Suggestions/Advice...

[studentdoctor2021]

Hi!
Happy holidays to you all!

Sorry to bother with a typical pre-med question, but I would reallllly appreciate some wisdom from people who know a lot more than I do.

Right now, I just finished semester 1 of sophomore year and I have mainly good grades except 2 blemishes on my record. Over the summer, I got a C (no plusses or minuses there) in physics 1 at a visiting college but took physics 2 and got an A. This semester, I got a C+ in orgo 2 (I got an A- in Orgo 1 last semester). I struggled a lot this semester trying to get at least a B- in orgo 2 which I thought I was going to get but I go to one of the more rigorous undergrad schools and I definitely . I think my overall gpa rn is prob a 3.45, but my college GPA (not including the physics grades from the other college) is around a 3.5. I can prob bring my GPA up to a 3.6 ish, but def not more than that before I have to apply to med school in 1.5 years.

I'm not taking the MCAT anytime soon so I can't predict anything for that (but what would be a good score to aim for to get into MD schools?). I do think I have a decent amount of extra curriculars (maybe?) - volunteer at a hospice, tutored students from an underserved community, 2 jobs currently (1 as a lab TA). I am applying to volunteer at a hospital next semester and I will be going abroad my junior fall. I haven't done anything meaningful with my summer yet so I was wondering whether I should try to do one of those programs where I'm just placed in a hospital to shadow doctors or should I try to do research? What would make me a better applicant? Obviously I can't get into Harvard or other similar schools with my grades, so how could I make myself a better applicant for med schools that aren't top tier?

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[Goro]

I'm not taking the MCAT anytime soon so I can't predict anything for that (but what would be a good score to aim for to get into MD schools?). I do think I have a decent amount of extra curriculars (maybe?) - volunteer at a hospice, tutored students from an underserved community, 2 jobs currently (1 as a lab TA). I am applying to volunteer at a hospital next semester and I will be going abroad my junior fall. I haven't done anything meaningful with my summer yet so I was wondering whether I should try to do one of those programs where I'm just placed in a hospital to shadow doctors or should I try to do research? What would make me a better applicant? Obviously I can't get into Harvard or other similar schools with my grades, so how could I make myself a better applicant for med schools that aren't top tier?

Engage in service to others less fortunate than yourself. Get in > 200 hrs
Engage in clinical experiences and get in > 200 hrs
Shadow clinicians (50 hrs, max)
Research is not required, but it is nice to know something about the scientific principle.
Don't go overseas if it's a medical mission...we consider these medical tourism.
Get a job in a service industry.

 

[studentdoctor2021]

Sorry to ask another question, how bad does 1 C in physics 1 and a C+ in Orgo 2 look overall? Most of my other grades are A-'s and will continue to be (hopefully). If I do good on the MCAT, is a 3.5-3.6 GPA acceptable for MD schools?

 

[puahate]

Engage in service to others less fortunate than yourself. Get in > 200 hrs
Engage in clinical experiences and get in > 200 hrs
Shadow clinicians (50 hrs, max)
Research is not required, but it is nice to know something about the scientific principle.
Don't go overseas if it's a medical mission...we consider these medical tourism.
Get a job in a service industry.

Question about your last point. I had a job working in a grocery store for about 3-5 months. I am not planning on listing it in my work and activities page for my AMCAS profile. Is this an oversight? I am only going to mention it if secondaires ask for that info (Columbia for example).

 

[chemdoctor]

Sorry to ask another question, how bad does 1 C in physics 1 and a C+ in Orgo 2 look overall? Most of my other grades are A-'s and will continue to be (hopefully). If I do good on the MCAT, is a 3.5-3.6 GPA acceptable for MD schools?

It doesn’t look good, but you can and most likely will get it together to do better. Aim for the best MCAT score you can. A 3.5-3.6 GPA can get you into med school (MD and DO).

If everything else in your app is good, a couple bad grades won’t sink you.

 

[Goro]

Question about your last point. I had a job working in a grocery store for about 3-5 months. I am not planning on listing it in my work and activities page for my AMCAS profile. Is this an oversight? I am only going to mention it if secondaires ask for that info (Columbia for example).

Your call

 

[863168]

@studentdoctor2021 I hate the A/A- system with a passion due to the lack of sensitivity that goes into accounting for certain courses and the amount of swing it can have on GPA. If it's like the one I had where a 93-100 is an A and a 91-92 is an A- and a 90 is a B+ with the scaling being 4.0 / 3.66 / 3.33 respectively over a 10 point system then it's very important that you aim to completely cover all ground on every exam and work on predicting areas that you are struggling with in order to make sure that you don't lose too many points that it causes you to drop into A- territory. I had a similar issue when going back to school with a similar system and fell into complacency the first semester that I was getting A's, but in truth I was being placated by the system when other schools would be more broad and thus more generous with point allocation.

Edit: AMCAS allots a 3.7 to an A- when it comes to grade calculation.

 

[907914]

Engage in service to others less fortunate than yourself. Get in > 200 hrs
Engage in clinical experiences and get in > 200 hrs
Shadow clinicians (50 hrs, max)
Research is not required, but it is nice to know something about the scientific principle.
Don't go overseas if it's a medical mission...we consider these medical tourism.
Get a job in a service industry.

For “overseas mission” how would you state it if it was a medical mission as part of your job (military, Doctors Without Borders as a nurse, Americorps etc) I.e. in the military, the orders would word it as a “mission.”

 

[Goro]

For “overseas mission” how would you state it if it was a medical mission as part of your job (military, Doctors Without Borders as a nurse, Americorps etc) I.e. in the military, the orders would word it as a “mission.”

Those are are 100000000% different than the typical pre-med "missions" which are nothing more than resume builders, if they even actually do anything. Plenty of people simply go back to the old country to visit Nana/Abuela and call it a "mission trip".

 

[907914]

Those are are 100000000% different than the typical pre-med "missions" which are nothing more than resume builders, if they even actually do anything. Plenty of people simply go back to the old country to visit Nana/Abuela and call it a "mission trip".

Ooooh, I gotcha. I didn’t realize that students would be that liberal with embellishing their ‘experiences’