I think it's important to have other clinical experience besides just shadowing your dad. It's great that he has given you so much insight into working with patients, but the problem is that you can't exactly ask your dad to write you a letter of recommendation for medical school, you know? Plus, I don't get the impression from your post that he's actually a physician. You probably need to spend some time shadowing an MD or a DO. Don't stop working with your dad if you're getting a lot out of it, but shadow a physician too. And definitely do mention working with your dad on your AMCAS activities if it has been significant to you.
You need to do the same things as everyone else who applies to medical school. Basically, you should complete the four pre-requisite courses (one year each of biology, general chemistry, organic chemistry, and physics with lab) if you haven't already. Some schools will also want you to have other classes like calculus, English, or biochemistry, so check in the MSAR for the requirements of the schools where you plan to apply. Once you are done with the pre-requisite courses, you should prepare for and take the MCAT. (Most people take 2-3 months, but take as much or as little time as you need.) As a nurse, you will obviously have a very strong clinical background, but you will need to have a very good answer to the question of why you want to switch to medicine. Also, if you haven't already, you should go down to the Nontraditional Students forum and look through some of the threads there.
This post is actually asking several questions, so I'm going to try to tease them apart and address them individually.
Again, getting letters from people who barely know you is not very helpful. You really need to ask people who know you well enough to specifically comment on your strengths as a candidate for medical school.
Most schools will allow you to submit up to three optional letters, for a total of six letters. Double check with the schools where you are applying, but as far as I know, you should have no problem submitting all five of the letters (the three required ones plus the one from the Fulbright director and the one from the physician).
Applying earlier is definitely better than applying later, but I don't know how much difference it will make to you as a reapplicant unless you have also improved your application in some significant way. Particularly if you are reapplying to the same schools from last year, they will be looking for you to have done something to strengthen your application.
Probably one bad grade won't affect your GPA too much if the rest of your record is strong. I think that the interpretation will depend on the individual school and also on exactly how poor your biochemistry grade is. Some schools require biochemistry as a pre-requisite, while other schools merely recommend it or consider it to be optional. Check with the schools where you are applying for more information.
I'm a little confused by your time-table. The last date to sit for the MCAT in 2007 is September 8 (or September 15 if you are Canadian). There are NO test dates available in October, November, or December. The link to the AAMC test dates can be found on their website: http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/datesdeadlines.pdf
Well, if you can't have straight As all four years, it's probably better to start out lower and then get As a senior, versus starting out well as a freshman and then doing poorly. It seems fairly common for people to need some time to get adjusted to college and mature enough to do well in school, and I think that most adcomms take upward GPA trends into consideration. Again, though, how the adcomms will view your low general chemistry grade depends on that particular adcomm and on the strength of the rest of your academic record.
1) I'm sorry, but I think a 2.7 GPA will be a red flag to any adcomm no matter where you went to school. You are probably going to need to do some damage control (a post-bacc program or maybe a SMP) to get your GPA up into an acceptable range before you apply.
Just submit them all as quickly as you can. A lot of schools are interviewing people by September and start accepting people by October, so you're going to be a little behind if you're just getting around to submitting your secondary in September.
I would just apply and not retake the MCAT if I were you. Your stats are pretty average for medical school matriculants, and it sounds like you have a good spread of schools. Good luck.
Your GPA is not bad, but your MCAT is below average for matriculants to allopathic schools. I think it's good that you're retaking it. As for the timing, it's a tough call. You've already spent the money for your primaries, but you're going to be a very late applicant if you don't get new scores until September and then you take another month or two to get your secondaries done. I think if you decide to continue on, you should go ahead and start filling out the secondaries now so that you are ready to submit them to the schools the same day that you receive them. If you get all of your secondaries done in September, you'll still be kind of late (see my above post). But since you've already submitted your primary, it might be worth it in your case though so that you don't lose the money you spent on AMCAS. Good luck.
We can't answer this question for you. I suggest that you obtain a copy of the MSAR and schedule a visit to your premedical advisor for help.
You're talking about a fairly small rise in GPA from 3.3 to 3.4; I don't really know how significant that would be since you already have a couple of years of upward trend. Your MCAT is already at the average for allopathic matriculants, so I'm kind of loathe to suggest that you retake it. Most people don't go up 4+ points when they retake. I think you should make an appointment with your premedical advisor for help; we really can't answer this question.
An adcomm has a variety of people on it, and its composition might differ a bit depending on the school. At my school, there is a mixture of physicians, researchers, and medical students along with some of the admissions staff like the Dean of Admissions. The interviewers here are members of the adcomm and will present the interviewee's file to the rest of the committee before the whole committee votes.
1) My advice is to submit your AMCAS as early as you possibly can.
Sorry, but we can't answer SMP versus post-bacc questions. Contact your premed advisor for advice about this.
Sorry, we don't know about this one either. You should discuss it with your premedical advisor.
Sorry, we can't answer WAMC questions. See the WAMC thread and your premedical advisor for more help.
If you're asking whether you need to have certain ECs to impress the adcomm, the answer is no. Many successful applicants do not do research or save babies in third world countries while in college. All aspects of your application are important, including how you come across and how you comport yourself at your interview.
I am a junior at the University of North Florida and just became a double major in biology and psychology, hoping to become a neuropsychiatrist or a psychiatrist. In my opinion, biology and psychology are intertwined and I think that I can learn more about psychology by taking biology and vice versa. I have contacted medical schools since my freshman year of college to ask questions about medical school in general. However, my GPA is not so good. Since I had to take general education courses for my first two years of college, I ended up getting a low GPA
(2.60). Also, my sophomore year was a confusing and horrible year for me and it affected my GPA. However, I have volunteered at a hospital since the spring semester of my junior year and love it. Also, I had to get a part-time job to pay bills. I am not interested in doing any research whatsoever. I am going to retake the science courses that I have received C's in and hoping that it will have some sort of affect on my GPA. Is retaking some classes going to help or hinder my GPA? Does the admissions committee look down upon applicants that do not have any research experience. Is there anything else that I should do to impress the medical school admissions committee? I really would like some positive feedback!!
