MD How am I doing?

[ElusiveVet]

Just wanted to get some opinions on how I'm doing so far in Undergrad (About to enter Junior Year)
cGPA is a 3.5, sGPA is a 3.6. If I carry on my current study habits, I projecting a 3.8 cGPA and a 3.85 sGPA by my supersenior year(5th year-- school has a low unit cap).

Serious Upper Trend, high GPA along with a very loaded semester last year, and should receive a 4.0 this semester.

I attend a lower tier CA University, which makes me nervous about my resume.
I've decided to wait and take the 2015 MCAT , but I self-study Berkeley Review books whenever I get the chance.

- 200+ Hours- shadowing head cardiologist at Kaiser Permanente

-8 Months of Microbiology Research - No Publications- research is focused on Next Generation Genome Sequencing, and protein isolation.
Switching to Ovarian Cancer research lab in the summer

- Member of a fraternity which is involved in many different community service events through out the year

I want to be competitive for MD Schools, so any suggestions on weak areas I should improve would be awesome. Should I be tudying more MCAT material and give the 2014 MCAT a shot?

Thanks SDN

P.S. don't be confused about my name, I dont want to be a vet haha

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[Goro]

So far so good, but now you need patient contact experience, to show us you actually want to be around them for the next 30 years. Also, 200 hrs with one doc is, well, unique. I suggest mixing it up and seeing what other doctor's lives are like.

 

[ElusiveVet]

So far so good, but now you need patient contact experience, to show us you actually want to be around them for the next 30 years. Also, 200 hrs with one doc is, well, unique. I suggest mixing it up and seeing what other doctor's lives are like.

Thank you for the response Goro. May I have a clearer definition on patient contact experience? I do see patients and talk to them when the cardiologist is on call, however I don't think I'm allowed to physically have contact with the patients, correct?
I also could have misunderstood a few threads prior to this. But is watching over different doctors showing a tendency to be indecisive?

 

[bearded frog]

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[ElusiveVet]

Shadowing is not clinical experience, clinical experience is where you have direct interaction with the patients, be it volunteering in an ER or scribing etc. "Shadowing" is considered to be just passive observation. Useful, but not the same.

Thank you for the response. Do you think it's a good idea to talk to my cardiologist-- because I have already shadowed him for so long. If not, are there certain programs online that most pre medical students can get these kind if positions from? Or is it just based on talking to multiple hospitals to see if they offer clinical experience.

 

[Goro]

No, that's not the same. Clinical ECs mean you have some interaction with them and FOR them. You can't tell what you're getting into just by following a specialist around. Better yet to see soem ER docs in action, even better to list a patient onto a gurney, or wheel them around in a wheelchair to radiology.

Not all clinical ECs have to be done in a hospital. Think clinic, nursing home or hospice.

Thank you for the response Goro. May I have a clearer definition on patient contact experience? I do see patients and talk to them when the cardiologist is on call, however I don't think I'm allowed to physically have contact with the patients, correct?

I have have no idea where you could have gotten this...nothing could be further from the truth. Shadowing different people means you're learning how different types of doctors do different (or similar) things.

But is watching over different doctors showing a tendency to be indecisive?