Making the most of this summer

[kelminak]

Hello everyone!

I've been retaking classes for ages boosting my GPA and intend on applying next cycle (2017-2018). Here's the quick stats for when I apply so far:

3.1 GPA (slightly higher sGPA)
28 MCAT 7/12/9
500+ hospital volunteering hours

Obviously I need to do some shadowing and work on getting letters of recommendation. I have been talking to the main contact for the Idaho Osteopathic Physicians Association and she informed me she has some contacts she'll reach out to...but beyond that I'm just sitting here this summer. I was going to take a summer class but I would have had to pay out of pocket, it's definitely not a mandatory course, and after looking at the syllabus it looked like a nightmare (3 week course keeping a list of toxicants, 2 exams, 10-15 min presentation, paper reviews, etc.). So after dropping that, I'm simply working and continuing my hospital volunteering. Beyond those two things, what else can I be doing? The only thing I can think of is non-clinical volunteering, but I'm not sure what I'd want to get involved with here.

All thoughts appreciated!

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[A$$hat]

Hello everyone!

I've been retaking classes for ages boosting my GPA and intend on applying next cycle (2017-2018). Here's the quick stats for when I apply so far:

3.1 GPA (slightly higher sGPA)
28 MCAT 7/12/9
500+ hospital volunteering hours

Obviously I need to do some shadowing and work on getting letters of recommendation. I have been talking to the main contact for the Idaho Osteopathic Physicians Association and she informed me she has some contacts she'll reach out to...but beyond that I'm just sitting here this summer. I was going to take a summer class but I would have had to pay out of pocket, it's definitely not a mandatory course, and after looking at the syllabus it looked like a nightmare (3 week course keeping a list of toxicants, 2 exams, 10-15 min presentation, paper reviews, etc.). So after dropping that, I'm simply working and continuing my hospital volunteering. Beyond those two things, what else can I be doing? The only thing I can think of is non-clinical volunteering, but I'm not sure what I'd want to get involved with here.

All thoughts appreciated!

When did you graduate? I'm not in a better position than you but I would say yeah get some non clinical volunteering, maybe some work experience in a clinic, and possibly research!

Also, when you've been retaking classes, how did you get it so that you did not need to pay out of pocket?


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[0dee]

What are your interests outside of medicine? For example, I enjoy working with kids, so I volunteer at an organization that helps out kids from underserved and poor areas. The options you have are limitless, do what you enjoy.

 

[kelminak]

When did you graduate? I'm not in a better position than you but I would say yeah get some non clinical volunteering, maybe some work experience in a clinic, and possibly research!

Also, when you've been retaking classes, how did you get it so that you did not need to pay out of pocket?


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Technically graduated last year. Now I'm a "second-degree seeking student" taking w/e the **** I want because apparently my university doesn't look into these things at all. I still get student loans for Fall/Spring, but get nothing for summer courses.

What are your interests outside of medicine? For example, I enjoy working with kids, so I volunteer at an organization that helps out kids from underserved and poor areas. The options you have are limitless, do what you enjoy.

I've gotten into fitness (bodybuilding) more seriously recently, but there's not much I can do with that in terms of volunteering. I know of a no-kill cat shelter that I'm in love with that will take volunteers, but it's only ~2 hours a week. I suppose that'd be better than nothing?

 

[A$$hat]

Technically graduated last year. Now I'm a "second-degree seeking student" taking w/e the **** I want because apparently my university doesn't look into these things at all. I still get student loans for Fall/Spring, but get nothing for summer courses.



I've gotten into fitness (bodybuilding) more seriously recently, but there's not much I can do with that in terms of volunteering. I know of a no-kill cat shelter that I'm in love with that will take volunteers, but it's only ~2 hours a week. I suppose that'd be better than nothing?

Interesting! So do you need to be full time (12+ credits) to get student loans? I'm just wondering because I will likely be in your position soon and have not paid for my undergrad yet but I will need to pay for my retake classes.


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[kelminak]

Interesting! So do you need to be full time (12+ credits) to get student loans? I'm just wondering because I will likely be in your position soon and have not paid for my undergrad yet but I will need to pay for my retake classes.


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Not 100% sure but that's what I've been doing so far. I didn't give my full story, but I was at a 1.9 GPA and have been crawling up with ****loads of retakes. I have a 2.97 atm, so I've put a literal full point onto my GPA. I'm fairly certain most normal people would have given up by now.

 

[DetectiveAlonzo]

Man... if I was in your shoes I would recommend trying SOME class to retake or that has good amount of units to make a dent in your GPA.

Start any Fs... Ds... and then Cs...

As for ECs... no need to do a lot of stuff.... just make sure you have many hours in whatever you do.

Quality >>>> Quantity

 

[kelminak]

Man... if I was in your shoes I would recommend trying SOME class to retake or that has good amount of units to make a dent in your GPA.

Start any Fs... Ds... and then Cs...

As for ECs... no need to do a lot of stuff.... just make sure you have many hours in whatever you do.

Quality >>>> Quantity

I've been retaking classes for ages

Not 100% sure but that's what I've been doing so far. I didn't give my full story, but I was at a 1.9 GPA and have been crawling up with ****loads of retakes. I have a 2.97 atm, so I've put a literal full point onto my GPA. I'm fairly certain most normal people would have given up by now.

I was almost completely done with my degree and have been nonstop retaking ****, almost effectively redoing my degree. I still have a year of classes I'll be taking before I apply, so I'll get it to that 3.1 mark, but it's nearly impossible to move it beyond that and my MCAT will expire which I don't want to retake.

 

[DetectiveAlonzo]

I was almost completely done with my degree and have been nonstop retaking ****, almost effectively redoing my degree. I still have a year of classes I'll be taking before I apply, so I'll get it to that 3.1 mark, but it's nearly impossible to move it beyond that and my MCAT will expire which I don't want to retake.

