Need some VERY serious advice - clueless!

[Torilynn92]

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Hello all!
My advising team at my university is pretty horrible, and I have yet to really understand what would be the best option for me as far as applying to medical or DO schools go. I am a Junior at the moment, who was a late-decision pre-med (I didn't begin taking serious prereqs for awhile, so I've been scrambling to catch up). I currently only have a 3.2 thanks to a pretty terrible freshman year, but I have definitely been trending upward in the past year or so. I'm currently taking Orgo1, but I still need to finish Orgo2 and Physics1 before I take the MCAT this upcoming spring. I've been studying pretty hard and I'm generally a superb standardized tester (national merit, etc.) so I'm expecting to do relatively well on the MCATs. My practice tests have me at about a 29-31 without having taken Physics yet, so I'm really hoping to improve that a few more points once I take it for real.

My questions to you all...
1) When should I apply? Should I wait until my senior year to apply, so that I have an extra year to boost my application GPA? In that case, will I need to take a "gap year"? If so, what do you recommend I do during this gap? (if it makes any difference, my degree will be in Health Science) Or should I just apply this year with what I've got and hope for the best?

2) As I have been paying my own way through school entirely by working, I have had little opportunity for extensive extracurriculars. I've done about 200 hours of community service, 175 of which is in a hospital setting as a patient companion over a summer or two. I've also worked for about 7 months as a work study student in the department of surgery at my school's on-campus hospital, and I'm in a leadership position in my sorority. However, that's about it! Will medical schools look down on me because I've had to work? I have worked 25+ hours a week at three jobs since I began college (one of which is a pre-med note-taking service). Should I play that up as involvement? Will it hurt me? Is it too late to get involved in other clubs? I'm looking into a year-long research position, but other than that I don't have much time to devote to it since I'm trying to catch up on my prereqs.

3) I'm a student at UF, and I'm planning on applying to only in-state schools - FAU, USF, UCF, UF and FSU. Do you have any other suggestions as to Florida medical schools that will be worth looking into with my statistics?

THANK YOU so much! I really appreciate your guidance. Every time I go to my adviser I am basically told to "do what feels right", which is not the way I operate haha.

 

[niabrams]

My advice (and I'm still premed so take it with a grain of salt) is to call another school's advising office if you don't feel comfortable with your own school's. I've done that before and realized that most advisers are, in general, nice people who will help anyone who seeks them out.

 

[theseeker4]

Hello all!
My advising team at my university is pretty horrible, and I have yet to really understand what would be the best option for me as far as applying to medical or DO schools go. I am a Junior at the moment, who was a late-decision pre-med (I didn't begin taking serious prereqs for awhile, so I've been scrambling to catch up). I currently only have a 3.2 thanks to a pretty terrible freshman year, but I have definitely been trending upward in the past year or so. I'm currently taking Orgo1, but I still need to finish Orgo2 and Physics1 before I take the MCAT this upcoming spring. I've been studying pretty hard and I'm generally a superb standardized tester (national merit, etc.) so I'm expecting to do relatively well on the MCATs. My practice tests have me at about a 29-31 without having taken Physics yet, so I'm really hoping to improve that a few more points once I take it for real.

My questions to you all...
1) When should I apply? Should I wait until my senior year to apply, so that I have an extra year to boost my application GPA? In that case, will I need to take a "gap year"? If so, what do you recommend I do during this gap? (if it makes any difference, my degree will be in Health Science) Or should I just apply this year with what I've got and hope for the best?

What will your GPA overall and just in BCPM be at the end of your junior year? Would you rather get into a better school, or get in a year earlier? If you will be above a 3.4 and you would rather get in earlier, apply at the end of your junior year, assuming you do well on the MCAT. If you won't be at that point with your GPA, or you would rather go to a better school than get in a year earlier, wait until you graduate to bring your GPA up more.

2) As I have been paying my own way through school entirely by working, I have had little opportunity for extensive extracurriculars. I've done about 200 hours of community service, 175 of which is in a hospital setting as a patient companion over a summer or two. I've also worked for about 7 months as a work study student in the department of surgery at my school's on-campus hospital, and I'm in a leadership position in my sorority. However, that's about it! Will medical schools look down on me because I've had to work? I have worked 25+ hours a week at three jobs since I began college (one of which is a pre-med note-taking service). Should I play that up as involvement? Will it hurt me? Is it too late to get involved in other clubs? I'm looking into a year-long research position, but other than that I don't have much time to devote to it since I'm trying to catch up on my prereqs.

Working is definitely a positive, not a negative, especially if you can maintain good grades while working. Joining random clubs will do nothing to help you gain admission to med school. Unless they provide shadowing or volunteering opportunities you would otherwise be unable to obtain. Keep up the clinically-related work and volunteering, and try to get in some shadowing in various specialties this year. Getting some research in would be great, but not having any won't kill your application if you aren't able to. Grades are more important to keep as high as possible than any ECs, so fit in what you can without hurting your grades.

3) I'm a student at UF, and I'm planning on applying to only in-state schools - FAU, USF, UCF, UF and FSU. Do you have any other suggestions as to Florida medical schools that will be worth looking into with my statistics?

You will probably want to apply to DO schools as well, especially if you will be applying with a GPA under 3.6. As far as your statistics, until you have an MCAT score in hand, no real predictions can be made. Keep up with the GPA improvement, and good luck. Also, remember that your GPA will only be calculated with the most recent attempt of a course for DO schools, something to consider if you have any sub-C grades from your poor freshman year.

THANK YOU so much! I really appreciate your guidance. Every time I go to my adviser I am basically told to "do what feels right", which is not the way I operate haha.

My replies are bolded under your questions.