Chances of getting into Med school?

[Eminem1219]

Good afternoon,
I am a Biology and Chemistry dual major at a smaller college in the South. I am a pre-med student in my Sophomore year and was curious of my chances of attending med school. As of right now, I have a 3.68 GPA, member of the University's Honors Program, a contracted cadet in ROTC, and a soldier in the National Guard. Btw, my ROTC cadet training is giving me a minor in Military Science and will allow be to be an officer. I currently work as a Pharmacy Tech at a Publix supermarket. I am working towards certification. I have been working about 20 hours a week since October 2017, so I am still learning a lot. I am going to begin shadowing an Orthopedic practice as well as a Podiatrist soon. I want to attend UAB and was curious if this was possible with my stats/extracurricular. Any advice will be great! Thanks!
Sincerely,
A pre-med student

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[Terror Billy]

If you want to become a physician, shadowing a Podiatrist might not be useful. Find some other specialties to shadow as well to give yourself a broader perspective on the field. Assuming you are from Alabama, you should have a good chance if you do well enough on your MCAT. Start volunteering in both clinical and non-clinical settings as well. The biggest thing you're gonna want to knock out is the MCAT

 

[Eminem1219]

If you want to become a physician, shadowing a Podiatrist might not be useful. Find some other specialties to shadow as well to give yourself a broader perspective on the field. Assuming you are from Alabama, you should have a good chance if you do well enough on your MCAT. Start volunteering in both clinical and non-clinical settings as well. The biggest thing you're gonna want to knock out is the MCAT

Ok thank you. Just curious, why would shadowing a Podiatrist not be useful? Also what clinical and non-clinical volunteer opportunities are there? Sorry I have been very busy with my school and work life. Thanks!

 

[Forever Geebs]

Try to accumulate roughly 50-100 hrs of clinical volunteering and non-clinical volunteering. If research is of interest to you, pursue that too. Of course, the most important thing is to maintain the best GPA you can and ace your science/math (pre-requisite) courses. Be sure to have fun in the process and have a life outside of your pursuit of medicine, too.

At the end of the day, you are working toward making your application as competitive as possible. You’ll need to score well on the MCAT and Percentile Ranks for the MCAT Exam outlines percentile rankings so you know what to aim for.

Be sure to focus on the journey, not the destination.

Best of luck to you.


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[Terror Billy]

Ok thank you. Just curious, why would shadowing a Podiatrist not be useful? Also what clinical and non-clinical volunteer opportunities are there? Sorry I have been very busy with my school and work life. Thanks!

So I might be wrong, but pretty sure shadowing a podiatrist does not count towards shadowing for medical schools (MD/DO). You need to shadow physicians in order for it to "count." And as a I said before, exposing yourself to multiple specialties is what would optimal.

With respect to clinical volunteering, perhaps find your local free clinic and ask what opportunities are available, preferably where you interact with patients a lot. Taking in patient information would be a great type of gig.

For non-clinical volunteering, this could be really anything, from working at a homeless shelter, mentoring youth, or just any type of community engagement really.

 

[HomeSkool]

Just curious, why would shadowing a Podiatrist not be useful?

Podiatrists don't go to medical school and they're not MD/DOs. Shadowing allows you to see what a physician's day is really like -- not just the sexy parts, but also the mundane ones -- so you can decide whether that's actually what you want to do for forty years. Shadowing a podiatrist doesn't accomplish that goal.

Also what clinical and non-clinical volunteer opportunities are there?

Search SDN. There are about 30 bazillion threads about this.

Sorry

Your apology is accepted.

I have been very busy with my school and work life. Thanks!

The ability to manage time well and the willingness to make appropriate sacrifices are qualities med schools value, since doctors must have both. Folks here can provide you plenty of pointers on how to find the appropriate balance.