Hi everyone,
Here's my situation:
I graduated from my UG (a so-so state school) in February 2012 with a degree in biology and a liberal arts major. At that time my family moved to NYC, and I worked part-time while studying before going to an out-of-state graduate program (in liberal arts). While attending there for a semester, I wanted to pursue pre-med once again. After much thinking, I have finally decided to came back to my UG institution in hopes of completing pre-reqs and boosting my GPA so that I could at least shoot for a D.O. program. So that's what I'm doing right now. I have 3.23 cGPA and 3.07 sGPA the latter of which will rise to 3.18 at the end of this semester. Currently I'm working as interpreter/translator for a local humanitarian organization, and volunteering at Habitat for Humanity. Along with the research project at a biophysics lab, I plan to do some shadowing during the summer.
Some questions:
1. Would it be realistic if I were to apply to MD programs with 3.4 sGPA? Judging from where I'm at in terms of grades this semester, it would be a strong upward trend by the end of post-bacc courses. I did not take MCAT yet, but I tend to perform well on standardized tests.
2. I've done some search on this forum for possible summer jobs, and nursing assistant seems to be a great opportunity to get some real-world clinical exposure. Can anyone share their experiences on training/certification process and what a typical day at work would look like?
3. My plan is to apply for the next cycle (beginning June 2014) and take the MCAT during the summer 2014. That would leave me another year waiting to hear back from the schools. What would you suggest as some of the better ways to spend that year? For example, would the GPA as post-bacc after applying have a significant impact on application through a mid-year review?
I would appreciate any comments.
Here's my situation:
I graduated from my UG (a so-so state school) in February 2012 with a degree in biology and a liberal arts major. At that time my family moved to NYC, and I worked part-time while studying before going to an out-of-state graduate program (in liberal arts). While attending there for a semester, I wanted to pursue pre-med once again. After much thinking, I have finally decided to came back to my UG institution in hopes of completing pre-reqs and boosting my GPA so that I could at least shoot for a D.O. program. So that's what I'm doing right now. I have 3.23 cGPA and 3.07 sGPA the latter of which will rise to 3.18 at the end of this semester. Currently I'm working as interpreter/translator for a local humanitarian organization, and volunteering at Habitat for Humanity. Along with the research project at a biophysics lab, I plan to do some shadowing during the summer.
Some questions:
1. Would it be realistic if I were to apply to MD programs with 3.4 sGPA? Judging from where I'm at in terms of grades this semester, it would be a strong upward trend by the end of post-bacc courses. I did not take MCAT yet, but I tend to perform well on standardized tests.
2. I've done some search on this forum for possible summer jobs, and nursing assistant seems to be a great opportunity to get some real-world clinical exposure. Can anyone share their experiences on training/certification process and what a typical day at work would look like?
3. My plan is to apply for the next cycle (beginning June 2014) and take the MCAT during the summer 2014. That would leave me another year waiting to hear back from the schools. What would you suggest as some of the better ways to spend that year? For example, would the GPA as post-bacc after applying have a significant impact on application through a mid-year review?
I would appreciate any comments.
