Hey everyone! I'm a Physiological Science major with a minor in Biomedical Ethics. I am basically looking for guidance on what to do next to improve my application. Ideally I would like to apply this June - is this impossible? I'll go anywhere haha. I haven't gotten any interviews but I have gotten a few rejections. I applied to about 20 schools (CA schools, TMDSAS schools, some in New York and Chicago).
Applied late July for this cycle. Completed secondaries REALLY LATE - like months after they were due; I finished all the secondaries by the end of December.
Grades: At the time of application, I had a 3.3 cGPA and a 3.19sGPA. But after last quarter, it dropped to a 3.2cGPA
more on grades: My freshman year, my grades were mostly B's with a few C's due to the stress of my parents going through a divorce and my trouble adjusting to college. My second year, I was determined to do better since I ended my first year with a 2.9. I had solid A's except for 1 C+ and 1 B+ and ended the year with a 3.3. My third year, I overloaded on EC's and had trouble balancing my schoolwork. I got A's mostly but I got C+'s in my major classes (which were the most unit heavy) so I ended with a 3.3 with no visible GPA improvement. This past Fall quarter, I got 2 C's and 2 B's because I was pretty much sick all of finals week and did horrible on my exams - most of which only had a midterm and a final.
MCAT: Took it for the first time cold without taking any practice tests in April: 10BS/6PS/10V. I really shouldn't have taken it but I had already postponed it once, I didn't want to do it again.
Second time in July, took two practice tests and reviewed most of the material: 10BS/11PS/10V.
Should I retake? I know I can break 35 because I haven't studied to the best of my ability for the previous two tests but I'm worried about how it would look to an ADCOM to have taken the test three times.
EC's:
Research:
-Humanities research in my minor for four years - started off as 10 hours/week now it's more like 15 hours a month as the project's almost complete.
-2 Quarters of Neurobiology research last year. Didn't really like it a whole lot but it was insightful for me. But it also burned me out - worked 20 hours a week in addition to my job as an RA and as a result, my junior year grades and my MCAT were not stellar.
Leadership:
-Resident Assistant: Love my job! Been doing it for 2 years now (including the summer). learned a lot about people, counseling, organizing events, etc.
-Program Assistant: sort of like an RA but on a different scale - mainly just organizing events for a community of 500 people.
-various other minor roles
Teaching:
-Undergrad group for my minor (Exec board for 3 years): organize workshops teaching college community about various issues in biomedical ethics. (we also do other events like volunteering for our minor's lectures/etc, partnering with advocacy groups, etc).
-going to be teaching a course at my college as part of a special program where undergrads get to teach a topic they're interested in.
Clinical:
-Emergency Med: worked in a sort of research role in the ER, interviewing patients. Did it for 2 quarters.
-Clinical Assistant at a local free clinic - starting in Feb. Get to take vitals, interview patients with the physician, etc.
-Shadowed a colonoscopist for about 50 hours this past Winter break. getting a LOR.
Service (not sure if some of these count as clinical)
-volunteer in an administrative role at a free clinic - I do about 3 hours a week and I've been doing it since last June.
-volunteer at the front desk, speaking spanish, communicating to patients - about 6 hours a month; since last September.
LOR: 1 from a lower div Physics lecturer, 1 from a JD professor in my minor, 1 from my supervisor for my RA job.
Personal Statement: got good feedback, it addressed my grade weaknesses and described my interest in medicine reasonably well i think.
My biggest problem has always been motivation and balancing my time. But this quarter, I'm determined to change that and get solid grades for the rest of the year. Now that I'm pretty sure I'm not getting in this cycle, I'm confused about how to use my time (previously thought I could stay a 5th year - turns out I don't have the units).
Should I take both summer sessions at my college? If I do, I can raise my cgpa to a 3.47 and my sGPA to a 3.4. I wanted to avoid Postbacs and SMPs due to the high cost - I was thinking about taking community college classes to raise my grades instead. Also not sure about if I should take the MCAT again but actually study better. I know my weaknesses are my grades and my clinical experience. not sure how to address them.
thanks for all of your help! sorry for the length - it ended up being longer than i expected lol.
