Gap Year Suggestions?

[The Ducktor]

Hello, I apologize as this is a well discussed topic, however I'm hoping for more specific guidance.
Background: Senior in college at a top 15 school majoring in Economics and a Pre-health supplementary major. My freshman year I attended a top 50ish school and received a 3.94, I transferred and my GPA has dropped. At my current, more academically rigorous school my GPA will be around a 3.5 (due to a D in Orgo 2, B's or better in all other courses).

Stats:
cGPA - ~3.6
sGPA - ~3.4

I plan to take two gap years before matriculation at hopefully an MD school. I'm wondering how I might best spend this time.

I will continue to volunteer (hopefully around 200 hours by application) and gain shadowing experience (hopefully around 40 hours by application). I have yet to take the MCAT but will spend several months dedicated to (hopefully) receiving a good score.

As my sGPA is on the lower side, should I take more science classes at a local 4 year to boost my BCPM? (I've taken 16 BCPM courses so another 5-7 courses could boost my sGPA but that might be overkill?)

I was planning on registering for an EMT course and working as an EMT, would this be a good option? Or would there be a better alternative?

Should I try to gain research experience as I have none?

Any answers or suggestions would be much appreciated.

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[The Ducktor]

Just wondering if you had any quick thoughts on this or could redirect me to a page with more resources @Goro

 

[Goro]

Hello, I apologize as this is a well discussed topic, however I'm hoping for more specific guidance.
Background: Senior in college at a top 15 school majoring in Economics and a Pre-health supplementary major. My freshman year I attended a top 50ish school and received a 3.94, I transferred and my GPA has dropped. At my current, more academically rigorous school my GPA will be around a 3.5 (due to a D in Orgo 2, B's or better in all other courses).

Stats:
cGPA - ~3.6
sGPA - ~3.4

I plan to take two gap years before matriculation at hopefully an MD school. I'm wondering how I might best spend this time.

I will continue to volunteer (hopefully around 200 hours by application) and gain shadowing experience (hopefully around 40 hours by application). I have yet to take the MCAT but will spend several months dedicated to (hopefully) receiving a good score.

As my sGPA is on the lower side, should I take more science classes at a local 4 year to boost my BCPM? (I've taken 16 BCPM courses so another 5-7 courses could boost my sGPA but that might be overkill?)

I was planning on registering for an EMT course and working as an EMT, would this be a good option? Or would there be a better alternative?

Should I try to gain research experience as I have none?

Any answers or suggestions would be much appreciated.

The sGPA is low, so more courses to boost that will only help. The median for MD acceptees is around 3.7. Downward GPA trends are not good.

Get 50+ shadowing hours.

At this point, you can't rule out DO schools as beggars can't be choosy.

 

[Blueprint Med School]

Hello, I apologize as this is a well discussed topic, however I'm hoping for more specific guidance.
Background: Senior in college at a top 15 school majoring in Economics and a Pre-health supplementary major. My freshman year I attended a top 50ish school and received a 3.94, I transferred and my GPA has dropped. At my current, more academically rigorous school my GPA will be around a 3.5 (due to a D in Orgo 2, B's or better in all other courses).

Stats:
cGPA - ~3.6
sGPA - ~3.4

I plan to take two gap years before matriculation at hopefully an MD school. I'm wondering how I might best spend this time.

I will continue to volunteer (hopefully around 200 hours by application) and gain shadowing experience (hopefully around 40 hours by application). I have yet to take the MCAT but will spend several months dedicated to (hopefully) receiving a good score.

As my sGPA is on the lower side, should I take more science classes at a local 4 year to boost my BCPM? (I've taken 16 BCPM courses so another 5-7 courses could boost my sGPA but that might be overkill?)

I was planning on registering for an EMT course and working as an EMT, would this be a good option? Or would there be a better alternative?

Should I try to gain research experience as I have none?

Any answers or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Big fan of the EMT idea. Since it's going to be 2 years of Gap you'll have plenty of time to rack up a large amount of hours and experiences. the hope is that you'll be very clinically strong compared to other applicants especially during the pandemic.

David D, MD - USMLE and MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors