & GET LAID ITS THAT EZ

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

• Do at least a summer's worth of research.
• Shadow for about 40 hours.
• Get a new avatar.
• Relax

 

[Turkishking]

• Do at least a summer's worth of research.
• Shadow for about 40 hours.
• Get a new avatar.
• Relax

Is 100 hours of shadowing excessive?

 

[Frogger27]

Is 100 hours of shadowing excessive?

Go get a prescription of xanax is the first thing you should do

 

[freak7]

Is 100 hours of shadowing excessive?

Yes

 

[freak7]

• Do at least a summer's worth of research.
• Shadow for about 40 hours.
• Get a new avatar.
• Relax

That avatar always makes me assume he's a troll even though he hasn't done anything wrong.

 

[redsox93]

Current GPA: 3.91c and 3.85s

My hobbies include playing Sudoku and reading and asking pointless questions on SDN

FTFY

 

[Turkishking]

Well. I have fun by playing video games when I have nothing to do. Wouldn't that be detrimental to my application if I listed that?

 

[Frogger27]

Well. I have fun by playing video games when I have nothing to do. Wouldn't that be detrimental to my application if I listed that?

find a better hobby

 

[7331poas]

if you shadow for more than 50 hours I question how much you value your own time

 

[nm06003]

If you want a publication by the time you graduate I would say start research sophomore year. Sometimes it takes a while for a project to get finished and submitted to a journal. I would also recommend joining a research team that publishes a lot (clinical and retrospective research - wet lab takes forever, unless you're interested in the field then do it). And dude, relax on all the other activities. You can start shadowing Junior year.

 

[Turkishking]

if you shadow for more than 50 hours I question how much you value your own time

So shadowing 5 doctors for 20 hours would be pointless? I would get exposed to many specialities.

 

[theonlytycrane]

This guy is trolling so hard

 

[Turkishking]

This guy is trolling so hard

? But I'm not. I wanted advice in which areas I could improve in and I guess "relaxing" or "having fun" were the answers. I don't really care about that. I want to be serious and accomplish the things I set out.

 

[DrChef94]

If you don't take any time to relax and take care of yourself, you're going to crash and burn eventually.

Med schools love a well-rounded applicant, so it would actually benefit your application to have some hobbies or interests that aren't related to medicine. Go join a club that you're interested or try out intramural sports. Get 40-50 hours shadowing, start researching the summer after your Sophomore year, and keep up your GPA.

 

[NotASerialKiller]

So shadowing 5 doctors for 20 hours would be pointless? I would get exposed to many specialities.

No, if you want to do that then absolutely do that. The person who said that too many shadowing hours would look bad is being very silly. If everything else is going well (grades, volunteering, ECs, etc.) and you want to see more of certain specialties then do as much as you want as long as you know that 300 hours isn't going to make your application better than 50 hours.

 

[LizzyM]

Your hobbies are solitary pursuits... get out and do something fun with a group or at least with a partner. (that sounds dirty but I don't mean it to.)

Seriously, start some research in sophomore year and find a fun activity with a group of like minded people.

 

[Goro]

No, the Turk is quite for real.

This guy is trolling so hard

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

This guy is trolling so hard

Nah, he's just being himself.

@Goro beat me to it lol

 

[WedgeDawg]

Hobbies aren't there so you can list them on your app. They exist so you have something fun to pursue when you have time.

If you want to do something fun that will still benefit you in med school, get really good at beer pong.

 

[freak7]

No, if you want to do that then absolutely do that. The person who said that too many shadowing hours would look bad is being very silly. If everything else is going well (grades, volunteering, ECs, etc.) and you want to see more of certain specialties then do as much as you want as long as you know that 300 hours isn't going to make your application better than 50 hours.

TBF, I just said that it was excessive. I never said bad.

 

[Turkishking]

Hobbies aren't there so you can list them on your app. They exist so you have something fun to pursue when you have time.

If you want to do something fun that will still benefit you in med school, get really good at beer pong.

.

 

[redsox93]

The only hobbie I have is playing video games... I would be playing in league tournaments but I got permabanned. I could have found a way to make that work but it's not happening.

Leave your dorm room and join a club. And not AMSA or PhiDE, join a club that you can make non premed friends in. At my school I'm pretty sure we even had a video game club. Actually honestly do whatever you want, but I guarantee you'll be happier and have a better college experience by going outside of doing everything you can to boost your application. You only college once.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

If you don't get some hobbies that involve some social component, you are going to come across as socially awkward come interview time. That doesn't look good, even with high stats.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Leave your dorm room and join a club. And not AMSA or PhiDE, join a club that you can make non premed friends in. At my school I'm pretty sure we even had a video game club. Actually honestly do whatever you want, but I guarantee you'll be happier and have a better college experience by going outside of doing everything you can to boost your application. You only college once.

Or a frat

Or an IM sports team

Or just hang out in places where other people hang out

Do something that makes you uncomfortable (not morally uncomfortable obviously)

 

[Gibbward]

The only hobbie I have is playing video games... I would be playing in league tournaments but I got permabanned. I could have found a way to make that work but it's not happening.

You got banned? Did you not play nice or something? If that was the case, you should def try doing something that's more social. No one wants an anti-social, uptight, kill joy classmate, colleague, and mentee.

 

[freak7]

No one wants an anti-social, uptight, kill joy classmate, colleague, and mentee.

Being all these things at once still isn't enough to get close to a permaban in that community. Must've been some pretty poor behavior.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Like seriously what do you just enjoy doing most? Not necessarily scholastic or not, just generally?

For me its grabbing a beer with some close friends and just talking about stupid non school stuff. But obviously that's not for everyone.

I had a good friend who just loved being in the hospital. It made her happier than video games, drinking/partying, or anywhere in between. So she went and got a job at the local hospital as an ER tech. Her version of going to the bar was spending Saturday night in the ER.

Given how you talk on here I bet you'd like being an EMT or something. You don't need to do it (whatever you do) because it's resume padding, do it because you actually like it lol.

 

[nebuchadnezzar90]

The only hobbie I have is playing video games... I would be playing in league tournaments but I got permabanned. I could have found a way to make that work but it's not happening.

Damn lol, you have to be pretty toxic to get banned or cheat I guess.

 

[HopefulPhysician]

CHILL. GET GRADE & GET LAID ITS THAT EZ

I concur

 

[Avicenna]

Don't listen to these people turkishking. They're trying to cut down the competition by getting you to lose your focus; everyone's intimidated by your stats. I think you should double down on shadowing, research more, find a leadership position and shoot for a 4.0 gpa next semester.

 

[Turkishking]

Like seriously what do you just enjoy doing most? Not necessarily scholastic or not, just generally?

For me its grabbing a beer with some close friends and just talking about stupid non school stuff. But obviously that's not for everyone.

I had a good friend who just loved being in the hospital. It made her happier than video games, drinking/partying, or anywhere in between. So she went and got a job at the local hospital as an ER tech. Her version of going to the bar was spending Saturday night in the ER.

Given how you talk on here I bet you'd like being an EMT or something. You don't need to do it (whatever you do) because it's resume padding, do it because you actually like it lol.

I enjoy studying.. When I'm not studying it's EC's. If it's the summer EC's during the day and gaming mostly all night . But the EMT sounds pretty fun, and I will look into it.

 

[Turkishking]

Don't listen to these people turkishking. They're trying to cut down the competition by getting you to lose your focus; everyone's intimidated by your stats. I think you should double down on shadowing, research more, find a leadership position and shoot for a 4.0 gpa next semester.

I think I can gain a couple of leadership positions this school year.

 

[chunkywombat]

The only hobbie I have is playing video games... I would be playing in league tournaments but I got permabanned. I could have found a way to make that work but it's not happening.

All I'm going to say is that to get permabanned from a MOBA community you have to be either hyper-toxic or you have to cheat. Neither is a great sign.

 

[Turkishking]

All I'm going to say is that to get permabanned from a MOBA community you have to be either hyper-toxic or you have to cheat. Neither is a great sign.

The point of this thread is to give me advice on what areas to improve on. I don't care about crappy RIOT. Riot is a joke anyway.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

The point of this thread is to give me advice on what areas to improve on. I don't care about crappy RIOT. Riot is a joke anyway.

Social skills is a good place to start.

