EC crisis/questions

[sky81]

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Hi, I have an issue with my EC's that I hope to get some feedback on, I'm still relatively new to the forum and this whole med-school process.

Just to briefly introduce my situation, I'm a NY non-traditional student who graduated in 06 and worked for a year outside of the US, came back to pursue the healthcare field. I took the MCAT's in June.2007. I'm also registered to take 2 post-bacc classes this spring semester (Modern Genetics and Microbio and both with labs). I'm preparing to apply for med schools for the 09 matriculating year. I have a 3.45 undergrad GPA and a 32P MCAT. Given that my academic stats are low for most schools out there, ideally I would need some solid EC's.

Currently the only thing I've done is 1 year+ of volunteering in two different hospitals and in a clinical laboratory (cytogenetic lab) for about 3 months (still going). I'm also starting a paid internship in one of the hospitals that I volunteered at and plan to do that for at least another full year. During the volunteering I had some opportunities to shadow a few different primary care physicians and PA's (no specialty doctors), but only once a week with 3-4 patients at a time and for a total of only 4 weeks.

1. I was wondering what other activities or EC's would you recommend for someone like me to make my application more competitive? Are there mandatory or strongly recommended EC's that I failed to get involved in? I only have about 7 months time left before AMCAS submission............

2. Would you recommend TAing, an EMT course, summer research programs etc? I looked into a few summer research programs at some schools, such as NYU and Mt.Sinai, but found out that they only accept in-school 2nd or 3rd year undergrad students.

3. Do I need to take more courses? What other courses should I take as an informal post-bacc?

4. Do I need more shadowing? If so, how much more? Also, can I continue to shadow primary care, or should I shadow specialties? (I don't really know any specialty doctors that will let me shadow).

5. During my undergrad years, I didn't do any research or volunteer work, at that time I wasn't aiming for med school and worked a PT job at a local supermarket. I know that's a problem, but how does adcoms look at this? Does anyone have any experience?

6. Being realistic, should I not waste my time, money and energy for MD schools and go for DO and PA?

7. Any other advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry for the exceedingly long post, I hope someone actually takes the time and read it.

 

[Beast11]

Hi, I have an issue with my EC's that I hope to get some feedback on, I'm still relatively new to the forum and this whole med-school process.

Just to briefly introduce my situation, I'm a NY non-traditional student who graduated in 06 and worked for a year outside of the US, came back to pursue the healthcare field. I took the MCAT's in June.2007. I'm I have a 3.45 undergrad GPA and a 32P MCAT. Given that my academic stats are low for most schools out there, ideally I would need some solid EC's.

So far sounds pretty good. You are competitive (what schools did you want to attend where you thought you weren't competitive?-make sure to pepper your state schools and at least try for the top tiers)

also registered to take 2 post-bacc classes this spring semester (Modern Genetics and Microbio and both with labs). I'm preparing to apply for med schools for the 09 matriculating year.

Unless you have no other science class background, these won't help GPA hugely... (note, however, I never recommend not taking classes. It is a risk-benefit analysis, and in the absence of hugely mitigating cases, I think classes are a great idea.)

Currently the only thing I've done is 1 year+ of volunteering in two different hospitals and in a clinical laboratory (cytogenetic lab) for about 3 months (still going). I'm also starting a paid internship in one of the hospitals that I volunteered at and plan to do that for at least another full year. During the volunteering I had some opportunities to shadow a few different primary care physicians and PA's (no specialty doctors), but only once a week with 3-4 patients at a time and for a total of only 4 weeks.

This sounds good. A rule of thumb is to count total number of hours per total experience. At least one should be >100 hours distributed well over a year, and you should be able to defend it well in your EC sections (as well as having it addressed in your recommendation letters)

1. I was wondering what other activities or EC's would you recommend for someone like me to make my application more competitive? Are there mandatory or strongly recommended EC's that I failed to get involved in? I only have about 7 months time left before AMCAS submission............

What is your BCPM GPA/hours. If weak, you might want to augment your two bio classes...

2. Would you recommend TAing, an EMT course, summer research programs etc? I looked into a few summer research programs at some schools, such as NYU and Mt.Sinai, but found out that they only accept in-school 2nd or 3rd year undergrad students.

Yes, I would recommend them all. EMT is a known commodity. Research is good (especially if you get a publication). I can't imagine schools "do not accept" people for summer research. Look into funded (SURP) programs in the science departments.

3. Do I need to take more courses? What other courses should I take as an informal post-bacc?

Again-a lot is dependent on how well rounded you are. Personally, I would apply ASAP and then try for a SMP with your stats if (and only if) you don't get in

4. Do I need more shadowing? If so, how much more? Also, can I continue to shadow primary care, or should I shadow specialties? (I don't really know any specialty doctors that will let me shadow).

5. During my undergrad years, I didn't do any research or volunteer work, at that time I wasn't aiming for med school and worked a PT job at a local supermarket. I know that's a problem, but how does adcoms look at this? Does anyone have any experience?

Both of these are usually not hugely important in the grand scheme of med application process as a whole. Shadow if you can get a letter (ideally as part of a composite letter). Nobody cares about jobs not put into your EC slots. Maybe take a job where you can brag a little (the TA) but don't sweat what's passed.

6. Being realistic, should I not waste my time, money and energy for MD schools and go for DO and PA?

Apply to a good number of MD schools early (primary completed by June, secondaries as soon as received) and maybe fill out the AACOMAS primaries at the same time. If you get no response by late fall (interviews) then you can fill out the AACOMAS secondaries.

7. Any other advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Work on your PS and post it to the mentor forum and go through several iterations in the next few months so you are ready to hit submit the minute you can.

Good luck!

 

[sky81]

Thank you so much for your input... it helped to clear a few things up for me in my head. I'll going to do the best I can with what I got.