Help me plan my life until 2010 applications!!

[theswordfish]

I graduated college in june and have decided that I want to be a dr. Help me plan my life until it's time to apply!! I had a 3.35 gpa as a bio major..

this is what I did while in school..
Student manager/lead in a customer service-esque job - 2.5 yrs
retail - 1 summer
lab assistant - 8 mos
paid TA for a lower div, non bio class - 5 quarters
research w/ project- 6 mos
TA at a middle school camp - 1 summer
nursery volunteer at a church - 3 months
teaching internship at a middle school - 3 months
hospital volunteer - 3 months

What I'm doing this summer:
Caretaker for my grandparents (clean, drive them places, help with meds, etc), i'm gonna get certified as a caretaker too.
volunteer at a free health clinic (started back in april, right now i go about 12-20 hrs/week)
taking a monitor tech class for potential job in a hospital

Fall plans:
retake chem/physics, maybe ochem too, and english at jc
perhaps take an EMT class..(it would help me do more at the clinic)
I think I'm going to be a HIV hotline volunteer
shadow/volunteer at a hospital

Christmas break: work on PS??

Spring plans:
cont. retaking classes..
start studying for the MCAT, take in may???
get LORs

June
APPLY!!

Summer:
Go back to that camp and work as the health assistant (give out meds during morning and lunch, fix booboos/owies, watch kids take naps in the nurses office, etc), make $$$ for all those apps/interviews!!


any other suggestions? Thanks so much!!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[canjosh]

Fall plans:
retake chem/physics, maybe ochem too, and english at jc
perhaps take an EMT class..(it would help me do more at the clinic)

any other suggestions? Thanks so much!!

So, you originally took all of these classes at a university? And you're going to retake the sciences at the JC, or just the English? Retaking stuff at the JC is generally not recommended. If you took it at the university level, you better repeat at the university!!

 

[theswordfish]

So, you originally took all of these classes at a university? And you're going to retake the sciences at the JC, or just the English? Retaking stuff at the JC is generally not recommended. If you took it at the university level, you better repeat at the university!!

I heard it was okay to retake them at a JC.. (I mean, if people can take them at a JC to begin with, and then transfer to a 4 year..then why can't I retake them there??)

(and I'm thinking about going DO instead of MD since they don't count old grades)

 

[canjosh]

I heard it was okay to retake them at a JC.. (I mean, if people can take them at a JC to begin with, and then transfer to a 4 year..then why can't I retake them there??)

(and I'm thinking about going DO instead of MD since they don't count old grades)

You 'heard' from who? Just think about how that looks to an adcom. I'm not saying that you won't find some adcoms that don't care. Some schools specifically say that they strongly advise taking the science prereqs at a university. Yes you can take them wherever you want, but should you? Don't know specifically how the osteopathic schools view science classes retaken at a JC.

It's one thing to take classes at the JC and then transition to the university level, but it's another thing to graduate from the university and then repeat at the JC. That will often be seen as taking the 'easy' way. I mean, some of your colleagues are taking graduate level classes to get their GPA up, rather than the other way around.

Anyways, you'll do what you believe is best for you. Good luck!

 

[theswordfish]

You 'heard' from who? Just think about how that looks to an adcom. I'm not saying that you won't find some adcoms that don't care. Some schools specifically say that they strongly advise taking the science prereqs at a university. Yes you can take them wherever you want, but should you? Don't know specifically how the osteopathic schools view science classes retaken at a JC.

It's one thing to take classes at the JC and then transition to the university level, but it's another thing to graduate from the university and then repeat at the JC. That will often be seen as taking the 'easy' way. I mean, some of your colleagues are taking graduate level classes to get their GPA up, rather than the other way around.

Anyways, you'll do what you believe is best for you. Good luck!

source
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=630418

although it did have conflicting information..dang it!

Thanks for you help!!

source 2
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=7642985&postcount=32

 

[camaras2480]

You 'heard' from who? Just think about how that looks to an adcom. I'm not saying that you won't find some adcoms that don't care. Some schools specifically say that they strongly advise taking the science prereqs at a university. Yes you can take them wherever you want, but should you? Don't know specifically how the osteopathic schools view science classes retaken at a JC.

It's one thing to take classes at the JC and then transition to the university level, but it's another thing to graduate from the university and then repeat at the JC. That will often be seen as taking the 'easy' way. I mean, some of your colleagues are taking graduate level classes to get their GPA up, rather than the other way around.

Anyways, you'll do what you believe is best for you. Good luck!

+1. And yes I'd go with DO unless you can put up a really strong MCAT.

 

[theswordfish]

If you go in the Pre-osteo forum and search 'retaking courses' you'll find tons of examples of people retaking classes at JCs and then getting accepted..

coursework aside, is there anything else i should add to my schedule?

Thanks!

 

[MedicalMomma]

I am also planning to apply in June of 2010, and I've got a lot to accomplish between now and then! I graduated in 2007 with a Bio degree with an overal GPA of 3.32. I was a division I athletic scholarship award recipient in softball (only stayed on 1 1/2 years because I was constantly injured), and after that I tutored other undergrads in the sciences. I always kind of had going to med school in the back of my head but I hadn't been sure of it until recently. I like to say I put myself through "tests" to make sure I was ready to commit to an all consuming life of medicine. I pursued other interests including working as a baker (I love to bake, the job was fun, but got old fast... ), a stint as a stay-at-home mom (I truly admire all the moms out there who do this for your children and stay sane... it isn't quite right for me), a very short stint in a pharmaceutical packaging facility where I was promised a project manager position if I spent some time in the "lab" (putting labels on bottles, etc ALL ALL ALL ALL ALL day... I didn't last 3 weeks, project manager job would have been boring to me anyway), and last and most repulsive was my 3 month run as a pharmaceutical sales representative (I've got a lot of "ethics" based essays I can take out of this experience, lol), and now I have decided to get into medical school by all means necessary because I can't see myself doing anything else and being happy.

