Need Advice

[bigloley]

Hi,

I have had a pretty mediocre/bad undergraduate career but I still want to go to medical school. I am currently a 5th year student at NYU

College: NYU, econ major physics minor
Cum GPA: 3.15
BCMP: 2.9
MCAT: 30S (10, 11, 9)
EC's: Lots of teaching experience to elementary school and high school students. At the end of June 2011 I will have about 350 hours teaching elementary school children and around 500 hours teaching high school kids.
I have worked as an accounting intern and as an financial services intern.
My clinical volunteering hours are very low. By June 2011 I should have about 150 hours volunteering at the Emergency Department at New York Downtown hospital. I have heard that high school doesn't count, but in case it does I have about 250 hours volunteering at the geriatric institute at Long Island Jewish Hospital.

I did very poorly in my freshmen year (2.5) and I have had a marginal upward trend. I am planning on retaking the MCAT this April (I know I can do better, I didn't study very well for my first time).

I messed up a lot and was not motivated/didn't study correctly for many of my classes, especially the science ones. I know it was my fault but I am motivated now and even though I have dug myself a large hole, I still want to go to medical school.

My question is what should I do? Is an SMP right for me? I was thinking about an SMP, as I already have a suitable MCAT for most SMPs buy my GPA is still quite low. I plan on applying to medical school in June for Fall 2012 entry but I know that are chances of getting in somewhere are slim to none.

Should I apply for SMPs in the next couple of months for fall 2011 entry? Or should I take a year off and try to do some research, buff up my volunteering and ec's while retaking some of the pre-reqs that I did horrible in (like o-chem)? I would have to retakes those classes at one of the city colleges (nyu is too expensive for me, I was there on scholarship), so I am afraid that if I go that route, adcoms might look at those classes as inferior.

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[Isoprop]

First, H.S. ECs don't count unless it's the same activity from H.S. to college. 150 hours of ED volunteering isn't too shabby as long as you can speak passionately about the experience. I would shadow a few physicians as well.

Second, the college won't matter too much as long as it's a 4 year university. how have the past year been grade-wise?

Entering in fall 2012 will be difficult b/c you would need to apply early to have a good shot. that means having your primary application done in june/july 2011 and your secondaries done by august/september. That only leaves one more semester to do well.

It may be a possibility if you've been doing well for the past year. You could apply to a few SMPs early next spring and do the SMP while applying to medical schools. If you apply broadly enough to med schools, you might get in somewhere.

More realistically, however, you should finish up your NYU year, do 1 year of post-bacc work with all A's (3.7+), and then seriously apply in 2012. Perhaps if you feel compelled, you could do the SMP during 2012 too.