I go to a top 20 public university, and am an incoming sophomore. I earned a 4.0 GPA for the first year in a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology degree with a math minor. I should be okay for both the MCAT and GPA when it comes time to apply for medical school. But, I partook in no extracurricular activity during my freshman year. I intend to volunteer in a clinical setting, join a community service organization, and possibly do research during my sophomore year starting in August, and will work as hard as I can for the next two years after that to beef up my EC's. Assuming that I graduate with around a 3.9 GPA, and a mid-30s MCAT (both of which I'm hoping are possible), will I be in good shape? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
EC's help
- Thread starter gyropath
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You're fine. Just make sure you work on them from now on. GPA >>> activities, but now that you're doing well academic-wise, don't be afraid to sacrifice the 4.0 for a 3.8-3.9 for more extracurricular involvement. There's a minimal difference between a 3.9 and a 4.0 anyway.
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EC's aren't really important because you can put them on your app and the med schools are impressed, they're important because they give you something to talk about during your interviews. From what I've seen there's a decently broad range of GPAs and MCAT scores that get past initial screening and make it to interviews, and how well you interview is the final deciding factor. Find 1-3 EC's that you can stick with and that will be interesting, because honestly if your interviewer has a list of 20 EC's they're going to randomly pick one or two anyway and ignore the rest.
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Agree with Web MD. Make absolutely sure you are doing ECs that you want to do, this ensures that you will be able to talk about your endeavors passionately and with pragmatism. Don't force yourself into the mindset that ECs are a checklist. There are creative ways to get all of the exposure one is "required".
Just stay true to yourself, do things you want to do. Don't be a resume padder.
Just stay true to yourself, do things you want to do. Don't be a resume padder.
