Help! What else can I do?

Hello All! 🙂

Long time reader, first time poster, here.

Here's my story: I graudated high school at the top of my class and had a very difficult time adjusting to college life for a number of reasons I feel I hav ebeen working very hard to fix. I started out as a bio major, but switched to Medical Technology (as a major, wihtout going through with the certification and everything. since i have no intention of actually practicing as one, i don't want to compete and take someone else's spot who is actually working towards making this a career.) The reason for my switch was because I wanted to actually learn practical things before going on to med school - to at least see what they do as lab personells. I had a strong idea of what nurses did and the curriculum, etc. I did alot of health related things in high school - including spending a semester at a hospital for half the day.

My over all gpa is a 3.5, but my bmsp is 3.0. i haven't taken the mcat yet, but from my practices, I am confident I can get between 30-34.

ECs: Volunteer at two different hospitals - cancer patients and disabled children. United Way activities on the weekends. Also, summer camp counselor - I volunteer a week to do this, no pay. No research so far, but I am working on it really hard this summer. I've shadowed plenty - DO's and MD's in different settings - ER, family practice, OR, OBGYN, Psychiatric, Pediatrics currently. I've worked through out my college career and currently work as a lab assistant at a children's hospital.


What should I do? I certianly need to pursue a master's program/degree to improve my science GPA.



What should I do knowledgable people of SDN?

Thank you all in advance.

Moving to the "What Are My Chances?" forum. 🙂

I think programs like the Georgetown SMP would be highly beneficial to an applicant in your position. You need to take the MCAT first, though. What year are you in college?

You also don't really indicate how long you've been volunteering or doing your other activities: hopefully they have been for more than a couple months. Get some research experience to round your application out and pull those grades up. You should be fine.

Oh, yeah.

Well, I've been at the cancer institue for 2 years, the summer camps since 06. It's every summer. I've been doing the disabled children's camp/winter activities since 05. It's on and off, but that's how the program works.

I should be graduating in May, but I guess i'll be around for 1 year longer. The medtech major is 2 yrs pre-professional and 2 years professional. It should be 1.5 years professional for me since I won't be doing their clinical rotation, but I am going to use that winter semester to take the available research opportunity.

Thank you for responding.

Ok you should definitely take a real MCAT asap. If you are able to achieve 30+ as you claim. Try out for one of the SMP programs, they practically only look at your MCAT if you at least have a 3.0-3.3 gpa. Improve your gpa there should help you into a MD with little problem.

If you really want to go into DO, as long as you have a 27+ MCAT (safe side), even with your gpa now, you may still have a shot. Btw, I think some DO offers programs similar to SMP too. Check them out.

Its good that you have many experiences, but make sure you're not spreading yourself too thin. You want to have a good and personalize LoR from physicians you've shadowed.

With that GPA and a 27+ MCAT there is def. more than a shot for DO.

to increase your gpa, the only way to do that is by taking upper division biology/science classes. that is the only way to increase your gpa. masters will not work because they calculate undergraduate and graduate gpa separately.

smp may be the way to go, but keep in mind if you don't do well, your chances of getting into medical school decreases dramatically. it's better to stay another semester and try to increase your science gpa. in general, two years of doing well in upper division biology classes is the best way to show that your a serious student. admissions committee do look at the trends of gpa.

with your current stats, you definitely have a good chance of getting into a DO school.

regarding the MCAT, take it when you're ready. if you feel you're day now, then go for asap. if you're not ready now, don't rush it. you'll only hurt yourself. good luck!

Overall, just work on your GPA and keep doing ECs! My best advice is to pick ECs that you'll enjoy, instead of just because they would look good on med school apps.

If you live in the North Eastern USA, a great air-evac company has an observer program. If you are interested in learning more, check out their site: http://statmedevac.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19&It emid=69

You go for 10 hour shifts, and they are very great about having people come back if they're interested. It was a wonderful experience, and I'm going back this Friday. 🙂 Can't wait!

Anyhow, my point is that there are so many interesting things you can do to develop yourself as a person and your medical school applications. 👍

Hope I was able to help..

[EDIT: just realized that half of that appears to have been written by a third grader. I just finished a shift on the ambulance, so I'm dead tired 🙁]