How's This Look so far?

[MrTaco92]

I just wanted some opinions on what weaknesses I should start to address before applying in the summer of 2015, particularly in EC's. I have one semester left, and will soon begin looking for research labs to work in for about 2 years. I am hoping to ultimately land myself a spot in any mid tier school in the northeast.

I'm an ORM attending an average state school
cGPA: 3.71
sGPA: 3.65
-Solid upward trend in both GPA's. I've managed to maintain an average of 3.97 between 3 semesters so far since the start of junior year.
-I will be studying for the MCAT the summer after graduation using SN2ed's 3 month study schedule. I got a 24 (8-8-8) on the Kaplan diagnostic about a month ago if that means anything.

Research:
-120 hours (one semester) screening and enrolling patients for eligibility in clinical studies. I'm hoping this will still qualify as research.

Clinical volunteering:
-90 hours volunteering at a hospital so far. I estimate that I will have 150 hours total by graduation.
-30 hours volunteering at a PT Clinic

Non-Clinical volunteering:
-70 hours (one year) tutoring at a homeless shelter. I will likely have about 100 hours by graduation.
-60 hours (3 weeks) volunteering abroad one summer
-15 hours of miscellaneous volunteering here and there (beach cleanups for hurricane sandy relief, soup kitchens)

Work:
-440 hours (2 summers) working at an ice cream shop
-280 hours (1 summer) lifeguarding

Shadowing:
-15 hours shadowing at an ortho clinic. I plan on shadowing other specialties over break and next semester until I acquire about 50-60 hours total.

Club Involvement:
-3 semesters in optometry club (2 of which I was treasurer for). I am skeptical of including this since I gave up my position earlier this past fall and didn't stick with it until graduation. My decision on medicine over optometry was finalized just this summer and someone who was actually applying to optometry school would have benefited more from holding a position like this.
-member of ski club all 4 years (is this worth including on an app?). I just went skiing on the weekends with the club.

LOR's:
For the most part they will be pretty strong. 1 from a science professor is likely to be pretty generic, but the rest will be strong.

That's just about everything I could think of that I would include on an app so far. One thing I noticed that may be detrimental is that the majority of my EC's didn't start until my junior year. But of course that isn't anything that can be changed, however. So if you have any advice for the future or if there is anything else I should start working on please feel free to chime in and let me know. Thanks!

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[Dr. Dog]

1. You're right that your current research is probably more on the side of clinical employment/volunteering side since you're not actually crunching the numbers. But your plan for 2 years of research should cover you there.
2. Skiing actively should definitely be mentioned but probably listed under the hobbies category.
3. Adcoms seem to not be swayed by one-time volunteer experiences and would much rather see more long term dedication to one cause. I'd suggest volunteering once a week at an organization during your two years of research.
4. Don't settle for a generic letter! A lot of premeds seem to underestimate how much control they have over building great recs. Ask that prof if they'd be interested in meeting you over coffee or lunch to discuss your interest in pursuing med school after they've agreed to write you a letter.

Congrats on your great upward gpa trend and good luck studying!

 

[Goro]

Strongly concur, and want to add that you should definitely shadow some primary care docs.

1. You're right that your current research is probably more on the side of clinical employment/volunteering side since you're not actually crunching the numbers. But your plan for 2 years of research should cover you there.
2. Skiing actively should definitely be mentioned but probably listed under the hobbies category.
3. Adcoms seem to not be swayed by one-time volunteer experiences and would much rather see more long term dedication to one cause. I'd suggest volunteering once a week at an organization during your two years of research.
4. Don't settle for a generic letter! A lot of premeds seem to underestimate how much control they have over building great recs. Ask that prof if they'd be interested in meeting you over coffee or lunch to discuss your interest in pursuing med school after they've agreed to write you a letter.

Congrats on your great upward gpa trend and good luck studying!