Am I fooling myself?

[IrishRogue08]

Hi everyone! I'm trying to find out if my background is good enough to give me a decent shot at medical school, if I get >30 on the MCAT.

I'm a non-trad applicant (24) hoping to start school in Fall of 2012. I graduated from University of Notre Dame in 2008 with a Batchelors in Biological Sciences, 3.1 science, 3.5 overall GPA. I've taken all pre-requesite courses for medical school (microbio, biochem, development, etc) and I have 2 years of undergraduate research. I was in REU at Notre Dame summer of 2007, but my name hasn't gotten on any papers yet.

When I graduated I went to work for almost 2 years at a pre-clinical research facility and worked with animals on pre-clinical drug trials. While there I took courses at University of Wisconsin-Madison for certification in clinical research (4.0 gpa for 9 grad level credits). I'm now at University of Florida working on clinical research trials involving HIV patients. I plan to start volunteering after work when I take the MCAT, but not sure where as I can't volunteer at the hospital I work at (something about legal implications and so forth, silly human resources). I have some other odds and ends but I don't want to bore you all if they aren't relevant so feel free to ask and I'll repost

I'm taking the MCAT on April 16th and between working full time and studying, I'm starting to wonder if I'm fooling myself thinking I have a viable chance to get into medical school. Based on my background, do I have something better than a snowball's chance in hell?

Thank you in advance!

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[Catalystik]

In regards to your GPA: if you were not a grad degree candidate when you took the research classes, they would be considered "Postbac", entered on their own line, but then calculated in with your other undergrad grades. What impact does this have on your science GPA?

In regards to your ECs, they are weak for a med school application, except for the research. The average applicant has about 1.5 years of clinical experience. Most gain this at the rate of 3-4 hours weekly by volunteering to help care for sick people somewhere (nursing home, hospital, clinic, hospice, etc.). Average shadowing is 50ish hours split among a few types of doc, including primary care. This does not need to be a regular activity and could be acquired intermittently. Nonmedical community service is another activity that gives strength to an application. I'd also get that going as soon as you can, even if only 2 hours weekly, ideally for a cause that you care about; something that serves the poor is a good idea, though other volunteerism is OK. A year of research is about average, so you're in great shape there. Besides these, leadership and teaching activities benefit you, too. If you aggressively get all these things going, you'd be in reasonable shape to apply summer 2012. Hobbies, sports, artistic endeavors should also be listed.

As you should, IMO, wait another year so that you have close to the usual and customary ECs, you'd have time to establish state residency in Florida (a great state for a med school applicants), more time to study for the MCAT since a strong score would be essential for a shot at MD schools, and time to take more upper-level Bio classes to raise your low science GPA further and show a reassurring upward grade trend. You'll need those classes to get your two recent science faculty letters. Once nonscience and a PI letter are also often requested.

 

[IrishRogue08]

Thank you for the response!

I was not a grad candidate when I took the courses at UW-Madison but they were grad level courses. I recalculated my science GPA as you suggested with those credits and yes, it did help boost my overall science GPA to about a 3.4 (hooray!)

Thank you also for the advice regarding the ECs. Sadly my job has apparently hamstrung me a bit as I work with one of the largest hospitals in the area but I can't volunteer there (silly OSHA). But I'll get to work right away on both seeing if I can get a chance for more patient interaction at our research clinic and if I can shadow more doctors when my job doesn't require me.

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to me!

 

[aSagacious]

As you should, IMO, wait another year so that you have close to the usual and customary ECs, you'd have time to establish state residency in Florida (a great state for a med school applicants), more time to study for the MCAT since a strong score would be essential for a shot at MD schools, and time to take more upper-level Bio classes to raise your low science GPA further and show a reassurring upward grade trend. You'll need those classes to get your two recent science faculty letters.

+1

To Do List:
- One more year of undergraduate upper-level science classes
- Non-medical ECs + shadowing
- Kill the MCAT (33+)