kairaki
New Member
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Hi! I’m an incoming junior hoping to apply traditionally next may. I had a couple questions about some of my choices I plan to make in my junior year and wanted to also check in and see if I’m on track to applying successfully to MD schools.
Current Stats:
3.98 cGPA and sGPA
URM (black) at UC
MCAT: I took a TPR diagnostic before taking biochem and got a 505. I plan to take a quarter off (Jan-Mar) to study almost full time along with still continuing paid clinical, and will not test if my averages are not 515+.
ECs:
shadowing:
- 25 current, 50 projected hours: oncology, primary care
clinical volunteering:
- 80 hours in ER the summer after high school
- 12 current, 80 projected hours as a volunteer MA
paid clinical:
- 40 current, 500 projected at-home caregiving over a year
research:
- 320 hours + poster presentation at a summer research program on translational oncology research
- 450 hours + oral presentation over a year at my undergraduate research lab. I had my own independent project but had to step away due to lab funding issues and wanting to focus on clinical. I want to return and continue my project in my senior year after applying.
volunteering:
- 400 hours, ? projected as a homeless resource center volunteer over two years. Unsure if I should end this activity at the end of this summer since I'm beginning to feel diminishing returns.
misc activities:
- 80 hours, 120 projected as a club officer in two clubs. One is for fun (french club), and in the other one I planned workshops and panels to teach and encourage freshmen to get into research.
- 60 hours, 100 projected as a peer mentor focused on helping students succeed into getting into a research lab.
- 180 hours, 200 projected as a radio dj at my campus’ freeform radio station.
hobbies:
- dance
- learning french
other primary application components:
PS: for an writing class I wrote an AMCAS personal statement focusing on the draw to medicine for me being the opportunity to learn and teach - synthesizing new research to inform medical decisions and communicating that to patients understandably to better arm them with knowledge about their own conditions.
LOR:
confirmed - lab PI, nonclin volunteering manager, writing professor, MD mentor
still need two stem LOR
themes/specialty interests: Specialty of interest right now is oncology due to it’s longitudinal nature and the rapid growth of new treatments. I like teaching and mentoring (have trained lots of new volunteers in my non clin volunteering, hosted workshops + peer mentoring, teaching swing dancing), but I haven’t necessarily done any TA positions.
questions:
- How will my planned gap quarter be viewed by adcoms? Would it be better to be honest and say I took time off to focus on MCAT + clinical, or should I make something up about personal/family problems that encouraged me to take the time off?
- Would it be worth trying to find a TA position for a quarter, or are my experiences sufficient to demonstrate my enthusiasm for teaching?
- Now that I'm approaching 400 hours of non-clin volunteering and feeling diminishing returns, is it alright for me to step away from the position? Or would it be better to try and extend it to three full years to have one solid long-commitment activity?
- When should I apply to the FAP?
- Is there anything else I’ve overlooked in my preparation that I should do during junior year?
Thank you so much for reading through all of this, I know it was a lot! I've been trying my best not to act too neurotic, but I sometimes worry I've wasted too much time in undergrad chilling out and not necessarily grinding things 24/7.
Current Stats:
3.98 cGPA and sGPA
URM (black) at UC
MCAT: I took a TPR diagnostic before taking biochem and got a 505. I plan to take a quarter off (Jan-Mar) to study almost full time along with still continuing paid clinical, and will not test if my averages are not 515+.
ECs:
shadowing:
- 25 current, 50 projected hours: oncology, primary care
clinical volunteering:
- 80 hours in ER the summer after high school
- 12 current, 80 projected hours as a volunteer MA
paid clinical:
- 40 current, 500 projected at-home caregiving over a year
research:
- 320 hours + poster presentation at a summer research program on translational oncology research
- 450 hours + oral presentation over a year at my undergraduate research lab. I had my own independent project but had to step away due to lab funding issues and wanting to focus on clinical. I want to return and continue my project in my senior year after applying.
volunteering:
- 400 hours, ? projected as a homeless resource center volunteer over two years. Unsure if I should end this activity at the end of this summer since I'm beginning to feel diminishing returns.
misc activities:
- 80 hours, 120 projected as a club officer in two clubs. One is for fun (french club), and in the other one I planned workshops and panels to teach and encourage freshmen to get into research.
- 60 hours, 100 projected as a peer mentor focused on helping students succeed into getting into a research lab.
- 180 hours, 200 projected as a radio dj at my campus’ freeform radio station.
hobbies:
- dance
- learning french
other primary application components:
PS: for an writing class I wrote an AMCAS personal statement focusing on the draw to medicine for me being the opportunity to learn and teach - synthesizing new research to inform medical decisions and communicating that to patients understandably to better arm them with knowledge about their own conditions.
LOR:
confirmed - lab PI, nonclin volunteering manager, writing professor, MD mentor
still need two stem LOR
themes/specialty interests: Specialty of interest right now is oncology due to it’s longitudinal nature and the rapid growth of new treatments. I like teaching and mentoring (have trained lots of new volunteers in my non clin volunteering, hosted workshops + peer mentoring, teaching swing dancing), but I haven’t necessarily done any TA positions.
questions:
- How will my planned gap quarter be viewed by adcoms? Would it be better to be honest and say I took time off to focus on MCAT + clinical, or should I make something up about personal/family problems that encouraged me to take the time off?
- Would it be worth trying to find a TA position for a quarter, or are my experiences sufficient to demonstrate my enthusiasm for teaching?
- Now that I'm approaching 400 hours of non-clin volunteering and feeling diminishing returns, is it alright for me to step away from the position? Or would it be better to try and extend it to three full years to have one solid long-commitment activity?
- When should I apply to the FAP?
- Is there anything else I’ve overlooked in my preparation that I should do during junior year?
Thank you so much for reading through all of this, I know it was a lot! I've been trying my best not to act too neurotic, but I sometimes worry I've wasted too much time in undergrad chilling out and not necessarily grinding things 24/7.
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