Pre-med Third Year Summer...

[dream1616]

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Hello,

I have been spending many hours searching online and I think I reached the limit of finding the answer on my own...
So, I signed up at SDN to write a first post.

I am as pre-med third year undergraduate student trying to plan out something worthwhile for the upcoming summer.
Currently, I am a biology major and my GPA is 3.0...

I have been looking at many schools for summer programs and I realized that most of them are research programs.
First of all, I cannot even apply to most of them because of the GPA requirement.
Second of all, I would like to be involved in a program that is not research-oriented.
I have been searching for programs that will help me to experience what it would be like to work in the medical field and to interact with patients.

Recently, I learned about the "Baltimore Health Immersion" program at the Loyola University Maryland.
http://www.loyola.edu/academic/prehealth/baltimore-health-immersion
The program overview fits well with the type of summer program I was looking for, but the tuition is the big down side...

1. Would anyone be willing to share some other summer programs that are not research/lab oriented?
Something similar to the Baltimore Health Immersion would be great, but I am also open to volunteer opportunities.

2. I think I am gravitating towards medical schools that are not research based school because I cannot find interest in research...
Is this a problem?... Is it crucial that I have a research experience? and would it even be possible with such a low GPA?

3. Would it be more worthwhile to continue looking for a summer program or should I plan on spending the summer shadowing doctors and volunteering in a hospital?

Thank you for your help. I truly appreciate it!

 

[Lucca]

It is definitely not crucial to have research experience or an interest in research for the vast majority of US medical schools. The SDN population is not representative of the typical pre-Med and a lot of people on here are the more academic types.

It is good that you are looking to get more clinical experience. What kind of clinical experience do you have at this point? What is your application timeline? I don't know about programs for clinical experience but try to find a job scribing over the summer or working for a free clinic. Scribing is a common way for premes to make some money while getting some consistent patient contact through their work. Check it out as an option.

You have identified your biggest problem: your GPA. Thankfully, your GPA is not incredibly low although there is almost no chance you would get into an MD school in the US if you applied this next summer but it doesn't seem like you want to do that. You should really focus on bringing your GPA up to 3.2 these next three semesters (I'm not sure how possible that is at this point) or plan on doing some sort of post bacc or something else to prove that you can handle MS academically. The MCAT will also contribute to this.


Tl;dr: Try finding a scribing job in the area, think about what to do after you graduate, bring up your GPA and apply DO.

Barring some extreme circumstances, a killer MCAT, etc, it is unlikely that MD is in the near future with that GPA.

 

[dream1616]

Thank you so much for your feedback and advice!!!

Clinical experience:
So far, I have been to Nicaragua twice for a medical mission trip and volunteered at a university hospital in South Korea as a medical translator because I am fluent in Korean. No particular clinical experience in the US so I am planning on attending info sessions of new hospital related volunteer programs at my school next week.

My wish is to practice in South Korea if possible... but I feel like getting clinical experience in the US is crucial.
This is why I have been looking for clinic/patient related programs for the upcoming summer rather than research programs.

Recently I have been learning more about the DO schools and realized that their views on medicine relates a lot to what I consider is important in medicine... Also, if it is more realistic to apply DO because my GPA then I am open to this idea as well. (Only problem is that I would not be able to work in South Korea since it is one of the countries that do not allow DO to practice in the country...)

Application timeline:
I am planning on taking the MCAT soon after my graduation in June 2016 or a little afterwards.
Also, I am researching Post Bac programs but I am not sure where to start since I am completely new to these programs.
(Academic record enhancers, career changers? I have also seen forums dealing with SMP vs Post Bac?)

Thanks again for suggesting ideas such as scribing and working in free clinics!
I will look for opportunities around my area!