Bolstering my application

[adran49]

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Just looking for some insight as to where my profile is strong and where it is weak so that I canstrengthen my app during my post-bacc. Thank you for your help!

New York Resident
Male, Caucasian, 23
BA Psychology, Private Liberal Arts College
Will be attending NYU Post-Bacc starting this fall.

Few Questions
How much clinical volunteering should I look to get before applying to medical school?
Do adcoms care about awards?
3.5/3.6 is on the lower end for a lot of schools, would my strong upward trend help that?
Overall, if I do well in my post-bacc and gain more volunteering hours and shadowing hours, how would my application look to a MD/DO school? (as far as EC's and grades go)

Grades

Freshman-3.27
Sophomore-2.1 (got an F in calc 1 and programming 1)
Junior and Senior- 3.9 (Calc 1-A, Calc 2-B+, Stats-A, Bio 1-A, Bio 2-A, Chem 1-A-, Chem 2-B+)​

If I get A's in all of my Post-Bacc classes-
AMCAS cGPA- 3.52
AMCAS sGPA- 3.63
AAMCOMAS cGPA- 3.59
AAMCOMAS sGPA- 3.90​

Research (1000's)

Cognitive Neuroscience Lab

~2500 hours (3 years)
-lone research assistant
-2 publications (2nd author on both)
-1 poster presentation at international conference (went to Amsterdam by myself)​

Clinical/Social Psychology

~750+ hours (2 years)​

Animal Behavior

~300 hours (4 months)​

Volunteering-Clinical (0)

Volunteering-Non-Clinical (500+)

Secretary of National Honors Society-2 semesters
Statistics Teachers Assistant- 200 hours
Psychology Tutor-200 hours
Tutoring High School Students in Chem-50 hours
Speaker at New Student Orientations- 50 hours
Midnight Run- 8 hours
ASPCA-50 hours​

Shadowing (~17)

Neuroradiology Grand Rounds- 5 hours
Pathology- 2 hours
Neuropathology-10 hours​

Employment

Co-Founder of a skate/surf clothing company-500 hours
Pharmacy Technician- 2 years
Physical Therapy Aide- 1 summer​

Awards

Summa Cum Laude
Deans List 1st Honors (4 semesters)
Deans List 2nd Honors (1 semester)
Most Outstanding Student in Psych Department
Most Outstanding Student in College of Arts and Sciences
Psi Chi National Honors Society
Alpha Chi National Honors Society
Member of College of Arts and Sciences Research Society​

 

[Old&InTheWay]

I went to school with pre-meds who spent 400 hours "volunteering" in the ED by hiding in a break room and studying. I am someone who tries to maintain an optimistic view of humanity so I cling to the idea that Adcoms are made up of real, live people who know that a certain number of hours doing a certain activity is meaningless in and of itself. You do need to demonstrate that you are ok working with sick people and that you know what you are getting yourself into career-wise. Other than that, follow your passions and don't do anything (just) to bolster your application. Do things that interest you, that help people in need, and that will make you a better human being.

 

[adran49]

I went to school with pre-meds who spent 400 hours "volunteering" in the ED by hiding in a break room and studying. I am someone who tries to maintain an optimistic view of humanity so I cling to the idea that Adcoms are made up of real, live people who know that a certain number of hours doing a certain activity is meaningless in and of itself. You do need to demonstrate that you are ok working with sick people and that you know what you are getting yourself into career-wise. Other than that, follow your passions and don't do anything (just) to bolster your application. Do things that interest you, that help people in need, and that will make you a better human being.

Thank you for your reply, I understand that it may have came off as if I am only looking to volunteer just to bolster my profile and I apologize for this. I sincerely want to volunteer but I may be a bit more pessimistic than you when it comes to thinking about members of an adcom. It's easier for them if they can quantify one's dedication to the field so they can come up with a standard in which to compare applicants. It's sad that I am in search of said magical number of hours but if working in the medical field is what I want to do then I need to get into medical school and that does involve a bit of "playing the game." Thank you for the reply, any and all advice is appreciated.