Extra schooling during semester, good idea?

[UT8305]

hey guy I'm a student at the University of Tampa, an Exercise Science/Allied Health major, with a 3.16 gpa and a 3.28 science gpa (bio, chem, ochem and physics) I messed around a bit in my first 2 year because i'm stupid and ended up getting B's in gen chem and a C and B/C in bio I and II (but i not nothing less then an A/B in ochem and physics, I was thinking about doing a patient care technician (PCT) program at a nearby career college, Heres what the description of the program says:

Students learn phlebotomy and advanced procedures like EKG, along with the day-to-day responsibility of monitoring patients' conditions, updating medical charts and communicating with hospital staff. The program includes real-world experience at an area health care facility. Training covers primary hospital departments including pediatrics, intensive care, critical care and rehabilitation. The program also includes fundamentals of anatomy, physiology, medical ethics, equipment and safety. Student also do an externship of 290 hours (soo i'll be working with doctors in a hospital for that long)

I'll be getting alot of certifications from this and i can actually work as a PCT after this if i want, and I'm also doing about 16 credits at my school to finish up my degree (I'm a senior now) and I've done a bit of volunteering in the hospital but no research, I can handle it, but is this a good scheme to impress medical college adcom's insite of my gpa, too show them that i can handle such a strenous schedule and that i'm dedicated to pursuing a career in medicine and that i'm doing whatever it takes. plus i'll have the hand-on experience by the end of it (December), I know i can pull it off so please don't reply by saying "i don't think its a good idea because you might not be able to handle the work", i know i can, BUT will it make a difference when adcoms look at my application, will it make them say "wow, look at this guy" or not because I don't want to pay for and go through the program if not. i'm i'm taking the mcat in august, and I'm not to sure what i'm going to get on it, let hope for the best. Please be brutely honest .

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[gman33]

I know i can pull it off so please don't reply by saying "i don't think its a good idea because you might not be able to handle the work", i know i can, BUT will it make a difference when adcoms look at my application, will it make them say "wow, look at this guy" or not because I don't want to pay for and go through the program if not. i'm i'm taking the mcat in august, and I'm not to sure what i'm going to get on it, let hope for the best. Please be brutely honest .

I'm going to say exactly what you don't want to hear.

You have not proven that you can handle this extra work as your grades so far are subpar as far as ad coms are concerned. Focus on getting all A's for as many semesters as you have left. You really need to get your gpa up to be a competitive applicant. This will do much more for you than any certificate (which won't be worth much).

 

[Blade28]

I agree with the above.

It's tough to suddenly just "turn it on" and get straight As while taking on another extracurricular - especially if you've had a problem maintaining decent grades before.

I'd also just focus on bringing up that undergrad GPA as much as possible. What other extra-curriculars (volunteering, shadowing, clinical experience) do you have?

 

[spreebee]

hey guy I'm a student at the University of Tampa, an Exercise Science/Allied Health major, with a 3.16 gpa and a 3.28 science gpa (bio, chem, ochem and physics) I messed around a bit in my first 2 year because i'm stupid and ended up getting B's in gen chem and a C and B/C in bio I and II (but i not nothing less then an A/B in ochem and physics, I was thinking about doing a patient care technician (PCT) program at a nearby career college, Heres what the description of the program says:

Students learn phlebotomy and advanced procedures like EKG, along with the day-to-day responsibility of monitoring patients' conditions, updating medical charts and communicating with hospital staff. The program includes real-world experience at an area health care facility. Training covers primary hospital departments including pediatrics, intensive care, critical care and rehabilitation. The program also includes fundamentals of anatomy, physiology, medical ethics, equipment and safety. Student also do an externship of 290 hours (soo i'll be working with doctors in a hospital for that long)

I'll be getting alot of certifications from this and i can actually work as a PCT after this if i want, and I'm also doing about 16 credits at my school to finish up my degree (I'm a senior now) and I've done a bit of volunteering in the hospital but no research, I can handle it, but is this a good scheme to impress medical college adcom's insite of my gpa, too show them that i can handle such a strenous schedule and that i'm dedicated to pursuing a career in medicine and that i'm doing whatever it takes. plus i'll have the hand-on experience by the end of it (December), I know i can pull it off so please don't reply by saying "i don't think its a good idea because you might not be able to handle the work", i know i can, BUT will it make a difference when adcoms look at my application, will it make them say "wow, look at this guy" or not because I don't want to pay for and go through the program if not. i'm i'm taking the mcat in august, and I'm not to sure what i'm going to get on it, let hope for the best. Please be brutely honest .

Your last resort would be going to a foreign medical school, which isn't bad considering 25% of U.S. physicians are foreign trained and that number isn't going down anytime soon with the current crises... They predicted that if every U.S. medical school were to up admission 20% we would still have a crises at hand, so the admission increase at the few U.S. schools coming in the next 7 years or so isn't going to cut the demand of the country....