3rd year prepharm in CA?

[amam]

Hi! So I'm going to be a 3rd year at UC as a biology major. I would like to get some advice or feedback on my chances of getting into medical schools like UCLA, UCD, UCI, UCSD, UCR (yeah, basically the UC's) despite not having any experience with physicians.

I know I should try to get experience with physicians over the next two years, which I will try. What I am asking is what my chances are if I simply maintained my experiences like this, and didn't happen to have any shadowing/working with physicians. Thank you for any responses!

- am Mexican and speak, read, write Spanish well
-cGPA: 3.80 scienceGPA: 3.81
-haven't taken MCAT
- no Physician shadowing
-Research in a botany lab for over a year, and had a successful project that I presented at a symposium (I work on organic chem/small molecule synthesis within the lab)
-on exec board of prepharm club; official undergraduate representative of both the college of science and the entire university
-Employment: I help teach biology and chemistry to first year students in a classroom setting (about 24 students), work in the lab, and am working at Kaiser Permanente in a pharmacy setting in a program designed to expose students to working in various pharmacy settings (outpatient, inpatient, ambulatory care, etc.)

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Throwaway692015]

You have a great gpa congrats! If you do good on the mcat I think you could have a great shot at UCR and even the other UC's. I think adding some hospital or other clinical volunteering would benefit your app too. Keep in mind though 2/3 of Californians end up leaving California for med school, so be prepared to leave CA for med school and maybe even residencies. The UC's are kind of crapshoots and challenging to get into. Your Spanish fluency will be appreciated by Davis, ucr and ucla especially though.

 

[amam]

You have a great gpa congrats! If you do good on the mcat I think you could have a great shot at UCR and even the other UC's. I think adding some hospital or other clinical volunteering would benefit your app too. Keep in mind though 2/3 of Californians end up leaving California for med school, so be prepared to leave CA for med school and maybe even residencies. The UC's are kind of crapshoots and challenging to get into. Your Spanish fluency will be appreciated by Davis, ucr and ucla especially though.

Thanks! Yeah, I'm looking to get other clinical/hospital experience, and I'll consider looking into out of state schools. And with affirmative action still unofficially in place, I'm assuming my heritage will help as well. Thanks again!

 

[amam]

Bump. I'd like to hear from more people!

 

[SmurfingReviews]

I think you need to take MCAT for us to tell you anything. One thing that you may also want to think about is why medicine given that you were in the pre-pharm track and have experiences with working in pharmacy setting. Your gpa looks good and speaking spanish is also a plus. But as I mentioned before you gotta have your mcat for anyone to make a comment.

 

[amam]

I think you need to take MCAT for us to tell you anything. One thing that you may also want to think about is why medicine given that you were in the pre-pharm track and have experiences with working in pharmacy setting. Your gpa looks good and speaking spanish is also a plus. But as I mentioned before you gotta have your mcat for anyone to make a comment.

I still haven't decided between the two, since I have 2 more years. I'm just considering the current job market for pharmacists. So what you're saying is that, given my current stats/ECs, my MCAT is the deciding factor which schools to apply to? My current ECs won't hold me back, since I have no experience so far with physicians? Thanks!

 

[SmurfingReviews]

I think it would be good idea to have experience with patient interaction. Especially if you are considering to go into field of medicine. Having said that I am not sure whether you had any interaction with patients at KP (whether you deal with patient consulting/education etc. I have no clue) but if you have not please find something that would provide you with experience where you are able to work with patients. I feel like shadowing physicians can go 50/50 and leaning a bit towards viewed as meh in adcom. I know at least one adcom member saying that while shadowing physician will give you what a typical day a physician has for X specialty, it doesn't really give you much insight into medicine unless you actually work with patients. But others may disagree that shadowing is enough - I personally don't know, I did both working with patients in clinical trials and also shadow physicians.

So does your EC and stats look good enough?

No it's not. Your EC have qualities that shows some leadership but seems somewhat generic. Your GPA is great, but I don't know if that is general biology, which I think is easier than other majors - no offense. However, given that you are junior you still have time to volunteer at hospital, hospice, or being a translator for undeserved/underprivileged population in your area as a volunteer for people who cannot speak English to get those experiences. Also as stated before MCAT is a huge factor, but seeing that you identify yourself as Mexican, which I believe falls under URM may be to your advantage down the road as long as you are actively representing that group.

Hope that helps.

 

[amam]

I think it would be good idea to have experience with patient interaction. Especially if you are considering to go into field of medicine. Having said that I am not sure whether you had any interaction with patients at KP (whether you deal with patient consulting/education etc. I have no clue) but if you have not please find something that would provide you with experience where you are able to work with patients. I feel like shadowing physicians can go 50/50 and leaning a bit towards viewed as meh in adcom. I know at least one adcom member saying that while shadowing physician will give you what a typical day a physician has for X specialty, it doesn't really give you much insight into medicine unless you actually work with patients. But others may disagree that shadowing is enough - I personally don't know, I did both working with patients in clinical trials and also shadow physicians.

So does your EC and stats look good enough?

No it's not. Your EC have qualities that shows some leadership but seems somewhat generic. Your GPA is great, but I don't know if that is general biology, which I think is easier than other majors - no offense. However, given that you are junior you still have time to volunteer at hospital, hospice, or being a translator for undeserved/underprivileged population in your area as a volunteer for people who cannot speak English to get those experiences. Also as stated before MCAT is a huge factor, but seeing that you identify yourself as Mexican, which I believe falls under URM may be to your advantage down the road as long as you are actively representing that group.

Hope that helps.

I have daily interactions with patients in the outpatient setting (inpatient/within the hospital next year). I speak Spanish to patients when some of the other assistants or techs can't speak Spanish. It is general biology, but how many adcoms will look down upon a 3.8GPA in biology, will they actually value it less? Also, with my ECs, I have shown that I have the ability to problem solve and overcome barriers through my research project, show that I am a professional, a leader, and ideal student as an official rep of the college and university, and show that I can translate complex information to freshmen through my teaching position. So problem solving, overcoming barriers, professional, leader, ability to translate complex info is not enough (isn't that what med schools are looking for)? I have some limited volunteer experience/giving back to the community and underprivileged through my pharmacy club, so I suppose that's the big thing missing besides MCAT and real experience with physicians.

 

[SmurfingReviews]

It seems like you already have your own opinion about this. Just giving my thoughts.

Best of luck.

 

[amam]

It seems like you already have your own opinion about this. Just giving my thoughts.

Best of luck.

I'm sorry if I'm seeming defensive, I just would like some clarification as to my ECs being generic. Thanks for all the input!