Good 4-Year Plan

[Wildcat7]

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Hello. I have been roaming this forum for a couple of days, but am finally going to start contributing. I am trying to organize a good plan for the next four years to best increase my odds of getting into medical school, and eventually become a Family Physician.

I graduated high school two years ago and joined the Army as a signal systems support specialist. I am currently deployed in Iraq but will start college when I get back in the spring. I am going to be majoring in Excerise Science. My current GPA is low but I have less that 15 credits and will be able to pull it up to a 3.0 by the end of my first semester. I know at a minimum I will be able to raise it to a 3.5 by the end of my Junior year.

I am already starting to prepare for the MCAT. I am not doing anything crazy like studying for hours when the test is years away. It is more like about 15 minutes per day. It is just a way of studying that works for me. The more times I see something, the more I am able to put it into long term memory. I am confident I will be able to get at least a 32 on the MCAT if not higher.

Now, the rest of this plan I need some more guidance on. I want to know more about extracurriculars. I am planning on doing about 80 hours of shadowing about 2 family physicians. Does 80 hours sound like a good amount? I also need to explore some volunteer options. What type of volunteering would look good to an admissions packet? I am wanting to do something with Habitat for Humanity or would it be better to go with something more medical like the Red Cross?

I also want to get involved with a research project in college. My college is a major agriculture/veterinarian college and many of the research opporitunities here involve animals and farm corps. Would this type of research be benifitual to medical school? I do not see how it could hurt. Other than that the only other thing in college I will probably be apart of is one of the Christian college groups.

That is the rough plan. Any suggestions would be greatly valued.

 

[oNichole]

From what I have seen on this website anything between 40 and 100 shadowing hours is sufficient. Just make sure you get some clinical experience in which you are getting actual patient contact rather than just observing. Some hospital volunteer programs offer this, some will just have you fold towels or file. Look into what your local hospital volunteer program has to offer you. If they do not offer patient contact you may have to become a CNA or EMT to get experience.

Any type of volunteering looks good as long as you are committed to the organization. Pick something you feel passionate about. The purpose of volunteering is to show compassion. It does not have to be related to medicine. In fact, one could argue that volunteering in a capacity not related to medicine would actually make you are more well rounded applicant.

I think any type of research looks good on a med school app.

If you are worried about your gpa not being up to par by the end of your junior year, you could always wait until the end of your senior year to apply, and take a year off. Waiting would give you another year to bring your gpa up a little more, as well as get some more research/EC's under your belt. Of course this is only one option and depends on your willingness to take a year off. Since you are in the army and have spent a few years away from school this may not be the most attractive option for you. I'd say that you have a good chance of being accepted to a school with a 3.5 as long as your MCAT is high and ECs are good and you apply to enough schools.

 

[Shaq]

yea well you don't have very lofty goals. don't apply to too many top 20 schools and be sincere in your interest to go into medicine. you'll do all right.

don't do activities just for the sake of doing them. actually think about how they will contribute to you as a human being. that being said, you SHOULD do a minimal amount of shadowing and hospital volunteerwork. after that do what you like. --- i am sure your military service is a big plus.

also your research exp should be bench-based and have biomedical relevance. don't do research on animal behavior or some other stuff if it has nothing to do with medicine.