I'm planning to apply to the various Texas medical schools in the summer of 2013. Right now I have a 33 mcat (11/11/11P) and a 3.68 GPA with a BS in Physics and a Music Minor (also 2 yrs of chinese and 1 yr of Arabic). My GPA is low but I think that having 167 credits and always taking 18-20 hrs/semester should help to balance that. My question is, how/what can I do to strengthen my application over the next 9 months? My concerns are
Volunteer Hours - I've been teaching sunday school/ushering at my church for years now and I spend at least 2 hrs every sunday helping out and usually 3 hrs each Wednesday but I'm not sure how much that will count for. I also have been involved in a lot of service projects with the Boy Scouts - particularly in High School. Additionally, I've tutored a lot of church/neighborhood kids who were struggling in their classes. What I don't have is medically related volunteer hours and "official" volunteer hours. Do I need to get some volunteer time in a clinic as well?
Shadowing - I've never shadowed a doctor until very recently. Now I'm getting in about 4 hours a week. Should I just keep shadowing at every chance I get?
Research - I've been doing research since before my freshmen year of college (I was in a special research program for high school graduates) and I have several professors that will write excellent letters of recomendation for me but none of my research is medically relavent. I worked on a Rail Gun, designed and assembled a micro satelite instrument, and worked on a UAV project for a while, but I never published anything. Will non-medically relavent research count on my application?
I don't really want to be one of those guys who just trys to build the perfect medical school application. I'm shadowing a doctor because I want to know more about medicine. But, with that said, I also want to make sure that my application is solid and since I'm really hoping to get into a good school (Baylor or UTSW would be nice), I want to try and fill in any "holes" in my application while I have the time to do so.
Volunteer Hours - I've been teaching sunday school/ushering at my church for years now and I spend at least 2 hrs every sunday helping out and usually 3 hrs each Wednesday but I'm not sure how much that will count for. I also have been involved in a lot of service projects with the Boy Scouts - particularly in High School. Additionally, I've tutored a lot of church/neighborhood kids who were struggling in their classes. What I don't have is medically related volunteer hours and "official" volunteer hours. Do I need to get some volunteer time in a clinic as well?
Shadowing - I've never shadowed a doctor until very recently. Now I'm getting in about 4 hours a week. Should I just keep shadowing at every chance I get?
Research - I've been doing research since before my freshmen year of college (I was in a special research program for high school graduates) and I have several professors that will write excellent letters of recomendation for me but none of my research is medically relavent. I worked on a Rail Gun, designed and assembled a micro satelite instrument, and worked on a UAV project for a while, but I never published anything. Will non-medically relavent research count on my application?
I don't really want to be one of those guys who just trys to build the perfect medical school application. I'm shadowing a doctor because I want to know more about medicine. But, with that said, I also want to make sure that my application is solid and since I'm really hoping to get into a good school (Baylor or UTSW would be nice), I want to try and fill in any "holes" in my application while I have the time to do so.