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So, I just turned 20. Along with that came panic attacks about how I'm getting old, and running out of time for med school stuff. On top of that, there's the whole "being Canadian" thing.
PLEASE help me out here! Give me suggestions on what to do, or what my chances are?
Major: Medicinal biochemistry (Honors program and honors thesis)
Minor: Business
Certificate: Japanese
cGPA: 4.0
sGPA: 4.0
MCAT in January 2011
Will graduate with ~220 credits, out of a required 120. ~50 honors credits, 18 of which are upper division.
BUT, I'm a Canadian resident, in the US for undergrad on a student visa. I hear it's ridiculously hard to get into any US medical school if you're international.
CLINICAL:
Have my phlebotomy certification
Getting EMT-B certified this summer
Did a program where I did a 5-week volunteer internship (~200 hrs) in a rural hospital in Thailand. Got to do all sorts of thing that are scope of practice in Thailand, but not in the US. Worked with end-stage AIDS patients, went into the OR and scrubbed in, etc. Now I'm the school coordinator for that program. Because of the civil disorder in Bangkok, we had almost no time to redirect all of this year's volunteers to Peru (6 months before the pilot program was supposed to go), and it was really successful.
I'm taking a full year, 6-credit internship course at a local ER this year. Since I'll have EMT-B cert by then, they'll let me do a little more than normal.
RESEARCH:
Did two summers of research on febrile seizures. No publications.
Some other stuff here and there. Nothing worth mentioning.
Doing research for my honors thesis right now; should be done, defended, and (hopefully) published by April. That research will also be done as part of an undergraduate research support program, and will count for honors credit, science credit, and a paid job.
LEADERSHIP:
That whole Thailand/Peru thing. I was a volunteer, then the flight coordinator, now I'm the school coordinator.
I also founded a gardening club on campus, took over 4,000 sq.ft. of space, got over $6,000 in funding for a massive renovation, and have a legal agreement to provide food to the school's "Local Food" restaurant. I also work closely with the campus facilities administration.
Since I'm short on things here, I'm trying to get a spot as a mentor for incoming pre-meds 🙂
VOLUNTEERING:
Volunteering in Endoscopy at a well-known hospital over this and next summer.
Those two summers of research? They were technically volunteering.
And the Thailand thing? Five weeks of volunteering.
^ not sure if those count, though...
REC LETTERS:
Dean of the honors college
The two professors I'm doing research with
One of the administrators in campus facilities management
Hopefully someone at the hospital I'm volunteering at
Hopefully someone involved with the ER internship I'll be doing
Now regardless of how long I've lived in the US, I'm still considered an international student (Canadian from Ontario). From what I've heard, that means it's incredibly difficult to get into any state medical school, and slightly harder than normal for private schools in the US. So, I don't have NEARLY enough stuff done.
Any suggestions? Any advice to stop me from freaking out?
(Oh, and totally unrelated: I plan on entering a few gemstone-cutting competitions, since gems are a big hobby of mine. I don't know if the whole "steady hands" thing will help on med school apps or not. Thoughts?)
PLEASE help me out here! Give me suggestions on what to do, or what my chances are?
Major: Medicinal biochemistry (Honors program and honors thesis)
Minor: Business
Certificate: Japanese
cGPA: 4.0
sGPA: 4.0
MCAT in January 2011
Will graduate with ~220 credits, out of a required 120. ~50 honors credits, 18 of which are upper division.
BUT, I'm a Canadian resident, in the US for undergrad on a student visa. I hear it's ridiculously hard to get into any US medical school if you're international.
CLINICAL:
Have my phlebotomy certification
Getting EMT-B certified this summer
Did a program where I did a 5-week volunteer internship (~200 hrs) in a rural hospital in Thailand. Got to do all sorts of thing that are scope of practice in Thailand, but not in the US. Worked with end-stage AIDS patients, went into the OR and scrubbed in, etc. Now I'm the school coordinator for that program. Because of the civil disorder in Bangkok, we had almost no time to redirect all of this year's volunteers to Peru (6 months before the pilot program was supposed to go), and it was really successful.
I'm taking a full year, 6-credit internship course at a local ER this year. Since I'll have EMT-B cert by then, they'll let me do a little more than normal.
RESEARCH:
Did two summers of research on febrile seizures. No publications.
Some other stuff here and there. Nothing worth mentioning.
Doing research for my honors thesis right now; should be done, defended, and (hopefully) published by April. That research will also be done as part of an undergraduate research support program, and will count for honors credit, science credit, and a paid job.
LEADERSHIP:
That whole Thailand/Peru thing. I was a volunteer, then the flight coordinator, now I'm the school coordinator.
I also founded a gardening club on campus, took over 4,000 sq.ft. of space, got over $6,000 in funding for a massive renovation, and have a legal agreement to provide food to the school's "Local Food" restaurant. I also work closely with the campus facilities administration.
Since I'm short on things here, I'm trying to get a spot as a mentor for incoming pre-meds 🙂
VOLUNTEERING:
Volunteering in Endoscopy at a well-known hospital over this and next summer.
Those two summers of research? They were technically volunteering.
And the Thailand thing? Five weeks of volunteering.
^ not sure if those count, though...
REC LETTERS:
Dean of the honors college
The two professors I'm doing research with
One of the administrators in campus facilities management
Hopefully someone at the hospital I'm volunteering at
Hopefully someone involved with the ER internship I'll be doing
Now regardless of how long I've lived in the US, I'm still considered an international student (Canadian from Ontario). From what I've heard, that means it's incredibly difficult to get into any state medical school, and slightly harder than normal for private schools in the US. So, I don't have NEARLY enough stuff done.
Any suggestions? Any advice to stop me from freaking out?
(Oh, and totally unrelated: I plan on entering a few gemstone-cutting competitions, since gems are a big hobby of mine. I don't know if the whole "steady hands" thing will help on med school apps or not. Thoughts?)
