Starting to get Nervous

[cassiamara]

Hey everyone! First post, this has been weighing on me for awhile and I would like a second opinion!

I'm currently a sophomore (about to finish the year up) who's planning on applying next year. I currently have ~60 hours of clinical volunteering and ~40 hours of nonclinical volunteering tutoring elementary school kids in an underprivileged school district. These hours will be roughly ~250 for clinical and ~100 for nonclinical by the time I apply. I've had a leadership position in a student org for a year and have been involved with a dance group for two years. The factor of my app that I'm most worried about is my GPA. Currently I have a cGPA of ~3.4 and a sGPA of ~3.0. I have 3 C's all in chemistry classes, although I received a B in organic chemistry II this semester. I'm also an ORM female.

I feel like my stats are so low compared to people on here and my friends irl. I do have an upward trend that I'm going to work to keep going, but I feel super discouraged about where I'm at right now. Do you think that applying next year is a feasible goal? Besides my GPA, what can I work on to make my app more competitive? I know that I can't truly be advised without an MCAT score, but any thoughts are appreciated. I've really been starting to doubt whether or not I'm good enough to make it into med school, which is bringing me down a lot because I truly cannot see myself doing anything else. Again, any thoughts at all are appreciated!

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[Anonymoose_65]

Why the rush to apply?

Yes, you should certainly work on improving your GPA, especially your sGPA. But two semesters may not be enough to make a significant jump. Consider that you will be spending the next year not only trying to ace your classes but also studying for the MCAT, and keeping up with your ECs.

My advice would be to plan to take a year off between college and medical school. It's room to breath so that you can bring up your GPA, continue your ECs and expand upon your undergraduate experiences, and study for the MCAT over a summer. It would also allow you to get work and "real life" experience before medical school. In my eyes, that's a win-win situation. It means applying with better scores across the board.

 

[Goro]

Hey everyone! First post, this has been weighing on me for awhile and I would like a second opinion!

I'm currently a sophomore (about to finish the year up) who's planning on applying next year. I currently have ~60 hours of clinical volunteering and ~40 hours of nonclinical volunteering tutoring elementary school kids in an underprivileged school district. These hours will be roughly ~250 for clinical and ~100 for nonclinical by the time I apply. I've had a leadership position in a student org for a year and have been involved with a dance group for two years. The factor of my app that I'm most worried about is my GPA. Currently I have a cGPA of ~3.4 and a sGPA of ~3.0. I have 3 C's all in chemistry classes, although I received a B in organic chemistry II this semester. I'm also an ORM female.

I feel like my stats are so low compared to people on here and my friends irl. I do have an upward trend that I'm going to work to keep going, but I feel super discouraged about where I'm at right now. Do you think that applying next year is a feasible goal? Besides my GPA, what can I work on to make my app more competitive? I know that I can't truly be advised without an MCAT score, but any thoughts are appreciated. I've really been starting to doubt whether or not I'm good enough to make it into med school, which is bringing me down a lot because I truly cannot see myself doing anything else. Again, any thoughts at all are appreciated!

Still plenty of time to turn things around, and a U-shaped GPA trend is very common.

Suggest visiting your school's education or learning center for help with time mgt, study tips, test taking strategy etc.

Also, the only person you should be comparing yourself to is yourself.