Hi, guys! I've made the decision to go premed, but I'm not entirely sure what that means for a person in my situation. Any advice (or pointing me toward relevant threads I've missed) is appreciated! Some background:
~Graduated with a Bachelor's of Science in Animal Studies in 2013
~Waffled around about what I wanted to do next (vet school? psychiatry? sonography?)
~Enrolled in a biology program at another school in 2014
~More waffling (psychiatry, research, conservation veterinary research?), added a psychology major in the middle of this semester
~Settled on psychiatry
~Reviewed personal statistics and med school requirements
~Panicked.
As it stands, I only have about two years left (total) in my current programs to get things in order since many of the credits from my first degree transferred.
My GPA is only a 3.386 overall. The jury is still out on what my science GPA is currently.
I have several months of volunteer experience, but that was carried out in an animal clinic as part of my first degree.
So I guess what I'm asking is, what kinds of volunteer experiences/shadowing/whatever are generally the best? Would the volunteer time in the animal clinic count? I'm not sure that it's that relevant or helpful to med school applications. Also, my GPA isn't bad but it isn't that good, either. I do have some time to get it kicked up some, but I find that I'm having trouble focusing because I'm psyching myself out about the application process. I'm not waffling anymore. I feel settled, and like I am on the right path. It turns out that this is scarier to me than not being sure what I was aiming for, because now if I fail to get accepted into a med school, I'm back to square one. How do I relax?! I'm really not sure what application cycle I should be aiming for at this point, either.
In short, now that I know what I am doing, I have no idea what I am doing. Ha.
Is there anyone else in this boat right now, or that has been in this boat before?
~Graduated with a Bachelor's of Science in Animal Studies in 2013
~Waffled around about what I wanted to do next (vet school? psychiatry? sonography?)
~Enrolled in a biology program at another school in 2014
~More waffling (psychiatry, research, conservation veterinary research?), added a psychology major in the middle of this semester
~Settled on psychiatry
~Reviewed personal statistics and med school requirements
~Panicked.
As it stands, I only have about two years left (total) in my current programs to get things in order since many of the credits from my first degree transferred.
My GPA is only a 3.386 overall. The jury is still out on what my science GPA is currently.
I have several months of volunteer experience, but that was carried out in an animal clinic as part of my first degree.
So I guess what I'm asking is, what kinds of volunteer experiences/shadowing/whatever are generally the best? Would the volunteer time in the animal clinic count? I'm not sure that it's that relevant or helpful to med school applications. Also, my GPA isn't bad but it isn't that good, either. I do have some time to get it kicked up some, but I find that I'm having trouble focusing because I'm psyching myself out about the application process. I'm not waffling anymore. I feel settled, and like I am on the right path. It turns out that this is scarier to me than not being sure what I was aiming for, because now if I fail to get accepted into a med school, I'm back to square one. How do I relax?! I'm really not sure what application cycle I should be aiming for at this point, either.
In short, now that I know what I am doing, I have no idea what I am doing. Ha.
Is there anyone else in this boat right now, or that has been in this boat before?