Summer Plans

[Darkskies]

I've been home for spring break this week and I had some questions regarding what I should be doing over the summer towards attaining my med school goal. I've posted earlier on this forum but as a recap, I'm a Junior this year and if all goes well I should have a cGPA of somewhere in the 3.3s at the end of this semester. My original plan was to retake physics at a local 4 year college while at the same time enroll in a Kaplan MCAT course and study diligently for the MCAT which I would probably take around the end of August or the beginning of September. At the end of my senior year I should have a cGPA of either a high 3.4 or low 3.5 and a science GPA of a 3.30/3.40. I have been volunteering at the hospital near my University since the beginning of this semester and also at a local hospital near my hometown during breaks. By the time I graduate I should have more than the average amount of clinical/volunteering experience.

Since I do not have any research experience I was planning on being involved in some independent research with a professor next year. This would be taken as either a 2 credit or 4 credit course. I did however receive notification of biology research internships/fellowships that would be available through my University over the summer. If I were to apply to those and be accepted, this would conflict with my original plan of retaking physics and studying for the MCAT at the same time. What would be the best course of action to take?

To save costs I was also wondering whether taking physics at a local community college for cheap would be an option or if it would be looked on negatively by med schools.

Another question I had was that I'm currently enrolled in Biochemistry which up until this year was crosslisted as being both under the biology and chemistry departments. However with the advent of this year, the course is only classified as a biology course while a new course has been designed for chemistry majors. The courses seem to differ only slightly in content from what I've heard but I was still wondering whether an A in a Biochemistry class classified under the biology department would still compensate for a low grade in orgo II(This relates to an earlier question I had posted under a different thread).

Lastly it seems to me as if my ECs will not be anything particularly stellar or outstanding since so far I would only have the volunteering, a weak point as a leadership position, and moderate participation in 2 clubs. I'm planning on TAing next year as well so that would fall under the teaching category. Based on what I've read on SDN, outstanding ECs would be something like going on medical missions to foreign countries which is just not feasible for me especially if my desired application date would be next year upon graduation.

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[Darkskies]

Will someone please reply??

 

[Darkskies]

Anyone?

 

[sling787]

Yes, you are going to want to keep volunteering. It seems like your GPA will be slightly below average for matriculants, so you will need to make other aspects of your application stronger compared to other applicants. This means you will need strong extracurriculars and a high MCAT (33+).

For research, I would start emailing as many professors as you can about your interest in studying with them. If your school is anything like mine, half of the professors will ignore you, and twenty-five percent will just blatantly say no. So make sure you email a lot of professors so you get at least some yes's.

I would probably spend the summer shadowing/volunteering and spending time doing research. While you are doing research make sure you talk to as many people as you can and let them know that you have a definite interest in what they are doing. This will help later on, when you can get a letter of recommendation from a professor or a post-doc in your research lab.

As far as taking physics at a community college, I don't think it will neccesarily hurt you, as long as you get an A there. I would definitey recommend, if you have the propper funds, you to take a formal prep course like Kaplan or Princeton Review. I will be doing the same, and I have heard nothing but great things about both courses. Kaplan boasts an average of 29 or 30 for people that take their course, so I'm hoping that a 33+ shouldn't be that hard to abtain.

At my school, the main biochemistry class is definitely more like a biology class in the sense that they don't ask you mechanism questions, but rather multiple choice questions on tests, similar to our biology classes. Our school does offer a bioorganic chemistry which goes into the mechanisms of various biological processes such as glycolysis, and it is more like an organic chemistry class. If you are trying to prove to ADCOMS that low grade in organic chemistry was a fluke, I would strongly recommend that you take the biochemistry class that is tailored towards chemistry students. I've already confirmed from both F.S.U and U.F that a bioorganic chemistry class will satisfy their biochemistry requirements. I'm not sure if it will compensate for the low grade in organic chemistry, but it will certainly look better than just having a low grade in organic chemistry.

