Applying late in the year?

[atlas91]

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[aSagacious]

Moving to the 'what are my chances' forum.

 

[atlas91]

Sorry, first REAL post, thought this would fall under like advice stuff. Thanks for the help

 

[atlas91]

Bumping

 

[aSagacious]

There's no harm in applying this year to test the waters, just be sure to continue improving your ECs during the application cycle in case you need to reapply. There are many on this forum that attribute a certain stigma to reapplicants as they need to 'prove themselves' more than a traditional applicant (though I am not a subscriber to this notion). Of course AdComs will want to see improvement from one year to the next but as long as you're staying productive during your application year I'll think you'll be fine. On a side note I suggest squeezing in a few more science courses, since your sGPA will likely hold you back more than your cGPA. Just my two cents.

 

[atlas91]

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[aSagacious]

Will it look bad that much of my volunteering/shadowing happened during my Junior year?

Ideally you'd like to have your ECs spread throughout your undergraduate years but there's no point in worrying about things that can't be changed.

 

[gmcguitar4]

You should contact some hospitals and do some volunteering through this year. You still have a bunch of months until your Peru trip.

 

[atlas91]

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[aSagacious]

Personally I'd go with the latter.

 

[atlas91]

With essays and the like (things with a personal component) should I write those before or after my volunteer/intern abroad trip? Or are secondaries where I can write about my experiences? (Sorry about my dearth of knowledge on the subject, but secondaries are generally sent in pretty late anyway right?)

 

[Catalystik]

My major problem is that I have practically no extracurricular activities. I have a cGPA 3.5 and sGPA 3.3, my MCAT(taken August 2011) is a 32M (I know that those are borderline scores at best for any MD school, but decent for DO). But, my main issue arises from the fact that the only extracurriculars I have are: a summer (appx 100 hours) teaching chemistry to underprivileged kids and volunteering with Habitat for Humanity (appx 50 hours). However, I do have some extracurriculars on the way!

I will be doing a medical internship abroad in Peru this next summer for a month and a half (I'm fluent in Spanish after classes at school and a semester in Spain). These will both be done by approximately August 10th. So, my question is: should I apply late August, or just wait a year and work on my extracurriculars/GPA (being a History major and having only history classes left, my cGPA will only go up) and apply in the summer after my senior year (June 2013)?

I would discourage you from applying 1) late in the summer and 2) with no more than international medical relief work on your application of such a short duration, and 3) with GPAs that are below MD matriculant averages when another year of great grades can make a big difference. Adcomms would like to see you have experience of the US medical system, patients, and physicians. A period of recent consistent high grades is very helpful also.

With the extra year, you might also consider getting in some research and leadership to make your application more well-rounded, besides getting in substantive US clinical experience and shadowing, and adding more nonmedical community service.

Your nonmedical community service so far is a very nice start, though.