How to increase my chances of getting into med school

[NDMED2020]

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Hello! i am finishing up my sophomore year of college currently. I am a psychology major and biology minor. My GPA is currently 3.5. I have no volunteer experience or anything. i did not want to go to med school until now. I am going to be a new student leader at my school this summer, and planning on volunteering at my hospital and shadowing as well. I am set to graduate in may 2020. What else can i do to increase my chance of going to med school? my school advisors are useless. I am planning on going to University of North Dakota for med school and i’m so nervous i won’t get in.

 

[sunshine859]

Consider taking an EMT or CNA course this summer and begin working in that field. You also may need to take 1+ gap years after college to continue building up volunteering/research/leadership activities. For right now, focus on raising your GPA and gaining more work/volunteering experience. In general, you don't want to plan to go to a specific medical school. It's typical to apply to 20 or more medical schools to raise your chances of getting an acceptance somewhere.

 

[curbsideconsult]

Without an MCAT score it's hard to say what your chances will be. Do well on the MCAT and, like sunshine said, get some clinical hours under your belt.

 

[SuaveCardigans]

Volunteer your time working with those less fortunate than yourself

 

[kelminak]

You can't plan to go to one specific school. Spend some extra time on these forums reading about the different things you have questions about because that's a pretty naive comment. You've got plenty of time to get in shape to apply to medical school. Lots of people have that realization around where you're at too.

I don't recommend the EMT/CNA thing @sunshine859 recommended at all. Did you miss that they're only a sophomore? It's a boatload of time and money that you don't need to get in. The typical checklist is GPA, MCAT, volunteering, and research. If you can get these things in order, somewhere will be interested in you. You'll hear the stories of students getting in without research, volunteering, etc. but those are just the standard things your competition is doing to get in. If you started volunteering 5 hours a week now, you can build up 260 hours in a year. In a summer, you could dump some extra time into it taking extra shifts at your hospital to bump that number up too.

 

[sunshine859]

I stand by my recommendation. You can typically find a workplace that's willing to pay for your CNA or EMT training, and it's a win-win. You're making money through work and building your clinical exposure. Yes, all those other things that you listed are important, but so is clinical experience.

 

[LunaLovegoodMD]

Hello! i am finishing up my sophomore year of college currently. I am a psychology major and biology minor. My GPA is currently 3.5. I have no volunteer experience or anything. i did not want to go to med school until now. I am going to be a new student leader at my school this summer, and planning on volunteering at my hospital and shadowing as well. I am set to graduate in may 2020. What else can i do to increase my chance of going to med school? my school advisors are useless. I am planning on going to University of North Dakota for med school and i’m so nervous i won’t get in.

As for experience, I think that working part-time as a medical scribe could be really beneficial. It's a way to slowly get shadowing hours through-out your college experience, without taking significant time away from your studies, research, leadership opportunities and volunteering. From what I understand, it's good to make sure that you have all of your bases covered - GPA, MCAT, volunteering, shadowing, ect. - and then do what you can to make yourself stand out beyond that with research or large community service projects that you lead.