Mediocre EC's and LOR's...

hey guys, i'd appreciate hearing back on this from anyone who can speak from experience...

academically, i think my stats are okay. i have a 3.57 gpa, 4.00 sci gpa, and 21/21/22 dat scores.

but i've only had about 40 hours of shadowing, and the EC's i've done are fairly basic -- hopital volunteering, tutoring, sports, part/full-time jobs during school.

what's more, i've managed to round up some LOR's from professors, but i don't think the letters will be that outstanding. they'll probly give adcoms just the average, standard impression.

well my question is, has anyone been able to overcome mediocre EC's and LOR's with strong academics, personal statement, and interviewing? let me hear back from you if you can speak from experience.

and a few words of advice to those early in the game -- you probly know this already, but i'd strongly reinforce the oft-told advice to get to know your professors personally. i think because i never struggled in my courses enough to go seek personal help, i never invested the time to visit with my professors and just get to know them. if i could do thing again, i would take the time to visit my professors and become familiar with them, whether i needed help with the coursework or not, and not just with the sole intent of requesting a letter down the stretch. im sure i would've enjoyed my school experience alot more if i would've become more involved with my teachers.

i realized so late in the game that i needed LOR's. thankfully, most of my profs have been pretty cool about meeting with me for a short while to discuss providing a letter, but they're probly gonna be limited in what they can say about me on a personal level.

well, anyhow, ive just got to do with what i have at the moment, but it sure would be nice to hear if anybody else has been in a similar experience but came out with positive results. thnx!!!

 

well, i hope that holds true. if it came down to a nitty gritty comparison between myself and another applicant with similar stats, i'd say the average predent who's had an early start and been on the predent track for a lot longer than i've been would have the advantage.

applicants who've been predents since early on in undergrad seems more likely to have built stronger relationships with their profs and done longer-term, more quality EC's.

thanks for the reply.