Applied late July for this cycle. Completed secondaries REALLY LATE - like months after they were due; I finished all the secondaries by the end of December.
Grades: At the time of application, I had a 3.3 cGPA and a 3.19sGPA. But after last quarter, it dropped to a 3.2cGPA
more on grades: My freshman year, my grades were mostly B's with a few C's due to the stress of my parents going through a divorce and my trouble adjusting to college. My second year, I was determined to do better since I ended my first year with a 2.9. I had solid A's except for 1 C+ and 1 B+ and ended the year with a 3.3. My third year, I overloaded on EC's and had trouble balancing my schoolwork. I got A's mostly but I got C+'s in my major classes (which were the most unit heavy) so I ended with a 3.3 with no visible GPA improvement. This past Fall quarter, I got 2 C's and 2 B's because I was pretty much sick all of finals week and did horrible on my exams - most of which only had a midterm and a final.
MCAT: Took it for the first time cold without taking any practice tests in April: 10BS/6PS/10V. I really shouldn't have taken it but I had already postponed it once, I didn't want to do it again.
Second time in July, took two practice tests and reviewed most of the material: 10BS/11PS/10V.
Should I retake? I know I can break 35 because I haven't studied to the best of my ability for the previous two tests but I'm worried about how it would look to an ADCOM to have taken the test three times.
EC's:
Research:
-Humanities research in my minor for four years - started off as 10 hours/week now it's more like 15 hours a month as the project's almost complete.
-2 Quarters of Neurobiology research last year. Didn't really like it a whole lot but it was insightful for me. But it also burned me out - worked 20 hours a week in addition to my job as an RA and as a result, my junior year grades and my MCAT were not stellar.
Leadership:
-Resident Assistant: Love my job! Been doing it for 2 years now (including the summer). learned a lot about people, counseling, organizing events, etc.
-Program Assistant: sort of like an RA but on a different scale - mainly just organizing events for a community of 500 people.
-various other minor roles
Teaching:
-Undergrad group for my minor (Exec board for 3 years): organize workshops teaching college community about various issues in biomedical ethics. (we also do other events like volunteering for our minor's lectures/etc, partnering with advocacy groups, etc).
-going to be teaching a course at my college as part of a special program where undergrads get to teach a topic they're interested in.
Clinical:
-Emergency Med: worked in a sort of research role in the ER, interviewing patients. Did it for 2 quarters.
-Clinical Assistant at a local free clinic - starting in Feb. Get to take vitals, interview patients with the physician, etc.
-Shadowed a colonoscopist for about 50 hours this past Winter break. getting a LOR.
Service (not sure if some of these count as clinical)
-volunteer in an administrative role at a free clinic - I do about 3 hours a week and I've been doing it since last June.
-volunteer at the front desk, speaking spanish, communicating to patients - about 6 hours a month; since last September.
LOR: 1 from a lower div Physics lecturer, 1 from a JD professor in my minor, 1 from my supervisor for my RA job.
Personal Statement: got good feedback, it addressed my grade weaknesses and described my interest in medicine reasonably well i think.
My biggest problem has always been motivation and balancing my time. But this quarter, I'm determined to change that and get solid grades for the rest of the year. Now that I'm pretty sure I'm not getting in this cycle, I'm confused about how to use my time (previously thought I could stay a 5th year - turns out I don't have the units
). Should I take both summer sessions at my college? If I do, I can raise my cgpa to a 3.47 and my sGPA to a 3.4. I wanted to avoid Postbacs and SMPs due to the high cost - I was thinking about taking community college classes to raise my grades instead. Also not sure about if I should take the MCAT again but actually study better. I know my weaknesses are my grades and my clinical experience. not sure how to address them.
thanks for all of your help! sorry for the length - it ended up being longer than i expected lol.
