Chemical Engineer 3.75 GPA

[ericflem4286]

I graduated with a Chemical Engineering degree in 2008. I worked for a year as an engineer and decided that a career in serving others in medicine was the best career for me. I still have one more semester of biology to take, I skipped the basic biology and am taking 200-300 level courses. My gpa and ECs are below, please tell me what you think I need to improve on...any help is GREATLY appreciated.

- cGPA - 3.76
- Science GPA - 3.73
- non-science - 3.78
- President of local chapter of AIChE
- Helped with national society of chemical engineers
- Various roles of responsibility as an engineer
- Volunteering 8 hrs per week at local ER
- College tutor for a year

I think I will make ~30 on the MCAT. I will also be certified as an EMT-B in May of next year, and I will work as an EMT while going through the application process.

Any advice would be great. Thank you.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[J ROD]

I would work on getting as much medical exposure as you can. Dont forget about shadowing docs....

The volunteering is great!! as long as it is clinical in nature.

Personally, all the engineers I know that have taken the MCAT have gotten 33+....

Work on the ECs and get a strong MCAT and I think you will be fine!

 

[Catalystik]

Do you have any nonmedical volunteering (was the tutoring paid)? How many months of ER experience will you have by the time you submit your application?

 

[Appless]

your GPA is more the fine its not low. Your ECs are lacking though. You defiatnly need more clinical and non-clinical volunteering on there and some research if you are so inclined. Id recomend some more clinical exposure and shadowing as well as 1-2 more non-clinical activities.

 

[ericflem4286]

Do you have any nonmedical volunteering (was the tutoring paid)? How many months of ER experience will you have by the time you submit your application?

By the time I apply I will have 7 months of ER volunteer experience. I have some minor nonmedical volunteering but it was nothing that was continuous. Every year with the AIChE we did community outreach events and community service events. Alot of them I organized myself, but I always at least participated. These would include setting up hands-on activities for students, explaining engineering topics at their level, etc. Is something like this worth mentioning? What kind of nonclinical volunteering is there? I am from a small area not many opportunities...

Thanks for the reply.

 

[ericflem4286]

your GPA is more the fine its not low. Your ECs are lacking though. You defiatnly need more clinical and non-clinical volunteering on there and some research if you are so inclined. Id recomend some more clinical exposure and shadowing as well as 1-2 more non-clinical activities.

I have shadowed 1 doctor so far in internal medicine. I plan to try to get ~20 hrs of shadowing with an internalist and ~20 hrs in the ER. Also as part of my EMT training I have to do 10 hrs ambulance ride and an additional 10 hrs in ER.

Any advice on the non-clinical?

 

[Catalystik]

1) I have some minor nonmedical volunteering but it was nothing that was continuous. Every year with the AIChE we did community outreach events and community service events. Alot of them I organized myself, but I always at least participated. These would include setting up hands-on activities for students, explaining engineering topics at their level, etc. Is something like this worth mentioning?

2) What kind of nonclinical volunteering is there? I am from a small area not many opportunities...

1) 1) Absolutely include this. It is community service combines with leadership which gets you plus points. Describe it as you have and flesh it out more with specifics. Good one!

2) Consider soup kitchen, homeless shelter, Humane Society, Habitat for Humanity, Crisis Hotline, among others.

Also, start the EMT-B position before you submit as you can't include future plans. I don't know if you'll have enough clinical stuff to make the cut this round, but we can hope. Is there ANY EC you could list that would show your interest in medicine before the ER gig began?

 

[ericflem4286]

1) 1) Absolutely include this. It is community service combines with leadership which gets you plus points. Describe it as you have and flesh it out more with specifics. Good one!

2) Consider soup kitchen, homeless shelter, Humane Society, Habitat for Humanity, Crisis Hotline, among others.

Also, start the EMT-B position before you submit as you can't include future plans. I don't know if you'll have enough clinical stuff to make the cut this round, but we can hope. Is there ANY EC you could list that would show your interest in medicine before the ER gig began?

Unfortunately not. I have only been 100% sure of my choice to go to medical school for about a year. I determined engineering wasn't for me because I love working and serving people and engineering didnt fulfill that. I will just have to give it my best shot with what I've got and what I will have time to do.

I know admission offices are supposed to say they treat all degrees equally, but do they really? I was hoping my engineering degree, because of its difficulty would help out some.

 

[Catalystik]

For you, it's a good idea to live your application year as if you knew you'd need to reapply. As you continue to gain hours in pertinent ECs, you can update schools about it and you'll have more to discuss if you get interviews.

An SDN regular, apumic, did an anaysis of stats for engineering majors that showed overall, Engineers do not get any credit for their more difficult major, though some individual schools may do so. The trick is knowing which schools are which. If you check his backposts, it wasn't that long ago (a few weeks?). Your GPA is great anyway. No worries there.

 

[bradleyd16]

I was in your position as well. I graduated in Mechanical Engineering this year, but decided at the end of my junior year that, although I loved engineering, medicine was where I needed to be. I crammed a ton of stuff into a short period of time to try to get ready and not waste too much time between graduating and applying. I graduated with a 3.40 gpa and by a miracle got a 34R on the MCAT. In any case, I ended up getting two interviews to this point, and I got accepted to the University of Kentucky, OOS. So, as a fellow engineer, I'm pulling for you, and as long as you do well on your MCAT, I can't imagine having a hard time getting in. I did do a lot of research in two different areas my senior year and did my shadowing and what not, so that really is a must. Good luck!

 

[ericflem4286]

I was in your position as well. I graduated in Mechanical Engineering this year, but decided at the end of my junior year that, although I loved engineering, medicine was where I needed to be. I crammed a ton of stuff into a short period of time to try to get ready and not waste too much time between graduating and applying. I graduated with a 3.40 gpa and by a miracle got a 34R on the MCAT. In any case, I ended up getting two interviews to this point, and I got accepted to the University of Kentucky, OOS. So, as a fellow engineer, I'm pulling for you, and as long as you do well on your MCAT, I can't imagine having a hard time getting in. I did do a lot of research in two different areas my senior year and did my shadowing and what not, so that really is a must. Good luck!

Hey bradleyd16 thanks for the post. If you dont mind me asking, what kind of clinical/nonclincal experience and ECs did you have?

My BS in ChemE was from UK so, I am hoping being a resident and an alumni may help me there, but U of L is my top choice because of their rural program.