I've been following your struggle for a while now and know you've been retaking a bunch of stuff but I FIND IT REALLLLY REALLY HARD to believe that after retaking as much as you claim to have retaken that your GPA only jumped up by one point. There is something wrong here my man.

Not trying to be rude so please forgive me in advance but have you been acing those retakes? You need to ACE those things man. Are the bad grades in science classes? or nonscience stuff? I would simply focus on all the science stuff and bring that sGPA up as much as possible. MCAT is solid but hopefully it still counts next year. I'm rootin' for ya.

 

[kelminak]

I've been following your struggle for a while now and know you've been retaking a bunch of stuff but I FIND IT REALLLLY REALLY HARD to believe that after retaking as much as you claim to have retaken that your GPA only jumped up by one point. There is something wrong here my man.

Not trying to be rude so please forgive me in advance but have you been acing those retakes? You need to ACE those things man. Are the bad grades in science classes? or nonscience stuff? I would simply focus on all the science stuff and bring that sGPA up as much as possible. MCAT is solid but hopefully it still counts next year. I'm rootin' for ya.

No, I certainly didn't turn it around overnight and ace everything unfortunately, but I haven't had anything less than a B since a couple Falls ago (not including Ochem2, **** that class). I've got a good lineup of classes that I'm hoping to knock out this upcoming year, including Biochem which I'm hoping they might be forgiving of my C+ in Ochem2 if I can ace it.

 

[A$$hat]

No, I certainly didn't turn it around overnight and ace everything unfortunately, but I haven't had anything less than a B since a couple Falls ago (not including Ochem2, **** that class). I've got a good lineup of classes that I'm hoping to knock out this upcoming year, including Biochem which I'm hoping they might be forgiving of my C+ in Ochem2 if I can ace it.

Nice. So you're going the DO route with grade replacement? I'm a little nervous about my path because I will most likely need to grade replace 3 courses after I graduate, and I'm not sure how I'm going to pay for those + living expenses + studying for MCAT when I'm done with my degree.

 

[kelminak]

Nice. So you're going the DO route with grade replacement? I'm a little nervous about my path because I will most likely need to grade replace 3 courses after I graduate, and I'm not sure how I'm going to pay for those + living expenses + studying for MCAT when I'm done with my degree.

Apply as second-degree seeking student -> only retake **** that you need to -> work a part time job for living expenses. I studied for the MCAT 100% free by torrenting all of the books you'd need for the sn2ed program in PDF format. I can't give too many details on how to do that since it's not legal (neither is charging $1000 for test prep books in my mind), but if you're smart enough to do research, you could figure out how as well.

 

[A$$hat]

Apply as second-degree seeking student -> only retake **** that you need to -> work a part time job for living expenses. I studied for the MCAT 100% free by torrenting all of the books you'd need for the sn2ed program in PDF format. I can't give too many details on how to do that since it's not legal (neither is charging $1000 for test prep books in my mind), but if you're smart enough to do research, you could figure out how as well.

Sweet, thanks man. I'm familiar with torrenting and everything, I'm just baffled I never thought about that. Good luck with your endeavor!

 

[kelminak]

Sweet, thanks man. I'm familiar with torrenting and everything, I'm just baffled I never thought about that. Good luck with your endeavor!

Yeah if you're comfortable with studying off of PDFs instead of IRL books, then you can save literally thousands of dollars prepping for the MCAT. Just be sure to emulate someone's schedule who has been successful with the new MCAT (I heard someone took the sn2ed method and reorganized it for the new version, but I don't know where that is on SDN).

Actually I lied it's right here at the top of the MCAT subforum:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...m-sn2ed-mcatjelly-ek-tbr-tprh-kaplan.1127723/

Anyway I literally just copied sn2ed day by day. I could have done better if I had put more effort into it, but considering I got a 28 on my first shot, it's hard to complain (carried by verbal hard though).

 

[A$$hat]

Yeah if you're comfortable with studying off of PDFs instead of IRL books, then you can save literally thousands of dollars prepping for the MCAT. Just be sure to emulate someone's schedule who has been successful with the new MCAT (I heard someone took the sn2ed method and reorganized it for the new version, but I don't know where that is on SDN).

Actually I lied it's right here at the top of the MCAT subforum:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...m-sn2ed-mcatjelly-ek-tbr-tprh-kaplan.1127723/

Anyway I literally just copied sn2ed day by day. I could have done better if I had put more effort into it, but considering I got a 28 on my first shot, it's hard to complain (carried by verbal hard though).

I'll see about the PDFs, so far in undergrad I've just been buying the book so I'm not distracted on that. But considering I'll be saving over like a thousand at once I might have to get used to it! How long did you study for? 28 is pretty darn good

 

[kelminak]

I'll see about the PDFs, so far in undergrad I've just been buying the book so I'm not distracted on that. But considering I'll be saving over like a thousand at once I might have to get used to it! How long did you study for? 28 is pretty darn good

3 months. If you google "sn2ed", you'll find the exact schedule.

I feel like the thread got a little derailed, though. Does anyone else have some input on an EC I could work on this summer/throughout the rest of the upcoming year?

 

[DetectiveAlonzo]

No, I certainly didn't turn it around overnight and ace everything unfortunately, but I haven't had anything less than a B since a couple Falls ago (not including Ochem2, **** that class). I've got a good lineup of classes that I'm hoping to knock out this upcoming year, including Biochem which I'm hoping they might be forgiving of my C+ in Ochem2 if I can ace it.

Ahh I see. I feel you bro bro. Just keep working hard man and As will raise your GPA much more man. Can't settle for less. Good luck!