Help!!!

[dreamtobeMD]

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Hello Everyone,

I am in a strange predicament. I am a psychology major and I am finishing up my premed and a minor in chemistry. I have taken this quarter off of school to study for the MCAT and was trying to use SNEd's 3 month schedule, but unfortunately I have discovered that 3 months is just not enough time for me to get the score that I want and I would rather do things right the first time than apply sloppy, so I have decided to postpone applying this year and instead trying next year. I am planning on taking the MCAT in Sept but if I am not ready then the first date in Jan 2011.

Here are my stats: I am looking at being published as second author by next year as well as presenting later this year at a conference. I have done research for a little over 1 year and volunteered about 200+ hours at a hospital. Prior to volunteering and research I worked about 30+hours/wk for 3 1/2 years. I am looking at starting some leadership experience through the hospital at which I volunteer at. It has been unbelievably hard to find an MD to shadow! No one will allow it 🙁. I do not not know of what other ECs I should be doing, so I would really appreciate some advice. I believe that I have some pretty good letters of rec and I have a good story for my PS. My GPA is a 3.57 ( i'm hoping to get it closer to a 3.6 by the time that I apply) and sGPA is about 3.6. I have had a pretty good upward trend in my grades: Community college 3.30, state school 3.47, current state school 3.81. I am a 27 yr old hispanic female and live in CA.

The problem lies in the fact that my school is trying to force me to graduate asap! My department does not seem to understand, or really care for that matter, that I am premed, they just simply want me to graduate asap and because of this they have put a hold on my registration until I meet with the dean and sign some sort of contract. Now it is very late for registration and many classes are now full. It is notoriously difficult to get added into classes at my school so now it seems as though I will not be able to take any classes in the fall. Is this going to look really bad to med schools that I took Spring quarter and now Fall quarter off? I will be returning to school next year (winter quarter) and be finished with premed, my bachelors and minor by Fall of 2011. What should I do in 2012 while I am waiting for interviews and acceptances (HOPEFULLY!!!) ? I want to be a doctor so badly I am so upset that because of all of this I am not going to be able to take classes in the fall and have this huge gap in my transcript 🙁

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[morning]

If you absolutely can't get into class this fall, fill the gap with something else. EMT classes, for instance. Phlebotomy. EKG. A lot of volunteering.

 

[deleted325463]

If you absolutely can't get into class this fall, fill the gap with something else. EMT classes, for instance. Phlebotomy. EKG. A lot of volunteering.

Yeah, I would definitely do something really productive like these. You can take these classes over the summer while studying for your MCAT and then get some real hands-on clinical experience with that stuff. You can also go to another country with one of those medical mission types of things for a few months--that would be pretty cool.

Still, it will seem strange to med schools that you have a random missing semester, so you should call some and ask how big a deal it is.

Most important, don't freak out; it isn't your fault California's in a budget crisis again and isn't supporting its education system. You have a good reason for a missing gap.

As for 2012, I would continue doing at least one of your activities while you apply/interview so you can remember it and talk about it. It doesn't hurt to try doing something new!

 

[dreamtobeMD]

Yeah I thought about EMT work but I have volunteered 2 rotations (3 mths) in the ER and to be quite honest it really doesn't interest me 🙁 However, I really do not have much money to enroll in any classes 🙁 I have done EKG's at the hospital that I volunteer at. Any more ideas on what I can do during this gap?

I plan to to do some leadership stuff at the hospital that I volunteer at, continue to do my research, hopefully get some MD shadowing in, and do some non-profit volunteer work and at the same time study for the MCAT in case I'm not ready in Sept. Is this not sufficient?

Thanks!