How am I doing so far?

[TheStudyOfLife]

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[FindMeOnTheLinks]

Looks like you are on the right track and off to a great start. Maybe try to get involved with some more volunteer work (medical or non-medical) and try your best to get A's and improve that GPA.

 

[Doudline]

Hi everyone,

I am entering my sophomore year of college this coming fall. I'm here to post my freshman year progress and hopefully find some helpful tips to help me improve my chances of eventually getting into medical school, my absolute dream (isn't it all of ours?)

After one year: 3.41 cGPA ; 3.33ish sGPA, earning good marks in rigorous academic courses, such as an A in Calculus and A- in Biology courses.
Currently plan to tutor Calculus, Pre-Calculus and General Biology II this coming semester. I will work in the center for community service aswell, and spent my spring break freshman year in Moore, Oklahoma cleaning up from a disastrous tornado which happend earlier last year.
Landed a Research opportunity testing water qualities in nearby steams and rivers close to campus, testing dissolved oxygen levels, pH, Temperature as well as turbidity, total phosphate and SRP levels. Have gained much lab experience and plan to continue this research in the future.
Enrolled in the University Honors program and am willing to focus intently on making sure my marks in honors courses do not become sub-par.
I decided to go Greek and pledged a fraternity named Sigma Alpha Epsilon and managed to pull through with a 3.44 GPA while having almost no time to myself.

Currently a Biology major, but am seriously thinking of swapping majors, what if medical school doesn't work out for me? I need a backup plan, I am good in math and physics, I was considering Biomedical Engineering; however I do not want my GPA to suffer due to harder engineering courses. What should I do? I cannot see myself cleaning labs or taking care of rats for my career if medicine doesn't work out.

I'm also thinking about doing EMT courses this coming summer to expand my clinical exposure and am currently shadowing an internal medicine physician.

My overall goal is to serve as a military physician in the United States Navy and eventually serve Two years in the Peace Corps.

My question to all of you... Am I headed in the right direction? Are there any tips that may be able to help me stay the course?
Thank you all in advance.

You're doing great, boo!

However, don't put too much on your plate straight away, and focus on your GPA instead.
3.41 won't cut it for many medical schools! For the same reason, I'd be wary of jumping into honor courses at the moment - it's not going to help your case (and medical schools don't give a damn what you major in/honors/whatever; the most important thing is to do well).

Good luck.

 

[claduva94]

Your GPA is low for MD. ECs look good though.

 

[claduva94]

Thanks for the input. I enjoy volunteering; as far as the GPA, I am trying my best to find the "happy medium" where I can have somewhat of a social life and still do well in the classroom, however I understand school is most important, I do not want to regret slacking off in my classes.

Being a premed includes making sacrifices. Especially now that you need to improve your GPA. You want to aim for around a 3.7 for med school so you want to improve before it is too late.

 

[baxt1412]

I would limit your tutoring and potentially drop the frat if it takes that much time from you.

Shadow a physician every other week or so (regular is better)
Volunteer in a clinical setting every week if possible
Volunteer in a non-clinical setting every week if possible

I don't think you necessarily need to take EMT classes.
I am not sure you get so much out of an honors program... what does that all entail for you? any sizeable amount of extra work? if so, i'd suggest dropping in order to gain that little bit of time that could move you from an A- to an A.

Gotta get better grades.. yes med school is one of the few places where a 3.5 is simply not very good.

 

[Greasy Pete]

I would limit your tutoring and potentially drop the frat if it takes that much time from you.

Shadow a physician every other week or so (regular is better)
Volunteer in a clinical setting every week if possible
Volunteer in a non-clinical setting every week if possible

I don't think you necessarily need to take EMT classes.
I am not sure you get so much out of an honors program... what does that all entail for you? any sizeable amount of extra work? if so, i'd suggest dropping in order to gain that little bit of time that could move you from an A- to an A.

Gotta get better grades.. yes med school is one of the few places where a 3.5 is simply not very good.

Where could one find that much volunteer qand shadowing opportunity OP? I'm having a hell of a time finding shadowing and volunteer positions at all.

 

[baxt1412]

Where could one find that much volunteer qand shadowing opportunity OP? I'm having a hell of a time finding shadowing and volunteer positions at all.

volunteering check out www.volunteermatch.org they have some medical and some non-medical opportunities. Pulls up 311 different opportunities when I put in my city.

Shadowing best bet is to try and use a connect at a hospital. Otherwise.... shotgun approach. Contact as many doctors and clinics as possible.

 

[TheStudyOfLife]

Thanks for the replies so far, any other opinions?

 

[Osteoth]

The rest of the people in this thread have covered alot of the bases for you, but from one fraternity man to another, you need to thoroughly have your priorities in line doing pre-med and being greek.

First of all, are you planning to live-in next year? I would honestly recommend against it. My second year I lived in and it destroyed my GPA lol. Since your GPA is low already, I would consider this.

Secondly, I would start to do some clinical volunteering in a hospital first and foremost, maybe once every week or once every two weeks, just to get your feet wet when it comes to being around sick people. Since you're just a sophomore you have plenty of time to shadow later, I didn't start being pre-med until my third year and I accumulated over 100 hours shadowing real quick. Aim for 100+ hours clinical volunteering, but once you feel like you're getting bored, stop doing it.

When it comes to non-clinical volunteering, I would go back to school, see how the workload is, then think about adding clinical volunteering, if you still feel like you have enough time for school+a life. Do that for a year, get your 100 hours, then when you're a junior think about adding research and shadowing once a month.

In terms of major, if you're honestly committed to being a physician, do whatever major you can get the highest GPA in, thats all that matters for medical school.

 

[TheStudyOfLife]

The rest of the people in this thread have covered alot of the bases for you, but from one fraternity man to another, you need to thoroughly have your priorities in line doing pre-med and being greek.

First of all, are you planning to live-in next year? I would honestly recommend against it. My second year I lived in and it destroyed my GPA lol. Since your GPA is low already, I would consider this.

Secondly, I would start to do some clinical volunteering in a hospital first and foremost, maybe once every week or once every two weeks, just to get your feet wet when it comes to being around sick people. Since you're just a sophomore you have plenty of time to shadow later, I didn't start being pre-med until my third year and I accumulated over 100 hours shadowing real quick. Aim for 100+ hours clinical volunteering, but once you feel like you're getting bored, stop doing it.

When it comes to non-clinical volunteering, I would go back to school, see how the workload is, then think about adding clinical volunteering, if you still feel like you have enough time for school+a life. Do that for a year, get your 100 hours, then when you're a junior think about adding research and shadowing once a month.

In terms of major, if you're honestly committed to being a physician, do whatever major you can get the highest GPA in, thats all that matters for medical school.

By "live-in" do you refer to living in the fraternity house? Also, what would you recommend I do as far as clinical volunteering? I've heard volunteering opportunities in hospitals don't go much further than working at a gift shop, not much clinical.

 

[Osteoth]

By "live-in" do you refer to living in the fraternity house? Also, what would you recommend I do as far as clinical volunteering? I've heard volunteering opportunities in hospitals don't go much further than working at a gift shop, not much clinical.

Living in = living in the house. Actually not sure if you said your fraternity has houses or not, but if they do they often turn into endless distractions and constant hedonism, for better or worse lol.

And personally I was fortuneate enough to be able to come accross a clinical volunteering opportunity where they allowed us to touch patients, and help with minor procedures like bed transfers. I'm not sure if your school has a pre-health advisor, but if not then it would probably behoove you to call local hospitals around the area and see if they have a program for undergraduates. If you have any medical schools nearby, they often do this.