Hello everyone,
I am a first time poster here at SDN though I have been following the conversation for a bit. I'm 28 and for the past 2 years I have been working as a research scientist at a well known children's hospital on the east coast. Working in a group of pediatric surgeons has opened my eyes to what exactly medicine is all about and I would like to change careers with the intention of becoming a doctor.
Sounds great, right? Well, I futzed around quite a bit as an undergrad and know that I'm going to need to do an SMP in order to get in. Before I apply and screw up my chances for this year in the event that I don't get in, I'm wondering if there is anything that I might need to do to improve my stats. I understand that the best time to apply to a program with rolling admissions is early, so I'm hoping that I can just go for it.
I went to a state school from 2004-2008 and matriculated as a graduate student there from 2008-2012
cGPA: 2.97 with an upward trend, mostly advanced science courses
BCPM GPA: 2.8
gGPA (PhD program in biochemistry ) 3.3 ****
ECs: Currently volunteering 5 hrs/week at a local hospital while working full time and shadowing another 5-10 hours rotating through pediatric surgery and oncology. 9 years of research, several publications. Have been working full time in research for 2 years aside from 4 years as a grad student and 3 as an undergrad.
MCAT: 33S (I took this in lieu of the biomedical GRE in 2008 ($$) and the SMP I am applying to will take old scores)
****I went to a graduate program for 4 years but ended up withdrawing with the blessing of my mentor and committee chair after our lab essentially ran out of funding and I was given the option to either start over in a new lab or move on. They are both on board to write nice LoRs. Being a grad. student gave me a great deal of experience in teaching (I taught a couple of the science courses that gave me subpar grades and would say that I understand the material rather well now.) I have no graduate degree.
I am a first time poster here at SDN though I have been following the conversation for a bit. I'm 28 and for the past 2 years I have been working as a research scientist at a well known children's hospital on the east coast. Working in a group of pediatric surgeons has opened my eyes to what exactly medicine is all about and I would like to change careers with the intention of becoming a doctor.
Sounds great, right? Well, I futzed around quite a bit as an undergrad and know that I'm going to need to do an SMP in order to get in. Before I apply and screw up my chances for this year in the event that I don't get in, I'm wondering if there is anything that I might need to do to improve my stats. I understand that the best time to apply to a program with rolling admissions is early, so I'm hoping that I can just go for it.
I went to a state school from 2004-2008 and matriculated as a graduate student there from 2008-2012
cGPA: 2.97 with an upward trend, mostly advanced science courses
BCPM GPA: 2.8
gGPA (PhD program in biochemistry ) 3.3 ****
ECs: Currently volunteering 5 hrs/week at a local hospital while working full time and shadowing another 5-10 hours rotating through pediatric surgery and oncology. 9 years of research, several publications. Have been working full time in research for 2 years aside from 4 years as a grad student and 3 as an undergrad.
MCAT: 33S (I took this in lieu of the biomedical GRE in 2008 ($$) and the SMP I am applying to will take old scores)
****I went to a graduate program for 4 years but ended up withdrawing with the blessing of my mentor and committee chair after our lab essentially ran out of funding and I was given the option to either start over in a new lab or move on. They are both on board to write nice LoRs. Being a grad. student gave me a great deal of experience in teaching (I taught a couple of the science courses that gave me subpar grades and would say that I understand the material rather well now.) I have no graduate degree.
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