gpa3.4/MCAT 34 Looking into COM in Florida!

[Yoon909]

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Hello!

I'm actually conan909's roommate borrowing his account so I apologize for any confusion!
So here's my brief applicant profile (applying next year, taking a year off)

Current Junior at University of Florida
Academics
Major:Sociology (Pre-med track- Personally interested and appreciated human communication/relationship/perception. Have been taking at least one or two science classes every term: next year as a senior I'll have immunology and advanced microbiology)
cGPA: 3.4 (Lower than average but projected to go up. no All As guranteed)
havn't calculated sGPA yet but, it's around the same.
MCAT: 34 (verbal & science were around the same)

Research
3 years in Pediatric Orphan Disease clinical research lab at Shands Hospital UF
-2 publications right now & working on another one during summer.
-Extramural research/taking classes at another university during Fall (One of the top undergrad schools; i thought this might look impressive)

Leadership
-Vice President & Secretary in Pre-medical organization on campus for 3 years.
-Student Involvement Ambassador for 2 years

I have a solid extracurriculars with good volunteering hours.

What are my chances of getting into any of the medical schools in FL? I personally want to go to FSU for couple of reasons but... really, i just want to get into A medical school.
Can you guys suggest me some ideal medical schools in U.S. that I might get into/be interested in?
I'm really interested in pathology(research)/pediatrics...

PLEASE LET ME KNOW MY CHANCES!

 

[Sloo0]

There is a book that you can buy from the AMCAS website that lists all the schools, stuff about them, what their average GPA/MCAT score is for acceptance, etc.


As far Pathology/Pediatrics. Where you go for school shouldnt really matter. Unless you already have research going in either of those 2 fields, your likelihood of finding research to do on them as an MSI or MSII is very slim.

Not to mention, (even tho there is debate on this), I wouldnt recommend doing Research as an MSI/MSII simply because you want to make sure you get really high grades and a high class rank, and ultimately good Board Score.


Secondly, both Pathology and Pediatrics, especially Pediatrics, are not very heavy on requiring research or weighing research for Residency Programs.

If you wanted to go into something like Dermatology, or Opthalmology etc, then yea, it would be pretty important for you to have research done in those fields.



I would say, get that book, find all the schools that match closest to your stats, and apply to those.


The first and second year of MEd SChool are literally identical at ANY school you go to, in terms of content.

We all use the same books, learn the same subjects, study the same diseases. Its not like someone at Harvard Med, is going to somehow learn something extra about the Aorta and its location in the body as opposed to someone in the lowest Med School.


The school you go to generally impacts your 3rd/4th year clinical experience, since more established schools often have ties with more prestigious hospitals etc.


But that being said, you can always set up your own Rotations (everyone sets up their own rotations 4th year nation wide, because thats when you do audition rotations at hospitals where you want to try to land a Residency).




SO.

Your MCAT is good, your GPA is a little low, I would say you should take some non-prereq classes like Anatomy, Immunology, Pharmacology, etc, to boost your science GPA.

Then I would say you should also shadow at least 1 Physician in Peds.

Ideally, you would want to shadow 2, but 1 is fine.


You should have a pretty good chance to get in somewhere, just dont get hung up on the "OMG I ONLY WANT TO GO TO MED SCHOOL IN FLORIDA", and you should be fine 😉

 

[Dires]

Assuming you are a Florida resident:

You're golden to get interviews at the majority of Florida schools.