 

[Turkishking]

Thanks for the insight

 

[tenblackalps]

Go do stuff that you wouldn't put on a resume. Read books, play sports, play an instrument, get a hobby, get a job (Okay, maybe that would go on a resume but I would still recommend! Having a customer service job in undergrad really strengthened my interpersonal skills and got me used to talking to people like you do in medicine), also I recommend getting in shape if you aren't already. I dropped 50 lbs halfway through college (I was overweight in high school and my weight steadily grew my first year and a half in college), and losing that weight did my confidence a world of good, besides academics it was probably the best thing I did for myself in college. Other stuff I can think of: learn to cook, learn a second language, learn to code. Also I ran a small eBay in business in undergrad and made about $5k over 2 years before I was shut down because I wasn't an "authorized dealer" of the merchandise I was dealing in -- I would make that money all over again in a heartbeat if I could. If you can source just one high-margin niche item in bulk at wholesale price (yes this does take a lot of investigation and even some interaction with overseas manufacturers) you can easily undercut the rest of the market for that item and make easy money. I sold a particular type of high-margin athletic clothing and made $30 net per item sold.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Don't listen to these people turkishking. They're trying to cut down the competition by getting you to lose your focus; everyone's intimidated by your stats. I think you should double down on shadowing, research more, find a leadership position and shoot for a 4.0 gpa next semester.

Many of the posters who gave advice are medical students or beyond and have nothing to gain by "getting [him] to lose focus"

so no

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

I enjoy studying.. When I'm not studying it's EC's. If it's the summer EC's during the day and gaming mostly all night . But the EMT sounds pretty fun, and I will look into it.

If you honestly enjoy studying that much, maybe take some classes pass/fail in a discipline that interests you? You could try to learn a foreign language like Spanish - that will actually be super helpful in the future (med school or ortherwise).

I would seriously recommend trying to find some kind of non-school outlet though. There will come a day where you can't just waltz your way into a 4.0, and when that happens it'll be helpful to have something else in your life to keep you sane.

 

[chunkywombat]

The point of this thread is to give me advice on what areas to improve on. I don't care about crappy RIOT. Riot is a joke anyway.

So you totally missed the point of my post. To get permanently banned from a video game community, either run by Riot or otherwise, requires bad behavior. For a lot of folks I'm sure they'd let this one go because video games aren't considered very serious or they don't understand how toxic you have to be to get such a ban. But I think it matters because it indicates either extreme immaturity, aberrant social skills, or a terrible and entitled attitude. And whatever your issue is, it wouldn't surprise me if it bled into other areas of your life outside of video games. I would be more surprised if it didn't bleed into your life elsewhere.

If I pair this knowledge with the stilted way you express yourself on SDN, I would say your biggest challenge to getting into medical school and beyond is probably going to be your social skills. People here are giving you plenty of good advice about getting hobbies and enjoying yourself outside of a premed grind and you're rejecting that line of thought. If you're setting your sights on high-end success, in any field, it's going to require more than perfect scores and a precisely curated selection of experiences.

 

[NotASerialKiller]

So you totally missed the point of my post. To get permanently banned from a video game community, either run by Riot or otherwise, requires bad behavior. For a lot of folks I'm sure they'd let this one go because video games aren't considered very serious or they don't understand how toxic you have to be to get such a ban. But I think it matters because it indicates either extreme immaturity, aberrant social skills, or a terrible and entitled attitude. And whatever your issue is, it wouldn't surprise me if it bled into other areas of your life outside of video games. I would be more surprised if it didn't bleed into your life elsewhere.

If I pair this knowledge with the stilted way you express yourself on SDN, I would say your biggest challenge to getting into medical school and beyond is probably going to be your social skills. People here are giving you plenty of good advice about getting hobbies and enjoying yourself outside of a premed grind and you're rejecting that line of thought. If you're setting your sights on high-end success, in any field, it's going to require more than perfect scores and a precisely curated selection of experiences.

This is very very very silly. You absolutely cannot draw any conclusions about a person based on what they typed in a video game's chat system. Perfectly normal people, just for the hell of it, join in on offensive/antagonistic/****talking behaviour when everything is anonymous and online, especially as teenagers which Turk probably was when that happened. It's not because each of them is sociopathic, it's because kids especially become cruel online and want the attention they get when they say things that would normally shock. I've seen kind, socially successful friends say ridiculously offensive and hateful things online for the amusement of shock value. That's just the bizarre anonymous culture of the internet.

I have no doubt that acting like a maniac in a video game correlates with nothing except the slight immaturity that is expected at that age.