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- Jun 15, 2011
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Hi guys,
I posted this in another forum, but was told I could get some good advice here.
I'm almost done with my application, but I'm worried if my lack of volunteer work is going to hold me back. All I've got in that area is that I volunteered as a Tae Kwon Do instructor at my dojo for 4 hours per week throughout high school. I've heard high school experiences might not count for much. Do you think this will be a significant negative on my application? I feel very good about the rest of my app:
MCAT: 14P 11V 13B R = 38R
UG GPA: 3.6
UG Sci/math GPA: 3.7
UG Upper division major GPA: 3.9 (basically I blew it my freshman year and got straight A's after that)
I also have a Master's in molecular biology, and have 3 years of research experience in that field (2 in grad school, 1 in undergrad). From this research, I got a first authored publication (recently submitted, not yet accepted) and gave a talk at a conference. One of my letters of rec is from my PI. Graduate GPA was 4.0
3 summers of Physics research at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center under a Nobel Prize winning physicist (got a letter of rec from him).
2 years of teaching experience as a TA for Pharmacology and Genetics courses. Got a letter of rec for one of the professors I was a TA for (she was also on my thesis committee for my Master's and I took classes with her too).
My clinical experience comes from a paid summer internship I did at the Sansum Diabetes Research Institute. This was a premedical oriented internship program where I shadowed all sorts of doctors, worked at a gestational diabetes clinic, did a literature review project that resulted in a publication, and received all sorts of medically related training. I got a letter of rec from the Institute's CEO. My future research interests are in endocrinology and diabetes, so this supports that pretty well IMO.
Currently working at a major biotech company in research operations (manager kind of stuff, not lab work, but all my work is related to the drug discovery process and I think it's good experience).
I've been competing in powerlifting (weightlifting competition involving bench press, squat and deadlift ... not the ones that are in the Olympics) for 4 years and set several state records in the junior division.
So that's where I am... I feel like I've done a lot of good stuff, but I'm worried I'll been seen as heartless by adcoms because I didn't go on a mission to Africa or something... Do you guys think I should try to sign up for some kind of clinically oriented volunteer work before I apply so that I can list that on my app, or will adcoms see it for what it is, a last ditch effort rather than something meaningful. Should I write about the Tae Kwon Do stuff in my work/activities? It was actually meaningful to me in that I helped out my dojo when it was struggling financially, but it was a while ago. Will it count for anything?
I posted this in another forum, but was told I could get some good advice here.
I'm almost done with my application, but I'm worried if my lack of volunteer work is going to hold me back. All I've got in that area is that I volunteered as a Tae Kwon Do instructor at my dojo for 4 hours per week throughout high school. I've heard high school experiences might not count for much. Do you think this will be a significant negative on my application? I feel very good about the rest of my app:
MCAT: 14P 11V 13B R = 38R
UG GPA: 3.6
UG Sci/math GPA: 3.7
UG Upper division major GPA: 3.9 (basically I blew it my freshman year and got straight A's after that)
I also have a Master's in molecular biology, and have 3 years of research experience in that field (2 in grad school, 1 in undergrad). From this research, I got a first authored publication (recently submitted, not yet accepted) and gave a talk at a conference. One of my letters of rec is from my PI. Graduate GPA was 4.0
3 summers of Physics research at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center under a Nobel Prize winning physicist (got a letter of rec from him).
2 years of teaching experience as a TA for Pharmacology and Genetics courses. Got a letter of rec for one of the professors I was a TA for (she was also on my thesis committee for my Master's and I took classes with her too).
My clinical experience comes from a paid summer internship I did at the Sansum Diabetes Research Institute. This was a premedical oriented internship program where I shadowed all sorts of doctors, worked at a gestational diabetes clinic, did a literature review project that resulted in a publication, and received all sorts of medically related training. I got a letter of rec from the Institute's CEO. My future research interests are in endocrinology and diabetes, so this supports that pretty well IMO.
Currently working at a major biotech company in research operations (manager kind of stuff, not lab work, but all my work is related to the drug discovery process and I think it's good experience).
I've been competing in powerlifting (weightlifting competition involving bench press, squat and deadlift ... not the ones that are in the Olympics) for 4 years and set several state records in the junior division.
So that's where I am... I feel like I've done a lot of good stuff, but I'm worried I'll been seen as heartless by adcoms because I didn't go on a mission to Africa or something... Do you guys think I should try to sign up for some kind of clinically oriented volunteer work before I apply so that I can list that on my app, or will adcoms see it for what it is, a last ditch effort rather than something meaningful. Should I write about the Tae Kwon Do stuff in my work/activities? It was actually meaningful to me in that I helped out my dojo when it was struggling financially, but it was a while ago. Will it count for anything?
