do I have a chance/where do I stand to improve?

[not a dvr user]

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Hi guys, here are my facts:

I started out at Case Western and pulled a 3.9 cum and 4.0 science, then I transferred to Cornell because I thought I might want to do finance. Turns out that finance is for money-hungry a-holes, so I went back to being a pre-med and am sticking to it. At Cornell, I'm pulling a 3.78 cum and a 3.85 science. I'm currently a junior.

- ECS: treasurer, participant, founding member of a chapter of global medical brigades, which sends groups of kids and doctors to honduras to give acute care to poor people.
- I TA aututorial biochemistry and have tutored orgo
- Research: two labs, one biopsych and one human development, both unpublished
- Shadowing: a week over this past winter break, around 25 hrs
- Volunteering: a few times at Cleveland Free Clinic back when I was at Case, and in hs though I know that doesn't count
- I worked at a hospital for a summer after freshman year, but I just sat at a front desk and didn't really see much/do much patient interacting other than pushing people around in wheelchairs occaisionally.

I haven't taken the MCAT yet but I got a 32 on a Kaplan test before any studying. I'm planning on taking them this early this summer, and I'm not really sure what score I expect because I haven't taken a practice since then.

This summer, I'm planning on working some more in a lab, possibly a different one, and doing a lot of shadowing while studying my ass off. I think that's about it. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Stratego]

It looks like your GPA and MCAT score will be fine.

You've got leadership, teaching, research (hopefully you'll have at least a year total when you apply), a bit of shadowing, but plan more (hopefully with more than one type of doctor), not much community service-a summer at a hospital info desk, a few times in a free clinic, and time spent on GMB, unless the tutoring was a volunteer activity. The biggest lack seems to be clinical experience, so you really need to work on that before you submit. You can include a high school activity if it continued into the college years, though. What are the total hours you worked in the free clinic?

 

[loveoforganic]

Just to make sure, you are planning on doing extensive prep for the MCAT, and not just walking into it thinking you'll be fine because you made a 32 on Kaplan, right?

 

[Mobius1985]

Just for my own information, what does a campus organization do for Global Medical Briagade? Is is primarily fund raising, gathering supplies, recruiting doctors and nurses, or do you plan the trips and go along as an administrator to be sure things run smoothly? Regardless, it sounds like a great activity. How long are the trips you send people on, and are medical students welcome, or only licensed professionals?

 

[not a dvr user]

At loveoforganic, yeah, I'm juggling prep in with classwork as time permits, and am planning on dedicating at least a month after finals end to studying.

At stratego, I didn't really do too much at the free clinic, I'd say probably around 20 hours total, maybe even less. I'm thinking about doing some volunteering over the summer while I shadow and prep for the MCAT. There's also this club on campus that sends kids to volunteer at nursing homes once a week to keep the folks there company. I've been thinking about going on a trip but haven't really found the time.

At Mobius, there are chapters of global medical brigades at a lot of different colleges around the US and I think some in Canada. It's mostly a west coast thing, but it's starting to spread east. The main organization works out the actual in-country logistics, like booking buses and accommodations and planning where to hold the clinics, and the different schools come down each for about a week. The main organization staggers when the schools are scheduled to come down, and they rotate through the different villages they serve. Our chapter primarily selects the kids to go down, trains them in basic triage tasks like taking bps and whatnot, teaches them some basic spanish, finds doctors, and works out travel arrangements from the US to Honduras. We also try to do as much fundraising as possible, because airfare is pretty expensive. I went with the first group we sent last winter break, and I gotta say it was a really, really cool experience. I know it's a little trite, pre-med going to latin america to service the poor hungry masses, but when you're down there you really do feel like you're doing important work and like you're really helping these people.

 

[LateBl00meR]

At Mobius, there are chapters of global medical brigades at a lot of different colleges around the US and I think some in Canada. It's mostly a west coast thing, but it's starting to spread east. The main organization works out the actual in-country logistics, like booking buses and accommodations and planning where to hold the clinics, and the different schools come down each for about a week. The main organization staggers when the schools are scheduled to come down, and they rotate through the different villages they serve. Our chapter primarily selects the kids to go down, trains them in basic triage tasks like taking bps and whatnot, teaches them some basic spanish, finds doctors, and works out travel arrangements from the US to Honduras. We also try to do as much fundraising as possible, because airfare is pretty expensive. I went with the first group we sent last winter break, and I gotta say it was a really, really cool experience. I know it's a little trite, pre-med going to latin america to service the poor hungry masses, but when you're down there you really do feel like you're doing important work and like you're really helping these people.

I just now found out we have a chapter of global medical brigades at my school is well and wish I would have know about it sooner. Sounds fantastic and you should pass the word on as much as possible.

 

[Mobius1985]

I googled it and the home website has information about how to set up your own chapter. Anyone who needs a leadership experience: here's an idea for you.

 

[not a dvr user]

yeah, it's a really good organization. The only thing is, it's a little expensive. It costs $650 in addition to airfare, which for us was about $900 (back when oil prices were really high). Going in the winter was awesome, leaving temperatures in the teens to go to 75 degree sunny weather.

I had a second question. I had the option to AP out of calc 1 and 2 as well as physics 1 and 2, as I took both BC calc and physics C in high school. Right now, on the recommendation of my premed advisor, I'm taking physics E+M, but that will be it as far as quantitative premed requirements taken during college. Do you think I'll be at a disadvantage at the more selective schools because of this? Would it be worth it to take like a calc 1 or something fall senior year?

 

[Mobius1985]

Here's a list of schools not taking AP. You can decide if applying to one of them is essential to your happiness.

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~nss/nav/pages/school/Med%20School%20Course%20Reqs/MedSchAP08.pdf