I wasn't sure if this should be included in the what are my chances thread, so I thought I'd throw it here and see if I can get some help.
Long story short: Took PSEO classes in high school (61 credits and an AA) but had a bad "senior slide" and finished there with a 3.37 cGPA (sub 3.8 first year, sub 3 second) due to some 3 Cs I got and some other poor courses. Since starting at my university, I have gotten with a 3.89 cGPA 3.9+ sGPA and only had 1 B since my first semester and got a 4.0 4 semesters
I am currently studying for an April MCAT and scored a baseline 512 on the free kaplan test I took before any studying, so my score should be competitive.
For my experiences:
-1400 hours of biochemical/nutritional research over the past 1.5 years that I am still working at. I am working on my Honors Thesis and an independent paper based on my own research here, as well as coauthor for a paper out for review I was heavily involved in (lit review, experimental design, execution, data analysis etc.).
-750 hours of CNA work at my hometown nursing home in the summer before sophomore year and the following winter break. Stopped working because I got the lab job and stopped going home for my entire breaks.
-Not going back to my senior year of high school for volunteer hours, I have about 50 hours of working with special olympics at a state tournament every year, 60 hours of random volunteering with a student organization I co-lead that is based around a spring break trip where we take a bus to a destination city and do a service project along the way. I also make some soap as a hobby and give a fair amount of it away to a local shelter and have sold a little and donated anything above what it cost to make it (just a few hundred dollars).
-Including my senior year of high school, I volunteered for meals on weals my summer year every friday for the year and I worked with the United Way and their buddy backpack program. I packed bags and then was the "emergency driver" all summer. I then came back over breaks my freshman year and packed bags. I don't know about hours, but probably 100 or so. I also coached my younger brother's little league team.
For clinical volunteering, the summer before college I volunteered in an ER for about 80 hours and the first semester of my freshman year I volunteered in a different ER 40 hours.
I have co-lead one of the trips from the organization I mentioned and have co-lead the organization for a couple years.
I have ZERO shadowing experience.
I have two main concerns and I get this is really what I am asking about here. I am convinced I want to work with doctors. I had some "shadowing" exposure and talked to the doctors when I was volunteering and have two family friends who are physicians that I have spoken to about the topic a dozen times. If I tried to get in, say 60 hours in the 5-6 weeks between my MCAT date and the first date to send in your primary, would this be viewed as just trying to pad my numbers? I have never had the box checking mentality and have only done things because I enjoyed them or felt I could learn something, and I feel this would be viewed as going against that. Also, would the same apply if I did more clinical volunteering right before/during the application cycle? I see the MSAR has 80-90% at pretty much all schools have done this, so I am worried this will hurt me since I was a freshman the last time I did any of that.
Sorry for the long post and thank you for your help. I am just anxious like most people at this stage and appreciate all the insight I can get.
Edit: I am not interested really in going to "Top Schools" or anything like that. I might apply to some, but I am from Minnesota and I'm not really sure I need more than the U of Minnesota, U of North Dakota, and the two Wisconsin schools on my app.
Long story short: Took PSEO classes in high school (61 credits and an AA) but had a bad "senior slide" and finished there with a 3.37 cGPA (sub 3.8 first year, sub 3 second) due to some 3 Cs I got and some other poor courses. Since starting at my university, I have gotten with a 3.89 cGPA 3.9+ sGPA and only had 1 B since my first semester and got a 4.0 4 semesters
I am currently studying for an April MCAT and scored a baseline 512 on the free kaplan test I took before any studying, so my score should be competitive.
For my experiences:
-1400 hours of biochemical/nutritional research over the past 1.5 years that I am still working at. I am working on my Honors Thesis and an independent paper based on my own research here, as well as coauthor for a paper out for review I was heavily involved in (lit review, experimental design, execution, data analysis etc.).
-750 hours of CNA work at my hometown nursing home in the summer before sophomore year and the following winter break. Stopped working because I got the lab job and stopped going home for my entire breaks.
-Not going back to my senior year of high school for volunteer hours, I have about 50 hours of working with special olympics at a state tournament every year, 60 hours of random volunteering with a student organization I co-lead that is based around a spring break trip where we take a bus to a destination city and do a service project along the way. I also make some soap as a hobby and give a fair amount of it away to a local shelter and have sold a little and donated anything above what it cost to make it (just a few hundred dollars).
-Including my senior year of high school, I volunteered for meals on weals my summer year every friday for the year and I worked with the United Way and their buddy backpack program. I packed bags and then was the "emergency driver" all summer. I then came back over breaks my freshman year and packed bags. I don't know about hours, but probably 100 or so. I also coached my younger brother's little league team.
For clinical volunteering, the summer before college I volunteered in an ER for about 80 hours and the first semester of my freshman year I volunteered in a different ER 40 hours.
I have co-lead one of the trips from the organization I mentioned and have co-lead the organization for a couple years.
I have ZERO shadowing experience.
I have two main concerns and I get this is really what I am asking about here. I am convinced I want to work with doctors. I had some "shadowing" exposure and talked to the doctors when I was volunteering and have two family friends who are physicians that I have spoken to about the topic a dozen times. If I tried to get in, say 60 hours in the 5-6 weeks between my MCAT date and the first date to send in your primary, would this be viewed as just trying to pad my numbers? I have never had the box checking mentality and have only done things because I enjoyed them or felt I could learn something, and I feel this would be viewed as going against that. Also, would the same apply if I did more clinical volunteering right before/during the application cycle? I see the MSAR has 80-90% at pretty much all schools have done this, so I am worried this will hurt me since I was a freshman the last time I did any of that.
Sorry for the long post and thank you for your help. I am just anxious like most people at this stage and appreciate all the insight I can get.
Edit: I am not interested really in going to "Top Schools" or anything like that. I might apply to some, but I am from Minnesota and I'm not really sure I need more than the U of Minnesota, U of North Dakota, and the two Wisconsin schools on my app.