I'm just now filling out the paperwork to get into undergrad classes full-time (please, financial aid, please!), to take the full-year organic chemistry sequence for the first time (took the survey course back in the day), and also lots of upper-level science courses to boost my GPA (I did some calculations... if I take 30 credits and get a 4.0 my GPA will only go up to a 3.45, I guess a little will help, right?). I'm just about to get started as a clinical research volunteer in neurology at a local teaching hospital (SO excited!) and I'm also about to start volunteering within the hospital with some patient contact. I'm trying to plan a good leadership role or two and ACE the MCATS (sooo easy to say... haha), and of course shadow a few physicians in different specialties. I really do want to go the MD route, so I'm going to study for the MCAT like a beast while my toddler sleeps and remind myself that I can sleep when I'm dead!

Whew... I wasn't expecting to dish out my first autobiographical post, but it feels good to break the ice! I'd love to keep following up with you to see how your preparations are coming along... and I wish you the best of luck!

 

[theswordfish]

I am also planning to apply in June of 2010, and I've got a lot to accomplish between now and then! I graduated in 2007 with a Bio degree with an overal GPA of 3.32. I was a division I athletic scholarship award recipient in softball (only stayed on 1 1/2 years because I was constantly injured), and after that I tutored other undergrads in the sciences. I always kind of had going to med school in the back of my head but I hadn't been sure of it until recently. I like to say I put myself through "tests" to make sure I was ready to commit to an all consuming life of medicine. I pursued other interests including working as a baker (I love to bake, the job was fun, but got old fast... ), a stint as a stay-at-home mom (I truly admire all the moms out there who do this for your children and stay sane... it isn't quite right for me), a very short stint in a pharmaceutical packaging facility where I was promised a project manager position if I spent some time in the "lab" (putting labels on bottles, etc ALL ALL ALL ALL ALL day... I didn't last 3 weeks, project manager job would have been boring to me anyway), and last and most repulsive was my 3 month run as a pharmaceutical sales representative (I've got a lot of "ethics" based essays I can take out of this experience, lol), and now I have decided to get into medical school by all means necessary because I can't see myself doing anything else and being happy.

I'm just now filling out the paperwork to get into undergrad classes full-time (please, financial aid, please!), to take the full-year organic chemistry sequence for the first time (took the survey course back in the day), and also lots of upper-level science courses to boost my GPA (I did some calculations... if I take 30 credits and get a 4.0 my GPA will only go up to a 3.45, I guess a little will help, right?). I'm just about to get started as a clinical research volunteer in neurology at a local teaching hospital (SO excited!) and I'm also about to start volunteering within the hospital with some patient contact. I'm trying to plan a good leadership role or two and ACE the MCATS (sooo easy to say... haha), and of course shadow a few physicians in different specialties. I really do want to go the MD route, so I'm going to study for the MCAT like a beast while my toddler sleeps and remind myself that I can sleep when I'm dead!

Whew... I wasn't expecting to dish out my first autobiographical post, but it feels good to break the ice! I'd love to keep following up with you to see how your preparations are coming along... and I wish you the best of luck!

awesome! Yeah, I'd love to follow up with you too! I'm going to the JC today to show the counselor my transcript and hopefully they'll let me start taking classes without taking any placement tests..

How'd you get those volunteer positions at the hospital (especially the research one)? It seems like here they have way more volunteers than they actually need and they only hold the orientation meetings at certain times in the month. I'd love a leadership role too but I'm not sure where to look.

 

[MedicalMomma]

awesome! Yeah, I'd love to follow up with you too! I'm going to the JC today to show the counselor my transcript and hopefully they'll let me start taking classes without taking any placement tests..

How'd you get those volunteer positions at the hospital (especially the research one)? It seems like here they have way more volunteers than they actually need and they only hold the orientation meetings at certain times in the month. I'd love a leadership role too but I'm not sure where to look.

The research experience was the one thing I was worried about finding, and it kind of happened by chance I think... it ended up being so easy. I found a tip on SDN to locate a teaching hospital nearby and send out e-mails or phonecalls to all the coordinators of the research departments. I sent out about 10 e-mails and heard back positively from the neurology and cardiology depts! I was able to get started right away (they never mentioned a special orientation). I'm working on all the pre-participation paperwork and testing, they said it takes about 2 weeks to get it all done. You can find out what hospitals are "teaching hospitals" by going to the FREIDA website and punching in a few residencies (areas you might be interested in researching) and the state you live in. Anything that comes up is worth checking into. Then just find the research department on the website and send e-mails and keep your fingers crossed someone is willing to take a volunteer! FYI, all the people I e-mailed had the title of CCRP and usually an RN as well. I would choose a teaching hospital that is NOT part of a medical school campus... you might have a better chance. That's what I did.

As far as the non-research volunteering, I looked into a few different hospitals close to me and two of them didn't need any volunteers and I had to schedule my interview for the other one about 2 months out. I would have never guessed so many people were volunteering! I have my interview for this in Sept.

Good luck! Oh, and I have no idea what kind of "leadership" things to get into, haha. I'm still brainstorming. I think organizing something like an ongoing bake sale to fund some kind of medical society might qualify, you think? (I'll make sure it's not diabetes, he he) Then I could put my baking talents to use as well! Let me know how it's all going for you!