Pre-Med Track Progression

[rockersoccer]

I have just completed my first semester in sophomore year and wanted to see how the SDN community thinks my progression in pre-med is coming along! I also attend a top 25 university known for its academic rigors, but I assume a lot of people here are doing that as well.

First Semester:
English - B
Sociology - B+
General Chemistry I - A
General Chemistry Lab - A-
Anthropology - A
GPA: 3.61

Second Semester:
Organic Chemistry I (my school goes out of sequence) - A
Orgo Lab - A-
Calculus II - A-
Geology - A
Physics freshman seminar - A
Freshman honors chemistry research - A
GPA: 3.91

Third Semester:
Integrative Biology: Animals - A
Organic Chemistry II (highest grade in class) - A
Organic Chemistry II Lab - B+
Environmental Science and Policy - A
Chemical Research - A
Mathematical Statistics - A
GPA: 3.95

Cumulative GPA: 3.84, Dean's list all three semesters
Science GPA: 3.90
Major GPA: 4.00, Minor GPA: 3.91

For next semester I plan to take Neurobiology, Physiological psych., Gen Chem II with lab (my school goes out of sequence), continue chemical research, and Linguistics to meet a requirement. I am majoring in Neuroscience and minoring in Chemistry.

EC's:
- Organic Chemistry Undergraduate Research Assistant
- Organic Chemistry I Teaching Assistant
- Organic/ Gen. Chem Tutor
- Academic Peer Advisor
- Biology club
- Chemistry club
- Health careers club
- Pre-Med mentor
- Tutoring middle school students in nearby schools

Experience
- 500 hours of shadowing, clinical, interning, and volunteering
- Summer research program at Medical School studying translational neurobiology
- Will go on a trip to Vietnam for medical missions trip

Thanks for your feedback!

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[RunawayGrape]

Your grades are good, keep it up. You have lots of EC's; most of them will do nothing to contribute to your application. Shadowing only matters until you have a certain number of hours, at which point it becomes redundant. However, continue to volunteer and do research; there's no upper bound for that. Kill the MCAT. Go to med school.

Edit: To clarify, most of your academic clubs will do nothing to contribute. They're mostly just for you. Being a TA and other teaching experience is great though.

 

[Turkishking]

RunawayGrape is correct

 

[rockersoccer]

Thanks for the input! I appreciate it!

 

[greenturtle22]

I also wouldn't count on the overseas medical mission trip improving your application; if you're genuinely interested in it and want to do it, that's cool, but international medical trips are often viewed as "voluntourism" and thus not particularly favorably by adcoms (correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly certain that this is the general consensus).

But your grades look good, and your EC's look good too! You seem to have a good amount of shadowing and clinical experience, so I think you're in good shape overall so far. Rock the MCAT and I think you'll have a competitive application!

 

[Gurby]

- Academic Peer Advisor
- Biology club
- Chemistry club
- Health careers club
- Pre-Med mentor

I second the motion: cut all of these activities, and find something productive/meaningful/interesting to do with your time.

 

[holycrap]

I second the motion: cut all of these activities, and find something productive/meaningful/interesting to do with your time.

Except for the last one I feel like that's an admirable and great EC to have.

 

[Gurby]

Except for the last one I feel like that's an admirable and great EC to have.

What does a college sophmore have to offer as a pre-med mentor, unless s/he's mentoring inner city high school kids or something like that?

 

[holycrap]

What does a college sophmore have to offer as a pre-med mentor, unless s/he's mentoring inner city high school kids or something like that?

Help with classes, info on professors, they use sdn so they probably know more about the application process than most premeds , help guide them and can probably explain the steps/requirements better than some premed advisors I know. You don't gotta be a med student/doctor to give fundamental advice. What's general/redundant to you can be new/useful for a freshman that doesn't know anything about process.

 

[Dr.Sticks]

What does a college sophmore have to offer as a pre-med mentor, unless s/he's mentoring inner city high school kids or something like that?

A college sophomore who uses SDN and pays attention to what the adcoms, med students,etc say can be a valuable source of into

For example before I joined sdn I thought it was do whatever apply get grades yada yada
But when I joined SDN I learned it is a lot more intensive
I need ECs, research, stellar grades and mcat, and I also figured it would cost me a decent chunk of dough,and also learned that a gap year was a wise decision.
Initially I was thinking to just speed through college like a maniac but that is a bad choice.

Anyways OP; Keep up the good work.

 

[aldol16]

The top 25 school thing won't help you much unless it's HYPSM-caliber schools or very well-known and even then only at the top private medical schools. I've seen everything from "top 20" to "top 50" to "top 36" and usually, it's not much of a factor.

I think at this point, you can start giving thought to your story. What is your story? Rhetorical question now, but very important later on because your application has to convey a strong story for the top schools - and I suspect that it'll be the top schools you're aiming for with your GPA (depending on your MCAT).

 

[rockersoccer]

Thanks for all of the great feedback!

I second the motion: cut all of these activities, and find something productive/meaningful/interesting to do with your time.

I won't cut all of those activities for the sake of focusing my time elsewhere because I actually really enjoy those! In terms of the pre-med mentoring...I too was a little confused when I was accepted lol, but I do think I have been a good resource to the freshmen.

The top 25 school thing won't help you much unless it's HYPSM-caliber schools or very well-known and even then only at the top private medical schools. I've seen everything from "top 20" to "top 50" to "top 36" and usually, it's not much of a factor.

I think at this point, you can start giving thought to your story. What is your story? Rhetorical question now, but very important later on because your application has to convey a strong story for the top schools - and I suspect that it'll be the top schools you're aiming for with your GPA (depending on your MCAT).

Thanks for the advice to think about my story. I am definitely aiming for the top schools like a lot of people, but I am completely content going to a mid-tier place. I'm assuming I am on a good pace to at least get in somewhere at this point? I definitely don't intend to fall into the doldrums of complacency though.

 

[aldol16]

Thanks for the advice to think about my story. I am definitely aiming for the top schools like a lot of people, but I am completely content going to a mid-tier place. I'm assuming I am on a good pace to at least get in somewhere at this point? I definitely don't intend to fall into the doldrums of complacency though.

It's really difficulty, if not impossible, to say whether you'll get in somewhere. You have to take the MCAT for a fuller picture of that because GPA can be very deceiving. If you're aiming for the top schools, start thinking about how you want to focus your application. The focus should be in line with your passions and who you are as a person. The idea is to make your narrative as convincing as possible because most of those schools don't care about your GPA and MCAT past a certain point and instead focus on the story you have to tell.

 

[rockersoccer]

It's really difficulty, if not impossible, to say whether you'll get in somewhere. You have to take the MCAT for a fuller picture of that because GPA can be very deceiving. If you're aiming for the top schools, start thinking about how you want to focus your application. The focus should be in line with your passions and who you are as a person. The idea is to make your narrative as convincing as possible because most of those schools don't care about your GPA and MCAT past a certain point and instead focus on the story you have to tell.

Thanks for the advice/input! By the way, I like your username!