Am I on track?

[Rhino1000]

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Hi guys, I've been a major lurker of this forum for the past month here, and it's been entertaining (but maybe a bit of a distracter). Anyways, I am a Senior in high school, but I have been taking advantage of the PSEO (post-secondary enrollment) program that's allowing me to take free college courses instead of high school, for the past 2 years now. I should be a Sophomore in college.

Coursework: I've been taking 16 credit semesters every semester so far. It's the maximum load covered by PSEO. My total GPA is 3.6 after 48 credits (1.5 semesters), but I have gotten a lot of my difficult classes out of the way, including:

Bio I and II
Chem I and II
Human A and P I
Organic Chemistry I

I scored an A in all of them, except Bio II, which I received a B. This leaves me with a science GPA of about 3.84.

By the end of this coming up semester, I will be done with:
Human AP II
OChem II
Microbiology
(Psychology)

Extracurriculars:
I have a couple of volunteer "gigs" going for me ever since the beginning of my second semester "freshman" year:
-One was folding towels for the sterile processing department at a local hospital, which I put in about 70 hours (I am no longer doing it).
-The other is something I love to do, and am still doing it. It's bringing a guy with down's syndrome to the local YMCA to work out, I only do it about once a week, but I'm thinking about starting to do it more often. I have picked up ~100 hours in this past year volunteering with this guy.
-I have zero research experience. Should I get some, even if I don't want to go into academics or a research position in medicine?
-as far as work goes, I work part-time for a lawn-care business. Not much more than 10 hours a week on average, except in the summer. I'm thinking about joining a CNA program, I have a great-aunt that runs a business for CNA certification.

Am I on track? I expect not, so what can I do to be on the path for med-school acceptance?

I appreciate any help or feedback! 😀
Josh

 

[Ismet]

Your sGPA is great, just make sure that Orgo 2, Physics, and whatever upper level classes you take in college don't bring it down. I'm sure you can bring up the 3.6 cGPA with whatever humanities classes you take in college.

You'll need clinical experience. This can come in the form of volunteering in a clinical setting and interacting with patients, shadowing doctors, or any other activity that allows you to interact with patients and the health field. Med schools will want to know that you know what you're going into.

Research is highly recommended, but not required. More and more medical schools have required research built into their curriculum, and it has the potential to help your application. Research is not just for academia or MD/PhD either...many residencies like to see research or even have research years. I think you should try research before you rule it out.

 

[plumhill]

Hi guys, I've been a major lurker of this forum for the past month here, and it's been entertaining (but maybe a bit of a distracter). Anyways, I am a Senior in high school, but I have been taking advantage of the PSEO (post-secondary enrollment) program that's allowing me to take free college courses instead of high school, for the past 2 years now. I should be a Sophomore in college.

Coursework: I've been taking 16 credit semesters every semester so far. It's the maximum load covered by PSEO. My total GPA is 3.6 after 48 credits (1.5 semesters), but I have gotten a lot of my difficult classes out of the way, including:

Bio I and II
Chem I and II
Human A and P I
Organic Chemistry I

I scored an A in all of them, except Bio II, which I received a B. This leaves me with a science GPA of about 3.84.

By the end of this coming up semester, I will be done with:
Human AP II
OChem II
Microbiology
(Psychology)

Extracurriculars:
I have a couple of volunteer "gigs" going for me ever since the beginning of my second semester "freshman" year:
-One was folding towels for the sterile processing department at a local hospital, which I put in about 70 hours (I am no longer doing it).
-The other is something I love to do, and am still doing it. It's bringing a guy with down's syndrome to the local YMCA to work out, I only do it about once a week, but I'm thinking about starting to do it more often. I have picked up ~100 hours in this past year volunteering with this guy.
-I have zero research experience. Should I get some, even if I don't want to go into academics or a research position in medicine?
-as far as work goes, I work part-time for a lawn-care business. Not much more than 10 hours a week on average, except in the summer. I'm thinking about joining a CNA program, I have a great-aunt that runs a business for CNA certification.

Am I on track? I expect not, so what can I do to be on the path for med-school acceptance?

I appreciate any help or feedback! 😀
Josh

So far you seem to be on track! Its great that you've started off well. I would recommend doing at least a little bit of research before you decide whether or not academic medicine is for you. And you never know, you might end up liking it! At least according to other threads on here, it seems like a position as as CNA has had a positive impact on one's application.