Good GPA and Great Clinical Research Experience, Not Much Volunteering

[cyxy]

I am a junior chemistry major and will be applying to medical schools this year. Currently I have a 3.77 overall GPA, but anticipate it coming up to a 3.81 at the end of this semester. My required sciences GPA is a 3.70, while my overall science GPA should come up to a 3.75 by the end of this semester. I have TAed for several chemistry courses and recently won an undergraduate award in chemistry. I had one semester where I took Calc 2, Physics 2, and Ochem 2 at the same time and received a B, B+, and B+ respectively. My GPA for that semester was a 3.39, but other than that, my semester GPAs have been fairly consistent (3.7-3.8). Last semester (following the 3.39) I received a 4.0 while taking a schedule of comparable difficulty and subject matter (Calc 3, Biochemistry, and Human Physiology).

I will be taking the MCAT in May, but am a strong standardized test-taker in general and believe I have a good shot at doing passably. My goal is a 36.

I have excellent clinical/research experience - roughly 1400 hours of clinical research in critical care medicine. I've occupied a pseudo-leadership role in this position, and have worked in the ER, OR, and ICU doing research in trauma.

My one weak spot is volunteering. I've done some infrequent, low-commitment volunteer activities throughout the years (assisting in move-in at my school, doing several science outreach programs with local middle- and high-schoolers, being a volunteer chemistry tutor, being a guest speaker to pre-health students at my high school, etc.) but I feel like it hasn't been enough. I've also begun to volunteer on a regular basis at the hospital at my school, but I'm working on different projects (as opposed to one regular task) and the person coordinating these does not utilize me as much as I'd like to be utilized. I'm getting maybe 3 hours a week from this, but would like to increase this significantly and do a lot this summer. I was told that 200 hours is required by most medical schools and feel like I'm scrambling to get to this number.

How do my chances stand at this point? What is your advice?

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[Catalystik]

1) I was told that 200 hours is required by most medical schools and feel like I'm scrambling to get to this number.

2) How do my chances stand at this point? What is your advice?

1) There are few med schools that give a required number of hours for clinical experience or community service. I'm not clear on what type of activity you feel you lack.

When you did clinical research, didn't that include working directly with sick people (rather than chart review)? In which case, this is clinical experience too, besides what you're accumulating in the current hospital gig (if it isn't clerical in nature). The average clinical experience listed for applicants is about 150 hours over 1.5 years. This can come from volunteering, work, research, or class requirement. The longevity is important, so hopefully you've been near sick people before this academic year.

For volunteering/community service: yes, this will be a weaker area for you, but all schools don't have high expectations in this area. I'd try to recall all the short-term volunteering you've done and group it to make it a more substantive activity. If you have enough clinical experience (per above guidelines) you could consider changing to (or adding) some weekly nonmedical community service for a cause you care about, maybe an extension of what you've done earlier, like tutoring kids in the school where you did outreach programs, and continuing it through the application year for the sake of update letters and interview conversations.

If the school you want most to attend does specifically state a 200 volunteer hour expectation, then adding a second activity seems imperative.

If my comments aren't hitting close enough to your concerns, please clarify your question further.

Stronger leadership (not sure what you've done already) and a regular teaching gig (good job there), besides hobbies/sports/artistic endeavors all make an application more appealing to schools.

Your one semester grade dip may not be as much of a standout as you fear, as GPAs are summarized year by year on the application, not term by term. That 3.39 will be averaged with the GPA from the previous semester to include all sophomore year grades.

2) Extrapolating from current AAMC stats tables, overall chances with a cGPA of 3.8 and MCAT of 29=53%, with a 30=58%, with a 31=65%, with MCAT 32= 72%, with MCAT 35=81%, with a 36=83%.