 

[Darkskies]

Thanks for the response, sling787. I've also had a W in a physics course I took Freshman year and then Sophomore year got low grades in both semesters of physics(due to a number of reasons). Do you still think taking it at a community college and scoring As would be fine? The cost difference between taking the courses at the local 4 year college and a community college is huge. If I'm planning on applying to med school at the end of my senior year which will be in the summer of 2010, do you think my plan of retaking physics(8 credit hours), and attending an MCAT Kaplan course over the summer sounds like I'm on the right track? I would then be registered for taking the MCAT near the end of August or early September. It seems as if most people take the MCAT right before the end of the spring semester the year they apply...

Please note that I wholeheartedly appreciate all replies received as this is my only recourse for gaining accurate replies to my pre-med questions and helps me sort out my situation. As such please do not hesitate to reply! Thank you.

 

[Darkskies]

I don't want to keep bumping this up but like I said, your responses mean a whole lot to me, so if someone would please reply...

 

[GoSpursGo]

Just for future reference, a lot of posters are averse to reading extremely long posts like this one. In the future, you might try to edit your post and cut it down to the bare essentials. Now it may be that you feel that everything in this post was essential, but my guess is that the length of your post probably had something to do with getting few replies.

I've been home for spring break this week and I had some questions regarding what I should be doing over the summer towards attaining my med school goal. I've posted earlier on this forum but as a recap, I'm a Junior this year and if all goes well I should have a cGPA of somewhere in the 3.3s at the end of this semester. My original plan was to retake physics at a local 4 year college while at the same time enroll in a Kaplan MCAT course and study diligently for the MCAT which I would probably take around the end of August or the beginning of September. At the end of my senior year I should have a cGPA of either a high 3.4 or low 3.5 and a science GPA of a 3.30/3.40. I have been volunteering at the hospital near my University since the beginning of this semester and also at a local hospital near my hometown during breaks. By the time I graduate I should have more than the average amount of clinical/volunteering experience.

How bad is "bad" on physics? If you got at least a C, there's no point in retaking--AMCAS will average your old grade together with your new grade. If you got a D, you might consider a re-take, but if it's at all possible I would try to take it at a full 4-year university rather than a community college; even if the cost is a legitimate difference, with the poor grade from your university on your transcript, I personally would think that an adcom would automatically assume you just took it at the CC to run away from the harder class at your university. Can you not simply retake it next year during your senior year?

Since I do not have any research experience I was planning on being involved in some independent research with a professor next year. This would be taken as either a 2 credit or 4 credit course. I did however receive notification of biology research internships/fellowships that would be available through my University over the summer. If I were to apply to those and be accepted, this would conflict with my original plan of retaking physics and studying for the MCAT at the same time. What would be the best course of action to take?

Research is a great EC, but not necessary. I would make sure that you take care of studying for the MCAT primarily. If you don't need to retake physics (again, I wouldn't if you got at least a C), then there's no reason why you couldn't both do research and study for the MCAT over the summer. Just go to the Kaplan classes in the evening, and also you'll find that in most lab settings you'll have some downtime while you have gels running or PCR's going where you can get in some studying as well.

To save costs I was also wondering whether taking physics at a local community college for cheap would be an option or if it would be looked on negatively by med schools.

See above. I don't think taking it at a CC would be a big deal except for the fact that you have the bad grade already on your transcript at your home university. You would probably get varied opinions on this.

Another question I had was that I'm currently enrolled in Biochemistry which up until this year was crosslisted as being both under the biology and chemistry departments. However with the advent of this year, the course is only classified as a biology course while a new course has been designed for chemistry majors. The courses seem to differ only slightly in content from what I've heard but I was still wondering whether an A in a Biochemistry class classified under the biology department would still compensate for a low grade in orgo II(This relates to an earlier question I had posted under a different thread).

I would imagine so, but anything anyone can tell you here would be guesswork.

Lastly it seems to me as if my ECs will not be anything particularly stellar or outstanding since so far I would only have the volunteering, a weak point as a leadership position, and moderate participation in 2 clubs. I'm planning on TAing next year as well so that would fall under the teaching category. Based on what I've read on SDN, outstanding ECs would be something like going on medical missions to foreign countries which is just not feasible for me especially if my desired application date would be next year upon graduation.

The people with WOW ECs are fairly uncommon. Don't worry about them; as long as you have clinical experience and can talk intelligently about what you got out of all of your experiences, you'll be OK. Also find something interesting to do during your year off so you can talk about that in your interviews.

Hope that helps!