need advice please

[wantobedoc]

I'm kind of desprate here and am hitting up the forums for advice.

Hi, I am going to be a senior at a top tier technical university in the US, and am majoring in electrical and computer engineering with minor in biology. I've always wanted to be a medical researcher (phd and all) since I was young, but only very recently did change my passion to being a medical doctor. I want to be able to treat patients as well as engineer medical devices. I'll be hopefully have a masters in electrical and computer engineering by the time i'm in medical school (2011 or 2012?).

here's the problem---my gpa. My GPA currently is a 3.3 (low...but my school is known to be tough). I had a bad sophomore yr, but junior year..had near perfect GPA both terms to pull it up. Sophomore year was sick and didn't know how to balance my time.

My extracurrics include the following:
researching three years: (will probably have ~2 publications by the time I finish masters)
1. CS research ~1 yr
2. chemistry related-research ~1 yr
3. cardiovascular research at leading hospital (in parallel, 2 yrs)

leadership/activities:
started arts club in school--organized lots of events, brought in some famous presenters, etc
music scholarship recipient at school
lots of teaching experience/TA in school
arts journal editor
summer before fresh year abroad, resident volunteer 3 weeks at mentally disabled children foster home in Asia
last summer, went to asian country for two weeks to be a leadership trainer.

relavent work experiences:
summer intern at a leading medical devices company--cardio related work.

If i do masters, thesis will be bio-engineering related.

I haven't taken the Mcats, and still have 4 more premed class requirements to take (which I'll be cramming in senior year/masters(?) time). I want to apply for entrance in 2011. I hoping for a 35+ on the Mcats...but that means I need to start preparing soon.

My dream is to be a cardiologist/EP (and do research), initially practice in the US, but later work abroad to provide health care needs.

What are my chances of getting into a decent medical school? What can I do to help me become a better applicant and reach my dream?

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[JonBonesJones]

Just read other 'What are my chances' threads, and you'll get an idea of what you need to do to become a competitive applicant.


General Comments:
You need to figure out your sci GPA (confer with an engineering school dean to see which courses factor in and which don't).

As it stands now, you really need to focus on your GPA; especially if you want to go the PhD/MD route occupied by stronger than average applicants. A 3.3 (and probably lower sGPA), generally speaking, is just not going to cut it.

So you think you can score a 35 on the MCAT? I'd say 90% of people think they can achieve a 35 or better, yet only about 5% do it. Be warned, the MCAT is no joke. You have just about a ZERO percent chance of getting a great score if you study while taking masters level courses. Plan accordingly.

Your research stuff looks awesome, as does your interest/involvement with art. One question: how did you earn a music scholarship if you aren't a music major? Maybe your school works differently... Beef up the clinical and volunteering. Spend time learning about the medical profession: either through reading books on modern healthcare, or through discussions with physicians you shadow.

 

[wantobedoc]

So I had thought about the mdphd, but decided not to do it b/c it won't be necessary for what I want to do in the end. Having a masters will be more than enough (i think) to give me enough experience to be involved in basic clinical research and help make devices. Also with years of fellowship...i hope to gain more research experience.

my school has a special audition-type scholarship every year, where then they sponsor you to take lessons w/ top notch musicians. Music is more of a hobby to me than career, so I didn't major in it.

If I do well during my senior year, I think i can bring my gpa to about a 3.5...so I'm really going to try my best for that. What brought my gpa down was 2 Cs in my engineer classes. my advisor told me not to retake them b/c it was a waste of time. sometimes, i wish i had tho.

I'll be starting to do some volunteering and gaining clinical exposure this fall.

 

[eric51]

I think your application is really going to come down to your MCAT score. Your GPA obviously isn't great, but it also isn't awful, and a great MCAT can make up for it, especially if you can get it up to >3.5. Your ECs sound pretty good as long as you keep with the research and get some clinical and volunteering work in there. So if you do end up doing well on the MCAT (34+), I'd think you'll definitely be able to get in somewhere if you apply broadly. If your MCAT isn't great, you're going to have a tough time with that GPA.

 

[wantobedoc]

Thank you for the advice.

So before starting university, I had taken 4 advanced math courses (i.e. calculus 1-3,/diffEQ) and 2 humanities courses, some at a community college, and some at a local liberal arts college. I had received A's in them. Obviously, these aren't included in my undergrad GPA at my current university now.

However, am I allowed to include them when applying to med school?????

Then my current GPA would be greater.

 

[eric51]

Yep. Those should all count toward the AAMCAS GPA.

 

[Mobius1985]

So before starting university, I had taken 4 advanced math courses, some at a community college, and some at a local liberal arts college. I had received A's in them.

am I allowed to include them when applying to med school?????

Then my current GPA would be greater.

You are required to submit transcripts from all the colleges you've attended, so AMCAS would include those courses when calculating your application GPA.

 

[wantobedoc]

Ok, thanks. This would slightly increase my current GPA to a 3.42 then.

 

[Stratego]

Well, that's nice news to get, isn't it. What do you predict it could be by the time you finish all the prerequisites and apply?

 

[wantobedoc]

I'm crossing my fingers for a 3.5, as long as senior year goes well.

Hopefully that should make me be able to apply to medical schools, and maybe even get into a decent one?!

 

[eric51]

I'm crossing my fingers for a 3.5, as long as senior year goes well.

Hopefully that should make me be able to apply to medical schools, and maybe even get into a decent one?!

You only need one. Every US MD school is decent. If you can get your GPA up to a 3.5 and get a 35+ on the MCAT, you will be in good shape to get in somewhere.

 

[Stratego]

And you'd still have a good chance with an MCAT score of 32+.

 

[wantobedoc]

Thank you all so much for the advice. As the next two years go, I'll try and keep you all posted on how things turn out for me.

Best of luck to all of you out there. I just wish that medical school was a little less stressful, so that more happy and healthy people applied and got in