Am I on track?/Any room for Improvement?

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Hi guys!

I'm just entering my sophomore year of college and was wondering what I needed to do to improve my med school app. I am a physics and biochemistry double major and my GPA right now is 4.00 but I expect it to be around 3.9ish when I end up applying. I currently volunteer at two places. One is at my local hospital where I have about 90 hours (I expect to have about 160 when I apply). I also volunteer at a non-profit that helps low-income children. I have about 30 hours so far and expect about 100 when I apply. I have just started shadowing as well and have about 15 hours done and expect to have around 80-100 when I apply. I have done 1 summer of undergrad research so far and will continue to do it probably through senior year. I expect to have 1 publication though I will not be first author. I also believe I will have 3 strong letters of recommendation.

Is there any way I could improve my app? I know the big thing I'm missing to accurately be judged is the MCAT but I won't be taking that for awhile.

Thanks for all the help guys! I really appreciate it!

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Hi guys!

I'm just entering my sophomore year of college and was wondering what I needed to do to improve my med school app. I am a physics and biochemistry double major and my GPA right now is 4.00 but I expect it to be around 3.9ish when I end up applying. I currently volunteer at two places. One is at my local hospital where I have about 90 hours (I expect to have about 160 when I apply). I also volunteer at a non-profit that helps low-income children. I have about 30 hours so far and expect about 100 when I apply. I have just started shadowing as well and have about 15 hours done and expect to have around 80-100 when I apply. I have done 1 summer of undergrad research so far and will continue to do it probably through senior year. I expect to have 1 publication though I will not be first author. I also believe I will have 3 strong letters of recommendation.

Is there any way I could improve my app? I know the big thing I'm missing to accurately be judged is the MCAT but I won't be taking that for awhile.

Thanks for all the help guys! I really appreciate it!
As I was reading your post I was wondering if you had an "expected" score for your mcat as well :laugh:

If you meet all these expectations and rock the mcat then you should have a solid app.
 
As I was reading your post I was wondering if you had an "expected" score for your mcat as well :laugh:

If you meet all these expectations and rock the mcat then you should have a solid app.
What MCAT score do you think I should aim for?
 
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Hi guys!

I'm just entering my sophomore year of college and was wondering what I needed to do to improve my med school app. I am a physics and biochemistry double major and my GPA right now is 4.00 but I expect it to be around 3.9ish when I end up applying. I currently volunteer at two places. One is at my local hospital where I have about 90 hours (I expect to have about 160 when I apply). I also volunteer at a non-profit that helps low-income children. I have about 30 hours so far and expect about 100 when I apply. I have just started shadowing as well and have about 15 hours done and expect to have around 80-100 when I apply. I have done 1 summer of undergrad research so far and will continue to do it probably through senior year. I expect to have 1 publication though I will not be first author. I also believe I will have 3 strong letters of recommendation.

Is there any way I could improve my app? I know the big thing I'm missing to accurately be judged is the MCAT but I won't be taking that for awhile.

Thanks for all the help guys! I really appreciate it!
You are doing everything you should and doing it earlier than most. Study for the MCAT after you have taken all the prereqs and there is no "aiming for a score", you always aim to do your best
 
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You are doing everything you should and doing it earlier than most. Study for the MCAT after you have taken all the prereqs and there is no "aiming for a score", you always aim to do your best
Thanks for the help! And I know you can't aim for a certain score. You just study and get what you get. What I meant to really say is what is the lowest I could get on the MCAT and still keep a competitive app?
 
Thanks for the help! And I know you can't aim for a certain score. You just study and get what you get. What I meant to really say is what is the lowest I could get on the MCAT and still keep a competitive app?
Depends on what you want to be competitive for. I'd worry about that when it comes time to actually study for the exam.
 
Okay. I was really just wanting to check and make sure that I am on track with my ec's because I still have a lot of time to add some things or change stuff around. I think what I'm hearing though is that I am on track.
 
Okay. I was really just wanting to check and make sure that I am on track with my ec's because I still have a lot of time to add some things or change stuff around. I think what I'm hearing though is that I am on track.
Yup you're on track!
 
ECs are on track :)
Just wanted to give you fair warning that upper division physics courses are not a walk in the park.
You are barely going into your second year so you have only finished intro physics, after that the rigor significantly increases. The fact that you are double majoring in physics and biochem is awesome, but just make sure you take the time to do well in your classes.
As a physics major myself, I'll give you a heads up that the junior level classes require a lot of time and effort to get those A's. (One of my classes, physical mechanics, had an average grade of 30%)

Just make sure to secure enough time for your studies and you should be fine :)

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Thanks for the help! And I know you can't aim for a certain score. You just study and get what you get. What I meant to really say is what is the lowest I could get on the MCAT and still keep a competitive app?
@GoCubs17, you can go to the Home page of SDN and click on "resources" and then click "Application Assistant". There you will see a fun statistical tool. Enter your GPA and various MCAT scores and it will show you your statistics : how many students with those stats gained admission to at least one med school. This tool also gives you your "LizzyM" score which we like to talk about on SDN. I think clicking around on this tool will give you the info you want.

My only other comment for you is that those are two killer majors you have chosen. The med schools don't score you higher for choosing two majors or a major and a minor. If there is one that begins to feel preferred to you, you could consider switching to just one major. Better for your GPA and sanity :)
 
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