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- Aug 10, 2004
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well I'm just starting the spring semester of my sophomore year. As I venture further into my college carreer, the choices I make are going to have even greater effects on how I fair in med school admissions. so basically, how am I doing? if there are any glaring holes in my activities so far, please say something.
academically I think I'm ok. by the end of this year I'll have taken 2 years of bio, 2 years of chem, and 1 year of physics. prereqs done. I'm a Cell/Molecular Bio and History double major. Right now my gpa is ~3.5, but after this year I won't be taking 3 sciences and maths all with labs all at the same time, so undoubtedly my gpa should go up a bit. And ive already been advised against double majoring etc, both here and elsewhere, but its what i want and having an avg gpa and a double major isnt the end of the world so that part is not up for debate. I'll be taking the MCAT this august (spending the summer studying a ton, among other activities to be mentioned later). Ive tested well in the past and have done well in my prereq classes, so i expect a competitive score.
extracurricular activities and volunteering is something i'm more worried about. there is less of a guideline as to what is expected here. for general activities, I am a member of a history honor society (get to go to a lot of interesting lectures), and a member of a national honor fraternity (scholarship chair this semester, probably more leadership later on, very involved. many many hours).
For volunteering, I havent done much so far. I spent almost all of my free time in high school volunteering, but once college started Ive neglected that area of my life. With school and some pretty serious family problems last year and now, I havent really had the free time. Last semester I volunteered (at most) 25 hours at a children's hospital. I felt my work there was meaningless, the place was overflowing with volunteers and all they had us doing was babysitting. I have a little sister, i dont need any more babysitting, so i wont be going back. I had really wanted that to work out, the hospital is so close to me it would have been great, but my time is better spent studying or in the lab than coloring with 2 other volunteers and one sick kid.
Research. Just started a few weeks before the end of last semester. Developmental genetics, pretty cool stuff. Im rather involved, have a lot of responsibility, and put in a lot of time. but i dont know about publications or anything yet, we shall see.
well thats me so far. this summer i'll be in the lab just about everyday, and the library studying for the mcat in august. I have some nice contacts (girlfriends mom runs a hospice program, uncle is a cardiologist with lost of dr friends, aunt works in a psych hospital, and im friends with a dean at a med school) so in addition i should be doing a good bit of shadowing this summer and probably some this semester too. I'll have lots of chances to do this, so im hoping that this sort of clinical experience will make up for the lack of volunteering (id like to volunteer, but with research and school, and other activities i just dont have the free time).
so again, any tips? missing something? sorry for writing so much.
academically I think I'm ok. by the end of this year I'll have taken 2 years of bio, 2 years of chem, and 1 year of physics. prereqs done. I'm a Cell/Molecular Bio and History double major. Right now my gpa is ~3.5, but after this year I won't be taking 3 sciences and maths all with labs all at the same time, so undoubtedly my gpa should go up a bit. And ive already been advised against double majoring etc, both here and elsewhere, but its what i want and having an avg gpa and a double major isnt the end of the world so that part is not up for debate. I'll be taking the MCAT this august (spending the summer studying a ton, among other activities to be mentioned later). Ive tested well in the past and have done well in my prereq classes, so i expect a competitive score.
extracurricular activities and volunteering is something i'm more worried about. there is less of a guideline as to what is expected here. for general activities, I am a member of a history honor society (get to go to a lot of interesting lectures), and a member of a national honor fraternity (scholarship chair this semester, probably more leadership later on, very involved. many many hours).
For volunteering, I havent done much so far. I spent almost all of my free time in high school volunteering, but once college started Ive neglected that area of my life. With school and some pretty serious family problems last year and now, I havent really had the free time. Last semester I volunteered (at most) 25 hours at a children's hospital. I felt my work there was meaningless, the place was overflowing with volunteers and all they had us doing was babysitting. I have a little sister, i dont need any more babysitting, so i wont be going back. I had really wanted that to work out, the hospital is so close to me it would have been great, but my time is better spent studying or in the lab than coloring with 2 other volunteers and one sick kid.
Research. Just started a few weeks before the end of last semester. Developmental genetics, pretty cool stuff. Im rather involved, have a lot of responsibility, and put in a lot of time. but i dont know about publications or anything yet, we shall see.
well thats me so far. this summer i'll be in the lab just about everyday, and the library studying for the mcat in august. I have some nice contacts (girlfriends mom runs a hospice program, uncle is a cardiologist with lost of dr friends, aunt works in a psych hospital, and im friends with a dean at a med school) so in addition i should be doing a good bit of shadowing this summer and probably some this semester too. I'll have lots of chances to do this, so im hoping that this sort of clinical experience will make up for the lack of volunteering (id like to volunteer, but with research and school, and other activities i just dont have the free time).
so again, any tips? missing something? sorry for writing so much.
