I haven't been able to find another post with my similar details--but if one exists and I'm being repetitive, I apologize!
I'm at a fairly prestigious liberal arts college (top 20), but don't have an amazing gpa (3.66 and sGPA=3.53) but I feel like my ECs are decent--but I want them to stand out a bit more--so i'm wondering what things I should aim to do during my gap year next year to make up for my less than awesome gpa.
here's a brief outline of my past/current ECs:
1. Interned at a children's psychiatric clinic for a summer--worked in recreational therapy, spent a lot of time with patients one-on-one. (+70hrs)
2. Shadowed a breast cancer surgeon during a summer and shadowed an ER doctor for a day (~15 hrs---I know this is probably too low a number of hours to be that meaningful)
3. Chair of my University's relay for life (american cancer society fundraiser)--very time consuming, and was also a co-founder of this club at my college.
4. Social chair of a sorority--we do a lot of fundraising through this.
5. Work 15+ hours a week at a campus restaurant--really fast paced--I cook, work the register, and serve food.
For my gap year I already have a few options lined up---I have two research assistant positions that I could choose from that would start in June and end sometime in the fall/winter--both of which are in a subject that i'm really passionate about.
Other than these research options--I'm not sure what else I could be doing during my gap year--should I aim to get a longer research position that is whole year--even if its in a subject i'm less passionate about? (the above ones are literally PERFECT for my interests--and I really liked the research team at both), or would it be acceptable to take the summer+a few months research, and then use the rest of the time to shadow some more and maybe volunteer at a few hospitals while working to make some more money??? I can work at my brother's company--which would pay WAY more than any other job i'd get--but it's not medically related at all--so I don't know how much this would hurt my chances?
Also will it even matter how much I do post-summer, since I'll be getting my apps in around June anyway??
Im not particularly aiming for any of the top tier schools--the SUNY schools are the main schools i'm a hopeful for!
Sorry for the super long-winded rant--if anyone even takes the time to read this, I'd be so grateful!
I'm at a fairly prestigious liberal arts college (top 20), but don't have an amazing gpa (3.66 and sGPA=3.53) but I feel like my ECs are decent--but I want them to stand out a bit more--so i'm wondering what things I should aim to do during my gap year next year to make up for my less than awesome gpa.
here's a brief outline of my past/current ECs:
1. Interned at a children's psychiatric clinic for a summer--worked in recreational therapy, spent a lot of time with patients one-on-one. (+70hrs)
2. Shadowed a breast cancer surgeon during a summer and shadowed an ER doctor for a day (~15 hrs---I know this is probably too low a number of hours to be that meaningful)
3. Chair of my University's relay for life (american cancer society fundraiser)--very time consuming, and was also a co-founder of this club at my college.
4. Social chair of a sorority--we do a lot of fundraising through this.
5. Work 15+ hours a week at a campus restaurant--really fast paced--I cook, work the register, and serve food.
For my gap year I already have a few options lined up---I have two research assistant positions that I could choose from that would start in June and end sometime in the fall/winter--both of which are in a subject that i'm really passionate about.
Other than these research options--I'm not sure what else I could be doing during my gap year--should I aim to get a longer research position that is whole year--even if its in a subject i'm less passionate about? (the above ones are literally PERFECT for my interests--and I really liked the research team at both), or would it be acceptable to take the summer+a few months research, and then use the rest of the time to shadow some more and maybe volunteer at a few hospitals while working to make some more money??? I can work at my brother's company--which would pay WAY more than any other job i'd get--but it's not medically related at all--so I don't know how much this would hurt my chances?
Also will it even matter how much I do post-summer, since I'll be getting my apps in around June anyway??
Im not particularly aiming for any of the top tier schools--the SUNY schools are the main schools i'm a hopeful for!
Sorry for the super long-winded rant--if anyone even takes the time to read this, I'd be so grateful!