For a bit of background, I entered the University of Washington in Seattle through the Early Entrance Program at the age of 14. I wasn't really sure whether I wanted to do pre-med, but I liked biology and chemistry and chose biochemistry as my major. Unfortunately, my age made it hard for me to volunteer at any of the local hospitals. Having just started junior year this autumn, I decided that I did indeed want to focus on going pre-med, only to immediately realize that I've been focusing way too much on school and almost completely abandoned volunteering and shadowing (and even getting letters of recommendation). Hell, the only club I've participated in to any significant capacity is the gaming club, where I helped schedule and arrange gaming events until I dropped it on the suggestion that this probably would not help my application to medical school. I feel like I'm woefully unprepared and lack the experience to even tell whether I want to go M.D. or M.D./Ph.D, let alone what branch of medicine interests me.
I have a 3.9 GPA and still love biology and organic chemistry (even if the latter in particular can be mildly soul-crushing at times).
For med-related extracurriculars... literally the only one I have is that I started volunteering part-time at a dermatology/oncology lab around two years ago. It involved contacting patients, helping with and conducting clinical research, occasionally following the PI to his clinic. Unfortunately, I have realized that I'm not enthusiastic about either dermatology or oncology, although I really appreciated my experience there.
The rest of my resume is pretty much all serving as an English TA and teaching English abroad... it's kind of sad that I can barely get any strong science letters of recommendation, while I would be swimming in letters if I decided to go into anything related to English...
The big question for me is... What can I do to make my remaining 2 years (and prospective gap year) turn me into a strong candidate for med school?
Current Plan: I'm arranging shadowing opportunities with physicians (optometrist and ENT) that are family friends. I am applying to work at either a synthetic chemistry or at a comparative medicine lab for a different research experience. I still have 6 months before I turn 18... should I try and apply to volunteer at the university hospital anyway? What other volunteer opportunities should I be looking for?
My friend in medical school recommended the scribe program to me, but when I looked into it I felt my current resume would make me a really poor candidate. Should I set a goal to be a scribe for my gap year to gain more experience?
I have a 3.9 GPA and still love biology and organic chemistry (even if the latter in particular can be mildly soul-crushing at times).
For med-related extracurriculars... literally the only one I have is that I started volunteering part-time at a dermatology/oncology lab around two years ago. It involved contacting patients, helping with and conducting clinical research, occasionally following the PI to his clinic. Unfortunately, I have realized that I'm not enthusiastic about either dermatology or oncology, although I really appreciated my experience there.
The rest of my resume is pretty much all serving as an English TA and teaching English abroad... it's kind of sad that I can barely get any strong science letters of recommendation, while I would be swimming in letters if I decided to go into anything related to English...
The big question for me is... What can I do to make my remaining 2 years (and prospective gap year) turn me into a strong candidate for med school?
Current Plan: I'm arranging shadowing opportunities with physicians (optometrist and ENT) that are family friends. I am applying to work at either a synthetic chemistry or at a comparative medicine lab for a different research experience. I still have 6 months before I turn 18... should I try and apply to volunteer at the university hospital anyway? What other volunteer opportunities should I be looking for?
My friend in medical school recommended the scribe program to me, but when I looked into it I felt my current resume would make me a really poor candidate. Should I set a goal to be a scribe for my gap year to gain more experience?
